The Book of Zechariah and Its Influence

The book bearing the title of "Zechariah" is, in its present form, an amalgam of oracles and prophecies stemming from Zechariah himself as well as others. It became part of Jewish scripture, was revered and valued, and was a partiuclar favourite of a number of early Christian writers. Often cited by New Testament writers, this book of one of the most important of the "minor prophets" is itself deeply indebted to earlier Jewish prophetic texts and has been an important resource for later writers, Jewish and Christian, as they sought to tap their own "Biblical" material. The amalgam of oracles and prophecies presented in "The Book of Zechariah" offers a thematic focus for the leading scholars in this volume who explore areas of the Hebrew Bible, post-Biblical Jewish literature, and early Christian literature and history (in the New Testament and beyond). The essays examine "The Book of Zechariah" itself as well as its subsequent interpretation by a number of other writers, Jewish and Christian. The essays raise important issues in relation to the influence of biblical texts in subsequent literature and also the broad area of "intertextuality'' and the way in which later texts relate to and use earlier texts in their sacred tradition.