IT WAS WHILE I WAS DEVELOPING a hermeneutics course a decade ago in my first teaching post that I found a fascinating book by Stephen Fowl and Gregory Jones entitled Reading in Communion: Scripture and Ethics in Christian Life. As their title suggests, they challenged me, among other things, to move beyond a modern approach to interpretation with its focus on the centered self to one that seriously considers the role of the community. Now at the end of the long process of interpreting the books of Haggai and Zechariah, I can look back and say that this commentary is indeed the product of reading in communion.
My first serious encounter with the book of Zechariah was in my second year at Westminster Theological Seminary, where I sat under the teaching of the late Ray Dillard in his course on the Prophets, in which he focused his Hebrew translation on the early chapters of Zechariah. Since I also had a pastoral charge at the time, I was forced by time constraints to take his translations and interpret them immediately for my faith community in Flourtown, Pennsylvania. In many ways this early task of moving between scholarly reflection and contemporary application set the tone for the results you will find in this volume, but little did I know it was just the beginning.
I have taken seriously the role of the academic guild to sharpen my interpretations. As a result, I have read papers at various scholarly conferences and seminars (Society of Biblical Literature Regional, National, and International conferences, European Association of Biblical Studies, McMaster Theological Research Seminar), published articles in various peer-reviewed journals and volumes, and sponsored colloquia focused on the study of Haggai and Zechariah. Through these academic activities I have met countless people from graduate students to professors emeriti who have become iron to sharpen the iron of my ideas. I am especially thankful to friends like Michael Floyd, Lis Fried, John Kessler, Rex Mason, Paul Redditt, Wolter Rose, Al Wolters, and many more, who took the time to consider my ideas and offer their encouraging affirmations as well as gentle critique.
My reading has also taken place within communities of learning at a variety of educational institutions where I have had the privilege of teaching courses focused in varying degrees on Haggai and Zechariah, including Canadian Bible College (the infamous “supervisions”), Canadian Theological Seminary, Edmonton Baptist Seminary, ACTS at Trinity Western University, Asbury Theological Seminary, and McMaster Divinity College. In these communities students and faculty alike have challenged me to sharpen my exegesis and interpretation as well as to struggle with the relevance of these texts to our contemporary context. My two host institutions, Canadian Bible College/Canadian Theological Seminary and McMaster Divinity College, provided the research time and support that made this project possible. I am grateful to the Board of Governors and Trustees at these two institutions for their affirmation of research and writing. Through these institutions I was offered the resource of superb research assistants who have ordered and retrieved numerous articles and books and pored over later drafts of this book. This illustrious group includes Ken Symes, Mandy Ralph, and Joel Barker.
An essential part of the process of writing this commentary has been the opportunity to preach these texts in local churches. I am grateful to congregations in Regina, Saskatchewan (Pine Park, Hillsdale, Living Hope, Westside), Strathmore, Alberta (Strathmore Alliance), and Burlington, Ontario (North Burlington Baptist) for the opportunity to interpret in their faith communities. Furthermore, two young Canadian prairie pastors, Michael Yager (Alberta) and T. Earl Rysavy (Saskatchewan), did me a great service when they agreed to preach from my commentary notes in their early draft form.
As the manuscript reached its final stages, it was strengthened by two fine editors at Zondervan. Robert Hubbard’s encouraging and challenging comments on the manuscript made the final product much stronger. Verlyn Verbrugge’s suggestions helped shape the manuscript into a commentary useful for contemporary audiences.
There is one community of interpretation that lies at the core of my life, my own family. My three boys, David, Stephen, and Matthew, and especially my wife, Beth, created a space of safety and love in which I could joyfully live, reflect, and write.
Finally, I turn to those who shaped the first interpreting community I knew in this world—my parents, Rexford and Jean Boda. Within the application section of this commentary you will find many experiences that have been drawn from my life with these two godly people (and their tribe of seven children), who first awakened me to love the God of the Scriptures and to seek him through study and prayer. I dedicate this commentary to them for their faithful service to family, culture, and kingdom for over half a century.
Mark Boda
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
April 14, 2004
Ego ex eorum numero me esse profiteor qui scribunt proficiendo, & scribendo proficiunt.
Augustine, Letters 153.2,
via Ioannes Calvinus