ZECHARIAH SON OF JEHOIADA THE PRIEST, STONED IN THE COURT OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD · TWO KINGDOMS

Zechariah. “The LORD look upon it, and require it.”

SCRIPTURE CALLS

Prophet

ERA

Two kingdoms 930–586 BC

IN THE DAYS OF

Joash

BOOK

None bears the name

HOW THE WORD CAME

“The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people”; he spoke with “Thus saith God”.

THE CALL

How the word came

  • “The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people”; he spoke with “Thus saith God”. 2 Chronicles 24:20
  • Just before, Chronicles says of the time after Jehoiada's death: “Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD”. 2 Chronicles 24:19

BEFORE THE KINGS

Before Joash

KING OF JUDAH

Joash

“Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.”

2 Chronicles 24:20 (KJV) →

THE MESSAGE

The word in its main themes

Forsaken because they forsook

“because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.”

2 Chronicles 24:20 (KJV) →

THE WORD TO …

To whom the word was spoken

TO THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH

“Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper?”

2 Chronicles 24:20 (KJV) →

  • Jerusalem · The court of the house of the LORD

COMPANIONS AND OPPONENTS

Who stood with him, and against him

Jehoiada the priest, his father

HOW THE STORY ENDS

Scripture says, tradition says

SCRIPTURE SAYS

  • He was stoned in the court of the house of the LORD at the king's command, and as he died he said, “The LORD look upon it, and require it.” 2 Chronicles 24:21–22
  • Chronicles goes on: at the end of the year the Syrians came and “executed judgment against Joash”, and his own servants slew him on his bed “for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest”. It does not say here that this came according to Zechariah's word. 2 Chronicles 24:23–25
  • Jesus spoke of “the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar” (Matthew); Luke has “the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple”. Whether this is the same man is a question below. Matthew 23:35 Luke 11:51

TRADITION SAYS

  • The Rabbis said Zechariah was killed in the priests' court on a Sabbath that was also the Day of Atonement, and that when Nebuzar-adan came to destroy the Temple his blood “began to boil”; Nebuzar-adan killed many thousands to appease it, until he cried out to Zechariah and the blood was still.[53] Who says so: The Talmud (Gittin 57b; Sanhedrin 96b) and Lamentations Rabbah, as reported by the Jewish Encyclopedia, rabbinic writings; reported 1906

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

Yes; Jehoiada had a second name, or was the grandfather

Geneva notes (1599); Albert Barnes (1832); the Pulpit Commentary on Matthew (1880–1897), as possibilities

The Geneva note: “Of Joiada, who was also called Barach-jah”. Barnes notes that it was common to have two names. The Pulpit Commentary also allows that Barachiah was the father and Jehoiada the grandfather. Ellicott calls such suggestions “hypotheses invented for the occasion, without a shadow of evidence”. Matthew 23:35 2 Chronicles 24:20 [25][1][100][21]

Yes; “son of Barachias” is a slip or a later addition

Ellicott's commentary (c. 1878–1884); A. Carr (1878); H. A. W. Meyer (1879)

Luke 11:51 has no father's name, and Jerome reports that the Gospel of the Nazarenes read “son of Joiada” (Pulpit Commentary). Ellicott: “the mistake of a transcriber”; Carr: the words “are possibly interpolated”; Meyer: an error from confusing him with the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah (Zechariah 1:1). Carr and Meyer add that from Abel to this Zechariah runs from Genesis to Chronicles, the first and last books of the Hebrew canon. Luke 11:51 Zechariah 1:1 [21][8][76][100]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 3

2 Chronicles 24 Matthew 23 Luke 11

PASSAGES · 3

2 Chronicles 24:17–25 Matthew 23:35 Luke 11:51

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Chronicles does not call Zechariah a prophet in so many words; it says the Spirit of God came upon him, after saying the LORD “sent prophets to them”.
  • Chronicles places his death “in the court of the house of the LORD”; it does not say “between the temple and the altar”.
  • Kings does not tell Zechariah's death; it is in Chronicles only.

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Matthew and Mark (1832), note on Matt 23:35 (read on Bible Hub).
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  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818), note on 2 Chr 15:8 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818), note on 2 Chr 26:5 (read on Bible Hub).
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