Zacharias
Zacharias
John the Baptist was the son of someone who was literally one of the acting High priests of Judea, one Zacharias.[1]
Origen suggested that the Zechariah mentioned in Matthew 23:35 may be the father of John the Baptist. "The latter view is that of Origen, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Theophylact, and several others among the Fathers (see Thilo, Praef. p. lxiv. f.); and recently of Müller in the Stud. u. Krit. 1841, p. 673 ff." Meyer's New Testament Commentary Zechariah was killed by those under Herod's order because he did not reveal the location of John and Elizabeth to them, according to the Gospel of James, but the text does not support the idea that it was the soldiers who killed him.
Still others contradict even this report. In the hypothetical Gospel of the Nazarenes and according to Jerome’s statement it was not the Son of Barachias as we see in the Greek text, but the Son of Jehoiada. Jerome rejected the Gospel of James for his own reasons and using Son of Jehoiada simply confirms that opinion.
Abel to Zacharias
From the "blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias", but which Zacharias?
In Matthew 23:35 "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias <2197> son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar." But the “son of Barachias” is omitted in the Sinaitic Manuscript. They are also omitted in Luke 11:51 "From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias <2197>, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation."
The Zacharias, whose death “in the court of the house of the Lord” which is recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22,[2] and it might fit because after that murder they were invaded by Syria and destroyed but that Zachariah was the "son of Jehoiada".
Zechariah the prophet was a son of Barachias[3] but there is no record of his death preserved.
While at the commencement of the Jewish War with Vespasian there was a Zacharias, son of Baruch who was slain in the Temple by two zealots (Jos. B. J. iv. 5. 4) but the suggestion that Jesus spoke prophetically is out of context and not likely.
The space from Abel to Zacharias, son of Jehoiada, covers the whole history of the Jews because the Jewish Canon closed with the second book of Chronicles. But it seems that Jesus was taking this up to that moment in time.
- ↑ 2197 Ζαχαρίας Zacharias [dzakh-ar-ee’-as] of Hebrew origin 02148 <02148> זְכַריָה Zek-ar-yáw or זְכַריָהוּ Zek-ar-yáw-hu; n pr m; AV-Zacharias 11; 11
Zacharias = "remembered of Jehovah"
- 1) the father of John the Baptist
- 2) son of Barachias, who was slain by the Jews between the altar and the temple
- ↑ 2 Chronicles 24:20 "And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. 21 And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD. 22 Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it."
- ↑ Zechariah 1:1 "In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,"