"Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple"

[Daniel_Marsh]

Which Zacharias is this?

Luke 11:37-54 (King James Version)

49Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:

50That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

51From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Matt 23

29Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

30And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

35That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist can be found in The “Protevangelion” of The Lost Books Of The Bible And The Forgotten Books Of Eden, 16:9-21, page 36:

“9 But Herod made search after John, and sent servants to Zacharias, when he was (ministering) at the altar, and said unto him, Where hast thou hid thy son? 10 He replied to them, I am a minister of God , and a servant at the altar; how should I know where my son is? 11 So the servants went back, and told Herod the whole; at which he was incensed, and said, Is not this son of his like to be king in Israel? 12 He sent therefore again his servants to Zacharias, saying, Tell us the truth, where is thy son, for you know that your life is in my hand. 13 So the servants went and told him all this: 14 But Zacharias replied to them, I am a martyr for God, and if he shed my blood, the Lord will receive my soul. 15 Besides know that ye shed innocent blood. 16 However Zacharias was murdered in the entrance of the temple and altar, and about the partition; 17 But the children of Israel knew not when he was killed. 18 Then at the hour of salutation the priests went into the temple, but Zacharias did not according to custom meet them and bless them; 19 Yet they still continued waiting for him to salute them; 20 And when they found he did not in a long time come, one of them ventured into the holy place where the altar was, and he saw blood lying upon the ground congealed; 21 When, behold, a voice from heaven said, Zacharias is murdered and his blood shall not be wiped away until the revenger of his blood come …”

 

[thistle]

D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Luke 11:51. Blood of Zacharias, &c. This Zacharias was, according to some Zacharias the son of Joiada, whom the Jews slew between the temple and the altar. (Theophylactus, — also St. Jerome, who moreover mentions that some editions had Zacharias, son of Joiada.) — This generation. Not that this generation of the Jews should be punished for the crimes of others, but that having before their eyes the severe chastisement of their ancestors had received, in punishment of their wickedness, they had not grown better, but had imitated their perversity. (St. Chrysostom, hom . lxxv. in Matt.)

Matthew 23:35 From the blood of Abel, &c. Not that the Jews, to whom Christ spoke, should be punished for crimes which they themselves did not commit nor be more severely punished than they themselves deserved; but he speaks of the Jewish people which, by putting to death their Messias, should shortly fill up the number of their sins; so that God would destroy their whole nation, as if the blood of Abel, and of the prophets unjustly murdered came upon them at once. See Maldonatus. — Of Zacharias, the son of Barachias.[2] Some think this was Zachary, numbered among the lesser prophets, whose father’s name was Barachias; but we do not read of his being murdered in this manner. The more common opinion is, that here is meant Zachary, who, preaching to the people, (2 Paralipomenon xxiv. 20,) was stoned to death in the very place where Christ was now speaking. But there he is called the son of Joiada, and not of Barachias. Some conjecture his father might have had both names; and St. Jerome tells us, that in an ancient copy of St. Matthew, called the Gospel of the Nazarenes, he found this Zacharias, of whom our Saviour speaks, called the son of Joiada. (Witham) — St. Jerome gives another reason why he might have been called the son of Barachias, and not the son of Joiada, and this is to commend the sanctity of the father; for Barachias is interpreted the blessed of the Lord. Others suppose that he was the 11th of the 12 prophets; but it is not mentioned that he was slain between the temple and the altar. Some surmise that it was the father of the Baptist, collecting from the apocryphal writings that he was killed for preaching the arrival of the Redeemer: but that he was the son of Joiada, otherwise called Barachias, is the common opinion. (St. Jerome) — That upon you may come, &c. Not that they should suffer more than their own sins richly deserved; but that the justice of God should now fall upon them with such a final vengeance once for all, as might comprise all the different kinds of judgments and punishments, that had at any time before been inflicted for the shedding of just blood. (Challoner)

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Zechariah 1:7 (King James Version)

Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, 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

Do we know how this Zechariah died?

 

[ryanoneil]

Footnote from The New American Bible
Luke11:51 The murder of Abel is the first murder recounted in the Old Testament (Gen 4:8) The Zechariah mentioned here may be the Zechariah whose murder is recounted in (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), the last murder presented in the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament.