ZECHARIAH (zek-a-ri'ah), (Heb. n:71, zek-ar yaw' , whom Jehovah remembers ; Septuagint and New Testament, Zaxaplas, Zacharias), a very common name among the Jews, borne by the fol lowing persons mentioned in Scripture: 1. Son of Jeroboam II, and fourteenth king of Israel. He ascended the throne in B. C. 772, and reigned six months. It has been shown in the article ISRAEL, that from undue deference to a probably corrupted number, which ascribes eleven years to the reign of Jeroboam II, chronologers have found it necessary to suppose anarchy or an interregnum of eleven years, during which his son Zechariah was kept from the throne. But there is no appearance of this in the sacred nar rative, and it was not likely to follow a reign so prosperous as Jeroboam's. The few months of Zechariah's reign just sufficed to evince his in clination to follow the bad course of -his predeces sors; and he was then slain by Shallum (2 Kings xv :8-12), who usurped the crown. With his life ended the dynasty of Jehu (2 Kings xiv:29).
2. The high-priest in the time of Joash, king of Judah (2 Chron. xxiv :20). (B. C. 838.) He was son, or perhaps grandson, of Jehoiada and Jehosheba ; the latter was the aunt of the king, who owed to her his crown, as he did his educa tion and throne to her husband. (See JoAsn.) Zechariah could not bear to see the evil courses into which the monarch eventually fell, and by which the return of the people to their old idolatries was facilitated, if not encouraged. Therefore, when the people were assembled at one of the solemn festivals, he took the oppor tunity of lifting up his voice against the 1-row ing corruptions. This was in the presence of the king, in the court of the Temple. The people were enraged at his honest boldness, and with the connivance of the king, if not by a direct in timation from him, they seized the pontiff, and stoned him to death, even in that holy spot, 'be tween the Temple and the altar.' His dying cry was not that of the first Christian martyr, 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge' (Acts vii:6o), but 'The Lord look upon it, and require it' (2 Chron. XXiV :20-22). It is to this dreadful affair that our Lord alludes in Matt. xxiii :35; Luke
xi:51. At least, this is the opinion of the best interpreters, and that which has most probability in its favor. The only difficulty arises from his being called the son of Barachias, and not of Jehoiada: but this admits of two explanations either that Zechariah, though called the 'son' of Jehoiada in the Old Testament, was really his grandson, and son of Barachias, who perhaps died before his father; or else that, as was not un common among the Jews, Jehoiada had two names, and Jesus called him by that by which he was usually distinguished in his time, when the Jews had acquired a reluctance to pronouncethose names which, like that of Jehoiada, contained the sacred name of Jehovah. (See Doddridge, Le Clerc, Kuinoel, Wetstein, and others, on Matt. xxiii :35.) 3. One 'who had understanding in the visions of God' (2 Chron. xxvi :5-7). It is doubtful whether this eulogium indicates a prophet, or simply describes one eminent for his piety and faith. During his lifetime Uzziah, king of Judah, was guided by his counsels, and prospered: but went wrong when death had deprived him of his wise guidance. Nothing is known of this Zecha riah's history. (B C. 807.) It is possible that he may be the same whose daughter became the wife of Ahaz, and mother of Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxix :t ).
4. Son of Jeberechiah, a person whom, together with Urijah the high-priest, Isaiah took as a legal witness of his marriage with 'the prophetess' (Is. viii:2). This was in the reign of Ahaz, and the choice of the prophet shows that Zechariah was a person of consequence. Some confound him with the preceding; but the distance of time will not admit their identity. He may, however, have been the descendant of Asaph, named in 2 Chron. xxix :13. (B. C. 723.) 5. Chief of the Reubenites when Tilgath-pil neser carried the Jews into captivity (1 Chron. v:6). (B. C. about 74o.) 8. Son of Meshelemiah, or Shelemiah, a Korhite porter at the north gate of the Tabernacle under the arrangement established by David (i Chron. ix:21). (B. C. 1043.) He seems to have had a reputation for wisdom (i Chron. xxvi:2, 14).