Matthew 23 Footnotes

23:35 Lk 11:51 identifies the prophet who died in the temple simply as Zechariah, and there is no problem identifying him as the priest Zechariah ben Jehoiada of 2Ch 24:20-22, since 2 Chronicles is the last book of the Hebrew Bible and it records Zechariah crying out for vengeance (Gn 4:10; 2Ch 24:22). But Mt 23:35 says the murdered prophet was the son of Berechiah, which seems to identify him with the author of the book of Zechariah (Zch 1:1). Most understand the reference in Matthew to be a blending of the two Zechariahs that occurred in Jewish tradition. It is possible, however, that Zechariah the priest had a father named Berechiah and that Jehoiada was the name of his grandfather, since Jehoiada died at the age of 130, shortly before the murder of Zechariah (2Ch 24:15). Others suggest that the minor Prophet Zechariah is intended and that he was murdered as described, though there is no evidence for this claim.