the Asherim and the idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. 19Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear. 20And the spirit of God [1]came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he 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. 21And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house
away their faces from the habitation of the LORD." These phrases are a euphemism meaning "to commit apostasy."
the Asherim and the idols] Cp. xiv. 3 (note).
wrath] Heb. qec̣eph; cp. xix. 2 (note). The calamities in question are narrated in vv. 23 ff.
19. he sent prophets] Cp. xxxvi. 15.
to them] Rather, among them.
20—22 (no parallel in 2 Kin.). The Martyrdom of Zechariah son of Jehoiada.
This martyrdom is referred to by our Lord in Luke xi. 51, "from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah who perished between the altar and the house," i.e. "the temple" (cp. Matt. xxiii. 35). As Chronicles is the last book in the Jewish Canon, "From Abel to Zachariah" practically includes the whole Old Testament. In the text of Matt. Zachariah is called "son of Barachiah" either by a confusion with Zechariah the prophet contemporary with Haggai, or, possibly, owing to confusion with a certain Zechariah, son of Berachiah, mentioned in Josephus (B. J. IV. v. 4) as having been murdered in the Temple by the Zealots, circa 67, 68 A.D. (see e.g. Weiss, Schriften des N.T., pp. 376, 377).
20. came upon] Heb. "clothed itself with"; cp. Judg. vi. 34; 1 Chr. xii. 18.
stood above the people] Cp. Jer. xxxvi. 10 (Baruch reads Jeremiah's words from the window of an upper chamber to the people assembled in the court below); Neh. viii. 4 (Ezra reads the Law from a pulpit of wood).
21. in the court) An aggravation of the murder; cp. xxiii. 14. The altar of burnt-offering stood in the court (cp. viii. 12) and the execution (Luke xi. 51) took place between this altar and the Temple itself.
- ↑ Heb. clothed itself with.
