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Zechariah
Hebrew Prophet Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zechariah
Died c. 6th
century BCE
Occupation Prophet
Known for Author
of the Book of Zechariah
Father Berechiah
(likely)
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Zechariah (/zɛkəˈraɪ.ə/; Hebrew: זְכַרְיָה,
romanized: Zəḵaryā; Arabic: زكريّا,
romanized: Zakaryā; Biblical Greek:
Ζαχαρίας Latin: Zacharias) was a person
in the Hebrew Bible traditionally considered the author of the Book of
Zechariah, the eleventh of the Twelve Minor Prophets.
Zechariah 1:1 depicts the eponymous character as the son of
Berechiah, the son of Iddo. The Book of Ezra instead names Zechariah as the son
of Iddo,[1] Targum Lamentations 2:20 names this Zechariah as a son of Iddo, as
does the book of Matthew 23:35. This is not the same person as Iddo the Seer,
who lived during the reigns of Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijah,[2] and is most
likely the Iddo mentioned in Ezra 8:17.[3]
Zechariah's prophetical career probably began in the second
regnal year of Darius the Great, king of the Achaemenid Empire (520 BCE).[4]
Zechariah's greatest concern appears to have been with the building of the
Second Temple.[4] He features in chapters 18 of the book of Zechariah but he
does not appear in the remaining chapters of the book (chapters 914).[5]
Prophet
The Book of Zechariah introduces him as the son of
Berechiah, the son of Iddo.[6] The Book of Nehemiah identifies him as a
Levitical priest.[7] The Book of Ezra names Zechariah as the son of Iddo,[8]
but it is likely that Berechiah was Zechariah's father and Iddo his
grandfather, a common use of "son" in biblical texts.[4] Targum
Lamentations 2:20 also names this Zechariah "son of Iddo".[citation
needed] This Iddo is not the same person as Iddo the Seer, who lived during the
reigns of Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijah,[9] but is the Iddo mentioned in
Nehemiah 12:4,16, a priest who returned from the Exile with Zerubbabel and
Joshua.[7] Zechariah's name means "Yah remembers".[10]
Zechariah's prophetical career probably began in the second
year of Darius the Great, king of the Achaemenid Empire (520 BCE).[4] His
greatest concern appears to have been with the building of the Second
Temple.[4] He features in chapters 18 of the book of Zechariah but he does not
appear in the remaining chapters of the book (chapters 914).[11]
Liturgical commemoration
On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, his feast day
is 8 February. He is commemorated in the calendar of saints of the Armenian
Apostolic Church on the Tuesday after the fifth Sunday of Pentecost[12] and,
with the other Minor Prophets, on 31 July. The Catholic Church honors him with
a feast day assigned to 6 September.
Zechariah, father of John the Baptist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Personal life
Born 1st century BC
Died 1st century BC
(or early 1st century AD)
Jerusalem (Matthew 23:35), the Levant
Spouse Elizabeth
Children John
the Baptist
Religious life
Religion Abrahamic
religions
Zechariah
Priest, Prophet, Guardian of Mary,
Devotee, Martyr[1]
Venerated in
Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Oriental Orthodox Church
Anglicanism
Lutheranism
Islam
Canonized Pre-Congregation
Feast September 5
Eastern Orthodox
September 5 Lutheran
September 23 Roman Catholic[2]
Zechariah[a] was a Jewish priest mentioned in the New
Testament and as a prophet in the Quran, and venerated in Christianity and
Islam.[3] In the Bible, he is the father of John the Baptist, a priest of the
sons of Aaron in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:6779), and the husband of
Elizabeth who is a relative of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:36). In the Quran, his
story is mentioned in the initial verse of surah Maryam (chapter Mary).
Biblical account
According to the Gospel of Luke, during the reign of King
Herod, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the course of Abia, whose wife
Elizabeth was also of the priestly family of Aaron. The evangelist states that
both the parents were righteous before God, since they were
"blameless" in observing the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
When the events related in Luke began, their marriage was still childless,
because Elizabeth was "barren", and they were both "well
advanced in years" (Luke 1:57).
The duties at the temple in Jerusalem alternated between
each of the family lines that had descended from those appointed by King David
(1 Chronicles 24:119).[4] Luke states that during the week when it was the
duty of Zechariah's family line to serve at "the temple of the Lord",
the lot for performing the incense offering had fallen to Zechariah (Luke
1:811).
The Gospel of Luke states that while Zechariah ministered
at the altar of incense, an angel of the Lord appeared and announced to him
that his wife would give birth to a son, whom he was to name John, and that
this son would be the forerunner of the Lord (Luke 1:1217). Citing their
advanced age, Zechariah asked with disbelief for a sign whereby he would know
the truth of this prophecy. In reply, the angel identified himself as Gabriel,
sent especially by God to make this announcement, and added that because of
Zechariah's doubt he would be struck dumb and "not able to speak, until
the day that these things shall be performed". Consequently, when he went
out to the waiting worshippers in the temple's outer courts, he was unable to
speak the customary blessing (Luke 1:1822). The time this occurred, according
to theologian Adam C. English, "is September 24, based on computations
from the Jewish calendar in accordance with Leviticus 23 regarding the Day of
Atonement."[5]
After returning to his house in "Hebron, in the hill
country of Judah",[6] his wife Elizabeth conceived. After Elizabeth
completed her fifth month of pregnancy, her relative Mary was visited by the
same angel, Gabriel. While still a virgin, Gabriel said to her, "Do not be
afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth
to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 'How will this be,' Mary asked the
angel, 'since I am a virgin?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come on
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be
born will be called the Son of God.'"
Mary then traveled to visit her relative Elizabeth, having
been told by the angel that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy. Mary
remained about three months before she returned to her own house (Luke
1:2345;56).
Elizabeth gave birth, and on the eighth day, when their son
was to be circumcised according to the commandment, her neighbours and
relatives assumed that he was to be named after his father. Elizabeth, however,
insisted that his name was to be John; so the family then questioned her
husband. As soon as Zechariah had written on a writing table: "His name is
John", he regained the power of speech, and blessed "the Lord God of
Israel" with a prophecy known as the Benedictus or "Song of
Zechariah" (Luke 1:5779).
The child grew up and "waxed strong in spirit",
but remained in the deserts of Judζa until he assumed the ministry that was to
earn him the name "John the Baptist" (Luke 1:80; 3:23; Matthew 3:1).
Other Christian traditions
Identification with Zechariah from Matthew
Origen suggested that the Zechariah mentioned in Matthew
23:35 as having been killed between the temple and the altar may be the father
of John the Baptist.[7]
Death
The martyrdom of Zachariah in the Temple during the
Massacre of the Innocents; and the Flight of Elizabeth, as depicted in a
miniature from the Paris Gregory, a 9th-century manuscript codex
The Gospel of James, a 2nd-century apocryphal work,
recounts that, at the time of the massacre of the Innocents, when King Herod
ordered the slaughter of all males under the age of two in an attempt to
prevent the prophesied Messiah from coming to Israel, Zechariah refused to
divulge the whereabouts of his son - who was in hiding, and he was therefore
murdered by Herod's soldiers. This account is also present in subsequent
Eastern Orthodox tradition.
Commemoration
The Catholic Church commemorates him as a saint, along with
Elizabeth, on September 23[2] as it is believed that his temple duty before
John the Baptist's conception took place on the Day of Atonement. He is also
venerated as a prophet in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 5
September. The Armenian Apostolic Church venerates him on September 5th as
well,[8] along with his wife Elizabeth. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates
the feast day of Zechariah on September 5, together with Elizabeth, who is
considered a matriarch. Zechariah and Elizabeth are invoked in several prayers
during the Orthodox Mystery of Crowning (Sacrament of Marriage), as the priest
blesses the newly married couple, saying "Thou who didst... accept
Zechariah and Elizabeth, and didst make their offspring the Forerunner..."
and "...bless them, O Lord our God, as Thou didst Zechariah and
Elizabeth...". In the Greek Orthodox calendar, Zechariah and Elizabeth are
also commemorated on June 24.
Relics veneration
The Tomb of Absalom, built in the 1st century CE in the
Kidron Valley; an inscription added three centuries later claims that it is
Zechariah's tomb.
San Zaccaria, Venice claims to house the relics of
Zechariah, entombed alongside those of Athanasius of Alexandria. Armenians
believe that the Gandzasar monastery in Nagorno-Karabakh contains his relics;
however, his relics were also kept in the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, where
they were brought by the prζfectus urbi Ursus on 4 September, 415.[9]
His relics' uncovering is commemorated by Greek Orthodox
Church on 11 February. Commemoration of his, James and Simeon relics'
translation in 351 occurs on 1 December, and 25 May is the commemoration of
their relics' discovery in 351.[10]
Tomb venerated in Byzantine period
In 2003, a 4th-century inscription on the so-called Tomb of
Absalom, a 1st-century monument in Jerusalem, was deciphered as, "This is
the tomb of Zachariah, the martyr, the holy priest, the father of John."
This suggests to some scholars that it is the burial place of Zechariah the
father of John the Baptist. Professor Gideon Foerster at the Hebrew University
states that the inscription tallies with a 6th-century Christian text by a pilgrim
named Theodosius which states that Zechariah was buried with Simon the Elder
and James the brother of Jesus, and believes that both are authentic.[11][12]
Zias and Puech suggest the inscription may refer to another 'Zekariah'
mentioned by Josephus and the Talmud who was martyred in the time of Vespasian.
They also suggest the inscription casts doubt on the tomb being Absalom's.
Although it was referred to as such in the 1st century, Absalom had lived
centuries earlier.[13]
In Islam
Main article: Zechariah in Islam
Zechariah is also a prophet in Islam, and is mentioned in
the Qur'an as the father of Yaḥyā (John the Baptist). Zechariah is
also believed by some Muslims to have been a martyr. An old tradition narrates
that Zechariah was sawn in half,[14] in a death which resembles that attributed
to Isaiah in Lives of the Prophets.
Unification Church
Unificationist theologian Young Oon Kim wrote, and some
members of the Unification movement believe, that Zechariah was the father of
Jesus, based on the work of Leslie Weatherhead, an English Christian theologian
in the liberal Protestant tradition.[15][16][17]