Since there are
27 different individuals cited in the OT with the name “Zechariah,” there are
several possibilities for the identity of “Zechariah the son of Berechiah.” (1)
he is the “Zechariah son of Jehoiada” who was murdered by King Joash as
recorded in 2Ch 24:20 22. In 2Ch 24:22 Zechariah states: “May the Lord see and
require it” (or “May the Lord see and avenge”). When compared to the murder of
Abel by Cain which was an incident that the Lord “saw” by Abel’s blood “crying
to the Lord from the ground” (Gn 4:10), and which guilt Mt 23:35 specifies will
come upon the Jews, then it appears Zechariah’s prophecy that his blood will be
“avenged” is fulfilled in Jesus’ confirmation of it in Mt 23:35. The anomaly of
Zechariah being called the “son of Jehoiada” in 2Ch 24:20 can be answered by
the fact that men of Israel were often called more than one name (cf. Ex
3:1/Ex 2:18; cf., 1Sm 9:1 to 1Ch 8:33; cf., Jg 8:29, 32 to 6:32;
7:1; cf. Mt 9:9 to Mk 2:14), although Uriah was the last prophet
martyred (Jr 26:23). (2) that he is Zechariah the priest, the father of John
the Baptist (Lk 1:5 25) who, according to Origen and St. Peter of Alexandria,
as well as the pseudepigraphal work: The Apocalypse of Paul and Protoevangelium
of James, was murdered prior to Jesus’ remarks in Mt 23:35. Jerome, however,
discounted the theory. (3) that he is “Zechariah son of Berechiah” mentioned in
Zc 1:1, 7 (noted as such in DR, KJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, NIV, NAB, and
parenthetically in NJB, JB, with the latter viewing it as a gloss from Is 8:2's
“Zechariah son of Jeberechiah”). According to 1Ed 5:1, Er 5:1; 6:14; Nh 12:16
Zechariah was the son of Iddo, not Berechiah. (It may, however, be implicit
that Berechiah adopted him; or that Iddo was his grandfather.) BHS contains no
textual variant for Zc 1:1,7. The LXX contains: Zacarivan τον του βαραχιου. The
major problem with this solution, however, is that there is no record of the
minor prophet Zechariah being murdered. (Robert A. Sungenis, The Gospel of
St. Matthew: Exegetical Commentary [2d ed.; State Line, Pa.: Catholic
Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2019], 107-8 n. 326)
