Texts in Conversation
Jesus in Luke and Rabbinic tradition in Lamentations Rabbah recall the martyred prophets, connecting their history to the present. Jesus uses Abel and Zechariah as bookends of this history, and the midrash preserves similar stories in Rabbinic tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Luke 11:47
New Testament
47 Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. 48 So you testify that you approve of the deeds of your ancestors because they killed the prophets and you build their tombs! 49 For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50 so that this generation may be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.
Lamentations Rabbah 4:16
Aggadah
Rabbinic
When Nevuzaradan ascended, he saw that the blood of Zekharya was boiling. He said to them: ‘What is this?’ They said to him: ‘It is the blood of bulls and sheep.’ He brought the blood of offerings but it did not resemble it. He brought all kinds of blood but it did not resemble it. He said to them: ‘If you tell me, fine, but if not, I will comb the flesh of these people with iron combs.’ They did not tell him, but once he said that to them, they said to him: ‘What can we hide from you? We had a prophet-priest who would reprimand us in the name of Heaven, but we did not accept it. We rose against him and killed him.’ He said to them: ‘I will assuage him.’ He brought the Great Sanhedrin and slaughtered them onto it, but it did not rest. He slaughtered the lesser Sanhedrin onto it, but it did not rest. He brought young priests and slaughtered them onto it, but it did not rest. He slaughtered schoolchildren onto it, but it did not rest. He bent over it and said: ‘Zekharya, I have eliminated the best of your people, do you wish me to eradicate all of them?’ It immediately rested. At that moment he contemplated repenting and said: ‘If for one who eliminates the life of one person of Israel it is so, this man, who eliminated many lives, all the more so.’ The Holy One blessed be He became filled with mercy and He intimated to the blood, and it was absorbed in its place.
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... There are two specific incidents of 'prophet' martyrdom described in Hebrew Scriptures: the case of Uriah ben Shemaiah (Jeremiah 26:20-24) and that of Zechariah ben Yehoiada (II Chronicles 24:17-22). Only the latter is mentioned by name in the New Testament writings, yet the appellation 'prophet' sits very loosely upon Zechariah for in the Chronicler's text he is identified solely as 'Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest' (II Chronicles 24:20). However, the early Christians had other Jewish sources upon which to draw. Scattered through Talmudic, apocryphal, and pseudepigraphic literature were Jewish legends of several martyrs who were deemed prophets. These legends did not achieve a significant place in rabbinic theology. Nor were they ever compiled in such a manner as to form the basis for a type of literary tradition comparable to that which developed in early Christian literature. Yet the theme of martyred prophets remained a part of Jewish lore sufficient to warrant inclusion in Midrash Aggadah (Numbers 30:15) compiled by Moshe Hadarshan in the eleventh century ..."
Amaru, Betsy H.
The Killing of the Prophets: Unraveling a Midrash
(pp. 153-180) Hebrew Union College Annual, Vol. 54, 1983
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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