Texts in Conversation
Jesus mentions the blood of Zechariah shed between the temple and the altar in Matthew 23. The Protoevangelium of James adds to the story, with Herod’s soldiers murdering Zechariah for refusing to reveal where his son John is hiding.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 23:34
New Testament
33 “For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, 34 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 35 I tell you the truth, this generation will be held responsible for all these things! 36 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!
Protoevangelium of James 24
Gospel of James
Pseudepigrapha
24 At the time of the salutation, the priests went on their way, but Zacharias didn’t come out to bless them as he usually did. The priests waited for him to offer his greeting during the prayer and to glorify the Most High. When he took too long, they grew nervous. One of them bravely entered the temple and found clotted blood by the altar. He heard a voice say, “Zacharias has been killed, and his blood won’t be cleaned up until his avenger comes.” Frightened, he ran out and told the others. They went in and saw what had happened. The temple’s decorations made a wailing sound, and the priests tore their clothes from top to bottom. Though they didn’t find his body, they saw his blood had turned to stone. Terrified, they went out and told the people that Zacharias had been murdered. All the tribes heard and mourned, grieving for him for three days and nights. After that, the priests met to decide who would replace him, and the lot fell to Simeon, the man who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he wouldn’t die before seeing Christ in the flesh. I, James, who wrote this account in Jerusalem, went into the wilderness when there was unrest after Herod’s death, staying there until things settled down in the city. I glorified the Lord God, who gave me the wisdom and ability to write this story. Grace be with those who fear our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
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Notes and References
“... Since Matthew 23:35 confuses him with Zechariah (the son of Jehoiada the priest) who was stoned to death in the Temple court at the end of the ninth century (2 Chronicles 24:20-21), some have thought that the Lucan “a certain priest named Zechariah” is an imaginative creation based on such a confusion. However, the parallel passage in Luke 11:51 avoids Matthew’s confusion between the prophet and the priest. That this confusion ultimately did enter the picture we see in the Protevangelium of James (23-24) where Herod murders the high priest Zechariah at the altar for refusing to disclose John the Baptist’s hiding place. Origen compounds the confusion with his report that when, after giving birth to Jesus, Mary came to worship in the Temple, Zechariah the priest defended her for daring to stand with the virgins, as a result of which defense he was killed between the Temple and the altar ...”
Brown, Raymond E.
The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke
(p. 258) Doubleday, 1979
* 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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