2 Crônicas 24

2 Crônicas 24

Meyer - 2 Chronicles 24:20 The Spirit of God clothed itself with Zechariah the son of Jehoiada. (R. V. marg.) As we put on a cloak or dress, so does the Spirit of God, as it were, hide Himself in those who surrender themselves to Him, so that it is not they who speak and act, but He within them. Have you at any time been conscious of having the clothing of the Holy Spirit? Remember that cloth or leather must yield itself easily to the movements of its wearer, and not less pliable and supple must we be to the Spirit of God. When the Spirit of God is thus within us, and speaks or acts for us, we may expect, as Zechariah found it, to come into collision with the entire drift and current of society around us, and to incur odium and hatred. Men do not like to be told that they cannot prosper because they have forsaken God; but we have no alternative than to witness against their sins. Does the Spirit clothe Himself with you, my friend, as you anticipate the work of to-day? Are you using Him, or is He to use you? Are you seeking to clothe yourself with His power for some personal ambition, or are you desirous that He should array Himself in you, so that the glory may evidently be His? In the agony of battle; when great deeds are to be done, no one stops to think of the uniform of the soldier, but only of the might beneath it. But for this you must be prepared to pay the cost, and be willing to cross the cherished purposes of men, as the Spirit of God by your voice or deed witnesses against them. They stoned Zechariah at the command of the king; but years after the Lord Jesus referred to it, for no faithful martyr seals his witness with his blood without some quick glance of recognition from the Master, and some record on the imperishable tablets of his heart. Gleason Archer - How could Zechariah son of Berechiah bethe last of the martyrs? And wasn’t he really the son of Jehoiada? In Matthew 23:34-35, Jesus says to the scribes and Pharisees who are plotting His death, “Therefore behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, . . . that upon you mayfall all the righteous blood shed onearth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the sonof Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” It is generally supposed that Jesus was actually referring to Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, who was stoned to death in the court of the temple at the order of King Joash, because Zechariah had the temerity to rebuke the government and the citizenry for their cultivation of idolatry. This is recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22. But once this apparent error concerning the name of the martyr’s father has been explained away as a textual error, then it is observed that Zechariah ben Jehoiada, who died 800 b.c., was by no means the last of the Old Testament martyrs; hence he makes a poor balance to Abel, who certainly was the first. The obvious solution is to start all over again and assume that Matthew 23:25 correctly reports the words of Jesus, and that He knew what He was talking about. If so, then we discover that the Zechariah He was referring to was indeed the son of Berachiah (not Jehoiada), and that he was indeed the last of the Old Testament martyrs mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. In other words, Christ is recalling to His audience the circumstances of the death of the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah (Zech. 1:1), whose ministry began around 520 and ended a bit later than 480 b.c. The Old Testament contains no record of events during the first few decades of the fifth century b.c. until about 457, the date of Ezra’s return to Jerusalem. But it may very well have been that sometime between 580 and 570 Zechariah the prophet was martyred by a mob in much the same way Zechariah the son of Jehoiada was some three centuries earlier. Since Jesus referred to Zechariah as the last of the Old Testament martyrs, there can be no legitimate doubt that it was the eleventh of the twelve minor prophets He had in mind. Therefore we can only conclude that the later Zechariah died in much the same way the earlier one did, as a victim of popular resentment against his rebuke of their sins. Since there are about twenty-seven different individuals mentioned in the Old Testament bearing the name Zechariah, it is not surprising if two of them happened to suffer a similar fate. In other words, if we take Matthew 23:35 just as it stands, it makes perfect sense in its context; and it offers no contradiction to any known and established facts of history. In the absence of any other information as to how the prophet Zechariah died, we may as well conclude that Jesus has given us a true account of it and add him to the roster of the noble martyrs of biblical times. 2 Chronicles 24:21 So they conspired against him and at the command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the LORD. conspired: Jer 11:19 18:18 38:4-6 stoned him: Mt 21:35 Mt 23:34-37 Ac 7:58-59 Related Passages: Matthew 23:34-37+ (“Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 “Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. (NOTE: MANY THINK JESUS IS REFERRING TO ZECHARIAH'S STONING HERE IN 2 CHRONICLES BECAUSE THAT IS THE LAST BOOK IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. THUS ABEL TO ZECHARIAH WOULD ENCOMPASS THE ENTIRE OT.) Acts 7:58-59+ When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” CONSPIRACY AND STONING OF PROPHET ZECHARIAH So - Term of conclusion. This is a bad conclusion reached by these sinful Judeans who failed to heed God's Word through Zechariah. This verse records one of the darkest moments in Judah’s history—the murder of a prophet inside the very place meant for worship. They conspired against him - Having deliberately rejected the Words of Truth, they now conspire. This is a sad commentary of Judea. This was not a spontaneous act of rage. The word conspired indicates premeditation and collective agreement. The leaders and people did not merely disagree with the prophet’s message—they decided to silence it. Conviction turned into hostility, and warning turned into threat. Their conspiracy reveals that their hearts were hardened spiritually and that truth was no longer tolerated. And at the command of the king - This is very difficult to believe that someone could drift so deeply into the abyss of sin that they would willfully command the murder of the son of the man who had protected their own life for 7 years and then instructed them in the Torah until their death! This despicable act marks Joash’s complete spiritual reversal from protector of the temple to persecutor of God’s prophet in the Temple and from reformer to rebel and covenant breaker. They stoned him to death - The king commanded and the people obeyed. Stoning was the prescribed punishment for blasphemy or apostasy under the Law. Ironically, Judah uses a lawful execution method to commit an unlawful act. The prophet who called them back to obedience is executed as though he were the offender. This is a tragic, profound inversion of justice. It demonstrates how depraved one can become when they willfully reject the truth of God's Word! This is a frightening verse because even believers still have the ugly, evil sin nature lurking in their mortal bodies! In the court of the house of the LORD (Temple) - The location intensifies their heinous crime. The temple courts were a place of animal sacrifice not human murder. To spill innocent blood there was the highest act of sacrilege. The irony is that this murder was commited in the very house recently restored to honor God thus defiling the Temple with the blood of God’s messenger.