Zechariah

Who was Zechariah? The priest who fathered John the Baptist. The Bible gives no number for his age as a father; it says only that he was old.

Age at death
No number given; he was old (The Bible: Luke 1:7, Luke 1:18)
Burial place
Uncertain; Aleppo's Great Mosque by tradition (Tradition)
Manner of death
Not in the Bible; a martyr in tradition (Tradition)
Era
Late 1st century BC (Historical estimate: Luke 1:5)

Zechariah appears in Luke's first chapter as a priest of the division of Abijah who, with his wife Elizabeth, lived righteously before God. As he burned incense in the temple, the angel Gabriel told him that despite his age he would have a son. Because he doubted, he could not speak until the child was born; when he wrote 'His name is John', his tongue was freed and he prophesied, filled with the Holy Spirit. This Zechariah is not the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah who wrote the Old Testament book of Zechariah; about five centuries separate them. Muslims honour this father of John as the prophet Zakariya.

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How old was Zechariah when he became a father?

The Bible gives no number for Zechariah's age, either when he became a father or when he died. It says only that he and his wife Elizabeth were well on in years (Luke 1:7), and Zechariah tells the angel that he is an old man (Luke 1:18). Their son, John the Baptist, was born about six months before Jesus (Luke 1:36).

Where is Zechariah's tomb?

Where Zechariah was buried is not known for certain; Islamic tradition places his grave in the Great Mosque (Umayyad Mosque) of Aleppo in Syria, where a shrine attributed to him stands. The Bible does not say where he was buried. The monument in Jerusalem's Kidron Valley known as the 'Tomb of Zechariah' is usually linked in Jewish tradition to a different man, the priest Zechariah son of Jehoiada.

How did Zechariah die?

The Bible does not say how Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, died. A second-century text outside the Bible, the Protoevangelium of James, says Herod's men killed him in the temple when he would not reveal where his son John was hidden. Islamic tradition tells that he hid inside a tree trunk and was sawn in two together with the tree. Both accounts come from tradition, not Scripture.

When did Zechariah live?

Historians estimate that Zechariah lived in the late first century BC. Luke introduces him as a priest serving in the days of Herod, king of Judea (Luke 1:5). Herod the Great is generally dated to roughly 37 to 4 BC, and his son John is thought to have been born in the last years of that reign. His exact dates of birth and death are unknown.

Is John's father the same Zechariah who wrote the book of Zechariah?

No. The book of Zechariah was written by the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah son of Iddo, who lived under the Persian king Darius at the end of the 6th century BC (Zechariah 1:1). John the Baptist's father was a priest who lived about five hundred years later, in the days of King Herod (Luke 1:5).

Where did Zechariah live?

Luke says Zechariah's home was in a town of Judah in the hill country, where Mary visited Elizabeth (Luke 1:39–40). The town is not named. Church tradition identifies it with Ein Karem, west of Jerusalem, where churches commemorate John's birth and Mary's visit.

Is the Zechariah murdered in the temple, whom Jesus mentions, this Zechariah?

Probably not. The Zechariah whom Jesus describes as killed between the sanctuary and the altar (Matthew 23:35) is, in most interpreters' view, the priest Zechariah son of Jehoiada, stoned in the temple court in the days of King Joash (2 Chronicles 24:20–22). Some early Christian writings, however, connected the saying with John's father.