Zechariah ( he, זְכַרְיָה ''Zəḵaryāh'', meaning "remembered by Yah"; also ''Zachariah'', ''Zacharias''; la, Zacharias) was the fourteenth king of the northern

Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

Kingdom of Israel, and son of

Jeroboam II Jeroboam II ( he, יָרָבְעָם, ''Yāroḇə‘ām''; el, Ἱεροβοάμ; la, Hieroboam/Jeroboam) was the son and successor of Jehoash (alternatively spelled Joash) and the thirteenth king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, over which ...

. Zechariah became king of Israel in

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first- ...

in the thirty-eighth year of Azariah, king of Judah. ()

William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891– September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars." ...

has dated his reign to 746 BC – 745 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 753 BC – 752 BC.Edwin Thiele, ''

The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings'' (1951) is a reconstruction of the chronology of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah by Edwin R. Thiele. The book was originally his doctoral dissertation and is widely regarded as the definitive work on ...

'', (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). , 9780825438257 The account of his reign is briefly told in ''

2 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...

'' (). According to the Bible, Zechariah did what was evil in the Lord's sight, as the previous kings of Israel since

Jeroboam I Jeroboam I (; Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇə‘ām''; el, Ἱεροβοάμ, Hieroboám) was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The Hebrew Bible describes the reign of Jeroboam to have commenced following a revolt of the ten northern I ...

had done. Zechariah ruled Israel for only six months before

Shallum Shallum ("retribution") was the name of several people of the Old Testament. Shallum of Israel King of Israel. Alternative name of Jehoahaz King of Judah Son of Tikvah Keeper of the temple-wardrobe in the reign of Josiah (2 Kings 22:14) and h ...

, a captain from his own army, murdered him and took the throne. This ended the dynasty of

Jehu ) as depicted on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III , succession = King of Northern Israel , reign = c. 841–814 BCE , coronation = Ramoth-Gilead, Israel , birth_date = c. 882 BCE , death_date = c. 814 BCE , burial_place = ...

after four generations of his descendants, fulfilling the

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or prete ...

in .

References

{{Authority control 8th-century BC Kings of Israel 8th-century BC murdered monarchs 752 BC deaths Biblical murder victims Omrides House of Jehu Dethroned monarchs Male murder victims