Who was King Zechariah in the Bible?

Son and successor of Jeroboam 2, king of Israel. He reigned only six months in B.C. 773. Apparently there was an interregnum of eleven years before he reigned. He did that which was evil before the Lord. He was the fourth in the dynasty of Jehu, and this, according to the word of the Lord, was to be the extent of that house. It was then cut off by Shallum, who smote Zachariah, and reigned in his stead. 2 Kings 14:29; 2 Kings 15:8-12.

Then follows the brief record of Zachariah (The LORD remembers), King of Israel. He became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Uzziah, King of Judah. He was the son of Jeroboam II and the fourth and last ruler of the dynasty of Jehu. Thus was literally fulfilled the Word of The LORD (2 Kings 10:30). His reign lasted only six months. Shallum. assassinated him in public. The murderer occupied the throne only one month. Shallum means "requital." As he did to Zachariah so Menahem did to him. All was now lawlessness in apostate Israel. Departure from God and the true worship came first and that opened the way for moral corruption and lawlessness. The same is true of this present Christian age. It also ends in apostasy, moral corruption and lawlessness. Hosea testified faithfully to these conditions. "And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all"--"They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God, for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them and they have not known the LORD. And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face; therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity, Judah also shall fall with them" (Hosea 5:2-5).

ZECHARIAH REIGNS IN ISRAEL (vv.8-12)

Zechariah was the son of the second Jereboam and he reigned only six months in Israel. He was the fourth in the line of Jehu to reign, and the last, as the Lord had told Jehu (ch.10:30). He continued the evil ways of the kings of Israel before him, and nothing is said in his favour before another Israelite, Shallum, conspired against him and killed him publicly (v.10). Thus Shallum seized the throne for himself.

Comparing the accounts of the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah at this point in history we find an apparent gap of about 11 years between the end of Jeroboam II's reign and the start of his son Zechariah's reign. These were turbulent times in Israel. Scripture does not give us details about all that happened then. It does show us that despite all that may happen in political affairs to earthly rulers, God is in ultimate control, and He keeps His promises. Zechariah, Jehu's great-great-grandson, comes to the throne and reigns for six months.

"In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months." There appears to be (from a comparison of dates) a period unaccounted for, of about eleven years, between Jeroboam's death and the beginning of his son Zachariah's reign. This is not surprising when we see what quickly followed his accession to the throne. "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead."

Anarchy probably prevailed during the above-noted interregnum. Hosea, whose prophecy dates about this time (as regards Israel, see Hosea 1:1), seems to allude frequently to this season of lawlessness and revolution. See his prophecy, chaps. 7:7; 10:3, 7; 13:10 — the last of these reads in the New Translation, "Where then is thy king?" etc. The people were probably unwilling to have Zachariah succeed his father to the throne. He appears to have been quite unpopular with the mass of the nation, for Shallum slew him without fear "before the people." But God has said next to nothing as to this parenthetic period, and we dare not say more. To speculate here would be worse than folly, since God's wisdom has chosen to give us no record of it; and where no useful end is gained, He always hides from the gaze of the curious the sins and errors of His people. Contemporary Scripture-dates, however, show that such an interval must have elapsed between the close of Jeroboam's and the beginning of his son's reign, though God has passed over the interregnum in silence.*

The assassination of Zachariah ended the dynasty of Jehu, five generations in all, and extending over a period of more than a hundred years. But at last God avenged "the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu" (Hosea 1:4). God's eyes were upon "the sinful kingdom" (Amos 9:8), and its sinful kings; and from the time of Jeroboam's death, declension set in, ending, less than seventy years later, in its final overthrow and dissolution. Prophetic ministry was from this time greatly increased. "Such is the way of our gracious God," an unknown writer says, "that when judgment is near to approach, then testimony is multiplied." How much it was needed in Israel the prophecies of Hosea and Amos abundantly testify.

"And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. This was the word of the Lord, which He spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit upon the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass." And thus was it written by the prophet, "At daybreak shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off" (Hosea 10:15, N.Tr.).

"Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria, six months. And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according as his fathers had done.Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people.This was the word of Jehovah.to Jehu saying, Thy sons shall sit upon the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass."

It is remarkable that Hosea, prophesying under the reign of Uzziah, of Jotham, of Ahaz, and of Hezekiah, kings of Judah, mentions only Jeroboam, king of Israel, and passes over his successors, under whom he likewise prophesied, in silence (Hosea 1:1). For him their history seems to stop with Jeroboam, although Zechariah, this latter's son, represented the fourth generation granted the house of Jehu by the Lord (2 Kings 10:30). But Zechariah, the last link of this chain, is in fact already rejected. He reigns only six months, and God turns away from him and his successors, according to His word: "I will not again pass by them any more" (Amos 7:8; Amos 8:2); and according to that which Hosea says: "They have set up kings, but not by me" (Hosea 8:4).

Zechariah did not use the time allotted him to repent! His time was soon up. After six months he was openly assassinated "before the people," by Shallum who had "conspired against him."

Zechariah, the last king descended from Jehu, reigns only six months at Samaria. "And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." If, as we have seen, the godly kings of Judah were lacking in energy to abolish the high places — and how Solomon's negligence in respect to this had borne disastrous results among his successors, accustomed to patterning themselves according to the customs tolerated by the glorious head of their dynasty — those of Israel, by contrast, had walked resolutely in the custom instituted by Jeroboam I. Examples are not wanting in present-day Christendom to characterize these two tendencies. From the moment when, not going back to the pure fountain of the Word of God, Protestant Christendom, at the very time when accepting the scriptural truths proclaimed by the reformers, also accepted certain anti-scriptural dogmas which these had not given up, all was already destined for speedy ruin. From the moment when, walking in the semi-idolatrous religion of the bishops of Rome or of the East, Catholicism forsook the Word of God to substitute its own fables for it, judgment must overtake it. It has been pronounced and will in the near future fall on the great harlot.

Here the final period of usurpations and of assassinations which precede the carrying away of the ten tribes begins, the period of which Hosea, the prophet of Israel, had said: "They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calls unto me" (Hosea 7:7). The heart of the prophet in his lengthy lamentation betrays his anguish concerning Israel. The time had come when God would "visit the blood of Jizreel upon the house of Jehu, and cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease" (Hosea 1:4). The Lord had kept silent about the blood shed by Jehu at Jizreel; He had not spoken of it to anyone, no, not even to guilty Jehu. Contrariwise, it might have seemed to him that when God said to him, "Thou has executed well that which is right in my sight" (2 Kings 10:30), and I shall reward thee, that God was approving all that Jehu had done. Far from it! If the Lord had raised him up for judgment and approved him in that, the time was come when the fleshly guile and the furious violence of this king must find their chastisement. The word of the Lord: "Thy sons shall sit upon the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation" (2 Kings 15:12), had been accomplished as recompense, and now His word was being accomplished in retribution and in righteous judgment. What a God is ours! Who is able, as He is, to weigh in the same balance both the acts He approves of and those He condemns, to reward and to punish them in rendering retribution according to His ways of righteous government?

Shallum conspired against Zechariah, killed him, and reigned in his stead. His crime scarcely benefited him, for at the end of a month he fell beneath the blows of Menahem. We are touching the reason for all these acts of violence: each is wanting to usurp power for his own gain. With conscience no longer lifting up its voice, sinners are delivered up to all the instincts of their evil nature.

THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL commenced when Jeroboam was made king, to whom it was promised that his house should be established if he followed the Lord. He, on the contrary, to prevent the people going to Jerusalem, immediately set up the golden calves at Dan and at Bethel. The kingdom was given up to idolatry, and a series of judgements followed. Baasha murdered Jeroboam's son and successor; and his own son and successor was slain by Zimri; Zimri was killed by Omri, and after a civil war of four years with Tibni, Omri became king and reigned with his successors forty-five years, ending with Jehoram the son of Ahab. He and the survivors of the house of Ahab were slain by Jehu directly or indirectly, and Jehu began the 5th dynasty, B.C. 884. He and his successors reigned, with varying judgements upon them, for a hundred and twelve years. Zachariah was the last, being the fourth successor of Jehu, as God had said, 2 Kings 15:12: he reigned only six months and was murdered by Shallum. During another fifty years the kingdom was spared: but there was no repentance. About B.C. 740 the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan were carried into captivity, and Israel became tributary to Assyria. Hoshea murdered Pekah, and after nine years of anarchy succeeded to the throne. He revolted against Assyria, trusting to Egypt; but Samaria was taken, and Israel carried into captivity. Thus ended the kingdom of Israel, B.C. 721. From about B.C. 784 to 725 Hosea was God's prophet in Israel. He solemnly pleaded with them, protesting against their evil ways, and was ever ready to help them to turn to God, though his efforts were, alas, in vain. 2 Kings 17:13-18; Hosea 13:16; Hosea 14:1-9.