Zechariah (King of Israel)

Biblical Account

Zechariah was the son of Jeroboam II, king of the northern kingdom of Israel. 2 Kings 14:29 records that Zechariah succeeded to the throne after Jeroboam died. According to 2 Kings 15:8-12, he became king in Samaria in the thirty-eighth year of Azariah (Uzziah), king of Judah, and reigned for six months.

Scripture states that he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. It also records that he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, namely the worship of the golden calves set up at Bethel and Dan. Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, killed him, and reigned in his place. Shallum, however, was himself killed by Menahem after only one month (2 Kings 15:13-14).

Significance Within Scripture

2 Kings 15:12 presents Zechariah's death as the fulfillment of the word given to Jehu: that Jehu's descendants would sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation (2 Kings 10:30). Following Jehu, Jehoahaz, Joash, and Jeroboam II, Zechariah was the fourth generation of Jehu's line to reign, and his death therefore marked the end of the dynasty of Jehu.

After Zechariah's death, the northern kingdom experienced a succession of conspiracies and changes of rulers. This turmoil ultimately led to the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel. The book of Amos, a prophetic book from the same period, declares, "I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword" (Amos 7:9), and this verse is often read in connection with Zechariah's death. The New Testament does not mention this king.

Interpretations and Issues

• Assessment of the dynasty of Jehu: 2 Kings 10:30 commends Jehu for striking the house of Ahab. By contrast, Hosea 1:4 states, "I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu." Interpreters explain the relationship between these two texts in different ways. Some hold that Jehu's act itself was carried out in obedience to a command but that his motives and excesses came under judgment; others hold that the idolatry perpetuated by his descendants was the cause of the judgment.
• Place of the assassination: The Hebrew text of 2 Kings 15:10, as rendered in the Korean Revised Korean Version (New Revised Edition) and in the KJV, says that Shallum "smote him before the people." Some manuscripts of the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) read "at Ibleam" in this passage, and some scholars and translations follow this reading. Ibleam is recorded as being near the place where Jehu struck Ahaziah, king of Judah (2 Kings 9:27).
• Others of the same name: Several different people in the Bible bear the name Zechariah. Examples include the prophet Zechariah, who ministered after the return from exile, and the priest Zechariah the son of Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 24); these are distinct from this king.

In Korean Churches

In Korean Protestant churches, King Zechariah is rarely the subject of a sermon in his own right because his record is brief. He is mainly mentioned in passing during Bible read-through programs or in expository preaching on the books of Kings. In such settings he is often presented as an example of the precise fulfillment of God's word (the four generations of Jehu) or as one episode in the northern kingdom's decline.