King Joash Has God's Prophet Stoned to Death in the Temple Courtyard
The priest Jehoiada — who had saved King Joash as an infant and placed him on the throne — is dead. Now his son Zechariah stands before the people with a word from God: 'You have abandoned the Lord, and he has abandoned you.' King Joash commands the people to stone Zechariah in the courtyard of the temple. They do. As Zechariah dies he says: 'May the Lord see and avenge.' This is the same king whose life Jehoiada had saved. The text notes — with quiet devastation — that Joash did not remember the kindness shown him. Jesus would cite Zechariah's death eight centuries later as the final act in a long sequence of prophetic martyrdoms.
King Joash Has God's Prophet Stoned to Death in the Temple Courtyard
Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah, of Beersheba.