2 Chronicles 24:20

20. Zechariah the son of Jehoiada The son and successor of the aged priest nobly stood above the people, (that is, took a bold and elevated position before them,) and rebuked their evil ways, and so became a martyr. The memory of this dark crime became fixed in Jewish tradition, and according to the Talmud, the martyrs’ blood continued to bubble, like blood yet warm, upon the pavement of the court, until the temple was destroyed by Nebuzaradan, who, it is said, slew eighty thousand young priests to avenge the blood of Zechariah. This legend shows what a hold the martyrdom of the high priest took upon the Jewish mind. The “Zacharias, son of Barachias,” to whom our Lord referred, is to be identified with this Zechariah. See Matthew 23:35, note. His blood, crying from the ground like that of Abel, was heard yet in Messiah’s day, as if repeating, “The Lord look upon it, and require it.” 2 Chronicles 24:22.

The writer proceeds to show that Joash and his people were speedily punished for their sins by the Syrian invasion, and the king himself soon after fell by the hand of assassins. The remainder of the chapter is to be compared with 2 Kings 12:17-21. One writer supplements the other, though both accounts are brief. The difference in the names of the conspirators (2 Chronicles 24:26) is doubtless owing to a corruption of the text.