Matthew 23:35

Matthew 23:35. That upon you may come. The result would be further guilt, filling up the cup of iniquity; the end would be judgment. The inevitableness, suddenness, power, and grandeur of the judgment is intimated.

All the righteous blood, i.e., the punishment for it. Comp. Sam. Matthew 4:13; 2 Kings 21:16, and especially Revelation 18:24.

The blood of Abel the righteous. The first one slain in consequence of the strife between unrighteousness and holiness. ‘The blood of Abel' (Genesis 4:10; Hebrews 12:24; comp. Revelation 6:10), was a symbol of avenging justice, and even the blood of Christ has a condemning office.

Zachariah, the son of Barachiah. Probably the person of that name, whose death under such circumstances is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22. Two difficulties present themselves: 1. This person is said to be the son of ‘Jehoiada,' not of ‘Barachiah.' But as Jehoiada died at the age of 130 (2 Chronicles 24:15), and Zachariah was specially called to be a prophet after his death, the latter was probably a grandson of the former. Matthew, with his usual exactness, inserting the name of the father. Possibly Jehoiada was also called Barachiah. Some think the father's name an insertion by later copyists, who supposed the reference was to Zachariah the prophet, whose father's name was Barachiah (Zechariah 1:1). 2. This was not the last Old Testament martyr; Urijah was murdered afterwards (Jeremiah 26:23). But the book of 2 Chron. stood last in the Hebrew Bible, and the case of Zachariah was a marked one in view of the place ‘between the sanctuary and the altar,' and of his death-cry: ‘The Lord seeth and will avenge it.' As regards the application to other persons, we either have no trustworthy record of their martyrdom (e.g., Zechariah the prophet, Zacharias the father of John the Baptist), or the death took place after this discourse. Our Lord distinctly refers to what occurred in past generations.

Ye slew, i.e.., your nation. In their present conduct they were partakers of the same sin.

Between the sanctuary, i.e., the temple proper, and the altar, which stood in front of it.