Matthew 23:34

I send unto you] The parallel in St. Luke (which see) has 'Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets,' etc. The prophets, etc., are the apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and other ministers of the Apostolic Church. Observe that here, as in Matthew 13:52, our Lord speaks of Christian ministers under Jewish titles as 'wise men' (i.e. rabbis) and scribes.

35. That upon you] 'The scribes and Pharisees are regarded as the representatives of the people, for whom, as their leaders, they are held responsible' (Meyer). The righteous blood] i.e. the penalty for. shedding it.

Zacharias son of Barachias] Jesus probably said 'Zachariah,' as in St. Luke, without mentioning the father's name, but the evangelist or one of the earliest copyists, who thought it necessary to distinguish among the twentynine Zachariahs of the OT., and understood the canonical prophet to be meant, added the words 'son of Barachias.' There can be no real doubt that the person meant is Zechariah, son of Jehoiada (see 2 Chronicles 24:21), concerning whom there was a Jewish tradition, that his blood could not be removed by washing, but remained bubbling on the ground where it had been shed. In the Jewish arrangement of the books of the sacred Canon, Chronicles stands last, so that Jesus chose His examples from the first and last books of the Jewish Bible.