In the Bible, Saint Zechariah (Zachary in the Douay-Rheims Bible, or Zacharias in the King James Version of the Bible), was the father of John the Baptist.
Biblical account
According to the Gospel of Luke, Zechariah was a priest of the line of Abijah, during the reign of King Herod the Great, and husband of Elizabeth, a woman from the priestly family of Aaron. The parentage of John the Baptist is not recorded in the other Gospels. The evangelist states that both the parents were righteous before God, since they were blameless in observing the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. When the events related in Luke commenced, their marriage was still childless, because Elizabeth was barren and, like her husband, was advanced in years (Luke 1:5-7). The duties at the temple in Jerusalem alternated between each of the families that had descended from those appointed by King David (1 Chronicles 23:1-19). The offering of incense was one of the most solemn parts of the daily worship, and owing to the large number of eligible priests, no priest could hope to perform the task more than once during his lifetime. Luke states that during the week when it was the duty of his family to serve at the temple in Jerusalem, the lot for performing the incense offering had fallen to Zechariah. The evangelist states that while Zechariah ministered at the golden altar of incense, an angel of God announced to him that his wife would give birth to a son, whom he was to name John, and that this son would be the forerunner of the long-expected Messiah (Luke 1:12-17). Citing their advanced age, Zechariah asked for a sign whereby he would know the truth of this prophecy. In reply, the angel identified himself as the Archangel Gabriel, especially sent by God to make this announcement, and added that because of Zechariah's doubt he would be struck dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things happen. Consequently, when Zechariah went out to the waiting worshippers, he was unable to pronounce the customary blessing (Luke 1:18-22). On his return home Elizabeth duly conceived. Eight days after she gave birth, when their son was to be circumcised according to Jewish tradition, their family members and neighbours assumed that he was to be named after his father, as was the custom. Elizabeth, however, insisted that his name was to be John, and so the family then questioned her husband. As soon as Zechariah had written on a writing tablet: His name is John, he regained the power of speech, and praised God with a prophecy known as the Benedictus (Luke 1:57-79). The child grew up and became strong in spirit, but remained in the desert of Judaea (Luke 3:2-3, cf. Matthew 3:1) until he assumed his ministry (Luke 1:80) that was to earn him the name John the Baptist (sometimes translated Baptizer).
Other Christian traditions
Matthew 23:35 suggests the manner of Zechariah's death, although the reference may be to another Zechariah. Christian tradition holds that, at the time of the massacre of the Innocents, Zechariah refused to divulge the whereabouts of his son (who was in hiding), and he was therefore murdered by Herod's soldiers. This is also recorded in the Infancy Gospel of James, a non-canonical work from the second century. He is commemorated along with St. Elizabeth on November 5 in the Roman Catholic Church, as a prophet in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on September 5, as in the Eastern Orthodox church, the same day as his wife Elizabeth, who is considered as a matriarch.
In Islam
Islam also believes in the historical existence of Zechariah as the father of John the Baptist, and Muslims regard him as one of the Prophets of Islam. In Islam his name is commonly spelled Zakariya.
| Prophets of Islam in the Qur'an | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam | Idris | Nuh | Hud | Saleh | Ibrahim | Lut | Ismail | Is'haq | Yaqub | Yusuf | Ayub |  |
|
| آدم | إدريس | نوح | هود | صالح | إبراهيم | لوط | إسماعيل | اسحاق | يعقوب | يوسف | أيوب | ||
| Adam | Enoch | Noah | Eber | Shelah | Abraham | Lot | Ishmael | Isaac | Jacob | Joseph | Job | ||
|
|
|||||||||||||
| Shoaib | Musa | Harun | Dhul-Kifl | Daud | Sulayman | Ilyas | Al-Yasa | Yunus | Zakariya | Yahya | Isa | Muhammad | |
| شعيب | موسى | هارون | ذو الكفل | داود | سليمان | إلياس | إليسع | يونس | زكريا | يحيى | عيسى | محمد | |
| Jethro | Moses | Aaron | Ezekiel | David | Solomon | Elijah | Elisha | Jonah | Zechariah | John | Jesus | Paraclete |
|
This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.
