John Calvin Commentary Matthew 23:35

"that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar." — Matthew 23:35 (ASV)

That upon you may come. He not only takes away from them their false boasting, but shows that they had received prophets for a totally different purpose: that no age might be free from the criminality of wicked rebellion. For the pronoun you embraces generally the whole nation from its very commencement.

If it is objected that it is not consistent with the judgment of God that punishment should be inflicted on the children for the sins of the parents, the answer is easy. Since they are all involved in a wicked conspiracy, we should not think it strange if God, in punishing all without reserve, makes the punishment due to the fathers fall upon the children.

Then the whole nation—in whatever age individuals may have lived—is justly called to account, and likewise punished, for this unceasing contempt. For as God, by an uninterrupted course of patience, has unceasingly contended with the malice of the whole people, so the whole people is justly held guilty of the inflexible obstinacy which continued to the very last.

And as every age had conspired to put to death its own prophets, so it is right that a general sentence should be pronounced upon them, and that all the murders, which have been committed with one consent, should be avenged on all.

From the blood of Abel. Though Abel (Genesis 4:8) was not slain by the Jews, yet the murder of Abel is imputed to them by Christ, because there is an affinity of wickedness between them and Cain. Otherwise there would have been no propriety in saying that righteous blood had been shed by that nation from the beginning of the world. Cain is therefore declared to be the head, and leader, and instigator of the Jewish people, because, ever since they began to slay prophets, they took the place of him whose imitators they were.

To the blood of Zechariah. He does not speak of Zechariah as the latest martyr, for the Jews did not then put an end to the murder of the prophets. On the contrary, their insolence and madness increased from that period, and posterity, who followed them, satiated themselves with the blood which their fathers only tasted. Nor is it because his death was better known, though it is recorded in Scripture.

But there is another reason, which, though it deserves attention, has escaped the notice of commentators; in consequence of which they have not only fallen into a mistake, but have also involved their readers in a troublesome question.

We might suppose it to have arisen from forgetfulness on Christ's part that, while He mentions one ancient murder, He passes by a prodigious slaughter which afterwards took place under Manasseh. For until the Jews were carried to Babylon, their wicked persecutions of holy men did not cease; and even while they were still under affliction, we know with what cruelty and rage they pursued Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:2).

But our Lord deliberately abstains from reproaching them with recent murders and selects this murder, which was more ancient—which was also the commencement and source of base licentiousness, and afterwards led them to break out into unbounded cruelty—because it was more suitable to His design.

For I have recently explained that His leading object was to show that this nation, as it did not desist from impiety, must be held guilty of all the murders which had been committed during a long period. Therefore, He not only denounces the punishment of their present cruelty, but says that they must be called to account for the murder of Zechariah, as if their own hands had been stained with his blood.

There is no probability in the opinion of those who refer this passage to that Zechariah who exhorted the people, after their return from the Babylonian captivity, to build the temple (Zechariah 8:9), and whose prophecies still exist. For though the title of the book informs us that he was the son of Barachiah (Zechariah 1:1), yet we nowhere read that he was slain. It is a forced interpretation to say that he was slain during the period that intervened between the building of the altar and of the temple.

But as to the other Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, the sacred history relates what agrees perfectly with this passage: that when true religion had fallen into decay after his father's death, through the wicked revolt of the king and of the people, the Spirit of God came upon him to reprove severely the public idolatry, and that on this account he was stoned in the porch of the temple (2 Chronicles 24:20–21).

There is no absurdity in supposing that his father Jehoiada received, as a token of respect, the surname of Barachiah, because, having throughout his whole life defended the true worship, he might justly be pronounced to be the Blessed of God. But whether Jehoiada had two names, or whether (as Jerome thinks) there is a mistake in the word, there can be no doubt that Christ refers to that impious stoning of Zechariah which is recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:21–22.

Whom you slew between the temple and the altar. The crime is rendered still more heinous by the circumstance of the place, since they did not revere the sacredness of the temple. Here the temple is put for the outer court, as in other passages. Near it was the altar of burnt offerings (1 Kings 8:64; 1 Kings 18:30), so that the priest offered the sacrifices in the presence of the people. It is evident, therefore, that there must have been furious rage, when the sight of the altar and of the temple could not restrain the Jews from profaning that sacred place by a detestable murder.