Who is King Zachariah in the Bible?

Quick Facts

Father: King Jeroboam II, 2 Kings 15:8
Predecessor: King Jeroboam II, 2 Kings 15:8
Kingdom: Kingdom of Israel, 2 Kings 15:8
Reign:  752 BC
Succession: 14th king
Length of reign: 6 months, 2 Kings 15:8
Successor:  King Shallum, 2 Kings 15:10
Morality: evil king, 2 Kings 15:9
Bible reference: 2 Kings 15:8-12

Zachariah reigns in Israel

The name Zachariah means ‘God has remembered‘. Zachariah, the son and successor of King Jeroboam II, was a fourth-generation son of King Jehu. He became a king because of the promise God made to his great-great-grandfather King Jehu that his descendants to the 4th generation would be kings of Israel (2Ki 10:30). Therefore, after King Jehu came Jehoahaz of Israel, Joash of Israel, King Jeroboam II, and then Zachariah who would be the last of the Jehu dynasty.

Zachariah was the 14th king who reigned in the city of Samaria for only 6 months in the year 752 BC. Zachariah was no better person than the kings before him. He also perpetuated the sins of Jeroboam which is the worship of the two golden calves. Since the time was up for the kingdom to be stripped from the hands of the house of Jehu, Zachariah did not reign for life like his fathers for his life was cut short before death would come naturally.

In the 6th month of Zachariah’s reign, Shallum conspired against him, attacked and killed him in public, and seized the throne of Israel. By and large, the promise was fulfilled that the descendants of King Jehu to the 4th generation reigned as kings over the Kingdom of Israel, after which the kingdom was stripped from them and given to another. (2 Kings 15:12)

God is not rigid. He makes decisions based on the conditions, deeds, and actions of men. Though according to God’s promise, the kingdom was supposed to be stripped from King Zachariah, but if King Zachariah had been prudent enough to commit himself wholeheartedly to the Lord and serve Him only, he would have averted the calamity that befell him.

Contemporaries of Zachariah

King Uzziah had reigned for 38 years when Zachariah became a king. (2Ki 15:8)

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