As might well be expected, the stimulus for this inquiry is the apparent confusion of two different men named Zechariah in two of our synoptic gospels:
Luke 11.49-51: 49 “For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’”
There are almost certainly two, and up to possibly four, different men being conflated in these parallel passages.
First (1), there is Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, whom Joash murdered in the temple court:
Lives of the Prophets 23.1-2: 1 Zecheriah was from Jerusalem, son of Jehoiada the priest. And Joash the king of Judah killed him near the altar, the house of David thus poured out his blood in front of the porch, and the priests took him and buried him with his father. 2 From that time on visible portents occurred in the temple, and the priests were no longer able to see a vision of the angels of God, or to give oracles from the Dauber, or to inquire by the Ephod, or to answer the people through the Urim as formerly. / 1 Ζαχαρίας ἐξ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, υἱὸς Ἰωδαὲ τοῦ ἱερέως, ὃν ἀπέκτεινεν Ἰωὰς ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰούδα ἐχόμενα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, καὶ ἐξέχεεν τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ὁ οἶκος Δαυὶδ ἀνὰ μέσον ἐπὶ τοῦ αἰλάμ· καὶ λαβόντες αὐτὸν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ· 2 ἔκτοτε ἐγένοντο τέρατα ἐν τῷ ναῷ φαντασίας, καὶ οὐκ ἴσχυον οἱ ἱερεῖς ἰδεῖν ὀπτασίαν ἁγγέλων Θεοῦ, οὔτε δοῦναι χρησμοὺς ἐκ τοῦ δαβεὶρ, οὔτε ἐπωτῆσαι ἐν τῷ ἐφοὺδ, οὔτε διὰ δήλων ἀποκριθῆναι τῷ λαῷ ὡς τὸ πρίν.
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Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 57b: 57b R. Hiya b. Abin said in the name of R. Joshua b. Korhah: An old man from the inhabitants of Jerusalem told me that in this valley Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard killed two hundred and eleven myriads, and in Jerusalem he killed ninety-four myriads on one stone, until their blood went and joined that of Zechariah, to fulfil the words, Blood toucheth blood. He noticed the blood of Zechariah bubbling up warm, and asked what it was. They said: It is the blood of the sacrifices which has been poured there. He had some blood brought, but it was different from the other. He then said to them: If you tell me [the truth], well and good, but if not, I will tear your flesh with combs of iron. They said: What can we say to you? There was a prophet among us who used to reprove us for our irreligion, and we rose up against him and killed him, and for many years his blood has not rested. He said to them: I will appease him. He brought the great Sanhedrin and the small Sanhedrin and killed them over him, but the blood did not cease. He then slaughtered young men and women, but the blood did not cease. He brought schoolchildren and slaughtered them over it, but the blood did not cease. So he said; Zechariah, Zechariah. I have slain the best of them; do you want me to destroy them all? When he said this to him, it stopped. Straightway Nebuzaradan felt remorse. He said to himself: If such is the penalty for slaying one soul, what will happen to me who have slain such multitudes? So he fled away, and sent a deed to his house disposing of his effects and became a convert. ....
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 96b: 96b .... Raba said: Nebuchadnezzar sent Nebuzaradan three hundred mules laden with iron axes that could break iron, but they were all shattered on a single gate of Jerusalem, for it is written, And now they attack its gate [lit., ‘door’] together: with axes and hammers they smite. He desired to return, but said, ‘I am afraid lest I meet the same fate which befell Sennacherib.’ Thereupon a voice cried out, ‘Thou leaper, son of a leaper, leap, Nebuzaradan, for the time has come for the Sanctuary to be destroyed and the Temple burnt.’ He had but one axe left, so he went and smote [the gate] with the head thereof, and it opened, as it is written, A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. He hewed down [the Jews] as he proceeded, until he reached the Temple. Upon his setting fire thereto, it sought to rise up, but was trodden down from Heaven, as it is written, The Lord hath trodden down the virgin daughter of Judah [the Temple] as in a winepress. His mind was now elated [with his triumph], when a voice came forth from Heaven saying to him, ‘Thou hast slain a dead people, thou hast burned a Temple already burned, thou hast ground flour already ground, as it is written, Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers:’ not ‘wheat’ but meal is said. [After that] he saw the blood of Zechariah seething. ‘What is this?’ cried he. ‘It is the blood of sacrifices, which has been spilled,’ they answered. ‘Then,’ said he, ‘bring [some animal blood] and I will compare them, to see whether they are alike.’ So he slaughtered animals and compared them, but they were dissimilar. ‘Disclose [the secret] to me, or if not, I will tear your flesh with iron combs,’ he threatened. They replied: ‘This is [the blood of] a priest and a prophet, who foretold the destruction of Jerusalem to the Israelites, and they killed him.’ ‘I,’ said he, ‘will appease him.’ So he brought the scholars and slew them over him, yet it did not cease [to boil]. He brought schoolchildren and slew them over him, still it did not rest; he brought the young priests and slew them over him, and still it did not rest, until he had slain ninety four thousand, and still it did not rest. Whereupon he approached him and cried out, ‘Zechariah, Zechariah, I have destroyed the flower of them: dost thou desire me to massacre them all?’ Straightway it rested. Thoughts of repentance came into his mind: if they, who killed one person only, have been so [severely punished], what will be my fate? So he fled, sent his testament to his house, and became a proselyte. ....
James H. Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2, page 398 (concerning chapter 23 of Lives of the Prophets): The Midrash on Lamentations, Midrash Rabbah, ed. H. Freedman and M. Simon (10 vols.; London, 1939) vol. 7, p. 226, stresses that the murder occurred in the Court of the Priests, not the Court of Israel or the Court of Women.
Second (2), there is Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo:
Lives of the Prophets 15.1-6: 1 Zechariah came from Chaldea when he was already well advanced in years, there he prophesied many things to the people, and gave portents as proof. 2 This man told Jozadak that he would beget a son, and that he would serve as priest in Jerusalem, 3 and also pronounced a blessing upon Shealtiel at the birth of his son, and named him Zerubabel. 4 And concerning Cyrus he gave a portent of his victory, and prophesied concerning the service, which he was to perform for Jerusalem, and he blessed him greatly. 5 His prophecies in Jerusalem were based on his visions about the end of the Gentiles, and of Israel and the temple, and the laziness of the prophets and priests. And he set forth a twofold judgment, 6 and he died when he had attained a great age, and when he expired he was buried near Haggai. / 1 Ζαχαρίας ἦλθεν ἀπὸ Χαλδαίων ἤδη προβεβηκὼς καὶ ἐκεῖ πολλὰ τῷ λαῷ προεφήτευσε· καὶ τέρατα ἔδωκεν εἰς ἀπόδειξιν. 2 οὗτος εἶπε τῷ Ἰωσεδέκ, ὅτι γεννήσει υἱὸν καὶ ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἱερατεύσει· 3 οὗτος καὶ τὸν Σαλαθιὴλ ἐφ᾽ υἱῷ εὐλόγησε καὶ ὄνομα Ζοροβάβελ ἐπέθηκε. 4 καὶ ἐπὶ Κύρου τέρας ἔδωκεν εἰς νῖκος καὶ περὶ τῆς λειτουργίας αὐτοῦ προηγόρευσεν, ἣν ποιήσει ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ ηὐλόγησεν αὐτὸν σφόδρα. 5 τὰ δὲ τῆς προφητείας ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ περὶ τέλους ἐθνῶν καὶ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ ἀργίας προφητῶν καὶ ἱερέων καὶ περὶ διπλῆς κρίσεως ἐξέθετο. 6 καὶ ἀπέθανεν ἐν γήρει μακρῷ καὶ ἐκλιπὼν ἐτάφη σύνεγγυς Ἀγγαίου.
This second Zechariah was confused with the first Zechariah in one extant manuscript of the Lives of the Prophets:
Charles Cutler Torry, The Lives of the Prophets: Greet Text and Translation, page 31, note 76: E1, which after the Twelve Minor Prophets has only Elijah and Elisha, introduces the life of this Zechariah [ben Jehoiada] as the second half of the biography of Zechariah ben Iddo.
Third (3), there is Zechariah the father of John the Baptist:
This passage seems to pick up on the murder of the first Zechariah above by Joash the king.
Fourth (4), there is Zechariah the son of Baruch. Josephus writes of him (Ζαχαρίας υἱὸν Βάρεις) in Wars 4.5.4 §334-344. According to Josephus, the zealots slew him in the temple during the Roman siege before throwing his body from the temple into the ravine below. At least the potential for confusion with Zechariah the son of Berechiah is obvious:
בָּרוּךְ = Baruch = "blessed one"
בֶּרֶכְיָה = Berechiah = "blessed of Yahweh"
Both come from ברך, "to bless."
Just another example of how easily people bearing the same or similar names could be confused in antiquity (and even in modernity, for that matter).
Ben.