Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Luke 11:49–51
"There is good reason to believe that the Zechariah Jesus mentions (in both Luke and Matthew’s Gospel) is the martyr “Zechariah son of Jehoiada” from 2 Chronicles 24:20–22. Jesus would be paralleling the first martyr, Abel (Genesis 4:8), with the last martyr in the Old Testament, Zechariah (2 Chronicles 24:22).
Interestingly, in his commentary on Matthew’s Gospel, New Testament scholar John Nolland has noted:
The dying words of the priest Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24:22 (May Yahweh hear and avenge) … match the blood of Abel crying out from the Ground (Gen 4:10). If the right Zechariah has been identified, then the Gospel tradition is probably the earliest indication that, as was true later, 2 Chronicles was placed last in the Hebrew Bible.To end the Old Testament with the book of Chronicles would have been very telling.
Chronicles begins with Adam but focuses on the Davidic reign. Chronicles is a fitting end to the Old Testament because it is still expecting the Davidic King, putting the reader in anticipation of the one who will redeem God’s people.
This was ultimately fulfilled in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 21:5).
It is fitting then that Matthew’s Gospel starts with a genealogy focused on David (Matthew 1:2–17), as the only other book in the Bible to start with a genealogy and have a Davidic focus is Chronicles (1 Chronicles 3:1–24)."
AIG
