Zacher is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Zacher was a man of the tribe of Benjamin, named in the genealogical records preserved in 1 Chronicles. He appears in the section of that book devoted to the descendants of Benjamin, Israel’s youngest son, and he is listed among the family of a man named Abi-gibeon. The genealogy in which his name is found traces the line of Benjamin through several generations, recording the heads of households and their sons who settled in the territory allotted to the tribe.
The passage itself gives no narrative about Zacher. He is not described as a warrior, a judge, a prophet, or a king. He did not perform any deed that Scripture records, and no words of his are preserved. His entire appearance in the Bible is his name in a single list: “And Gedor, and Ahio, and Zacher” (1 Chronicles 8:31). He is named alongside his relatives, and then the record moves on.
What Scripture says of Zacher, then, is simply that he existed, that he belonged to Benjamin, and that he was part of the covenant people of God. The Chronicler, writing after the exile to remind Israel of its roots, included him among those whose place in the tribal inheritance was remembered. His life is summed up in one line of a family record, yet that line was counted worth keeping.
The Name
The name Zacher is a Hebrew name whose precise meaning is not clearly recoverable from the biblical text. It appears only here in the King James Bible, and Scripture itself offers no explanation of it. Some scholars have suggested a connection to a Hebrew root meaning “male” or “memory,” and others have proposed a link to a root meaning “to remember,” but these suggestions are not firmly established, and the evidence is too thin to state a meaning with confidence. What can be said plainly is that the name belonged to a real man of Benjamin, and that its exact sense has been lost to us. It is better to leave the meaning unstated than to invent one.
A Closing Thought
Most of us will never have our deeds recorded in a book that outlasts us. Zacher’s whole legacy in Scripture is one name in one verse, tucked between relatives in a tribal list. Yet God saw fit to preserve it. There is a quiet comfort in that: the Lord does not measure a life by how much of it is remembered by others. A man who lived faithfully in his generation, whose name is known fully only to God, is not forgotten by the One who counts the stars and calls them each by name.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 1 Chronicles 8:31 — And Gedor, and Ahio, and Zacher.