A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Jesus’ Life in the Gospels

An angel appeareth to Zacharias, and promises him a son in his old age

Luke 1:1-25

¹ Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

— PHILLIPS

Dear Theophilus Many people have already written an account of the events which have happened among us, basing their work on the evidence of those whom we know were eye-witnesses as well as teachers of the message. I have therefore decided, since I have traced the course of these happenings carefully from the beginning, to set them down for you myself in their proper order, so that you may have reliable information about the matters in which you have already had instruction.

— MSG

So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story’s beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.

² even as they were delivered unto us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word,

— ministers of the word; the term “word” here means the “gospel;” to indicate the second Being of the God family. These eye-witnesses and ministers refer, doubtless, to the seventy disciples, to the original disciples/apostles, and perhaps to other preachers who had gone forth to proclaim the message.

³ it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

— most excellent Theophilus; who “Theophilus” was is unknown, but the word Theophilus means “a friend of God,” or a pious man; and it has been supposed by some that Luke did not refer to any particular “individual,” but to a specific man that feared God;

⁴ that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed.

— ensuring that you might know the certainty of the things which you have been told.

⁵ There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly course of Abijah; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

— there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea; this was Herod, the son of Antipater, sometimes called Herod the Great, and is rightly here said to be the king of Judea;

⁶ And they were both righteous before God, walking blameless in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

— they were righteous before God; their teachings were not polluted by the teachings of Sanballat and the influence of Tobiah, the Ammonite; nor Shemaiah, a self-prefessing prophet, nor Noadiah, a professed prophetess, in the house of God.

⁷ And they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.

— were now well stricken in years; God chooseth this woman, now barren and aged also, to be the mother of John the Baptist, therein working a double miracle; and it is observable in holy writ, that when God denied to any women children for some long time,

— and then opened their wombs, they were the mothers of eminent persons, whom God made great use of. Thus it was with Sarah, Rachel, the wife of Manoah, Hannah, 1 Samuel 1:1-28, and this Elisabeth.

⁸ And it came to pass that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course,

— in the order of his course; this was settled by rotation. Josephus tells us there were a thousand in a course in David’s time; but by the the of Christ, could be greatly reduced;

⁹ according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

— the altar stood just in front of the veil that divided the outer sanctuary from the Holy of Holies;

— the Jews tell us that there were three priests employed about the service of the incense; one who carried away the ashes left on the altar at the preceding service; another who brought a pan of burning coals from the altar of sacrifice and, having placed it on the golden altar, departed; a third, who went in with the incense, sprinkled it on the burning coals, and, while the smoke ascended, made intercession for the people.

¹⁰ And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the time of incense.

— this shows that a more than ordinary concourse of the people was in the Temple on this occasion, from which we may infer that it was a Sabbath, or some high festival; for often on ordinary week-days, few of the people were present at the morning and evening sacrifices.

¹¹ And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

— and there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord; his name is Gabriel, the same angel that had appeared to Daniel, about the time of the evening sacrifice, near five hundred years before and gave him an account of the time of the Messiah’s coming, Daniel 9:21.

¹² And when Zacharias saw him he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

— he was troubled, he was alone in the presence of God; the appearance of the angel was sudden, unexpected and therefore fearful.

¹³ But the angel said unto him, “Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

— his name John; the shortened form for Jehochanan, “the grace of Yehovah.”

¹⁴ And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth.

— and many shall rejoice at his birth; as the neighbours and cousins of his parents did; and not only they, but all others, who, afterwards had knowledge of him as prophet, and as the forerunner of the Messiah.

¹⁵ For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb.

— and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; the child now promised was to grow up as a Nazarite (Numbers 6:4), and to keep that vow all his life, as the representative of those “separated,” of a consecrated life.

¹⁶ And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

— his great work is to go before the Messiah, and to prepare Israel for its King.

¹⁷ And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

— in the spirit and power of Elias; not his miraculous power, for John did no miracle” but his power of “turning the heart,” or with like success in his ministry;

¹⁸ And Zacharias said unto the angel, “Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.”

— for I am an old man; at least sixty years of age; for with the Jews, sixty years were reckoned, “for old age” and a man of these years, was accounted an old man.

¹⁹ And the angel answering said unto him, “I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings.

— I am Gabriel; we again shall meet with him again in Luke 1:26, six months after this, appearing to the virgin Mary, and telling her she should bring forth the Messiah;

— the Targum on Job 25:2 (“Dominion and fear are with Him; He maketh peace in His high places) paraphrases the words thus:

“Michael on the right hand, who is over fire; and Gabriel on the left hand, who is over water; and the holy creatures mingle fire and water, and by his dominion and fear, make peace in his heaven of heavens.

“Dominion” refers to Michael, and “fear” refers to Gabriel. Michael appears as the warrior of God. Gabriel, on the other hand, is the special messenger of good news.

— in the Book of Enoch we read of the names of the four great archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael.

²⁰ And behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words which shall be fulfilled in their season.”

— behold, thou shalt be dumb; the question was answered, the demand for a sign granted, but the demand had implied a lack of faith, and therefore the sign took the form of a penalty. The vision and the words of the angel, harmonising as they did with all Zechariah’s previous convictions, ought to have been enough for him.

²¹ And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple.

— marvelled, wondered; the priest, it is said, was not accustomed to remain in the Temple more than half an hour; having remained on this occasion a longer time, the people became apprehensive of his safety, and wondered what had happened to him.

²² And when he came out, he could not speak unto them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple; for he beckoned unto them and remained speechless.

— a vision; the look of awe, the strange gestures, the unwonted silence, all showed that he had come under the influence of some supernatural power.

²³ And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.

— as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished; though he was both deaf and dumb, he was still able to burn incense, and perform the other duties of his office. He therefore continued at the temple till the time of his ministration was ended; when he returned to his house;

Zacharias’s wife Elisabeth conceives

²⁴ And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,

— hid herself; did not go forth into public, and concealed her condition. This might have been done that she might spend her time more entirely in giving praise to God for his mercies, and that she might have the fullest proof of the accomplishment of the promise before she appeared in public or spoke of the mercies of God.

²⁵ “Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein He looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.”

— to take away my reproach among men; the words express in almost their strongest form the Jewish feeling as to maternity. To have no children was more than a misfortune; it seemed to imply some secret sin which God was punishing with barrenness. So we have Rachel’s cry, “Give me children, or else I die” (Genesis 30:1); and Hannah’s “bitterness of soul” when “her adversary provoked her to make her fret” (1Samuel 1:6-10).

~ by Joel on September 15, 2023.

Posted in Gospel