A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

The angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary

Luke 1:26-56

²⁶ And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

— unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth; a small city in the tribe of Zebulon, now reduced to a very low and contemptible condition, Matthew 2:23.

— Nazareth; the whole region of Galilee was mean and contemptible with the Jews: they observe, though through mistake, that no prophet arose out of it, John 7:52 and Nazareth particularly was exceeding despicable in their eye: hence those words of Nathanael, “can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46.

²⁷ to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

— a virgin; this word properly means a girl, maiden, virgin, a young woman who is unmarried, virgins “being covered and unknown to men;” the meaning that it does not differ from that word as used by us today;

— and the virgin’s name was Mary; a name frequent among the Jews, and the same with Miriam; of which name was the sister of Moses and Aaron;

— a sign fulfilled in Isaish 7:14; a pledge; a token; an evidence of the fulfillment of what is predicted. The word does not, of necessity, denote a miracle, and if it is so applied miraculously, it gives more legitimacy to the sign;

— to conceive a child, who is presently expressly called, “the Child, the Son, Wonderful, the mighty God,”(Isaiah 9:6).

²⁸ And the angel came in unto her and said, “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.”

— the angel Gabriel assured Mary that she had found favour with God, and would become the mother of a son whose name she should call Jesus, the Son of the Highest, one in a nature and perfection with the Lord God.

²⁹ And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast about in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

— troubled at his saying; disturbed or perplexed at what he said. It was so unexpected, so sudden, so extraordinary, and was so high an honor, that she was filled with anxious thoughts, and did not know what to make of it.

³⁰ And the angel said unto her, “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.

— fear not, Mary; do not be alarmed at this appearance of an angel; he only comes to announce to you good tidings. Similar language was addressed by an angel to Joseph, Matthew 1:20.

³¹ And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus.

— and shalt call his name Jesus: the angel saith the same to Joseph, Matthew 1:21, and expounds it, adding, for he shall save his people from their sins; and thus the prophet expounds it, who saith, Isaiah 7:14, his name should be called Immanuel.

³² He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David,

— he shall be great. Isaiah had said, Isaiah 9:6, his name shall be called Wonderful, mighty both in words and deeds, Luke 24:19.

³³ and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.”

— over the house of Jacob; the house of Jacob means the same as the family of Jacob, or the twelve tribes of Israel, that is, all the posterity of Jacob.

³⁴ Then said Mary unto the angel, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”

— Mary’s question shows that she understood the angel to speak of the birth as antecedent to her marriage, and she, accepting the words in faith, does not demand a sign, but reverently seeks to know the manner of their accomplishment.

³⁵ And the angel answered and said unto her, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that Holy Being who shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

— the Holy Ghost; who is also called here the power of the Highest, shall come upon thee;

³⁶ And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth: she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

— thy cousin Elizabeth; the case of Elizabeth is mentioned to inspire Mary with confidence, and to assure her that what was now promised would be fulfilled. It was almost as improbable that Elizabeth should have a child at her time of life, as it was that Mary should under the circumstances promised.

³⁷ For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

— he is the Almighty, “There is nothing too hard for thee,” Jeremiah 32:17; otherwise he wouldn’t be Omnipotent;

³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” And the angel departed from her.

— and Mary said, Behold the handmaid; this was an expression of resignation to the will of God, and of faith in the promise; to be the “handmaid of the Lord” is to be submissive and obedient and is the same as saying, “I fully credit all that is said, and am perfectly ready to obey all the commands of the Lord.”

Elisabeth, saluted by Mary, prophesieth

³⁹ And Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah,

— the hill country, a city of Judah; the description is too vague to be identified with any certainty. The form of the proper noun is the same as that in “Bethlehem, of the land of Juda,” in Matthew 2:6.

⁴⁰ and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth.

— entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth; no mention of Zacharias; either because he was not at home; or because he was deaf and dumb and could neither hear her salutation; or because it was not usual for women to salute men, nor men to salute women;

⁴¹ And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.

— Elizabeth was filled with God’s spirits; the evidence of this seems to be that she was filled with joy; with a prophetic spirit or a knowledge of the character of the child that should be born of her. All these were produced by the spirit from God.

⁴² And she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

— blessed art thou among women; here Mary repeated nearly the words of the angel Gabriel to her, esteeming it to be the highest honor among mothers to be the mother of the Messiah;

⁴³ And why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

— to be a mother of my Lord; the word “Lord” sometimes denotes “divinity,” and sometimes superior, master, teacher or governor.

— and whence such an honour is done to me, that besides being favoured with a child, the mother of my Lord should come to me?

⁴⁴ For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

— Mary, animated by Elisabeth’s address, and being also under the influence of the Holy Spirits, broke out into awe, joy and gratitude.

45 And blessed is she that believed; for there shall be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

— blessed is she that believed; that is, “Mary” who believed what the angel spoke to her. She was blessed not only in the act of believing, but because the thing promised would certainly be fulfilled.

Mary’s song of thanksgiving

⁴⁶ And Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord,

— my soul doth magnify the Lord; to “magnify” means to “make great,” and then to “extol,” to “praise,” to “celebrate.”

⁴⁷ and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.

— and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour; which may be understood, either of God the Father, who was her Saviour, both as the God of nature and providence; so renders it, “in God that gives me life” and who had supported, maintained and preserved her life;

⁴⁸ For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

— all generations shall call me blessed; the words have of course, been partly instrumental in bringing about their own fulfilment; but what a vision of the future they must have implied then on the part of the village maiden who uttered them! Not her kinsman only, but all generations should join in that beatitude.

⁴⁹ For He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is His name.

— he that is mighty; beyond all our conceptions, even the Almighty God, to whom this strange event is not only possible, but easy; hath done to me great things — Miracles,

⁵⁰ And His mercy is on them that fear Him, from generation to generation.

— those that “feared God” were to be found not only among the children of Abraham, but also among “every nation.”

⁵¹ He hath shown strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

— they may have been the men of Jerusalem, who despised Galilee; or those of the other towns and villages of Galilee, who despised Nazareth; or though less probably, those of Nazareth itself, who despised the carpenter and his betrothed.

⁵² He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

— the mighty think to secure themselves by might in their seats, but he puts them down and overturns their seats; while, on the other hand, those of low degree, who despaired of ever advancing themselves, and thought of nothing else but being very low, are exalted.

⁵³ He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away.

— he hath filled the hungry with good things; such as earnestly desired and longed after the coming of the Messiah, as old Simeon and Anna the prophetess; and those that looked for redemption in Israel;

⁵⁴ He hath helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy,

— his servant Israel or his child Israel; he calleth Ephraim his dear son, his pleasant child, Jeremiah 31:20; but by Israel he meaneth believers, those of Abraham’s seed;

⁵⁵ as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.”

— as he spake to our fathers; that is, he has dealt mercifully with the children of Israel, according as he promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

⁵⁶ And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.

— this space of three months is a term of time fixed by the Jewish doctors to know whether a woman is with child or not, as in case of divorce or death;

— and returned to her own house at Nazareth in Galilee; and now it was, that Joseph, to whom she was betrothed, perceived she was with child; and suspecting evil, had a mind to put her away privately; but was informed by an angel of God, in a dream, of the whole matter; and was advised and encouraged to take her to wife, which he accordingly did; Matthew 1:18.

~ by Joel on September 17, 2023.

Posted in Gospel