Lu 1:26-38. Annunciation of Christ
(See on [Mt 1:18-21]).
26. sixth month--of Elisabeth's time.
Joseph, of the house of David--(See on [Mt 1:16]).
28. highly favoured--a word only once used elsewhere ([Ep 1:6], "made accepted"): compare [Lu 1:30], "Thou hast found favour with God." The mistake of the Vulgate's rendering, "full of grace," has been taken abundant advantage of by the Romish Church. As the mother of our Lord, she was the most "blessed among women" in external distinction; but let them listen to the Lord's own words. "Nay, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it." (See on [Lu 11:27]).
31. The angel purposely conforms his language to Isaiah's famous prophecy ([Is 7:14]) [Calvin].
32-33. This is but an echo of the sublime prediction in [Is 9:6], .
34. How, &c.--not the unbelief of Zacharias, "Whereby shall I know this?" but, taking the fact for granted, "How is it to be, so contrary to the unbroken law of human birth?" Instead of reproof, therefore, her question is answered in mysterious detail.
35. Holy Ghost--(See on [Mt 1:18]).
power of the highest--the immediate energy of the Godhead conveyed by the Holy Ghost.
overshadow--a word suggesting how gentle, while yet efficacious, would be this Power [Bengel]; and its mysterious secrecy, withdrawn, as if by a cloud, from human scrutiny [Calvin].
that holy thing born of thee--that holy Offspring of thine.
therefore ... Son of God--That Christ is the Son of God in His divine and eternal nature is clear from all the New Testament; yet here we see that Sonship efflorescing into human and palpable manifestation by His being born, through "the power of the Highest," an Infant of days. We must neither think of a double Sonship, as some do, harshly and without all ground, nor deny what is here plainly expressed, the connection between His human birth and His proper personal Sonship.
36. thy cousin--"relative," but how near the word says not.
conceived, &c.--This was to Mary an unsought sign, in reward of her faith.
37. For, &c.--referring to what was said by the angel to Abraham in like case ([Ge 18:14]), to strengthen her faith.
38. Marvellous faith in such circumstances!
Lu 1:39-56. Visit of Mary to Elisabeth
39. hill country--the mountainous tract running along the middle of Judea, from north to south [Webster and Wilkinson].
with haste--transported with the announcement to herself and with the tidings, now first made known to her, of Elisabeth's condition.
a city of Juda--probably Hebron (see [Jos 20:7]; ).
40. saluted Elisabeth--now returned from her seclusion ([Lu 1:24]).
41. babe leaped--From [Lu 1:44] it is plain that this maternal sensation was something extraordinary--a sympathetic emotion of the unconscious babe, at the presence of the mother of his Lord.
42-44. What beautiful superiority to envy have we here! High as was the distinction conferred upon herself, Elisabeth loses sight of it altogether, in presence of one more honored still; upon whom, with her unborn Babe, in an ecstasy of inspiration, she pronounces a benediction, feeling it to be a wonder unaccountable that "the mother of her Lord should come to her." "Turn this as we will, we shall never be able to see the propriety of calling an unborn child "Lord," but by supposing Elisabeth, like the prophets of old, enlightened to perceive the Messiah's Divine nature" [Olshausen].
45. An additional benediction on the Virgin for her implicit faith, in tacit and delicate contrast with her own husband.
for--rather, as in the Margin, "that."
46-55. A magnificent canticle, in which the strain of Hannah's ancient song, in like circumstances, is caught up, and just slightly modified and sublimed. Is it unnatural to suppose that the spirit of the blessed Virgin had been drawn beforehand into mysterious sympathy with the ideas and the tone of this hymn, so that when the life and fire of inspiration penetrated her whole soul it spontaneously swept the chorus of this song, enriching the Hymnal of the Church with that spirit-stirring canticle which has resounded ever since from its temple walls? In both songs, those holy women, filled with wonder to behold "the proud, the mighty, the rich," passed by, and, in their persons the lowliest chosen to usher in the greatest events, sing of this as no capricious movement, but a great law of the kingdom of God, by which He delights to "put down the mighty from their seats and exalt them of low degree." In both songs the strain dies away on Christ; in Hannah's under the name of "Jehovah's King"--to whom, through all His line, from David onwards to Himself, He will "give strength"; His "Anointed," whose horn He will exalt ([1Sa 2:10]); in the Virgin's song, it is as the "Help" promised to Israel by all the prophets.
My soul ... my spirit--"all that is within me" ([Psa 103:1]).
56. abode with her about three months--What an honored roof was that which, for such a period, overarched these cousins! and yet not a trace of it is now to be seen, while the progeny of those two women--the one but the honored pioneer of the other--have made the world new.
returned to her own house--at Nazareth, after which took place what is recorded in [Mt 1:18-25].
Lu 1:57-80. Birth and Circumcision of John--Song of Zacharias and Progress of the Child
59. eighth day--The law ([Ge 17:12]) was observed, even though the eighth day after birth should be a sabbath ([Joh 7:23]; and see [Php 3:5]).
called him--literally, "were calling"--that is, (as we should say) "were for calling." The naming of children at baptism has its origin in the Jewish custom at circumcision ([Ge 21:3], ); and the names of Abram and Sarai were changed at its first performance ([Ge 17:5], ).
62. made signs--showing he was deaf, as well as dumb.
63. marvelled all--at his giving the same name, not knowing of any communication between them on the subject.
64. mouth opened immediately--on thus palpably showing his full faith in the vision, for disbelieving which he had been struck dumb ([Lu 1:13], ).
65. fear--religious awe; under the impression that God's hand was specially in these events (compare [Lu 5:26]; ; ).
66. hand of the Lord was with him--by special tokens marking him out as one destined to some great work ([1Ki 18:46]; [2Ki 3:15]; [Ac 11:21]).
68-79. There is not a word in this noble burst of divine song about his own child; like Elisabeth losing sight entirely of self, in the glory of a Greater than both.
Lord God of Israel--the ancient covenant God of the peculiar people.
visited and redeemed--that is, in order to redeem: returned after long absence, and broken His long silence (see [Mt 15:31]). In the Old Testament, God is said to "visit" chiefly for judgment, in the New Testament for mercy. Zacharias would, as yet, have but imperfect views of such "visiting and redeeming," "saving from and delivering out of the hand of enemies" ([Lu 1:71], 74). But this Old Testament phraseology, used at first with a lower reference, is, when viewed in the light of a loftier and more comprehensive kingdom of God, equally adapted to express the most spiritual conceptions of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
80. And the child, &c.--"a concluding paragraph, indicating, in strokes full of grandeur, the bodily and mental development of the Baptist; and bringing his life up to the period of his public appearance" [Olshausen].
in the deserts--probably "the wilderness of Judea" ([Mt 3:1]), whither he had retired early in life, in the Nazarite spirit, and where, free from rabbinical influences and alone with God, his spirit would be educated, like Moses in the desert, for his future high vocation.
his showing unto Israel--the presentation of himself before his nation, as Messiah's forerunner.