VIII.
The Birth and Early Life of John the Baptist.
(Hill Country of Judæa,
b.c. 5.)
C Luke I. 57–80.
c 57 Now Elisabeth's time was fulfilled that she should
be delivered; and she brought forth a son. 58 And her neighbors
and her kinsfolk heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her
[mercy in granting a child; great mercy in granting so illustrious a child]
; and they rejoiced with her. 59 And it came to pass on the
eighth day [See Gen. xvii. 12; Lev. xii. 3;
Phil. iii. 5. Male children were named at their circumcision,
probably because at that time the names of Abram and Sarai had been changed
(Gen. xvii. 5, 15). Females were named
when they were weaned], they came to circumcise the child; and they
would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 60
And his mother answered and said, Not so [Zacharias had
20
evidently written, and thus communicated to his wife all that the angel had
told him, and how the child was to be named John]; but he shall be
called John. 61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy
kindred [Family names were even more thought of, and honored, among the
Jews than among us. They had no taste for romantic and eccentric names] that
is called by this name. 62 And they made signs [this seems to
indicate that Zacharias was deaf as well as dumb] to his father, what he
would have him called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet
[tablets were sometimes made of lead, but were usually small wooden boards,
either smeared with wax, or having sand sprinkled over them, on which words
were written with an iron stylus or pencil], and wrote, saying, His
name is John. And they marvelled all. [Being surprised that both parents
should thus unite upon an unexpected name.] 64 And his mouth was opened
immediately [See verse 20. The
angel's words were now completely fulfilled, therefore the punishment for
disbelief was removed], and his tongue
loosed, and he spake, blessing God. [Probably the words
recorded in verses 68–79.]
65 And fear came [The miraculous phenomena attending the birth of John made
the people so conscious of the presence of God as to fill them with awe. The
influence of this fear spread far and wide until the chills and tremors of
expected changes and revolutions were felt even by the citizens of Rome, as
their poets and historians testify] on all that dwelt round about them: and
all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of
Judæa. 66 And all that heard them laid them up in their
heart, saying, What then shall this child be? [We probably find an echo of
this question thirty years later when John entered upon his
ministry—John i. 19.] And the
hand of the Lord was with him. 67 And his father Zacharias was
filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied [This his prophecy is the last
of the old dispensation, and the first of the new, or Christian, era. It also
is poetry, and is a hymn of thanksgiving for the time of Messiah's
21
advent], saying, 68 Blessed [the hymn gets its name
from this word, and is called the Benedictus] be
the Lord, the God of Israel; For he hath visited [Come back,
in the person of his Spirit, to his people. After some four hundred years of
absence the Holy Spirit, as the spirit of prophecy, had again returned to God's
people. Malachi, the last of the prophets, had been dead about four centuries]
and wrought redemption for his people, 69 And hath raised up a
horn [the horn is a symbol of power—Dan.
vii. 7, 8; viii. 21] of salvation for us In the house of his
servant David [this also indicates that Mary was of the house of David]
70 (As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of
old) [Gen. iii. 15; xxii. 18; xlix. 10; Num.
xxiv. 17; II. Pet. i. 21; Heb. i. 1], 71 Salvation from
our enemies [not only Rome, the enemy of Israelitish prosperity, but also
those evil agencies which wage ceaseless warfare against the souls of
men—Eph. vi. 12], and
from the hand of all that hate us; 72 To show mercy towards our
fathers, And to remember his holy covenant [contract or agreement];
73 The oath which he sware unto Abraham our father [see Gen. xii. 3; xvii. 4; xxii. 16, 17], 74
To grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies Should
serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness
[holiness is good conduct toward God, righteousness is good conduct toward men]
before him all our days. 76 Yea and thou, child [the rest
of the psalm is addressed to the infant John], shalt be called the
prophet [see Matt. xi. 9; Luke xx. 6
] of the Most High: For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord [the
Lord Jesus Christ] to make ready his ways [
Isa. xl. 3; Matt. iii. 3]; 77 To give knowledge of
salvation unto his people [Israel had a false idea that the Messiah's
salvation would be from political evil. John was needed to tell them that it
was from sin that God proposed to deliver them. Perdition does not consist in
political wrongs, but in divine condemnation] In the remission of their
sins [through Christ's work—Acts v.
31],
2278 Because of the tender mercy of our
God, Whereby the dayspring from on high [One of the many names for Jesus or
his kingdom. The prophets loved to picture Messiah's advent as a sunrise
(Isa. ix. 2; lx. 1–3; Mal. iv. 2; Matt. iv.
16; John i. 4, 5). Christ's coming was the dawn of a new day for
Israel and for mankind] shall visit us, 79 To shine upon them
that sit in darkness and the shadow of death; To guide our feet into the way of
peace. [Travelers in the Judæan mountains often waited patiently for
the morning light, lest they should lose their lives by a false step taken in
the darkness—Isa. lix. 8.] 80
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit [I. Sam. ii. 26; Luke ii. 40, 52] and was in the deserts
[The thinly settled region west of the Dead Sea. In I. Sam. xxiii. 19 it is called Jeshimon, or “the
Horror”] till the day of his showing unto Israel. [The day when he
commenced his ministry and declared his commission as Messiah's forerunner.]
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