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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Matthew Henry |
L U K E.
CHAP. I.
The narrative which this evangelist gives us (or rather God by him) of
the life of Christ begins earlier than either Matthew or Mark. We have
reason to thank God for them all, as we have for all the gifts and
graces of Christ’s ministers, which in one make up what is wanting in
the other, while all put together make a harmony. In this chapter we
have,
I. Luke’s preface to his gospel, or his epistle dedicatory to his
friend Theophilus,
II. The prophecy and history of the conception of John Baptist, who was
Christ’s forerunner,
The annunciation of the virgin Mary, or the notice given to her that
she should be the mother of the Messiah,
IV. The interview between Mary the mother of Jesus and Elisabeth the
mother of John, when they were both with child of those pregnant
births, and the prophecies they both uttered upon that occasion,
V. The birth and circumcision of John Baptist, six months before the
birth of Christ,
VI. Zacharias’s song of praise, in thankfulness for the birth of John,
and in prospect of the birth of Jesus,
VII. A short account of John Baptist’s infancy,
And these do more than give us an entertaining narrative; they will
lead us into the understanding of the mystery of godliness, God
manifest in the flesh.
| The Evangelist’s Preface. |
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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,
2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning
were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding
of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order,
most excellent Theophilus,
4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things,
wherein thou hast been instructed.
Complimental prefaces and dedications, the language of flattery and the
food and fuel of pride, are justly condemned by the wise and good; but
it doth not therefore follow, that such as are useful and instructive
are to be run down; such is this, in which St. Luke dedicates his
gospel to his friend Theophilus, not as to his patron, though he
was a man of honour, to protect it, but as to his pupil, to
learn it, and hold it fast. It is not certain who this Theophilus was;
the name signifies a friend of God; some think that it does not
mean any particular person, but every one that is a lover of
God; Dr. Hammond quotes some of the ancients understanding it so:
and then it teaches us, that those who are truly lovers of God, will
heartily welcome the gospel of Christ, the design and tendency of which
are, to bring us to God. But it is rather to be understood of some
particular person, probably a magistrate; because Luke gives him here
the same title of respect which St. Paul gave to Festus the governor,
kratiste
which we there translate most noble Festus, and here most
excellent Theophilus. Note, Religion does not destroy civility and
good manners, but teaches us, according to the usages of our country,
to give honour to them to whom honour is due.
Now observe here,
I. Why St. Luke wrote this gospel. It is certain that he was moved by
the Holy Ghost, not only to the writing, but in the
writing of it; but in both he was moved as a reasonable creature, and
not as a mere machine; and he was made to consider,
1. That the things he wrote of were things that were most surely
believed among all Christians, and therefore things which they
ought to be instructed in, that they may know what they believe, and
things which ought to be transmitted to posterity (who are as much
concerned in them as we are); and, in order to that, to be committed to
writing, which is the surest way of conveyance to the ages to come. He
will not write about things of doubtful disputation, things
about which Christians may safely differ from one another and hesitate
within themselves; but the things which are, and ought to be, most
surely believed, pragmata peplerophoremena—the
things which were performed (so some), which Christ and his
apostles did, and did with such circumstances as gave a full assurance
that they were really done, so that they have gained an established
lasting credit. Note, Though it is not the foundation of our faith, yet
it is a support to it, that the articles of our creed are things that
have been long most surely believed. The doctrine of Christ is
what thousands of the wisest and best of men have ventured their
souls upon with the greatest assurance and satisfaction.
2. That it was requisite there should be a declaration made in
order of those things; that the history of the life of Christ
should be methodized, and committed to writing, for the greater
certainty of the conveyance. When things are put in order, we
know the better where to find them for our own use, and
how to keep them for the benefit of others.
3. That there were many who had undertaken to publish
narratives of the life of Christ, many well-meaning people, who
designed well, and did well, and what they published had
done good, though not done by divine inspiration, nor so well
done as might be, nor intended for perpetuity. Note,
(1.) The labours of others in the gospel of Christ, if faithful and
honest, we ought to commend and encourage, and not to
despise, though chargeable with many deficiencies.
(2.) Others’ services to Christ must not be reckoned to supersede ours,
but rather to quicken them.
4. That the truth of the things he had to write was confirmed by
the concurring testimony of those who were competent and
unexceptionable witnesses of them; what had been published in writing
already, and what he was now about to publish, agreed with that which
had been delivered by word of mouth, over and over, by those who from
the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word,
v. 2.
Note,
(1.) The apostles were ministers of the word of Christ, who is
the Word (so some understand it), or of the doctrine of Christ;
they, having received it themselves, ministered it to others,
They had not a gospel to make as masters, but a gospel to preach as
ministers.
(2.) The ministers of the word were eye-witnesses of the
things which they preached, and, which is also included,
ear-witnesses. They did themselves hear the doctrine of
Christ, and see his miracles, and had them not by report, at
second hand; and therefore they could not but speak, with the greatest
assurance, the things which they had seen and heard,
Acts iv. 20.
(3.) They were so from the beginning of Christ’s ministry,
v. 2.
He had his disciples with him when he wrought his first miracle,
John ii. 11.
They companied with him all the time he went in and out among
them
(Acts i. 21),
so that they not only heard and saw all that which was sufficient to
confirm their faith, but, if there had been any thing to shock it, they
had opportunity to discover it.
(4.) The written gospel, which we have to this day,
exactly agrees with the gospel which was preached in the
first days of the church.
(5.) That he himself had a perfect understanding of the
things he wrote of, from the first,
v. 3.
Some think that here is a tacit reflection upon those who had written
before him, that they had not a perfect understanding of what
they wrote, and therefore, Here am I, send me (–facit indignatio
versum–my wrath impels my pen); or rather, without reflecting on
them, he asserts his own ability for this undertaking: “It seemed good
to me, having attained to the exact knowledge of all things,
anothen—from above;” so I think it should be
rendered; for if he meant the same with from the beginning
(v. 2),
as our translation intimates, he would have used the same word.
[1.] He had diligently searched into these things, had
followed after them (so the word is), as the Old-Testament
prophets are said to have enquired and searched
diligently,
1 Pet. i. 10.
He had not taken things so easily and superficially as others who had
written before him, but made it his business to inform himself
concerning particulars.
[2.] He had received his intelligence, not only by tradition, as others
had done, but by revelation, confirming that tradition, and securing
him from any error or mistake in the recording of it. He sought it
from above (so the word intimates), and from thence he had it;
thus, like Elihu, he fetched his knowledge from afar. He wrote
his history as Moses wrote his, of things reported by tradition,
but ratified by inspiration.
[3.] He could therefore say that he had a perfect understanding
of these things. He knew them,
akribos—accurately, exactly. “Now, having
received this from above, it seemed good to me to communicate
it;” for such a talent as this ought not to be buried.
II. Observe why he sent it to Theophilus: “I wrote unto thee
these things in order, not that thou mayest give reputation to
the work, but that thou mayest be edified by it
(v. 4);
that thou mayest know the certainty of those things wherein thou has
been instructed.”
1. It is implied, that he had been instructed in these things
either before his baptism, or since, or both, according to the rule,
Probably, Luke had baptized him, and knew how well instructed he was;
peri hon katechethes—concerning which thou hast been
catechized; so the word is; the most knowing Christians began with
being catechized. Theophilus was a person of quality, perhaps of noble
birth; and so much the more pains should be taken with such when they
are young, to teach them the principles of the oracles of God, that
they may be fortified against temptations, and furnished for the
opportunities, of a high condition in the world.
2. It was intended that he should know the certainty of those
things, should understand them more clearly and believe more
firmly. There is a certainty in the gospel of Christ, there is
that therein which we may build upon; and those who have been well
instructed in the things of God when they were young should afterwards
give diligence to know the certainty of those things, to know
not only what we believe, but why we believe it, that we may be able to
give a reason of the hope that is in us.
| The Appearance of an Angel to Zacharias; The Birth of John Foretold; The Unbelief of Zacharias. |
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5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa, a certain
priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was
of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and
they both were now well stricken in years.
8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s
office before God in the order of his course,
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.
10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without
at the time of incense.
11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on
the right side of the altar of incense.
12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell
upon him.
13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy
prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son,
and thou shalt call his name John.
14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice
at his birth.
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.
16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord
their God.
17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias,
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.
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.
19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that
stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and
to show thee these glad tidings.
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.
21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he
tarried so long in the temple.
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.
23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his
ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.
24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid
herself five months, saying,
25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he
looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.
The two preceding evangelists had agreed to begin the gospel with the
baptism of John and his ministry, which commenced about six months
before our Saviour’s public ministry (and now, things being near a
crisis, six months was a deal of time, which before was but a
little), and therefore this evangelist, designing to give a more
particular account than had been given of our Saviour’s conception and
birth, determines to do so of John Baptist, who in both was his
harbinger and forerunner, the morning-star to the Sun of righteousness.
The evangelist determines thus, not only because it is commonly
reckoned a satisfaction and entertainment to know something of the
original extraction and early days of those who afterwards prove great
men, but because in the beginning of these there were many things
miraculous, and presages of what they afterwards proved. In these
verses our inspired historian begins as early as the conception of John
Baptist. Now observe here,
I. The account given of his parents
(v. 5):
They lived in the days of Herod the king, who was a foreigner,
and a deputy for the Romans, who had lately made Judea a province of
the empire. This is taken notice of to show that the sceptre was quite
departed from Judah, and therefore that now was the time for Shiloh to
come, according to Jacob’s prophecy,
The family of David was now sunk, when it was to rise, and flourish
again, in the Messiah. Note, None ought to despair of the reviving and
flourishing of religion, even when civil liberties are lost. Israel
enslaved, yet then comes the glory of Israel.
Now the father of John Baptist was a priest, a son of Aaron; his name
Zacharias. No families in the world were ever so honoured of God
as those of Aaron and David; with one was made the covenant of
priesthood, with the other that of royalty; they had both forfeited
their honour, yet the gospel again puts honour upon both in their
latter days, on that of Aaron in John Baptist, on that of David in
Christ, and then they were both extinguished and lost. Christ was of
David’s house, his forerunner of Aaron’s; for his priestly agency and
influence opened the way to his kingly authority and dignity. This
Zacharias was of the course of Abia. When in David’s time the
family of Aaron was multiplied, he divided them into twenty-four
courses, for the more regular performances of their office, that it
might never be either neglected for want of hands or
engrossed by a few. The eighth of those was that of Abia
who was descended from Eleazar, Aaron’s eldest son; but Dr. Lightfoot
suggests that many of the families of the priests were lost in the
captivity, so that after their return they took in those of other
families, retaining the names of the heads of the respective courses.
The wife of this Zacharias was of the daughters of Aaron too, and her
name was Elisabeth, the very same name with Elisheba the
wife of Aaron,
The priests (Josephus saith) was very careful to marry within their own
family, that they might maintain the dignity of the priesthood and keep
it without mixture.
Now that which is observed concerning Zacharias and Elisabeth is,
1. That they were a very religious couple
(v. 6):
They were both righteous before God; they were so in his sight
whose judgment, we are sure, is according to truth; they were
sincerely and really so. They are righteous indeed that are so
before God, as Noah in his generation,
They approved themselves to him, and he was graciously
pleased to accept them. It is a happy thing when those who are joined
to each other in marriage are both joined to the Lord; and it is
especially requisite that the priests, the Lord’s ministers, should
with their yoke-fellows be righteous before God, that they may
be examples to the flock, and rejoice their hearts. They
walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord,
blameless.
(1.) Their being righteous before God was evidenced by the
course and tenour of their conversations; they showed it, not by their
talk, but by their works; by the way they walked in and the rule
they walked by.
(2.) They were of a piece with themselves; for their devotions
and their conversations agreed. They walked not only in the
ordinances of the Lord, which related to divine worship, but in
the commandments of the Lord, which have reference to all the
instances of a good conversation, and must be regarded.
(3.) They were universal in their obedience; not that they never did in
any thing come short of their duty, but it was their constant
care and endeavor to come up to it.
(4.) Herein, though they were not sinless, yet they were
blameless; nobody could charge them with any open scandalous
sin; they lived honestly and inoffensively, as ministers
and their families are in a special manner concerned to do, that the
ministry be not blamed in their blame.
2. That they had been long childless,
v. 7.
Children are a heritage of the Lord. But there are many of his
heirs in a married state, that yet are denied this heritage;
they are valuable desirable blessings; yet many there are, who are
righteous before God, and, if they had children, would bring
them up in his fear, who yet are not thus blessed, while the men of
this world are full of children
(Ps. xvii. 14),
and send forth their little ones like a flock,
Job xxi. 11.
Elisabeth was barren, and they began to despair of ever having
children, for they were both now well stricken in years, when
the women that have been most fruitful leave off bearing. Many
eminent persons were born of mothers that had been long childless, as
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, and so here John Baptist, to make
their birth the more remarkable and the blessing of it the more
valuable to their parents, and to show that when God keeps his people
long waiting for mercy he sometimes is pleased to recompense them for
their patience by doubling the worth of it when it comes.
II. The appearing of an angel to his father Zacharias, as he was
ministering in the temple,
Zechariah the prophet was the last of the Old Testament that was
conversant with angels, and Zacharias the priest the first in the New
Testament. Observe,
1. How Zacharias was employed in the service of God
(v. 8):
He executed the priest’s office, before God, in the order of his
course; it was his week of waiting, and he was upon
duty. Though his family was not built up, or made to grow, yet he
made conscience of doing the work of his own place and day. Though we
have not desired mercies, yet we must keep close to enjoined
services; and, in our diligent and constant attendance on them, we
may hope that mercy and comfort will come at last. Now it fell to
Zacharias’s lot to burn incense morning and evening for that week of
his waiting, as other services fell to other priests by lot
likewise. The services were directed by lot, that some might not
decline them and others engross them, and that, the disposal of the
lot being from the Lord, they might have the satisfaction of
a divine call to the work. This was not the high priest burning incense
on the day of atonement, as some have fondly imagined, who have thought
by that to find out the time of our Saviour’s birth; but it is plain
that it was the burning of the daily incense at the altar of
incense
(v. 11),
which was in the temple
(v. 9),
not in the most holy place, into which the high priest entered. The
Jews say that one and the same priest burned not incense twice in all
his days (there were such a multitude of them), at least never more
than one week. It is very probable that this was upon the sabbath
day, because there was a multitude of people attending
(v. 10),
which ordinarily was not on a week day; and thus God usually puts
honour upon his own day. And then if Dr. Lightfoot reckon, with
the help of the Jewish calendars, that this course of Abia fell on the
seventeenth day of the third month, the month Sivan, answering to part
of May and part of June, it is worth observing that the portions of the
law and the prophets which were read this day in synagogues were very
agreeable to that which was doing in the temple; namely, the law of the
Nazarites
(Num. vi.),
and the conception of Samson,
While Zacharias was burning incense in the temple, the whole
multitude of the people were praying without,
v. 10.
Dr. Lightfoot says that there were constantly in the temple, at the
hour of prayer, the priests of the course that then served, and, if it
were the sabbath day, those of that course also that had been in
waiting the week before, and the Levites that served under the priests,
and the men of the station, as the Rabbin call them, who were
the representatives of the people, in putting their hands upon the head
of the sacrifices, and many besides, who, moved by devotion, left their
employments, for that time, to be present at the service of God; and
those would make up a great multitude, especially on sabbaths
and feast-days: now these all addressed themselves to their devotions
(in mental prayer, for their voice was not heard), when by the tinkling
of a bell they had notice that the priest was gone in to burn incense.
Now observe here,
(1.) That the true Israel of God always were a praying people;
and prayer is the great and principal piece of service by which we give
honour to God, fetch in favours from him, and keep up our communion
with him.
(2.) That then, when ritual and ceremonial appointments were in
full force, as this of burning incense, yet moral and spiritual
duties were required to go along with them, and were principally looked
at. David knew that when he was at a distance from the altar his prayer
might be heard without incense, for it might be directed before
God as incense,
Ps. cxli. 2.
But, when he was compassing the altar, the incense could not be
accepted without prayer, any more than the shell without the
kernel.
(3.) That is not enough for us to be where God is worshipped, if our
hearts do not join in the worship, and go along with the minister, in
all the parts of it. If he burn the incense ever so well, in the most
pertinent, judicious, lively prayer, if we be not at the same time
praying in concurrence with him, what will it avail us?
(4.) All the prayers we offer up to God here in his courts are
acceptable and successful only in virtue of the incense of Christ’s
intercession in the temple of God above. To this usage in the
temple-service there seems to be an allusion
where we find that there was silence in heaven, as there was in
the temple, for half an hour, while the people were
silently lifting up their hearts to God in prayer; and that
there was an angel, the angel of the covenant, who offered up
much incense with the prayers of all saints before the throne.
We cannot expect an interest in Christ’s intercession if we do not
pray, and pray with our spirits, and continue instant in
prayer. Nor can we expect that the best of our prayers should gain
acceptance, and bring in an answer of peace, but through the mediation
of Christ, who ever lives, making intercession.
2. How, when he was thus employed, he was honoured with a
messenger, a special messenger sent from heaven to him
(v. 11):
There appeared unto him an angel of the Lord. Some observe, that
we never read of an angel appearing in the temple, with a message from
God, but only this one to Zacharias, because there God had other
ways of making known his mind, as the Urim and Thummim, and by a still
small voice from between the cherubim; but the ark and the oracle were
wanting in the second temple, and therefore, when an express was to be
sent to a priest in the temple, an angel was to be employed in it, and
thereby the gospel was to be introduced, for that, as the
law, was given at first very much by the ministry of
angels, the appearance of which we often read of in the Gospels and
the Acts, though the design both of the law and of the gospel, when
brought to perfection, was to settle another way of correspondence,
more spiritual, between God and man. This angel stood on the right
side of the altar of incense, the north side of it, saith Dr.
Lightfoot, on Zacharias’s right hand; compare this with
where Satan stands at the right hand of Joshua the priest, to
resist him; but Zacharias had a good angel standing at his
right hand, to encourage him. Some think that this angel appeared
coming out of the most holy place, which led him to stand at the
right side of the altar.
3. What impression this made upon Zacharias
(v. 12):
When Zacharias saw him, it was a surprise upon him, even to a
degree of terror, for he was troubled, and fear fell upon
him,
v. 12.
Though he was righteous before God, and blameless in his
conversation, yet he could not be without some apprehensions at the
sight of one whose visage and surrounding lustre bespoke him more than
human. Ever since man sinned, his mind has been unable to bear
the glory of such revelations and his conscience afraid of evil tidings
brought by them; even Daniel himself could not bear it,
And for this reason God chooses to speak to us by men like ourselves,
whose terror shall not make us afraid.
III. The message which the angel had to deliver to him,
He began his message, as angels generally did, with, Fear not.
Perhaps it had never been Zacharias’s lot to burn incense
before; and, being a very serious conscientious man, we may suppose him
full of care to do it well, and perhaps when he saw the angel he
was afraid lest he came to rebuke him for some mistake or miscarriage;
“No,” saith the angel, “fear not; I have no ill tidings to bring
thee from heaven. Fear not, but compose thyself, that thou
mayest with a sedate and even spirit receive the message I have to
deliver thee.” Let us see what that is.
1. The prayers he has often made shall now receive an answer
of peace: Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard.
(1.) If he means his particular prayer for a son to build up his
family, it must be the prayers he had formerly made for that mercy,
when he was likely to have children; but we may suppose, now that he
and his wife were both well stricken in years, as they had done
expecting it, so they had done praying for it: like Moses, it
sufficeth them, and they speak no more to God of that
matter,
Deut. iii. 26.
But God will now, in giving this mercy, look a great way back to the
prayers that he had made long since for and with his wife, as Isaac for
and with his,
Note, Prayers of faith are filed in heaven, and are not
forgotten, though the thing prayed for is not presently
given in. Prayers made when we were young and coming into the
world may be answered when we are old and going out of the world. But,
(2.) If he means the prayers he was now making, and offering up
with his incense, we may suppose that those were according to the duty
of his place, for the Israel of God and their welfare, and the
performance of the promises made to them concerning the Messiah and the
coming of his kingdom: “This prayer of thine is now heard: for
thy wife shall shortly conceive him that is to be the Messiah’s
forerunner.” Some of the Jewish writers themselves say that the priest,
when he burnt incense, prayed for the salvation of the whole
world; and now that prayer shall be heard. Or,
(3.) In general, “The prayers thou now makest, and all thy
prayers, are accepted of God, and come up for a memorial before
him” (as the angel said to Cornelius, when he visited him at prayer,
“and this shall be the sign that thou are accepted of God, Elisabeth
shall bear thee a son.” Note, it is very comfortable to praying
people to know that their prayers are heard; and those
mercies are doubly sweet that are given in answer to prayer.
2. He shall have a son in his old age, by Elisabeth his wife, who had
been long barren, that by his birth, which was next to
miraculous, people might be prepared to receive and believe a virgin’s
bringing forth of a son, which was perfectly miraculous. He is
directed what name to give his son: Call him John, in Hebrew
Johanan, a name we often meet in the Old Testament: it signifies
gracious. The priests must beseech God that he will be
gracious
(Mal. i. 9),
and must so bless the people,
Num. vi. 25.
Zacharias was now praying thus, and the angel tells him that his prayer
is heard, and he shall have a son, whom, in token of an answer to his
prayer, he shall call Gracious, or, The Lord will be
gracious,
Isa. xxx. 18, 19.
3. This son shall be the joy of his family and of all his relations,
He shall be another Isaac, thy laughter; and some think that is partly
intended in his name, John. He shall be a welcome child.
Thou for thy part shall have joy and gladness. Note,
Mercies that have been long waited for, when they come at
last, are the more acceptable. “He shall be such a son as thou
shalt have reason to rejoice in; many parents, if they could foresee
what their children will prove, instead of rejoicing at their
birth, would wish they had never been; but I will tell thee what
thy son will be, and then thou wilt not need to rejoice with
trembling at his birth, as the best must do, but mayest rejoice
with triumph at it.” Nay, and many shall rejoice at his birth;
all the relations of the family will rejoice in it, and all its
well-wishers, because it is for the honour and comfort of the family,
All good people will rejoice that such a religious couple as Zacharias
and Elisabeth have a son, because they will give him a good education,
such as, it may be hoped, will make him a public blessing to his
generation. Yea, and perhaps many shall rejoice by an unaccountable
instinct, as a presage of the joyous days the gospel will
introduce.
4. This son shall be a distinguished favourite of Heaven, and a
distinguished blessing to the earth. The honour of having a
son is nothing to the honour of having such a son.
(1.) He shall be great in the sight of the Lord; those are great
indeed that are so in God’s sight, not those that are so in the eye of
a vain and carnal world. God will set him before his face
continually, will employ him in his work and send him on his errands;
and that shall make him truly great and honourable. He shall be
a prophet, yea more than a prophet, and upon that account
as great as any that every were born of women,
Matt. xi. 11.
He shall live very much retired from the world, out of men’s
sight, and, when he makes a public appearance, it will be very
mean; but he shall be much, he shall be great, in the
sight of the Lord.
(2.) He shall be a Nazarite, set apart to God from every thing that is
polluting; in token of this, according to the law of
Nazariteship, he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink,–or,
rather, neither old wine nor new; for most think that the
word here translated strong drink signifies some sort of wine,
perhaps those that we call made wines, or any thing that is
intoxicating. He shall be, as Samson was by the divine precept
and Samuel by his mother’s vow
(1 Sam. i. 11),
a Nazarite for life. It is spoken of as a great instance of God’s
favour to his people that he raised up of their sons for
prophets, and their young men for Nazarites
(Amos ii. 11),
as if those that were designed for prophets were trained up under the
discipline of the Nazarites; Samuel and John Baptist were; which
intimates that those that would be eminent servants of God, and
employed in eminent services, must learn to live a life of
self-denial and mortification, must be dead to the pleasures of sense,
and keep their minds from every thing that is darkening and disturbing
to them.
(3.) He shall be abundantly fitted and qualified for those great and
eminent services to which in due time he shall be called: He shall
be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb, and as
soon as it is possible he shall appear to have been so. Observe,
[1.] Those that would be filled with the Holy Ghost must be sober and
temperate, and very moderate in the use of wine and strong drink; for
that is it that fits him for this. Be not drunk with
wine, but be filled with the Spirit, with which that is not
consistent,
[2.] It is possible that infants may be wrought upon by the Holy
Ghost, even from their mother’s womb; for John Baptist even
then was filled with the Holy Ghost, who took possession of his
heart betimes; and an early specimen was given of it, when he leaped
in his mother’s womb for joy, at the approach of the Saviour; and
afterwards it appeared very early that he was sanctified. God
had promised to pour out his Spirit upon the seed of
believers
(Isa. xliv. 3),
and their first springing up in a dedication of themselves
betimes to God is the fruit of it,
Who then can forbid water, that they should not be baptized who for
aught we know (and we can say no more of the adult, witness Simon
Magus) have received the Holy Ghost as well as we, and have the
seeds of grace sown in their hearts?
(4.) He shall be instrumental for the conversion of many souls to God,
and the preparing of them to receive and entertain the gospel of
Christ,
[1.] He shall be sent to the children of Israel, to the nation
of the Jews, to whom the Messiah also was first sent, and not to
the Gentiles; to the whole nation, and not the family of the
priests only, with which, though he was himself of that family, we
do not find he had any particular intimacy or influence.
[2.] He shall go before the Lord their God, that is, before the
Messiah, whom they must expect to be, not their king, in the
sense wherein they commonly take it, a temporal prince to their
nation, but their Lord and their God, to rule and defend,
and serve them in a spiritual way by his influence on their
hearts. Thomas knew this, when he said to Christ, My Lord and
my God, better than Nathanael did, when he said, Rabbi, thou
are the king of Israel. John shall go before him, a little
before him, to give notice of his approach, and to prepare people to
receive him.
[3.] He shall go in the spirit and power of Elias. That is,
First, He shall be such a man as Elias was, and do such work as
Elias did,–shall, like him, preach the necessity of repentance and
reformation to a very corrupt and degenerate age,–shall, like him, be
bold and zealous in reproving sin and witnessing against it even in the
greatest, and be hated and persecuted for it by a Herod and his
Herodias, as Elijah was by an Ahab and his Jezebel. He shall be carried
on in his work, as Elijah was, by a divine spirit and
power, which shall crown his ministry with wonderful success. As
Elias went before the writing prophets of the Old
Testament, and did as it were usher in that signal period
of the Old-Testament dispensation by a little writing of his own
so John Baptist went before Christ and his apostles, and introduced the
gospel dispensation by preaching the substance of the gospel doctrine
and duty, Repent, with an eye to the kingdom of heaven.
Secondly, He shall be that very person who was prophesied of by
Malachi under the name of Elijah
(Mal. iv. 5),
who should be sent before the coming of the day of the Lord.
Behold, I send you a prophet, even Elias, not Elias the Tishbite
(as the LXX. has corruptly read it, to favour the Jews’ traditions),
but a prophet in the spirit and power of Elias, as the angel
here expounds it.
[4.] He shall turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their
God, shall incline their hearts to receive the Messiah, and bid him
welcome, by awakening them to a sense of sin and a desire of
righteousness. Whatever has a tendency to turn us from iniquity,
as John’s preaching and baptism had, will turn us to Christ as our
Lord and our God; for those who through grace are wrought upon to
shake off the yoke of sin, that is, the dominion of the world and the
flesh, will soon be persuaded to take upon them the yoke of the Lord
Jesus.
[5.] Hereby he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children, that is, of the Jews to the Gentiles; shall help to
conquer the rooted prejudices which the Jews have against the Gentiles,
which was done by the gospel, as far as it prevailed, and was begun to
be done by John Baptist, who came for a witness, that all through
him might believe, who baptized and taught Roman soldiers as well
as Jewish Pharisees, and who cured the pride and confidence of those
Jews who gloried in their having Abraham to their father, and told them
that God would out of stones raise up children unto Abraham
(Matt. iii. 9),
which would tend to cure their enmity to the Gentiles. Dr.
Lightfoot observes, It is the constant usage of the prophets to speak
of the church of the Gentiles as children to the Jewish church,
lx. 4, 9; lxii. 5; lxvi. 12.
When the Jews that embraced the faith of Christ were brought to join in
communion with the Gentiles that did so too, then the heart of the
fathers was turned to the children. And he shall turn the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that is, he shall introduce
the gospel, by which the Gentiles, who are now disobedient,
shall be turned, no so much to their fathers the Jews, but to the faith
of Christ, here called the wisdom of the just, in communion with
the believing Jews; or thus, He shall turn the hearts of the fathers
with the children, that is, the hearts of old and young, shall be
instrumental to bring some of every age to be religious, to work
a great reformation in the Jewish nation, to bring them off from
a ritual traditional religion which that had rested in, and to bring
them up to substantial serious godliness: and the effect of this
will be, that enmities will be slain and discord made to cease; and
they are at variance, being united in his baptism, will be better
reconciled one to another. This agrees with the account Josephus gives
of John Baptist, Antiq. 18. 117-118. “That he was a good man, and
taught the Jews the exercise of virtue, in piety towards God, and
righteous towards one another, and that they should convene and knit
together in baptism.” And he saith, “The people flocked after him, and
were exceedingly delighted in his doctrine.” Thus he turned the hearts
of fathers and children to God and to one another, by turning the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just. Observe, First, True
religion is the wisdom of just men, in distinction from the
wisdom of the world. It is both our wisdom and our duty to be
religious; there is both equity and prudence in it. Secondly, It
is not possible but that those who have been unbelieving and
disobedient may be turned to the wisdom of the just;
divine grace can conquer the greatest ignorance and prejudice.
Thirdly, The great design of the gospel is to bring people
home to God, and to bring them nearer to one another; and
on this errand John Baptist is sent. In the mention that is
twice made of his turning people, there seems to be an
allusion to the name of the Tishbite, which is given to Elijah, which,
some think, does not denote the country or city he was of, but has an
appellative signification, and therefore the render it Elijah the
converter, one that was much employed, and very successful, in
conversion-work. The Elias of the New Testament is therefore
said to turn or convert many to the Lord their God.
[6.] Hereby he shall make ready a people prepared for the Lord,
shall dispose the minds of people to receive the doctrine of Christ,
that thereby they may be prepared for the comforts of his
coming. Note, First, All that are to be devoted to the
Lord, and made happy in him, must first be prepared and
made ready for him. We must be prepared by grace in this world
for the glory in the other, by the terrors of the law for the comforts
of the gospel, by the spirit of bondage for the Spirit of adoption.
Secondly, Nothing has a more direct tendency to prepare people
for Christ than the doctrine of repentance received and submitted to.
When sin is thereby made grievous, Christ will become very
precious.
IV. Zacharias’s unbelief of the angel’s prediction, and the rebuke he
was laid under for that unbelief. He heard all that the angel had to
say, and should have bowed his head, and worshipped the Lord, saying,
Be it unto thy servant according to the word which thou hast
spoken; but it was not so. We are here told,
1. What his unbelief spoke,
He said to the angel, Whereby shall I know this? This was not a
humble petition for the confirming of his faith, but a peevish
objection against what was said to him as altogether incredible; as if
he should say, “I can never be made to believe this.” He could not but
perceive that it was an angel that spoke to him; the message
delivered, having reference to the Old-Testament prophecies, carried
much of its own evidence along with it. There are many instances in the
Old Testament of those that had children when they were old, yet he
cannot believe that he shall have this child of promise: “For I am
an old man, and my wife hath not only been all her days barren, but
is now well stricken in years, and not likely ever to have
children.” Therefore he must have a sign given him, or he will
not believe. Though the appearance of an angel, which had long been
disused in the church, was sign enough,–though he had this notice
given him in the temple, the place of God’s oracles, where he had
reason to think no evil angel would be permitted to come,–though it
was given him when he was praying, and burning incense,–and though a
firm belief of that great principle of religion that God has an
almighty power, and with him nothing is impossible, which we
ought not only to know, but to teach others, was enough to
silence all objections,–yet, considering his own body and his wife’s
too much, unlike a son of Abraham, he staggered at the promise,
Rom. iv. 19, 20.
2. How his unbelief was silenced, and he silenced for
it.
(1.) The angel stops his mouth, by asserting his
authority. Doth he ask, Whereby shall I know this? Let him know
it by this, I am Gabriel,
v. 19.
He puts his name to his prophecy, doth as it were sign it with his own
hand, teste meipso–take my word for it. Angels have sometimes
refused to tell their names, as to Manoah and his wife; but his angel
readily saith, I am Gabriel, which signifies the power of
God, or the mighty one of God, intimating that the God who
bade him say this was able to make it good. He also makes himself known
by this name to put him in mind of the notices of the Messiah’s coming
sent to Daniel by the man Gabriel,
Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21.
“I am the same that was sent then, and am sent now in pursuance
of the same intention.” He is Gabriel, who stands in the presence of
God, an immediate attendant upon the throne of God. The prime
ministers of state in the Persian court are described by this, that
they saw the king’s face,
Esth. i. 14.
“Though I am now talking with thee here, yet I stand in the presence
of God. I know his eye is upon me, and I dare not say any more than
I have warrant to say. But I declare I am sent to speak to
thee, sent on purpose to show thee these glad tidings,
which, being so well worthy of all acceptation, thou oughtest to have
received cheerfully.”
(2.) The angel stops his mouth indeed, by exerting his
power: “That thou mayest object no more, behold thou shalt be
dumb,
v. 20.
If thou wilt have a sign for the support of thy faith, it shall be such
a one as shall be also the punishment of thine unbelief; thou shalt
not be able to speak till the day that these things shall be
performed,”
Thou shalt be both dumb and deaf; the same word signifies
both, and it is plain that he lost his hearing as well as his speech,
for his friends made signs to him
(v. 62),
as well as he to them,
Now, in striking him dumb,
[1.] God dealt justly with him, because he had objected against
God’s word. Hence we may take occasion to admire the patience of God
and his forbearance toward us, that we, who have often spoken to his
dishonour, have not been struck dumb, as Zacharias was, and as we had
been if God had dealt with us according to our sins.
[2.] God dealt kindly with him, and very tenderly and
graciously. For, First, Thus he prevented his speaking any more
such distrustful unbelieving words. If he has thought evil, and
will not himself lay his hands upon his mouth, nor keep it as
with a bridle, God will. It is better not to speak at all than to
speak wickedly. Secondly, Thus he confirmed his
faith; and, by his being disabled to speak, he is enabled to
think the better. If by the rebukes we are under for our sin we
be brought to give more credit to the word of God, we have no reason to
complain of them. Thirdly, Thus he was kept from divulging the
vision, and boasting of it, which otherwise he would have been apt to
do, whereas it was designed for the present to be lodged as a secret
with him. Fourthly, It was a great mercy that God’s words
should be fulfilled in their season, notwithstanding his sinful
distrust. The unbelief of man shall not make the promises of
God of no effect, they shall be fulfilled in their season,
and he shall not be for ever dumb, but only till the day that
these things shall be performed, and then thy lips shall be
opened, that thy mouth may show forth God’s
praise. Thus, though God chastens the iniquity of his
people with the rod, yet his loving kindness he will
not take away.
V. The return of Zacharias to the people, and at length to his family,
and the conception of this child of promise, the son of his old
age.
1. The people staid, expecting Zacharias to come out of the temple,
because he was to pronounce the blessing upon them in the name of the
Lord; and, though he staid beyond the usual time, yet they did not, as
is too common in Christian congregations, hurry away without the
blessing, but waited for him, marvelling that he tarried so
long in the temple, and afraid let something was amiss,
2. When he came out, he was speechless,
v. 22.
He was now to have dismissed the congregation with a blessing, but was
dumb and not able to do it, that the people may be minded to expect the
Messiah, who can command the blessing, who blesseth
indeed, and in whom all the nations of the earth are
blessed. Aaron’s priesthood is now shortly to be silenced
and set aside, to make way for the bringing in of a
better hope.
3. He made a shift to give them to understand that he had seen a
vision, by some awful signs he made, for he beckoned to
them, and remained speechless,
v. 22.
This represents to us the weakness and deficiency of the Levitical
priesthood, in comparison with Christ’s priesthood and the dispensation
of the gospel. The Old Testament speaks by signs, gives us some
intimations of divine and heavenly things, but imperfect and
uncertain; it beckons to us, but remains speechless. It
is the gospel that speaks to us articulately, and gives us a clear view
of that which the Old Testament was seen through a glass
darkly.
4. He staid out the days of his ministration; for, his lot being
to burn incense, he could do that, though he was dumb and
deaf. When we cannot perform the service of God so well as we
would, yet, if we perform it as well as we can, God will accept of us
in it.
| The Birth of Christ Foretold. |
|
|
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God
unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that
art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou
among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and
cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast
found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring
forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
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:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of
his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I
know not a man?
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 thing which shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a
son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was
called barren.
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto
me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
We have here notice given us of all that it was fit we should know
concerning the incarnation and conception of our blessed Saviour, six
months after the conception of John. The same angel, Gabriel, that was
employed in making known to Zacharias God’s purpose concerning his
son, is employed in this also; for in this, the same glorious work
of redemption, which was begun in that, is carried on. As
bad angels are none of the redeemed, so good angels are none of the
redeemers; yet they are employed by the Redeemer as his messengers, and
they go cheerfully on his errands, because they are his Father’s humble
servants, and his children’s hearty friends and well-wishers.
I. We have here an account given of the mother of our Lord, of whom he
was to be born, whom, though we are not to pray to, yet we ought to
praise God for.
1. Her name was Mary, the same name with Miriam, the
sister of Moses and Aaron; the name signifies exalted, and a
great elevation it was to her indeed to be thus favoured above
all the daughters of the house of David.
2. She was a daughter of the royal family, lineally descended from
David, and she herself and all her friends knew it, for she went under
the title and character of the house of David, though she was
poor and low in the world; and she was enabled by God’s providence, and
the care of the Jews, to preserve their genealogies, to make it
out, and as long as the promise of the Messiah was to be fulfilled
it was worth keeping; but for those now, who are brought low in
the world, to have descended from persons of honour, is not worth
mentioning.
3. She was a virgin, a pure unspotted one, but espoused
to one of the same royal stock, like her, however, of low estate; so
that upon both accounts there was (as it was fit there should be) an
equality between them; his name was Joseph; he also was of the house
of David,
Matt. i. 20.
Christ’s mother was a virgin, because he was not to be born by
ordinary generation, but miraculously; it was necessary that he should
be so, that, though he must partake of the nature of man, yet not of
the corruption of that nature: but he was born of a virgin
espoused, made up to be married, and contracted, to put honour upon
the married state, that that might not be brought into contempt (which
was an ordinance in innocency) by the Redeemer’s being born of a
virgin.
4. She lived in Nazareth, a city of Galilee, a remote corner of
the country, and in no reputation for religion or learning, but which
bordered upon the heathen, and therefore was called Galilee of the
Gentiles. Christ’s having his relations resident there intimates
favour in reserve for the Gentile world. And Dr. Lightfoot observes
that Jonah was by birth a Galilean, and Elijah and Elisha very much
conversant in Galilee, who were all famous prophets of the
Gentiles. The angel was sent to her from Nazareth. Note, No
distance or disadvantage of place shall be a prejudice to those for
whom God has favours in store. The angel Gabriel carries his message as
cheerfully to Mary and Nazareth in Galilee as to Zacharias in the
temple at Jerusalem.
II. The address of the angel to her,
We are not told what she was doing, or how employed, when the angel
came unto her; but he surprised her with this salutation,
Hail, thou art highly favoured. This was intended to raise in
her,
1. A value for herself; and, though it is very rare that any
need to have any sparks struck into their breast with such design, yet
in some, who like Mary pore only on their low estate, there is
occasion for it.
2. An expectation of great news, not from abroad, but from above.
Heaven designs, no doubt, uncommon favours for one whom an angel makes
court to with such respect, Hail thou,
chaire—rejoice thou; it was the usual form of
salutation; it expresses an esteem of her, and good-will to her and her
prosperity.
(1.) She is dignified: “Thou art highly favoured. God, in his
choice of thee to be the mother of the Messiah, has put an honour upon
thee peculiar to thyself, above that of Eve, who was the mother of
all living.” The vulgar Latin translates this gratiá
plena–full of grace, and thence gathers that she had more of the
inherent graces of the Spirit than ever any had; whereas it is certain
that this bespeaks no other than the singular favour done her in
preferring her to conceive and bear our blessed Lord, an honour which,
since he was to be the seed of the woman, some woman must have,
not for personal merit, but purely for the sake of free
grace, and she is pitched upon. Even so, Father, because it
seemed good unto thee.
(2.) She has the presence of God with her: “The Lord is with
thee, though poor and mean, and perhaps now forecasting how to get
a livelihood and maintain a family in the married state.” The angel
with this word raised the faith of Gideon
(Judg. vi. 12):
The Lord is with thee. Nothing is to be despaired of, not the
performance of any service, not the obtaining of any favour, though
ever so great, if we have God with us. This word might put her
in mind of the Immanuel, God with us, which a virgin shall
conceive and bear
(Isa. vii. 14),
and why not she?
(3.) She has the blessing of God upon her: “Blessed art thou among
women; not only thou shalt be accounted so by men, but thou shalt
be so. Thou that art so highly favoured in this instance mayest
expect in other things to be blessed.” She explains this herself
(v. 48),
All generations shall call me blessed. Compare it with that
which Deborah saith of Jael, another that was the glory of her sex
(Judg. v. 24),
Blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
III. The consternation she was in, upon this address
(v. 29).
When she saw him, and the glories with which he was surrounded,
she was troubled at the sight of him, and much more at his
saying. Had she been a proud ambitious young woman, that aimed
high, and flattered herself with the expectation of great things in the
world, she would have been pleased at his saying, would have
been puffed up with it, and (as we have reason to think she was a young
woman of very good sense) would have had an answer ready, signifying so
much: but, instead of that, she is confounded at it, as not
conscious to herself of any thing that either merited or
promised such great things; and she cast in her mind what
manner of salutation this should be. Was it from heaven or of men?
Was it to amuse her? was it to ensnare her? was it to banter her? or
was there something substantial and weighty in it? But, of all the
thoughts she had as to what manner of salutation it should be, I
believe she had not the least idea of its being ever intended or used
for a prayer, as it is, and has been, for many ages, by the corrupt,
degenerate, and anti-christian ages of the church, and to be ten times
repeated for the Lord’s prayer once; so it is in the church of Rome.
But her thoughtfulness upon this occasion gives a very useful
intimation to young people of her sex, when addresses are made to them,
to consider and cast in their minds what manner of
salutations they are, whence they come, and what their tendency
is, that they may receive them accordingly, and may always stand on
their guard.
IV. The message itself which the angel had to deliver to her. Some time
the angel gives her to pause; but, observing that this did but
increase her perplexity, he went on with his errand,
To what he had said she made no reply; he therefore confirms it:
“Fear not, Mary, I have no other design than to assure thee that
thou hast found favour with God more than thou thinkest of, as
there are many who think they are more favoured with God than they
really are.” Note, Those that have found favour with God should
not give way to disquieting distrustful fears. Doth God favour thee?
Fear not, though the world frown upon thee. Is he for thee? No matter
who is against thee.
1. Though she is a virgin, she shall have the honour of being a
mother: “Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a
son, and thou shalt have the naming of him; thou shalt call his
name Jesus,”
It was the sentence upon Eve, that, though she should have the honour
to be the mother of all living, yet this mortification shall be
an allay to that honour, that her desire shall be to her
husband, and he shall rule over her,
Gen. iii. 16.
But Mary has the honour without the allay.
2. Though she lives in poverty and obscurity, yet she
shall have the honour to be the mother of the Messiah; her son shall be
named Jesus–a Saviour, such a one as the world needs,
rather than such one as the Jews expect.
(1.) He will be very nearly allied to the upper world. He
shall be great, truly great, incontestably great; for he shall
be called the Son of the Highest, the Son of God who is the
Highest; of the same nature, as the son is of the same nature with
the father; and very dear to him, as the son is to the father. He shall
be called, and not miscalled, the Son of the
Highest; for he is himself God over all, blessed for
evermore,
Rom. ix. 5.
Note, Those who are the children of God, though but by adoption and
regeneration, are truly great, and therefore are concerned to be
very good,
1 John iii. 1, 2.
(2.) He will be very highly preferred in the lower world;
for, though born under the most disadvantageous circumstances possible,
and appearing in the form of a servant, yet the Lord God shall give
unto him the throne of his father David,
v. 32.
He puts her in mind that she was of the house of David; and that
therefore, since neither the Salique law, nor the right of
primogeniture, took place in the entail of his throne, it was not
impossible but that she might bring forth an heir to it, and therefore
might the more easily believe it when she was told by an angel
from heaven that she should do so, that after the sceptre had
been long departed from that ancient and honourable family it
should now at length return to it again, to remain in it, not by
succession, but in the same hand to eternity. His people will not
give him that throne, will not acknowledge his right to rule
them; but the Lord God shall give him a right to rule
them, and set him as his king upon the holy hill of
Zion. He assures her,
[1.] That his kingdom shall be spiritual: he shall reign over
the house of Jacob, not Israel according to the flesh, for
they neither came into his interests nor did they continue long a
people; it must therefore be a spiritual kingdom, the house of
Israel according to the promise, that he must rule over.
[2.] That it shall be eternal: he shall reign for ever, and
of his kingdom there shall be no end, as there had been long
since of the temporal reign of David’s house, and would shortly be of
the state of Israel. Other crowns endure not to every
generation, but Christ’s doth,
The gospel is the last dispensation, we are to look for no
other.
V. The further information given her, upon her enquiry concerning the
birth of this prince.
1. It is a just enquiry which she makes: “How shall this be?
v. 34.
How can I now presently conceive a child” (for so the angel meant)
“when I know not a man; must it therefore be otherwise than by
ordinary generation? If so, let me now how?” She knew that the
Messiah must be born of a virgin; and, if she must be his
mother, she desires to know how. This was not the language of her
distrust, or any doubt of what the angel said, but of a desire to be
further instructed.
2. It is a satisfactory answer that is given to it,
(1.) She shall conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, whose
proper work and office is to sanctify, and therefore to sanctify
the virgin for this purpose. The Holy Ghost is called the power of
the Highest. Doth she ask how this shall be? This is enough to help
her over all the difficulty there appears in it; a divine power will
undertake it, not the power of an angel employed in it, as in other
works of wonder, but the power of the Holy Ghost himself.
(2.) She must ask no questions concerning the way and manner how
it shall be wrought; for the Holy Ghost, as the power of the
Highest, shall overshadow her, as the cloud covered
the tabernacle when the glory of God took possession of it, to conceal
it from those that would too curiously observe the motions of it, and
pry into the mystery of it. The formation of every babe in the womb,
and the entrance of the spirit of life into it, is a mystery in nature;
none knows the way of the spirit, nor how the bones are formed in
the womb of her that is with child,
Eccl. xi. 5.
We were made in secret,
Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16.
Much more was the formation of the child Jesus a mystery;
without controversy, great was the mystery of godliness, God
manifest in the flesh,
1 Tim. iii. 16.
It is a new thing created in the earth
concerning which we must not covet to be wise above what is
written.
(3.) The child she shall conceive is a holy thing, and therefore
must not be conceived by ordinary generation, because he must
not share in the common corruption and pollution of the human nature.
He is spoken of emphatically, That Holy Thing, such as never
was; and he shall be called the Son of God, as the Son of the
Father by eternal generation, as an indication of which he shall now be
formed by the Holy Ghost in the present conception. His human nature
must be so produced, as it was fit that should be which was to be taken
into union with the divine nature.
3. It was a further encouragement to her faith to be told that her
cousin Elisabeth, though stricken in years, was with child,
v. 36.
Here is an age of wonders beginning, and therefore be not surprised:
here is one among thy own relations truly great, though not altogether
so great as this; it is usual with God to advance in working wonders.
Greater works than these shall ye do. Though Elisabeth was, on
the father’s side, of the daughters of Aaron
(v. 5),
yet on the mother’s side she might be of the house of David, for those
two families often intermarried, as an earnest of the uniting of the
royalty and the priesthood of the Messiah. This is the sixth month
with her that was called barren. This intimates, as Dr. Lightfoot
thinks, that all the instances in the Old Testament of those having
children that had been long barren, which was above nature, were
designed to prepare the world for the belief of a virgin’s bearing a
son, which was against nature. And therefore, even in the birth of
Isaac, Abraham saw Christ’s day, foresaw such a miracle in the birth of
Christ. The angel assures Mary of this, to encourage her faith, and
concludes with that great truth, of undoubted certainty and universal
use, For with God nothing shall be impossible
(v. 37),
and, if nothing, then not this. Abraham therefore staggered not at the
belief of the divine promise, because he was strong in his belief of
the divine power,
No word of God must be incredible to us, as long as no
work of God is impossible to him.
VI. Her acquiescence in the will of God concerning her,
She owns herself,
1. A believing subject to the divine authority: “Behold, the
handmaid of the Lord. Lord, I am at thy service, at thy disposal,
to do what thou commandest me.” She objects not the danger of spoiling
her marriage, and blemishing her reputation, but leaves the issue with
God, and submits entirely to his will.
2. A believing expectant of the divine favour. She is not only content
that it should be so, but humbly desires that it may be so: Be it
unto me according to thy word. Such a favour as this it was not for
her to slight, or be indifferent to; and for what God has
promised he will be sought unto; by prayer we must put
our amen, or so be it, to the promise. Remember,
and perform thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou has caused me
to hope. We must, as Mary here, guide our desires by the
word of God, and ground our hopes upon it. Be it unto me
according to thy word; just so, and no otherwise.
Hereupon, the angel departed from her; having completed the
errand he was sent upon, he returned, to give an account of it, and
receive new instructions. Converse with angels was always a transient
thing, and soon over; it will be constant and permanent in the future
state. It is generally supposed that just at this instant the virgin
conceived, by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost:
but, the scripture being decently silent concerning it, it doth not
become us to be inquisitive, much less positive.
| The Interview of Mary and Elisabeth; The Song of Mary. |
|
|
39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country
with haste, into a city of Juda;
40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted
Elisabeth.
41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the
salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth
was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art
thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
43 And whence is this to me, that 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.
45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a
performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for,
behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy
is his name.
50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to
generation.
51 He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the
proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted
them of low degree.
53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he
hath sent empty away.
54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his
mercy;
55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for
ever.
56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to
her own house.
We have here an interview between the two happy mothers, Elisabeth and
Mary: the angel, by intimating to Mary the favour bestowed on her
cousin Elisabeth
(v. 36),
gave occasion for it; and sometimes it may prove a better piece of
service that we think to bring good people together, to compare notes.
Here is,
I. The visit which Mary made to Elisabeth. Mary was the younger,
and younger with child; and therefore, if they must come together, it
was fittest that Mary should take the journey, not insisting on the
preference which the greater dignity of her conception gave her,
She arose, and left her affairs, to attend this greater matter:
in those days, at that time (as it is commonly explained,
in a day or two after the angel had visited her, taking some time
first, as it is supposed, for her devotion, or rather hastening away to
her cousin’s, where she would have more leisure, and better help, in
the family of a priest. She went, meta spoudes—with
care, diligence, and expedition; not as young people
commonly go abroad and visit their friends, to divert herself,
but to inform herself: she went to a city of Judah in the
hill-country; it is not named, but by comparing the description of
it here with
it appears to be Hebron, for that is there said to be in the
hill-country of Judah, and to belong to the priests, the sons of
Aaron; thither Mary hastened, though it was a long journey, some scores
of miles.
1. Dr. Lightfoot offers a conjecture that she was to conceive
our Saviour there at Hebron, and perhaps had so much intimated to her
by the angel, or some other way; and therefore she made such haste
thither. He thinks it probable that Shiloh, of the tribe of Judah, and
the seed of David, should be conceived in a city of Judah and of
David, as he was to be born in Bethlehem, another city which belonged
to them both. In Hebron the promise was given to Isaac, circumcision
was instituted. Here (saith he) Abraham had his first land, and David
his first crown: here lay interred the three couples, Abraham and
Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, and, as antiquity has held,
Adam and Eve. He therefore thinks that it suits singularly with the
harmony and consent which God uses in his works that the promise should
begin to take place by the conception of the Messias, even among those
patriarchs to whom it was given. I see no improbability in the
conjecture, but add this for the support of it, that Elisabeth said
(v. 45),
There shall be a performance; as if it were not performed yet,
but was to be performed there.
2. It is generally supposed that she went thither for the confirming of
her faith by the sign which the angel had given her, her cousin’s being
with child, and to rejoice with her sister-favourite. And, besides, she
went thither, perhaps, that she might be more retired from company, or
else might have more agreeable company than she could have in Nazareth.
We may suppose that she did not acquaint any of her neighbours at
Nazareth with the message she had received from heaven, yet longed to
talk over a thing she had a thousand time thought over,
and knew no person in the world with whom she could freely
converse concerning it but her cousin Elisabeth, and therefore she
hastened to her. Note, it is very beneficial and comfortable for those
that have a good work of grace begun in their souls, and Christ in the
forming there, to consult those who are in the same case, that
they may communicate experiences one to another; and they will find
that, as in water face answers to face, so doth the heart of man to
man, of Christian to Christian.
II. The meeting between Mary and Elisabeth. Mary entered into the house
of Zacharias; but he, being dumb and deaf, kept his
chamber, it is probable, and saw no company; and therefore she
saluted Elisabeth
(v. 40),
told her she was come to make her a visit, to know her state, and
rejoice with her in her joy.
Now, at their first coming together, for the confirmation of the faith
of both of them, there was something very extraordinary. Mary knew that
Elisabeth was with child, but it does not appear that Elisabeth had
been told any thing of her cousin Mary’s being designed for the mother
of the Messiah; and therefore what knowledge she appears to have had of
it must have come by a revelation, which would be a great
encouragement to Mary.
1. The babe leaped in her womb,
v. 41.
It is very probable that she had been several weeks quick (for
she was six months gone), and that she had often felt the child stir;
but this was a more than ordinary motion of the child, which alarmed
her to expect something very extraordinary, eskirtese. It
is the same word that is used by the LXX.
for the struggling of Jacob and Esau in Rebecca’s womb, and the
mountains skipping,
Ps. cxiv. 4.
The babe leaped as it were to give a signal to his mother that
he was now at had whose forerunner he was to be, about six
months in ministry, as he was in being; or, it was the effect of some
strong impression made upon the mother. Now began to be fulfilled what
the angel said to his father
(v. 15),
that he should be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s
womb; and perhaps he himself had some reference to this, when he
said
(John iii. 29),
The friend of the Bridegroom rejoiceth greatly, because of the
Bridegroom’s voice, heard, though not by him, yet by his
mother.
2. Elisabeth was herself filled with the Holy Ghost, or a Spirit
of prophecy, by which, as well as by the particular suggestions of the
Holy Ghost she was filled with, she was given to understand that the
Messiah was at hand, in whom prophecy should revive, and by whom the
Holy Ghost should be more plentifully poured out than ever, according
to the expectations of those who waited for the consolation of
Israel. The uncommon motion of the babe in her womb was a token of
extraordinary emotion of her spirit under a divine impulse. Note, Those
whom Christ graciously visits may know it by their being filled with
the Holy Ghost; for, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ,
he is none of his.
III. The welcome which Elisabeth, by the Spirit of prophecy, gave to
Mary, the mother of our Lord; not as to a common friend making a common
visit, but as to one of whom the Messiah was to be born.
1. She congratulates her on her honour, and, though perhaps she knew
not of it till just now, she acknowledges it with the greatest
assurance and satisfaction. She spoke with a loud voice, which
does not at all intimate (as some think) that there was a floor or a
wall between them, but that she was in a transport or exultation of
joy, and said what she cared not who knew. She said, Blessed art
thou among women, the same word that the angels had said
(v. 28);
for thus this will of God, concerning honouring the Son, should be done
on earth as it is done in heaven. But Elisabeth adds a
reason, Therefore blessed art thou because blessed is the
fruit of thy womb; thence it was that she derived this excelling
dignity. Elisabeth was the wife of a priest, and in years, yet she
grudges not that her kinswoman, who was many years younger than
she, and every way her inferior, should have the honour of conceiving
in her virginity, and being the mother of the Messiah, whereas the
honour put upon her was much less; she rejoices in it,
and is well pleased, as her son was afterwards, that she who cometh
after her is preferred before her,
John i. 27.
Note, While we cannot but own that we are more favoured of God
than we deserve, let us by no means envy that others are more
highly favoured than we are.
2. She acknowledges her condescension, in making her this visit
(v. 43):
Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to
me? Observe,
(1.) She calls the virgin Mary the mother of her Lord (as David
in spirit, called the Messiah Lord, his Lord), for she knew he
was to be Lord of all.
(2.) She not only bids her welcome to her house, though perhaps she
came in mean circumstances, but reckons this visit a great favour,
which she thought herself unworthy of. Whence is this to me? It
is in reality, and not in compliment, that she saith, “This was a
greater favour than I could have expected.” Note, Those that are filled
with the Holy Ghost have low thoughts of their own merits, and
high thoughts of God’s favours. Her son the Baptist spoke to the same
purport with this, when he said, Comest thou to me?
Matt. iii. 14.
3. She acquaints her with the concurrence of the babe in her womb, in
this welcome to her
(v. 44):
“Thou certainly bringest some extraordinary tidings, some extraordinary
blessing, with thee; for as soon as the voice of thy salutation
sounded in my ears, not only my heart leaped for joy, though
I knew not immediately why or wherefore, but the babe in my
womb, who was not capable of knowing, did so too.” He
leaped as it were for joy that the Messiah, whose
harbinger he was to be, would himself come soon after him. This would
serve very much to strengthen the faith of the virgin, that there were
such assurances as these given to others; and it would be in part the
accomplishment of what had been so often foretold, that there should be
universal joy before the Lord, when he cometh,
Ps. xcviii. 8, 9.
4. She commends her faith, and encourages it
(v. 45):
Blessed is she that believed. Believing souls are blessed souls,
and will be found so at last; this blessedness cometh through
faith, even the blessedness of being related to Christ, and having
him formed in the soul. They are blessed who
believe the word of God, for that Word will not fail them;
there shall, without doubt, be a performance of those things
which are told her from the Lord. Note, The inviolable certainty of
the promise is the undoubted felicity of those that build upon it and
expect their all from it. The faithfulness of God is the blessedness of
the faith of the saints. Those that have experienced the performance of
God’s promises themselves should encourage others to hope that he will
be as good as his word to them also: I will tell you what God has
done for my soul.
IV. Mary’s song of praise, upon this occasion. Elisabeth’s prophecy was
an echo to the virgin Mary’s salutation, and this song is yet a
stronger echo to that prophecy, and shows her to be no less
filled with the Holy Ghost than Elisabeth was. We may suppose the
blessed virgin to come in, very much fatigued with her journey;
yet she forgets that, and is inspired with new life, and vigour, and
joy, upon the confirmation she here meets with of her faith; and since,
by the sudden inspiration and transport, she finds that this was
designed to be her errand hither, weary as she is, like Abraham’s
servant, she would neither eat nor drink till she had told her
errand.
1. Here are the expressions of joy and praise, and God alone the object
of the praise and centre of the joy. Some compare this song with that
which her name-sake Miriam, the sister of Moses, sung, upon the
triumphant departure of Israel out of Egypt, and their triumphant
passage through the Red Sea; others think it better compared with the
song of Hannah, upon the birth of Samuel, which, like this, passes from
a family mercy to a public and general one. This begins, like
that, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord,
1 Sam. ii. 1.
Observe how Mary here speaks of God.
(1.) With great reverence of him, as the Lord: “My soul doth
magnify the Lord; I never saw him so great as now I find him
so good.” Note, Those, and those only, are advanced in
mercy, who are thereby brought to think the more highly and
honourably of God; whereas there are those whose prosperity and
preferment make them say, What is the Almighty, that we should serve
him? The more honour God has any way put upon us, the more honour
we must study to give to him; and then only are we accepted in
magnifying the Lord, when our souls magnify him, and all that
is within us. Praising work must be soul work.
(2.) With great complacency in him as her Saviour: My spirit
rejoiceth in God my Saviour. This seems to have reference to the
Messiah, whom she was to be the mother of. She calls him God her
Saviour; for the angel had told her that he should be the Son of
the Highest, and that his name should be Jesus, a Saviour;
this she fastened upon, with application to herself: He is God my
Saviour. Even the mother of our Lord had need of an interest in him
as her Saviour, and would have been undone without it: and she glories
more in that happiness which she had in common with all believers than
in being his mother, which was an honour peculiar to herself, and this
agrees with the preference Christ have to obedient believers above his
mother and brethren; see
Matt. xii. 50; Luke xi. 27, 28.
Note, Those that have Christ for their God and Saviour have a great
deal of reason to rejoice, to rejoice in spirit, that is
rejoicing as Christ did
(Luke x. 21),
with spiritual joy.
2. Here are just causes assigned for this joy and praise.
(1.) Upon her own account,
[1.] Her spirit rejoiced in the Lord, because of the kind
things he had done for her: his condescension and
compassion to her. He has regarded the low estate of his
handmaiden; that is, he has looked upon her with
pity, for so the word is commonly used. “He has chosen me to this
honour, notwithstanding my great meanness, poverty, and obscurity.”
Nay, the expression seems to intimate, not only (to allude to that of
Gideon,
that her family was poor in Judah, but that she was the least
in her father’s house, as if she were under some particular
contempt and disgraced among her relations, was unjustly neglected, and
the outcast of the family, and God put this honour upon her, to balance
abundantly the contempt. I the rather suggest this, for we find
something toward such honour as this put upon others, on the like
consideration. Because God saw that Leah was hated, he opened
her womb,
Gen. xxix. 31.
Because Hannah was provoked, and made to fret, and insulted over, by
Peninnah, therefore God gave her a son,
Whom men wrongfully depress and despise God doth sometimes, in
compassion to them, especially if they have borne it patiently, prefer
and advance; see
So in Mary’s case. And, if God regards her low estate, he not
only thereby gives a specimen of his favour to the whole race of
mankind, whom he remembers in their low estate, as the psalmist
speaks
but secures a lasting honour to her (for such the honour is that God
bestows, honour that fades not away): “From henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed, shall think me a happy woman and
highly advanced.” All that embrace Christ and his gospel will say,
Blessed was the womb that bore him and the paps which he sucked,
Luke xi. 27.
Elizabeth had once and again called her blessed: “But that is
not all,” saith she, “all generations of Gentiles as well as Jews shall
call me so.”
[2.] Her soul magnifies the Lord, because of the
wonderful things he had done for her
(v. 49):
He that is mighty has done to me great things. A great
thing indeed, that a virgin should conceive. A
great thing indeed, that Messiah, who had been so long promised
to the church, and so long expected by the church, should now at length
be born. It is the power of the Highest that appears in this.
She adds, and holy is his name; for so Hannah saith her song,
There is none holy as the Lord, which she explains in the next
words, for there is none beside thee,
1 Sam. ii. 2.
God is a Being by himself, and he manifests himself to be so,
especially in the work of our redemption. He that is mighty,
even he whose name is holy, has done to me great things.
Glorious things may be expected from him that is both mighty and
holy; who can do every thing, and will do every
thing well and for the best.
(2.) Upon the account of others. The virgin Mary, as the mother
of the Messiah, is become a kind of public person, wears a public
character, and is therefore immediately endued with another spirit, a
more public spirit than before she had, and therefore looks
abroad, looks about her, looks before her, and takes
notice of God’s various dealings with the children of men
(v. 50,
&c.), as Hannah
&c.). In this she has especially an eye to the coming of the Redeemer
and God’s manifesting himself therein.
[1.] It is a certain truth that God has mercy in store, mercy in
reserve, for all that have a reverence for his majesty, and a
due regard to his sovereignty and authority. But never did this appear
so as in sending his Son into the world to save us
(v. 50):
His mercy is on them that fear him; it has always been so; he
has ever looked upon them with an eye of peculiar favour
who have looked up to him with and eye of filial fear. But he
hath manifested this mercy, so as never before, in sending his
Son to bring in an everlasting righteousness, and work out an
everlasting salvation, for them that fear him, and this from
generation to generation; for there are gospel privileges
transmitted by entail, and intended for perpetuity. Those that fear
God, as their Creator and Judge, are encouraged to hope for
mercy in him, through their Mediator and Advocate; and in him
mercy is settled upon all that fear God, pardoning mercy,
healing mercy, accepting mercy, crowning mercy, from generation to
generation, while the world stands. In Christ he keepeth mercy
for thousands.
[2.] It has been a common observation that God in his providence puts
contempt upon the haughty and honour upon the
humble; and this he has done remarkably in the whole economy of
the work of man’s redemption. As God had, with his mercy to her,
shown himself mighty also
(v. 48, 49),
so he had, with his mercy on them that fear him, shown strength
likewise with his arm. First, In the course of his
providence, it is his usual method to cross the expectations of
men, and proceed quite otherwise than they promise themselves.
Proud men expect to carry all before them, to have their way and
their will; but he scatters them in the imagination of their
hearts, breaks their measures, blasts their projects, nay, and
brings them low, and brings them down, by those very counsels with
which they thought to advance and establish themselves. 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 no other than of being
ever low, are wonderfully exalted. This observation
concerning honour holds likewise concerning riches; many
who were so poor that they had not bread for themselves and their
families, by some surprising turn of Providence in favour of them, come
to be filled with good things; while, on the other hand, those
who were rich, and thought no other than that to-morrow should be as
this day, that their mountain stood strong and should never be moved,
are strangely impoverished, and sent away empty. Now this is the
same observation that Hannah had made, and enlarged upon, in her song,
with application to the case of herself and her adversary
which very much illustrates this here. And compare also
and Eccl. ix. 11.
God takes a pleasure in disappointing their expectations who
promise themselves great things in the world, and in
out-doing the expectations of those who promise themselves but
a little; as a righteous God, it is his glory to
abase those who exalt themselves, and strike terror on
the secure; and, as a good God, it is his glory to exalt those
who humble themselves, and to speak comfort to those who fear before
him. Secondly, This doth especially appear in the methods of
gospel grace.
1. In the spiritual honours it dispenses. When the proud
Pharisees were rejected, and Publicans and sinners went into the
kingdom of heaven before them,–when the Jews, who followed after
the law of righteousness, did not attain it, and the Gentiles, who
never thought of it, attained to righteousness
(Rom. ix. 30, 31),–when
God chose not the wise men after the flesh, not the
mighty, or the noble, to preach the gospel, and plant
Christianity in the world, but the foolish and weak
things of the world, and things that were despised
(1 Cor. i. 26, 27)–then
he scattered the proud, and put down the mighty, but
exalted them of low degree. When the tyranny of the chief
priests and elders were brought down, who had long lorded it over
God’s heritage, and hoped always to do so, and Christ’s
disciples, a company of poor despised fishermen, by the power they were
clothed with, were made to sit on thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel,–when the power of the four monarchies was broken,
and the kingdom of the Messiah, that stone cut out of the mountain
without hands, is made to fill the earth,–then are the
proud scattered, and those of low degree exalted.
2. In the spiritual riches it dispenses,
(1.) Those who see their need of Christ, and are importunately desirous
of righteousness and life in him, he fills with good
things, with the best things; he gives liberally to them,
and they are abundantly satisfied with the blessings he gives.
Those who are weary and heavy-laden shall find rest with Christ, and
those who thirst are called to come to him and drink; for they
only know how to value his gifts. To the hungry soul every bitter
thing is sweet, manna is angels’ food; and to the thirsty
fair water is honey out of the rock.
(2.) Those who are rich, who are not hungry, who, like Laodicea,
think they have need of nothing, are full of themselves and
their own righteousness, and think they have a sufficiency in
themselves, those he sends away from his door, they are not
welcome to him, he sends them empty away, they come full of
self, and are sent away empty of Christ. He sends them to
the gods whom they served, to their own righteousness and
strength which they trusted to.
[3.] It was always expected that the Messiah should be, in a special
manner, the strength and glory of his people Israel, and so he is in a
peculiar manner
(v. 54):
He hath helped his servant Israel, antelabeto. He
hath taken them by the hand, and helped them up that were fallen
and could not help themselves. Those that were sunk under the burdens
of a broken covenant of innocency are helped up by the blessings
of a renewed covenant of grace. The sending of the Messiah, on whom
help was laid for poor sinners, was the greatest kindness
that could be done, the greatest help that could be provided for his
people Israel, and that which magnifies it is,
First, That it is in remembrance of his mercy, the
mercifulness of his nature, the mercy he has in store for his
servant Israel. While this blessing was deferred, his people, who
waited for it, were often ready to ask, Has God forgotten to be
gracious? But now he made it appear that he had not forgotten, but
remembered, his mercy. He remembered his former mercy, and
repeated that to them in spiritual blessings which he had done
formerly to them in temporal favours. He remembered the days
of old. Where is he that brought them up out of the sea, out of
Egypt?
He will do the like again, which that was a type of.
Secondly, That it is in performance of his promise. It is
a mercy not only designed, but declared
(v. 55);
it was what he spoke to our fathers, that the Seed of the woman
should break the head of the serpent; that God should dwell in the
tents of Shem; and particularly to Abraham, that in his seed all the
families of the earth shall be blessed, with the best of blessings,
with the blessings that are for ever, and to the seed that shall
be for ever; that is, his spiritual seed, for his carnal seed
were cut off a little after this. Note, What God has spoken he
will perform; what he hath spoken to the fathers will be performed to
their seed; to their seed’s seed, in blessings that shall last for
ever.
Lastly, Mary’s return to Nazareth
(v. 56),
after she had continued with Elisabeth about three months, so
long as to be fully satisfied concerning herself that she was with
child, and to be confirmed therein by her cousin Elisabeth. Some
think, though her return is here mentioned before Elisabeth’s being
delivered, because the evangelist would finish this passage concerning
Mary before he proceeded with the story of Elisabeth, yet that Mary
staid till her cousin was (as we say) down and up again; that
she might attend on her, and be with her in her lying-in, and have her
own faith confirmed by the full accomplishment of the promise of God
concerning Elisabeth. But most bind themselves to the order of the
story as it lies, and think she returned again when Elisabeth was near
her time; because she still affected retirement, and therefore would
not be there when the birth of this child of promise would draw a great
deal of company to the house. Those in whose hearts Christ is formed
take more delight than they used to do in sitting alone and
keeping silence.
| The Birth of John the Baptist. |
|
|
57 Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered;
and she brought forth a son.
58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had
showed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to
circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the
name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be
called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is
called by this name.
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him
called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His
name is John. And they marvelled all.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue
loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all
these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country
of Judæa.
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their
hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand
of the Lord was with him.
In these verses, we have,
I. The birth of John Baptist,
Though he was conceived in the womb by miracle, he continued in the
womb according to the ordinary course of nature (so did our Saviour):
Elisabeth’s full time came, that she should be delivered, and
then she brought forth a son. Promised mercies are to be
expected when the full time for them is come, and not
before.
II. The great joy that was among all the relations of the family, upon
this extraordinary occasion
(v. 58):
Her neighbours and her cousins heard of it; for it would be in
every body’s mouth, as next to miraculous. Dr. Lightfoot observes that
Hebron was inhabited by priests of the family of Aaron, and that those
were the cousins here spoken of; but the fields and villages about, by
the children of Judah, and that those were the neighbours. Now
these here discovered,
1. A pious regard to God. They acknowledged that the Lord had
magnified his mercy to her, so the word is. It was a mercy to have
her reproach taken away, a mercy to have her family built up, and the
more being a family of priests, devoted to God, and employed for
him. Many things concurred to make the mercy great–that she had
been long barren, was now old, but especially that the child should be
great in the sight of the Lord.
2. A friendly regard to Elisabeth. When she rejoiced, they
rejoiced with her. We ought to take pleasure in the
prosperity of our neighbours and friends, and to be thankful to God for
their comforts as for our own.
III. The dispute that was among them concerning the naming him
(v. 59):
On the eighth day, as God has appointed, they came
together, to circumcise the child; it was here, in Hebron,
that circumcision was first instituted; and Isaac, who, like
John Baptist, was born by promise, was one of the first that was
submitted to it, at least the chief eyed in the institution of it. They
that rejoiced in the birth of the child came together to the
circumcising of him. Note, The greatest comfort we can take in our
children is in giving them up to God, and recognizing their
covenant-relation to him. The baptism of our children should be more
our joy than their birth.
Now it was the custom, when they circumcised their children, to name
them, because, when Abram was circumcised God gave him a new
name, and called him Abraham; and it is not unfit that they
should be left nameless till they are by name given up to
God. Now,
1. Some proposed that he should be called by his father’s name,
Zacharias. We have not any instance in scripture that the child
should bear the father’s name; but perhaps it was of late come into use
among the Jews, at it is with us, and they intended hereby to do honour
to the father, who was not likely to have another child.
2. The mother opposed it, and would have called him John;
having learned, either by inspiration of the Holy Ghost (as is most
probable), or by information in writing from her husband, that God
appointed this to be his name
(v. 60);
He shall be called Johanan–Gracious, because he shall introduce
the gospel of Christ, wherein God’s grace shines more brightly than
ever.
3. The relations objected against that
(v. 61):
“There is none of thy kindred, none of the relations of thy
family, that is called by that name; and therefore, if he may
not have his father’s name, yet let him have the name of some of his
kindred, who will take it as a piece of respect to have such a child
of wonders as this named from them.” Note, As those that have
friends must show themselves friendly, so those that have
relations must be obliging to them in all the usual regards that
are paid to kindred.
4. They appealed to the father, and would try if they could
possibly get to know his mind; for it was his office to name the
child,
v. 62.
They made signs to him, by which it appears that he was
deaf as well as dumb; nay, it should seem,
mindless of any thing, else one would think they should at first
have desired him to write down his child’s name, if he had ever
communicated any thing by writing since he was struck. However,
they would carry the matter as far as they could, and therefore gave
him to understand what the dispute was which he only could determine;
whereupon he made signs to them to give him a table-book, such
as they then used, and with the pencil he wrote these words, His
name is John,
v. 63.
Note, “It shall be so,” or, “I would have it so,” but “It is so.” The
matter is determined already; the angel had given him that name.
Observe, When Zacharias could not speak, he wrote. When
ministers have their mouths stopped, that they cannot preach, yet they
may be doing good as long as they have not their hands tied, that they
cannot write. Many of the martyrs in prison wrote letters to their
friends, which were of great use; blessed Paul himself did so.
Zacharias’s pitching upon the same name that Elisabeth had chosen was a
great surprise to the company: They marvelled all; for they knew
not that, though by reason of his deafness and dumbness they could not
converse together, yet they were both guided by one and the
same Spirit: or perhaps they marvelled that he wrote so
distinctly and intelligently, which (the stroke he was under being
somewhat like that of a palsy) he had not done before.
5. He thereupon recovered the use of his speech
(v. 64):
His mouth was opened immediately. The time prefixed for his
being silenced was till the day that these blessed things shall be
fulfilled
(v. 20);
not all the things going before concerning John’s ministry, but
those which relate to his birth and name
(v. 13).
That time was now expired, whereupon the restraint was taken off, and
God gave him the opening of the mouth again, as he did to
Ezekiel,
Dr. Lightfoot compares this case of Zacharias with that of Moses,
Moses, for distrust, is in danger of his life, as Zacharias, for the
same fault, is struck dumb; but, upon the circumcision of his
child, and recovery of his faith, there, as here, the danger is
removed. Infidelity closed his mouth, and now believing opens it again;
he believes, therefore he speaks. David lay under guilt from the
conception of his child till a few days after its birth; then the
Lord takes away his sin: upon his repentance, he shall not die. So
here he shall be no longer dumb; his mouth was opened, and he spoke,
and praised God. Note, When God opens our lips, our mouths must
show forth his praise. As good be without our speech as not use
it in praising God; for then our tongue is most our glory
when it is employed for God’s glory.
6. These things were told all the country over, to the great amazement
of all that heard them,
The sentiments of the people are not to be slighted, but taken notice
of. We are here told,
(1.) That these sayings were discoursed of, and were the common
talk all about the hill-country of Judea. It is a pity but a
narrative of them had been drawn up, and published in the world,
immediately.
(2.) That most people who heard of these things were put into
consternation by them: Fear came on all them that dwell round
about there. If we have not a good hope, as we ought to
have, built upon the gospel, we may expect that the tidings of it will
fill us with fear. They believed and trembled, whereas they
should have believed and triumphed.
(3.) It raised the expectations of people concerning this child, and
obliged them to have their eye upon him, to see what he would come to.
They laid up these presages in their hearts, treasured
them up in mind and memory, as foreseeing they should hereafter have
occasion to recollect them. Note, What we hear, that may be of
use to us, we should treasure up, that we may be able to bring
forth, for the benefit of others, things new and old, and, when things
come to perfection, may be able to look back upon the presages thereof,
and to say, “It was what we might expect.” They said within
themselves, and said among themselves, “What manner of child
shall this be? What will be the fruit when these are the buds, or
rather when the root is out of such a dry ground?” Note,
When children are born into the world, it is very uncertain what they
will prove; yet sometimes there have been early indications of
something great, as in the birth of Moses, Samson, Samuel, and here of
John. And we have reason to think that there were some of those living
at the time when John began his public ministry who could, and did,
remember these things, and relate them to others, which contributed as
much as any thing to the great flocking there was after him.
Lastly, It is said, The hand of the Lord was with him;
that is, he was taken under the special protection of the Almighty,
from his birth, as one designed for something great and considerable,
and there were many instances of it. It appeared likewise that the
Spirit was at work upon his soul very early. As soon as he began to
speak or go, you might perceive something in him very extraordinary.
Note, God has ways of operating upon children in their infancy, which
we cannot account for. God never made a soul but he knew how to
sanctify it.
| The Song of Zacharias. |
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|
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and
prophesied, saying,
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and
redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house
of his servant David;
70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have
been since the world began:
71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand
of all that hate us;
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to
remember his holy covenant;
73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of
the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of
our life.
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his
ways;
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the
remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring
from on high hath visited us,
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in
the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.
We have here the song wherewith Zacharias praised God when his
mouth was opened; in it he is said to prophesy
(v. 67),
and so he did in the strictest sense of prophesying; for he
foretold things to come concerning the kingdom of the Messiah, to which
all the prophets bear witness. Observe,
I. How he was qualified for this: He was filled with the Holy
Ghost, was endued with more than ordinary measures and degrees of
it, for this purpose; he was divinely inspired. God not only
forgave him his unbelief and distrust (which was signified by
discharging him from the punishment of it), but, as a specimen
of the abounding of grace towards believers, he filled
him with the Holy Ghost, and put this honour upon him, to
employ him for his honour.
II. What the matter of his song was. Here is nothing said of the
private concerns of his own family, the rolling away of the reproach
from it and putting of a reputation upon it, by the birth of this
child, though, no doubt, he found a time to give thanks to God for
this, with his family; but in this song he is wholly taken up with the
kingdom of the Messiah, and the public blessings to be introduced by
it. He could have little pleasure in this fruitfulness of his
vine, and the hopefulness of his olive-plant, if
herein he had not foreseen the good of Jerusalem, peace upon
Israel, and blessings on both out of Zion,
Ps. cxxviii. 3, 5, 6.
The Old-Testament prophesies are often expressed in praises and
new songs, so is the beginning of New-Testament prophecy:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. The God of the whole earth shall
he be called; yet Zacharias, speaking of the work of redemption,
called him the Lord God of Israel, because to Israel the
prophecies, promises, and types, of the redemption had hitherto been
given, and to them the first proffers and proposals of it were now to
be made. Israel, as a chosen people, was a type of the elect of
God out of all nations, whom God had a particular eye to, in
sending the Saviour; and therefore he is therein called the Lord God
of Israel.
Now Zacharias here blesses God,
1. For the work of salvation that was to be wrought out by the
Messiah himself,
This it is that fills him, when he is filled with the Holy
Ghost, and it is that which all who have the Spirit of
Christ are full of.
(1.) In sending the Messiah, God has made a gracious visit to
his people, whom for many ages he had seemed to neglect, and to be
estranged from; he hath visited them as a friend, to take
cognizance of their case. God is said to have visited his people
in bondage when he delivered them
to have visited his people in famine when he gave them
bread,
Ruth i. 6.
He had often sent to them by his prophets, and had still kept up a
correspondence with them; but now he himself made them a
visit.
(2.) He has wrought out redemption for them: He has redeemed
his people. This was the errand on which Christ came into the
world, to redeem those that were sold for sin, and sold
under sin; even God’s own people, his Israel, his son, his
first-born, his free-born, need to be redeemed,
and are undone if they be not. Christ redeems them by price out
of the hands of God’s justice, and redeems them by power out of
the hands of Satan’s tyranny, as Israel out of Egypt.
(3.) He has fulfilled the covenant of royalty made with the most
famous Old-Testament prince, that is, David. Glorious things had
been said of his family, that on him, as a mighty one, help
should be laid, that his horn should be exalted, and his
seed perpetuated,
But that family had been long in a manner cast off and
abhorred,
Ps. lxxxix. 38.
Now here it is glorified in, that, according to the promise, the
horn of David should again be made to bud; for,
he hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his
servant David
(v. 69),
there, where it was promised and expected to arise. David is called
God’s servant, not only as a good man, but as a king that
ruled for God; and he was an instrument of the salvation
of Israel, by being employed in the government of Israel; so
Christ is the author of eternal redemption to those only that
obey him. There is in Christ, and in him only, salvation for
us, and it is a horn of salvation; for,
[1.] It is an honourable salvation. It is raised up above
all other salvations, none of which are to be compared with it: in it
the glory both of the Redeemer and of the redeemed are advanced, and
their horn exalted with honour.
[2.] It is a plentiful salvation. It is a cornucopia–a horn
of plenty, a salvation in which we are blessed with
spiritual blessings, in heavenly things, abundantly.
[3.] It is a powerful salvation: the strength of the beast is in
his horn. He has raised up such a salvation as shall pull
down our spiritual enemies, and protect us from them. In the
chariots of this salvation the Redeemer shall go forth,
and go on, conquering and to conquer.
(4.) He has fulfilled all the precious promises made to the church by
the most famous Old-Testament prophets
(v. 70):
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets. His doctrine of
salvation by the Messiah is confirmed by an appeal to the prophets, and
the greatness and importance of that salvation thereby evidenced and
magnified; it is the same that they spoke of, which therefore ought to
be expected and welcomed; it is what they enquired and searched
diligently after
which therefore ought not to be slighted or thought meanly of. God is
now doing that which he has long ago spoken of; and
therefore be silent, O all flesh, before him, and attend to him.
See,
[1.] How sacred the prophecies of this salvation were. The
prophets who delivered them were holy prophets, who durst not
deceive and who aimed at promoting holiness among men; and it was the
holy God himself that spoke by them.
[2.] How ancient they were: ever since the world began.
God having promised, when the world began, that the Seed of the
woman should break the serpent’s head, that promise was echoed to
when Adam called his wife’s name Eve-Life, for the sake of that
Seed of hers; when Eve called her first son Cain, saying, I
have gotten a man from the Lord, and another son, Seth,
settled; when Noah was called rest, and foretold that God
should dwell in the tents of Shem. And it was not long after the new
world began in Noah that the promise was made to Abraham that in his
Seed the nations of the earth should be blessed.
[3.] What a wonderful harmony and concert we perceive
among them. God spoke the same thing by them all, and therefore it is
said to be dia stomatos, not by the mouths, but by
the mouth, of the prophets, for they all speak of Christ as it
were with one mouth.
Now what is this salvation which was prophesied of?
First, It is a rescue from the malice of our
enemies; it is soterian ex echthron hemon—a
salvation out of our enemies, from among them, and out of the
power of them that hate us
(v. 71);
it is a salvation from sin, and the dominion of Satan over us, both by
corruptions within and temptations without. The carnal Jews expected to
be delivered from under the Roman yoke, but intimation was betimes
given that it should be a redemption of another nature. He shall
save his people from their sins, that they may not have dominion
over them,
Secondly, It is a restoration to the favour of
God; it is to perform the mercy promised to our forefathers,
v. 72.
The Redeemer shall not only break the head of the serpent that was the
author of our ruin, but he shall re-instate us in the mercy
of God and re-establish us in his covenant; he shall
bring us as it were into a paradise again, which was signified by the
promises made to the patriarchs, and the holy covenant
made with them, the oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
v. 73.
Observe,
1. That which was promised to the fathers, and is performed to us, is
mercy, pure mercy; nothing in it is owing to our merit
(we deserve wrath and the curse), but all to the mercy of God,
which designed us grace and life: ex mero motu–of his own
good pleasure, he loved us because he would love us.
2. God herein had an eye to his covenant, his holy
covenant, that covenant with Abraham: I will be a God to thee and
thy seed. This his seed had really forfeited by their
transgressions; this he seemed to have forgotten in the
calamities brought upon them; but he will now remember it, will
make it appear that he remembers it, for upon that are grounded all his
returns of mercy:
Then will I remember my covenant.
Thirdly, It is a qualification for, and an encouragement to, the
service of God. Thus was the oath he sware to our Father
Abraham, That he would give us power and grace to serve
him, in an acceptable manner to him and a comfortable manner to
ourselves,
Here seems to be an allusion to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt,
which, God tells Moses, was in pursuance of the covenant he made with
Abraham
and that this was the design of his bringing them out of Egypt, that
they might serve God upon this mountain,
Exod. iii. 12.
Note, The great design of gospel grace is not to discharge us from, but
to engage us to, and encourage us in, the service of God. Under this
notion Christianity was always to be looked upon, as intended to make
us truly religious, to admit us into the service of God, to bind us to
it, and to quicken us in it. We are therefore delivered from the
iron yoke of sin, that our necks may be put under the sweet and easy
yoke of the Lord Jesus. The very bonds which he has loosed do bind
us faster unto him,
Ps. cxvi. 16.
We are hereby enabled,
1. To serve God without fear—aphobos. We are
therefore put into a state of holy safety that we might
serve God with a holy security and serenity of mind, as
those that are quiet from the fears of evil. God must be served
with a filial fear, a reverent obedient fear, an awakening
quickening fear, but not with a slavish fear, like that of the
slothful servant, who represented him to himself as a hard
master, and unreasonable; not with that fear that has
torment and amazement in it; not with the fear of a legal
spirit; a spirit of bondage, but with the boldness of an
evangelical spirit, a spirit of adoption.
2. To serve him in holiness and righteousness, which includes
the whole duty of man towards God and our neighbour. It is both the
intention and the direct tendency of the gospel to renew upon us that
image of God in which man was at first made, which consisted in
righteousness and true holiness,
Ps. l. 14.
3. To serve him, before him, in the duties of his
immediate worship, wherein we present ourselves before the
Lord, to serve him as those that have an eye always upon him, and
see his eye always upon us, upon our inward man, that is serving him
before him.
4. To serve him all the days of our life. The design of the
gospel is to engage us in constancy and perseverance in the service of
God, by showing us how much depends upon our not drawing back, and by
showing us how Christ loved us to the end, and thereby engaged
us to love him to the end.
2. He blessed God for the work of preparation for this
salvation, which was to be done by John Baptist
(v. 76):
Thou child, though now but a child of eight days’ old, shalt be
called the prophet of the Highest. Jesus Christ is the
Highest, for he is God over all, blessed for evermore
(Rom. ix. 5),
equal with the Father. John Baptist was his prophet, as Aaron
was Moses’s prophet
(Exod. vii. 1);
what he said was as his mouth, what he did was as his harbinger.
Prophecy had now long ceased, but in John it revived, as it had
done in Samuel, who was born of an aged mother, as John was, after a
long cessation. John’s business was,
(1.) To prepare people for the salvation, by preaching repentance and
reformation as great gospel duties: Thou shalt go before the face of
the Lord, and but a little before him, to prepare his ways,
to call people to make room for him, and get ready for his
entertainment. Let every thing that may obstruct his progress, or
embarrass it, or hinder people from coming to him, be taken away: see
Let valleys be filled, and hills be brought
low.
(2.) To give people a general idea of the salvation, that they might
know, not only what to do, but what to expect; for the doctrine he
preached was that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. There are
two things in which you must know that this salvation consists:–
[1.] The forgiveness of what we have done amiss. It is
salvation by the remission of sins, those sins which stand in
the way of the salvation, and by which we are all become liable to ruin
and condemnation,
John Baptist gave people to understand that, though their case was sad,
by reason of sin, it was not desperate, for pardon might be obtained
through the tender mercy of our God (the bowels of mercy,
so the word is): there was nothing in us but a piteous case to
recommend us to the divine compassion.
[2.] Direction to do better for the time to come. The
gospel salvation not only encourages us to hope that the works of
darkness shall be forgiven us, but sets up a clear and true light, by
which we may order our steps aright. In it the day-spring hath
visited us from on high
(v. 78);
and this also is owing to the tender mercy of our God. Christ is
anatole—the morning Light, the rising Sun,
Mal. iv. 2.
The gospel brings light with it
(John iii. 19),
leaves us not to wander in the darkness of Pagan ignorance, or in the
moonlight of the Old-Testament types or figures, but in it the day
dawns; in John Baptist it began to break, but increased apace, and
shone more and more to the perfect day. We have as much reason
to welcome the gospel day who enjoy it as those have to welcome the
morning who had long waited for it. First, The gospel is
discovering; it shows us that which before we were utterly in
the dark about
(v. 79);
it is to give light to them that sit in darkness, the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;
the day-spring visited this dark world to lighten the
Gentiles,
Acts xxvi. 18.
Secondly, It is reviving; it brings light to them that
sit in the shadow of death, as condemned prisoners in the
dungeon, to bring them the tidings of a pardon, at least of a
reprieve and opportunity of procuring a pardon; it proclaims the
opening of the prison
(Isa. lxi. 1),
brings the light of life. How pleasant is that light!
Thirdly, It is directing; it is to guide our feet in
the way of peace, into that way which will bring us to peace at
last. It is not only a light to our eyes, but a light to our
feet
it guides us into the way of making our peace with God, of keeping up a
comfortable communion; that way of peace which as sinners we
have wandered from and have not known
(Rom. iii. 17),
nor could ever have known of ourselves.
In the
we have short account of the younger years of John Baptist. Though he
was the son of a priest, he did not, like Samuel, go up, when he was a
child, to minister before the Lord; for he was to prepare the way for a
better priesthood. But we are here told,
1. Of his eminence as to the inward man: The child
grew in the capacities of his mind, much more than other children;
so that he waxed strong in the spirit; had a strong judgment and
strong resolution. Reason and conscience (both which are the candle of
the Lord) were so strong in him that he had the inferior faculties of
appetite and passion in complete subjection betimes. By this it
appeared that he was betimes filled with the Holy Ghost; for
those that are strong in the Lord are strong in spirit.
2. Of his obscurity as to the outward man: He was in
the deserts; not that he lived a hermit; cut off from the society
of men. No, we have reason to think that he went up to Jerusalem at the
feasts, and frequented the synagogues on the sabbath day, but
his constant residence was in some of those scattered houses that were
in the wilderness of Zuph or Maon, which we read of in the story of
David. There he spent most of his time, in contemplation and devotion,
and had not his education in the schools, or at the feet of the rabbin.
Note, Many a one is qualified for great usefulness, who yet is buried
alive; and many are so long buried who are designed, and are thereby in
the fitting, for so much greater usefulness at last; as John Baptist,
who was in the desert only till the day of his showing to
Israel, when he was in the thirtieth year of his age. Note, There
is a time fixed for the showing of those favours to Israel which
are reserved; the vision of them is for an appointed time,
and at the end it shall speak, and shall not lie.
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