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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Announcement of John the Baptist's Birth.
The parents of John:
v. 5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
v. 6. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
v. 7. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
There was or lived in the days when Herod the Great was king of Judea. Luke is very careful and exact in all his references to secular history, and therefore his statements are so generally trustworthy, aside from the fact that they are inspired by God. It was then that a priest by the name of Zacharias (which Luther renders proclamation, remembrance of the Lord) was living in Judea, in one of the cities set aside for the use of the priests. He belonged to the order, class, or division of Abia. All the priests of the Jews, numbering about 20,000 at the time of Christ, were divided into certain sections, named according to their week's service. These classes or orders followed each other in due rotation for the Temple-service in Jerusalem. There were twenty-four classes, of which that of Abia was the eighth, 1Ch_24:1-31. The wife of Zacharias was also of the descendants of Aaron, the daughter of a priest. Her name was Elisabeth, which Luther explains as God's rest, or ceasing from work, a rest given by God. John the Baptist was thus descended from priestly parents on both sides.
Zacharias and Elisabeth are given the highest praise by the evangelist. Righteous they both were before God, their manner of living was of a nature to stand the scrutiny of God, they were models of civic righteousness. They walked in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord without reproach. From the standpoint of human judgment their piety and goodness was blameless. But in spite of all this there was one great sorrow that burdened their lives. No child had been given them to brighten their home, and childlessness, from the Jewish and Biblical point of view, was a calamity. And this was not a matter of their own choice or wish, but it happened so, inasmuch as Elisabeth was barren. The Lord had denied her the privilege of motherhood. And at this time they were both far advanced in age, beyond the days when, according to the course of nature, they might expect the blessing of children. They felt this childlessness as a deep reproach, as a heavy cross. "For the barren were considered cursed people. For Gen_1:1-31, when God created them male and female, He said: 'Be fruitful and multiply!' These words the Jews diligently urged. He that had no issue was not blessed. Therefore a man or woman without children must be cursed and unblessed. Thus Elisabeth might also have complained that she was rejected and mocked by the world, since she was barren. Now people consider it a blessing when they have no children," —more's the pity!