9 According to the custom of without at the time of inthe priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10 m And the whole multitude of the people were praying

12 And when Zacharias saw wife Elisabeth shall bear thee

0

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

o Judg. 6. 22. & 13. 22; Dan. 10. 8: ver. 29; chap. 2. 9; Acts 10. 4; Rev. 1. 17. filling the golden room with richest splendour. The column of incense rises to soften the light and fill the air with fragrance. In this scene of dim magnificence a more than mortal form presents itself to the eye of Zacharias. Between the candlestick (8) and the Golden Altar (7) stands the angel Gabriel on the right side of the altar, (not on Zacharias's right hand,) and, therefore, on the south side of the altar and on the right side of God, whose Shekinah, or Presence, once dwelt between the cherubim in the Most Holy, or Holy of Holies. This is the post of divine honour suitable to the being who announces that the age of Christ has approached, and that his harbinger is now to be born.

a son, and Pthou shalt call his name John.

14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and a many shall rejoice at his birth.

p Ver. 60, 63.- -g Ver. 58.

with me; this year he entered but came not out." Josephus narrates of the High Priest Hyrcanus, that upon the day that his sons fought at Cyzicenus, he was offering incense in the temple alone, and he heard a voice declaring that they had just conquered Antiochus; and this, going forward from the temple, he announced to the people in front. The annunciation was verified by the result.

12. Fear fell-Wonderful is the fear which curdles the blood of even the bravest of mortals at the thought of meeting a messenger from God, or an apparition from the world of spirits. It seems to indicate that such beings do exist, and that such is their relation to us that their approach, by way of manifestation, must shock the very foundations of our being. So when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and to Manoah, both gave themselves up for dead. Judges vi, 12, 22, and

Though the system of miraculous revelation ceased with the closing canon, yet, if we may believe the Jewish historians, there were exceptional manifestations made in the Holy of Holies, or in the Holy Place, at this same Altar of In-xiii, 3, 22. cense, to former priests. Ezra, the in- 13. Thy prayer is heard-The angel spired Scribe, upon the return from the attests his reality as a true supernatural Captivity, established the Great Syna- being by showing that he knew what gogue, consisting of one hundred and Zacharias's prayer had long been, as twenty grave and holy men, among whose well as by the splendour of his person. presidents are enumerated Haggai, Zech- His prayer had, doubtless, once been ariah, and Zerubbabel, which lasted one for a posterity that his name might not hundred and twenty years, terminat- die in Israel. But that hope declining ing with the close of the presidency as his age advanced, his later desire had of the renowned Simon the Just, who been for the "consolation of Israel." died about 320 years before Christ. And at the present moment the prayers This was specially the age of the Soferim of Israel are ascending "for the people or Scribes. Simon the Just, it is re- of God," as Grotius says; "and, if Jolated, filled the High Priesthood forty-sephus and Philo are to be believed, for nine years; and in the last year he the salvation of the world." Both cursaid, "I shall die this year; for every rents of Zacharias's prayer are heard. year that I have entered the Holy of The posterity and the consolation are Holies there has been an Ancient One, at hand. John-The God-given. A suit, clothed in white, and veiled able name for one divinely given in ann white, that entered and came out swer to prayer. It is a suitable name,

15 For he shall be great in him in the spirit and power the sight of the Lord, and of Elias, to turn the hearts of shall drink neither wine nor the fathers to the children, strong drink; and he shall be and the disobedient to the filled with the Holy Ghost, wisdom of the just; to make 'even from his mother's womb. ready a people prepared for 16 t And many of the children the Lord. of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I 17 "And he shall go before know this? for I am an old

r Num. 6. 3; Judg. 13. 4; chap. 7. 33.- -8 Jer. 1. 5 Gal. 1. 15.-t Mal. 4. 5, 6.

also, for him who, promised by ancient prophecy, was at last bestowed.

u Mal. 4, 5; Matt. 11. 14; Mark 9. 12.-1 Or, by. Gen. 17. 17.

womb-Even before birth the plenary influence of the Holy Spirit shall be 15. Neither wine nor strong drink- upon and in his spirit. As soon as the This is in accordance with the vow of soul shall quicken the unborn, there the Nazarite, Num. vi, 3, 4. Similar shall rest a holy power upon it. There announcements were made concerning is no Scripture ground for supposing Samson, Judg. xiii, 4, 5, and Samuel, with some that the child, even before 1 Sam. i, 11. The Nazarite thus conse-birth, is no possible subject of sanctifycrates himself to an over self-severity, in ing power. order to raise the people to the idea of 17. He-John. Go before him--That self-control and temperance. They were is, before the Lord their God. This eminent in abstinence, in order by ex- seems to be a clear ascription of the ample to raise the popular standard of divine title to the Messiah, before whom mastery over bodily appetites. They ab- John was to go. In the spirit and power stained from what was innocent, either in of Elias-And hence he was predicted quality or measure, in order to influence by Malachi under the name of Elijah. the world to abstain from what was Mal. iv, 5. Turn the heart of the fathers guilty either in kind or in excessive to the children-Not the heart of the degree. John was to be Nazarite; children to the fathers, mark; but the Jesus was to be the model, not of over heart of the fathers to the children. self-severity, but of practical and duly The fathers here are the holy ancestry measured innocence and right. Paul of degenerate Israel, and they have, as gives a rule for Christian Nazaritism in it were, been offended with the apostacy 1 Cor. viii, 13. Our modern temperance of their descendants. But John shall societies are properly a Christian Naz- so infuse a better spirit into this generaaritism. They are a moral enterprise, tion that a reconciliation shall take place aiming to raise the public practice between the holy olden time and the to a standard of temperance by exhib- fallen present. A people-A clear alluiting an abstinence from even an sion to the admission of the Gentiles otherwise innocent measure of indul-into the Church of God. gence. Strong drink included all exhilarating liquors besides wine. The chemical art of distilling the modern inflaming liquors was unknown to the ancients; but they were able to make intoxicating drinks from the palm-tree, from apples, and from grains. Drunkenness was by no means thereby wholly unknown. See Isa. v, 22; Prov. xxiii, 29, 30. Holy Ghost...from his mother's

18. Whereby shall I know?—This bold putting the angel to the proof was a want of proper faith. The fact that the angelic visitant knew his prayer, the splendour of his person, and the tremor of Zacharias, were vouchers sufficient. Strauss notes that Zacharias's Greek words here are precisely the same with the Greek words of Abraham, according to the Septuagint in Gen. xv, 8, and

man, and my wife well strick- he tarried so long in the ternen in years.

ple.

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.

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 23 And it came to pass, that, be dumb, and not able to speak, as a soon as the days of his until the day that these things ministration were accomplishshall be performed, because ed, he departed to his own thou believest not my words, house.

season.

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which shall be fulfilled in their 24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and 21 And the people waited for hid herself five months, sayZacharias, and marvelled that ing,

Dan. 8. 16. & 9. 21-23: Matt. 18. 10; Heb. 1. 14. Ezek. 3. 26, & 24. 27.-z Gen. 18, asks why Abraham was gratified and Zacharias punished. Grotius had answered Strauss's question centuries before it was asked. Abraham had been instructed by no previous example; Zacharias was instructed by the example of Abraham, which as a priest he was bound to understand. But Zacharias's penalty, like his fault, was slight. It was discipline rather than punishment. And Grotius, literal as is his spirit, finds in the dumbness and beckoning of Zacharias a type of the then existing silence of prophecy, leaving the nation to the premonitions of the rites and ceremonies alone until the Messiah be

Jorn.

19. Gabriel-See note on Matt. i, 20. In the presence of God-See note on Matt. xviii, 10. Shalt be dumb-Literally, shalt be silent. The word rendered speechless in verse 22, signifies both deaf and dumb. As his ear had refused the angel's message, he shall be rendered deaf; and as he had uttered a bold and faithless speech, so a divine silence shall reprove him. Well for us often might it be, if some such gentle admonitory judgment should check our loquacity and teach us a wise silence. Zacharias's punishment shall have a side of blessing to it. It shall be a sign to

10, 15; Num, 20. 12; 2 Kin. 7. 2, 19; Isa. 7. 9; Mark 9. 19.-a See 2 Kin. 11. 5; 1 Chron. 4. 25. him that God will be better than his faith; a sign to others that the hope of Israel is drawing nigh. Similarly, by supernatural interviews, Jacob was made lame, and Saul of Tarsus was struck blind. These were the severe side of a gracious visitation. They remind us that we are sinners, even when we receive the tokens of God's favour. And they tell us what we deserve in spite of the blessings that we get.

22. When he came out-From the Holy Place. Zacharias now comes forth, near the Great Altar, and presents himself to the people, viewing him from below in the courts of Israel, and of the women. They perceived that he had seen a vision-It was customary for a priest to return forthwith from the holy place, so that the people might be sure that no judgment had befallen him for malperformance of office, or for any defect of the service. Zacharias, being speechless, indicated by signs that a divine manifestation had been made to him.

23. The days of his ministration-The week of the priestly course of Abia. During their week the priests did not visit their own homes, but remained in the temple enclosures.

25 Thus hath the Lord dealt and the virgin's name was with me in the days where- Mary. in he looked on me, to take away my reproach among

men.

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 ;

b Gen. 30. 23; Isa. 4. 1, & 54, 1, 4.c Matt. 1. 18; chap. 2, 4, 5.-d Dan. 9. 23, & 10. 19.

25. The Lord dealt with me-Her retirement accords with the special dealing of God with her. She is to become the mother of one set apart from the world, and so she sets herself apart while so becoming. My reproach-The promise of a Messiah rendered marriage and maternity honourable among the Jews. Hence from the earliest times, as in the cases of Rachel and of Hannah, barrenness was a misfortune and a reproach.

§ 4.-SALUTATION OF MARY, 26-38. As the approaching birth of the harbinger before Messiah's face has been announced, so now follows the full annunciation of the coming Messiah himself.

2

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, fshe was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

2 Or, graciously accepted, or, much graced, See ver. 30.-e Judg. 6. 12.ƒ Verse 12. from which the maidens of Nazareth, holding beneath their pitchers, obtain water for their homes. It is called the Fountain of the Virgin; for there the tradition is that this annunciation by Gabriel took place. In commemoration of this event, there stands the Church of the Annunciation. Whether the tradition be true or false, there can be no reasonable doubt that Mary in her day, among the maidens of that village, held the pitcher and drew water from this spring. Highly favoured― This, in the Roman or Vulgate translation of the New Testament, is rendered plena gratiâ, full of grace. See note on Matt. i, 18. The Romanists in vain endeavour to prove the sinlessness of Mary from this phrase. It means, as is said in verse 30, that she had found favour or grace with God. Blessed art thou among women-See note on Mat

As birth is one of the wonders of nature, so these two births are more wonderful than nature. The first of the two is by an exaltation of nature above nature; the last is a direct over-thew i, 18. passing of nature's laws.

26. In the sixth month-After the annunciation to Zacharias. Galilee-See note on Matthew iv, 12. Named Nazareth-See note on Matthew ii, 23.

27. To a virgin-See note on Matt. i, 23. House of David-Lineage or family of David. It is disputed among critics whether this is spoken of Joseph or of Mary.

28. Angel came... .said, Hail-In a green, open space at the northwestern extremity of Nazareth there is a small fountain, whence issues a slender stream

29. Saw him-The phrase, when she saw him, being absent from many manuscripts, is of doubtful authenticity, but the angel's visibility seems to be implied. Troubled at his saying-There is a meek composure in the words of Mary, quite in contrast with the hasty language of Zacharias. She utters no bold word demanding test or proof; and she closes with complete submission to her trial and to her destiny of honour. Cast in her mind-Conjectured, debated in her mind. What manner-What the nature.