There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the course of Abia, and his wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth.
Luke's Gospel now names its first date and its first people: a king, a priest, a wife, and a week of temple duty. Every detail here is ordinary. Yet each one reports the state of Israel at the moment God broke a long silence.
Luke has told his friend why he writes. Now he starts the story itself, and he starts it plainly.
After this address to his friend, by way of introduction, Luke enters on his subject, great and blessed as it is, with all possible simplicity. Nothing can be more perfect in its season... It is like a simple story being told, a tale of other days, when truth used to be plain and unvarnished. The mind is held for a moment, charmed by the plainness of it — and yet by the skill of the divine hand, which leads the thoughts so gently into the deepest and most wonderful scenes.
The date is not neutral. Who Herod was, and where his family came from, shows how far Israel had fallen.
The Herods came from Idumea, and the Roman government made them rulers in name over Judea and Galilee. The name Idumea is the Greek equivalent of Edom, the land of the descendants of Esau. So the position of the Jews in the days of the Gospels was humiliating in the extreme. They were not only under the rule of the Gentile power at Rome, but a son of Esau ruled over them in the land. This order was not what God announced from the beginning — that, of Jacob and his brother, the "older shall serve the younger" (Gen. 25:23). But through the unfaithfulness of the chosen people, this divine order was reversed for the time, and Esau had the upper hand, though he was an enemy of God and His truth.
The phrase points to an arrangement set up long before and still running. Older translations spell Zechariah as "Zacharias."
Ezra restored the courses of the priests and Levites when the people came back from captivity (Ezra 6:18), and we find them still in operation in the New Testament. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was of the course of Abia. This no doubt refers to Abijah, the eighth name listed in 1 Chronicles 24:10. At the end of his service he returned to his house (Luke 1:5, 23). The length of service was a week, beginning from the Sabbath.
The public state of things was ruined. That is not the whole picture.
There might be a foreign prince over them — an Edomite — and high priests in strange confusion, as we shall see shortly. Yet for all that, there was a priest properly married to one of the daughters of Aaron: Zacharias, of the course of Abia... The state of Israel was low, and outwardly most irregular. Still, in the middle of it all there were godly ones. The only thing that enabled anyone to walk in such a way in Israel was the faith of the coming Messiah, and this at least had not disappeared. On the contrary, God's Spirit was working in the hearts of a few, preparing them for the One who was coming.
Rank counts for nothing here.
Luke begins by speaking of the priesthood in Israel in the days of Herod. But he passes by the high priest and the other prominent men. He singles out Zacharias, an otherwise very ordinary priest, and his wife Elizabeth, both of the line of Aaron... They had no child and were advanced in age. So they were a fitting picture of Israel's condition of desolation, out of which only the grace of God can bring blessing.
The couple's names are not incidental.
For about 400 years the Lord had sent no communication to His people Israel. At last God breaks the silence of heaven... The names of the aged and devout couple are significant. Zacharias means "Jehovah remembers," and Elizabeth means "the oath of God." Join the two together and you have the sentence "Jehovah remembers the oath of God." The time of remembrance had come. Prophecy is about to be fulfilled.
- Remembered. Zacharias means "Jehovah remembers" and Elizabeth "the oath of God." Together they spell out what God was about to do after four hundred years of silence.
- Remembered under Herod. The date fixes the low point: an Edomite, a son of Esau, ruling the people he was meant to serve, under Rome.
- Remembered in the temple. Ezra's priestly courses were still turning. Abijah was the eighth, and each course served a week.
- Remembered in a few. In all the disorder, God's Spirit was working in a few. What kept them walking rightly was faith in the coming Messiah.
- Remembered through the overlooked. The high priest gets no mention. Grace starts with an ordinary childless couple, the picture of Israel's desolation.
And they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
Luke's story starts in the temple, with an elderly priest and his wife. Israel was under a foreign ruler and its religious life was in disorder, yet God singles this couple out. What does it mean to call them righteous before God? And in what sense was their walk blameless?
Israel's public condition was low. Even so, some people still lived godly lives. One commentator names the one thing that made that possible.
Israel's state was low, and on the outside very disordered. Yet in the middle of it all there were godly ones. Only one thing enabled anyone in Israel to walk that way: faith in the coming Messiah. That faith at least had not disappeared. God's Spirit was working in the hearts of a few, preparing them for the One who was coming. Zacharias and Elisabeth were among these few. They were expecting in faith, and where that is real, it gives power to walk rightly. The only souls who walked well, even according to the law, were those who looked beyond the law to Christ. Those who merely rested in the law broke it, though the law might be their boast.
What kind of righteousness is this? One writer draws a line, then makes it practical.
This is not the righteousness of God that believers have in the Lord Jesus through His work on the cross, which we often speak about. It is practical righteousness. Do we do what is right in the sight of the Lord on a daily basis? … Secondly, Zacharias and Elizabeth walked according to Scripture. They walked in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. To do this, we need to know God's Word as a whole — not just a few favourite verses — and apply it to our lives. … Thirdly, Zacharias and Elizabeth walked in the fear of the Lord, blameless. That is, they were afraid of doing anything that was displeasing to God. What an example! They did not talk much; they did not have a long sermon prepared for John, their son, to read. No, they walked, which speaks of the life they led.
One dictionary traces the word translated "blamelessly" through its other uses.
The word amemptos (from a, "not," and memphomai, "to blame") means "without blame." In his former life Paul had nothing to accuse himself of when it came to the righteousness of the law (Phil. 3:6). Zacharias and his wife were irreproachable (Luke 1:6). The saints too should be irreproachable (Phil. 2:15; 1 Thess. 3:13). Had the first covenant been "faultless," there would have been no place for a second (Heb. 8:7).
They were not alone. Luke's opening chapters show a few others of the same character.
This is the lovely picture the Holy Spirit paints, without one wrong stroke: a few people in Jerusalem, in the middle of decay and spiritual death, who "feared the Lord, spoke often to one another, and thought upon His name." They stood outside the activity of the day, and those in power and influence did not know them. But the Lord knew them, and they knew one another. That was enough for their souls. Their hearts were fixed on "the consolation of Israel," "the Lord's Christ." He was enough to satisfy their every desire, and He was the object of all their hopes.
Their obedience was not what brought heaven near. One writer points to what did.
It was not their righteousness that opened heaven to them, but their need and infirmities. Elizabeth was barren, and by now they were both old. Their point of real blessing lay right there — in their sorrow and weakness. For to the barren wife and the childless husband Gabriel comes with a word of promise from heaven.
Soon after this, Zacharias doubted what the angel told him. One writer turns that back on us.
This is the heart of man. It is the heart of even such an honoured man as Zacharias, a man with a remarkable record: "righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord." And yet he was not willing to take Gabriel at his word! Are we any better? … Only we are worse. It is the word of the Lord God Himself that we so often hesitate to take just as it stands, without a question.
- Faith first. Their blameless walk did not come from law-keeping. It came from looking past the law to the coming Messiah. Those who only rested in the law broke it.
- Then daily life. This righteousness is daily conduct that pleases God. It is not the righteousness believers have through the work of Christ.
- Then a clean record. "Blameless" means there was nothing to accuse them of. The same word shows the first covenant was not faultless, so a second one was needed.
- Hidden but known. They belonged to a small company that the powerful never noticed. Their hearts were fixed on the Lord's Christ, and being known by Him was enough.
- Need opened heaven. Heaven opened to them at the point of their need, not their record. Their barrenness and old age were where the real blessing came in.
And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.