Bible Study Series: Luke 1:5-10. It is a great thing when God works a miracle in such a sensitive area of a marriage.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 1:5-10
5 It happened in the days of Herod, king of Judea. There was a certain priest named Zechariah, from the priestly division of Abijah, and his wife named Elizabeth was from the daughters of Aaron. 6 They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord, blamelessly. 7 They did not have a child because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in their years.
8 It happened when he was performing his priestly duties before God in the arrangement of his priestly division, 9 according to the custom of his priestly office; the lot fell to him to offer incense. He went into the sanctuary of the Lord. 10 And all the crowd of the people were praying outside, at the hour of the offering of incense. (Luke 1:5-10)
Comments:
The Holy Spirit is active in Luke’s Gospel: in the first three chapters, the opening salvo to Jesus’s ministry: 1:15, 35, 41, 67; 2:25-27; 3:16, 22, 41.
From 1:5 to 2:52, here are the seven scenes:
(1). Announcement of John’s coming birth (1:5-25);
(2). Announcement of Jesus coming birth (1:26-38);
(3). Meeting of two mothers, Mary and Elizabeth and Mary’s Magnificat (1:39-56);
(4). Birth of John and Zechariah thanksgiving song to God (1:57-80);
(5). Birth of Jesus (2:1-21);
(6). Circumcision and naming and praise / prophecy (2:22-40);
(7). Passover in the temple (2:41-52)
Each scene has a departure: 1:23, 38, 56, 80; 2:20, 39, 51.
(Garland, p. 59)
Bock sees nine scenes (p. 69, slightly edited):
(1). Announcement to Zechariah (1:5-25)
(2). Announcement to May (1:26-38)
(3). Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth (1:39-45)
(4). Mary’s praise: the Magnificat (1:46-56)
(5). Birth of John (1:57-66)
(6). Zechariah’s praise: the Benedictus (1:67-80)
(7). Birth of Jesus (2:1-7)
(8). Reaction to the birth (2:8-21)
(9). Witness of Simeon (man) and Anna (woman) at the temple (2:22-40)
Here are parallel between John and Jesus in their birth narratives:
| Parallels between John and Jesus in Birth Narratives (1:5-2:52) | ||
| John | Common Events or Elements | Jesus |
| 1:5-7 | A.. Introduction of Parents | 1:26-27 |
| 1:8-23 | B.. The Annunciation | 1:28-38 |
| 1:24-25 | C.. The Mother’s Response | 1:39-56 |
| 1:57-58 | D.. The Birth | 2:1-20 |
| 1:59-66 | E.. Circumcision and Naming | 2:21-24 |
| 1:67-69 | F.. Prophetic Response | 2:25-39 |
| 1:80 | G.. Growth of the Child | 2:40-52 |
| Green, p. 50 (modified) | ||
But this is not a juxtaposition of equals. Luke is eager to say that John was merely the forerunner and not the Savior.
5:
“in the days of Herod”: He ruled over Judea, Samaria, Galilee and the surrounding region from 37 to 4 B.C (or 6 B.C.). No doubt the angel visited Zechariah shortly before Herod died. You can google who Herod was beyond that.
Herod got his kingship from Caesar. “By contrast, Jesus will receive a kingdom conferred on him by God (22:29), and he ‘will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his reign there will be no end’ (1:33)” (Garland, comment on 1:5)
Luke was careful to anchor his account in historical figures. He followed the skills of Hellenistic historians (pagan historians who lived before him and were contemporaneous with him) and the biblical historians, who were also keen to put historical guardrails around their histories. Further, in the religions of Greece and Rome, and other religions circulating at the time, like the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis with her numerous temples, the preachers of these religions claimed their gods popped down from their heavens and appeared to humans, but no one can anchor these stories in history. Living in that culture, Luke wanted to ensure the accuracy and certainty of his account, by guard-railing his accounts.
But let’s not exaggerate because if throughout the entire Bible there are some historical data points that are unanswered, then we should not throw out the entire Scripture. That’s an overreaction and unrealistic. Your faith is brittle and unhealthy. The Bible still offers us wonderful truths about God and his redemptive plan in Christ. The American church of the more restrictive variety needs to relax about all of this.
13. Are There Contradictions in the Gospels?
‘Total’ Inerrancy and Infallibility or Just Infallibility? (I have a high view of Scripture)
Here, however, Luke knows what he is about in these historical details.
“priestly division”: There were twenty-four division, and each one subdivided into orders, and each order served a daily rotation during its week of service in the temple. Each rotation was made up of four to nine families. There about 700 of these groups, besides the 50 who served at the sacrifice. They served twice in a year, for one week at a time. In total, there are about 18,000 priests who served at the temple (750 x 24 = 18,000) (Bock. pp. 76, 100).
“Abijah”: He is mentioned eighth in a long list in 1 Chron. 24:10. It is that kind of list that is so boring to modern readers of the Bible, so they skip over it. But here it is applied to the NT.
When Luke reports that Elizabeth was from the daughters of Aaron, this important fact would have communicated to his readers that she had a consecrated and holy ancestry. It was common for a priest to have a wife of the same background (see Lev. 21:7, 14 for the rules of marriage for priests).
6:
The key word is “both.” In Luke’s Gospel womankind is specially emphasized (e.g. 8:1-3). Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous before God. Both walked in the commandments and decrees (or statutes) of the Lord.
“Blamelessly” comes at the end of the sentence (in Greek) for emphasis. It could be translated “(they were) blameless.”
It is possible to behave blamelessly before the Lord and your neighbors (Ezek. 18:1-32). This means they can find nothing to blame you for, like a barking dog, a smoky, loud car, yelling and dishes breaking, or loud music, just to name a few modern examples. This does not mean, however, that you have achieved moral perfection in your personal and private life. Nor does it mean that you can strut into God’s thrice-holy presence on your own merits and righteousness (Is. 6). You must repent and receive forgiveness of sins (Luke 1:77). But social righteousness that pleases God is possible, because God put this capacity in humans.
Sanctification: Can Christians Achieve Sinless Perfection Now?
Luke records another older man who was good and righteous who was waiting expectantly for the reign of God: Joseph of Arimathea (23:50-51). So Luke encloses his story with older righteous people who also can participate in the plan of God. All they need to be is expectant.
7:
A problem enters the story, and in the ancient world it was always the woman’s fault. In Judaism at the time and in the OT, it was a shame or reproach not to have children (Gen. 11:30; 15:2-3; 16:2; 30:1-3; Lev. 20:20-21; 1 Sam. 1:5-6; 2 Sam. 6:23; Jer. 22:30). Barrenness or childlessness is a sad condition for those who have yearned or are yearning for a child. God is about to perform a wonder, however. Elizabeth, an older woman, is about to conceive when she could not conceive in her younger years. All of this is reminiscent of Sarah and Abraham and their “miracle baby” (Gen. 12:1-5; 16:1-16; 17:17-22; 18:1-15; 21:1-7). Fortunately, Elizabeth did not hatch a plot to offer any servant woman they may have had to bear her child, as Sarah did through Hagar (cf. Gen. 16:1-16)!
“in their years”: literally means “in their days.” The point, beside her age, is that day by day, year by year, they did not have an answer to their prayer for a child.
8-9:
It was an ordinary priestly day for an ordinary priest, while he was doing his ordinary priestly duty of offering incense, chosen by the ordinary drawing of lots. No, his service was not profane or unconsecrated, but nothing about it suggests that he was about to receive an angelic visitor.
10:
Incense can be turned into a symbol of prayer (Ps. 141:2; Rev. 5:8; 8:3-4).
It is good to see a crowd of people outside, praying. Call it a mega-gathering. And not everyone abandoned the Lord, during Roman oppression.
“praying”: it is the very common verb proseuchomai (pronounced pros-yew-khoh-my) and appears 85 times. The noun proseuchē (pronounced pros-yew-khay) is used 36 times, so they are the most common words for prayer or pray in the NT. They are combined with the preposition pros, which means, among other things, “towards,” and euchē, which means a prayer, vow and even a mere wish. But Christians (and presumably these Jewish people) took over the word and directed it towards the living God; they leaned in toward him and prayed their requests fully expecting an answer. It is not a mere wish to a pagan deity.
Prayer flows out of confidence before God that he will answer because we no longer have an uncondemned heart (1 John 3:19-24); and we know him so intimately that we find out from him what is his will is and then we pray according to it (1 John 5:14-15); we pray with our Spirit-inspired languages (1 Cor. 14:15-16). Pray!
What Is Biblical Intercession?
To conclude …..
Second, we are now moving from temple religion to a simpler practice implemented by John the Baptist. Zechariah was a priest and did his duty in the temple (1:8-10). Circumcision appears once in this chapter (v. 59) and once in the next (2:21). The Passover festival is observed in the next chapter (2:41-43). At first the new Way (early Christianity) was contained in Judaism, and so is not completely unprecedented. But gradually the new Way had to drift, in fits and starts, away from the older religion. All the old rituals have to disappear. And John is called to announce the new Way and streamline things. One main difference is that one can be immersed in water for the sign of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. One does not need to go to the temple and offer a sin offering for this forgiveness.
Grow App for Luke 1:5-10
1. Zechariah served the Lord in the sanctuary. How are you serving the Lord in church, a service tailor-made for you?
2. The people were praying outside the sanctuary, during Roman occupation. What do you pray during your own tough times, whether at home or on the job? (Maybe some people throughout the globe who suffer real persecution will read this post. Pray for them.)
RELATED
Healing Infertility in Genesis
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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