FIRST SECTION.
HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST.
His Birth and Infancy.
Chapter I.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.
[Luke 1, 5—23 ]
At the time when Herod[1] was king in Judaea[2], there lived, in a small city in the hill-country, a priest named Zachary, whose wife was called Elizabeth. They were both just before God, and walked blamelessly[3] in all the commandments of the Lord. They had no children[4]; this was a cause of great affliction to them. They often prayed that God would give them a son; but their prayer seemed to remain unanswered, as they were both now advanced[5] in years.
It so happened that Zachary went to Jerusalem, when his turn came to perform the priestly office [6]. He entered the
- ↑ Herod This king, who was referred to in chapter LXXXVI, Old Test., reigned from the year 40 B. C. to A. D. 3.
- ↑ Judaea. This was the name given to the southern portion of Palestine. The centre was called Samaria, and the north, Galilee. The country east of the Jordan was called Persea (see Map).
- ↑ Walked blamelessly, i. e. they were not in a state of sin, and carefully observed all the commandments of God.
- ↑ No children. They grieved over this, for the Jews rightly looked upon children as a precious gift of God.
- ↑ Advanced. They were very old, and therefore entertained, humanly speaking, no hope of having a child. However, they had great faith in the power and goodness of God, with whom nothing is impossible, and who before this had given a son to Sara in her old age and to Anna who was childless.
- ↑ Priestly office. The priests were distributed into twenty-four classes or families or courses; and each class had to attend to the service of the Temple for eight days (Old Test. LIV). When Zachary's turn came round, he went to Jerusalem. The various services of the Temple, such as the offering of the daily sacrifice and incense, the care of the sacred fire and the lamps of the seven-branched candlestick, changing the loaves of proposition &c., were apportioned to the various priests by lot. This time the lot of offering incense in the Sanctuary had fallen to Zachary.
