Morning Moments

In our continued consideration of the events surrounding the Incarnation, and based upon yesterday brief outline of the announcement of the forerunner, consider the following:

Herod the Great was a shrewd politician, a failure with his family, a voracious builder, and a passionate lover. He was appointed by Rome as the king of the Jews after they could not settle their own civil disputes. He reigned from 37 b.c. to 4 b.c.

During this time there were twenty-four divisions of priests with approximately 900 in each for a grand total of 21,600 (Josephus Against Apion, 2. 108—estimates the total at 20,000). Each division would serve one week every six months. On the Sabbath, all the men of the division, who were 24 years and older would serve. On the other six days, only 50 or so would serve, being chosen by lot. On the great feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, all 24 divisions served. The rest of the time they lived in their homes which were scattered about Judea.

Not only was Zechariah a priest, but he was married to the daughter of the priest—this was a double honor. They were a sweet old couple, who lived model lives of purity and piety. Sadly, they lived under the “curse” of barrenness. Children were viewed as a blessing from the Lord (Exod 23:26; Deut 7:14), the antithesis being that barrenness was a curse from the Lord (Job 15:34). When a woman’s barrenness was reversed, it was seen as an indication of God’s blessing and vice versa (1 Sam 2:5; Isa 54:1; Gal 4:27).

Barrenness was a curse because a woman without a child would have no one to support and protect her after her husband died (Job 24:21). Moreover, she became the object of scorn from other women (Gen 11:30, Sarai; Gen 25:21; 29:31, Rachel). Due to their age, Zechariah and Elizabeth have no hope of God removing their “curse” of barrenness.

Luke’s verbs here are colorful. He combines the imperfect verb “to be” with the perfect participle “to advance.” By this Luke indicates that they were in the present state of having grown old. Furthermore, day by day, they were growing older. We have here the sad picture of a barren Jewish couple. They had strong hopes for a child.

As they grew older, and continued to do so, their dreams slipped away into the distance like a ship lost from port. These hopes were now but a vague memory. As for their exact age, one guess is probably about as good as another, although a Jew was not considered old until 60. Hence, one might guess that they were about 80 years old." Mark Moore