That such a terrible state of things should have
BENEDICTUS
BENEDICTUS
deeply afi'ected Zacharias was as right as it was natural. That it wrought within him affections altogether good and holy is just a sign that it was the Spirit of Christ who taught him by them. The book alreadjf referred to, the Psalter (or Psalms) of Solomon, is the nearest Jewish work in point of time to the Bcncdktiis and its fellows in the first two chapters of St. Luke : it is also the likest to them in style and character. Like these Songs, the Psalms of Solomon are a proof that sacred poetry, so far from being extinct among the Jews at this period, was living, and was being made the vehicle of intense.st religious feeling. Nor are these Psalms deficient in merit. They are forceful, vivid, full of noble indignation against Roman oppression and Jewish secularity alike, of shame for 'the draggled purples' of the Hasmonsean princes, of acknowledgments that God is justified in His chastening of Israel. They look, like the Benedictus, for a Messiah of the House of David. They assign to Him the double work of ' thrusting ' sinners out of the holy place, ' purging Jerusalem and making it holy as in the days of old,' and of avenging her upon the Romans. But with all this, they lack the characteristic elements of evangelical prophecy. They have little insight and less fore- sight. They emanated from the better sort of Pharisees, and they betray all the elements of Pharisaism as we see it m the Gospels. The Messiah they expect is purely human (cf. our Lord's contention on this point with the Pharisees, Mt 22«-« Mk 1235-3', Lk 203^;"). Their idea of God's salvation is political mainly : vengeance on their enemies rather than undisturbed devotion is the thing they long for. The whole tone of the book is tierce, narrow, separatist, self-righteous. • The Benedictus, on the other hand, is in its closing notes very strikingly predictive : the father fore- tells, with proud exactness, the future ministry of his infant son. Even had this element been wanting, the Song is in the truest sense a prophecy, for it discerns the spiritual nature of (Jlirist's kingdom with a clearness unknown even to the Apostles after Christ had been some time with them. It tells of 'salvation in the remission of sins' (v." RV) through the mercy of God (v.", cf. Tit 3^) in Christ (v.^s), of human need and darkness, of reconciliation to life and peace, and of the wor- ship of God without fear (cf. 1 Jn 4'") as its climax (v.'*). There is deliverance from every enemy, not from the Romans only, but no hint of revenue uiwn them. The tone of the Sonj; is eminently gentle. The salvation is from Goci, according to His promise by the mouth of all His holy prophets from the beginning of the world ; it ei'ubraces in its range our fathers (v.'-) who are gone, as well as the living (cf. 1 P 2'", and Rev 6") ; and is all given us through and in the Horn of Salvation, whom God has raised up 'in the house of his servant David' (v.«'), inileed, but who Himself is 'the Most High,' and 'the Lord' (v.'«), and 'the Day- spring from on High '—not rising gradually as does Nature's dawn, but bursting, as it were, upon our wondering eyes, full-orbed from the zenith (v.'*). It is very remarkable how subordinate to Him who is the subject of his Song is the position assigned by Zacharias to his own miraculously-born child. Even while he predicts John's office, it is in con- trast with the gi-eater dignity of the Redeemer. Alford justly remarks that the Benedictus ' shows the exact religioiis view under which John was educated by his father.' The fruit may be seen in all that is recorded of the Baptist (cf. Mt 3'- "• ''■' IV\ Mk 11-8, Lk 3^-", Jn l'- »■ is. i9-m 3io)_ it jg abundantly clear that the Song was composed in the light Doth of the Annunciation made to the Virgin Mary (Lk !*>-='») and of the inspired .saluta- tion wherewith she was greeted by Elisabeth (v.").
The Benedictus is thus emphatically a ' Hymn of the Incarnation ' — ' Cantiwim de Evangelio,' as the Antiphonary of Bangor styles it.
It differs from the other hymns in these two chapters of St. Luke mainly in this, that whereas the Magnificat (St. Mary's Song) is of Christ's kingship, whereby He casts down the proud and exalts the humble, and the Nunc dinnttis (Sim- eon's) is of His prophetic or enlightening office, the Benedictus, as beseems the song of the blameless priest, is of Christ's priesthood. It is ])riestly throughout ; it begins with blessing and ends witli peace. The work of the Deliverer is remission of sins and reconciliation with God, and its culmina- tion is seen in a people of priests ' serving God {i.e. worshipping Him — Xarpeinv, same word as in Rev 22") in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of their life.' It is evident that Zacharias has in his mind the history of Melchizedek (Gn 14) and the oracle, even then ascribed to the pen of David, Avhich forms so important a commentary on that history (Ps 110).
The ' sources ' of the Song, as of the two chapter.s of which it forms an integral part, will be discussed in art. Luke (Gospel of). It may be mentioned here that the text of the Benedictus varies little either in MSS or Versions. The one reading which exhibits an important difference from that of the Textus Beceptus is in v.™, where a future tense takes the place of a past. This has been adopted in the RV, but with a marginal note, ' Many ancient authorities read hath visited us.'