468
ΚΑΤΑ ΛΟΥΚΑΝ es
63. καὶ αἰτήσας πινακίδιον ἔγραψε, λέγων, “' Ιωάννης oti τὸ ὄνομα.
αὐτοῦ :”' καὶ ἐθαύμασαν πάντες.
64. ᾽Ανεώχθη δὲ τὸ στόµα αὐτοῦ
παραχρῆμα καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐλάλει εὐλογῶν τὸν Θεόν. 65. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐπὶ πάντας φόβος τοὺς περιοικοῦντας αὐτούς: καὶ. ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ὀρεινῇ τῆς Ιουδαίας διελαλεῖτο πάντα τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα - 66 καὶ ἔθεντο πάντες οἱ ἀκούσαντες ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν, λέγοντες,
“Ti ἄρα τὸ παιδίον τοῦτο ἔσται ;”
Καὶ } χεὶρ Κυρίου ἦν pet αὐτοῦ.
67. Καὶ Ζαχαρίας 6 πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ἐπλήσθη Πνεύματος Ἁγίου, καὶ προεφήτευσε,ὶ λέγων, 68. '“Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ισραήλ,
i Ch. ii. 38. ὅτι ἐπεσκέψατο καὶ ἐποίησε 'AUtpwow τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ: 69. καὶ 12. ἤγειρε κέρας σωτηρίας ἡμῖν, ἐν τῷ 3 οἴκω Δαβὶδ τοῦ ® παιδὸς αὐτοῦ - 70. (καθὼς ἐλάλησε διὰ στόµατος τῶν ἁγιῶν τῶν ὃ ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος προφη-
1 και γαρ in NBCDL (Tisch., W.H.).
2 expod. in NABCL 1, 33.
3 Omit re NBCDL 33: also τον before παιδος SSBDL; also των after αγιων
speech to spare the feelings of Elizabeth, whose judgment was being appealed from (Meyer); that a sign was all that was needed, Zechariah having heard all that was said (Bleek, J. Weiss, Hahn). —ré before the clause following—rf ἂν θέλοι, viewed as a substantive, is very appropriate in a case where the question was not spoken but signalled.—4v θέλοι : the optative with ἂν, implies diverse possibilities; found in Lk.’s writings only in N. T.—Ver. 63. Ἠπινακίδιον (dim. from πίναξ), here only in N. T.: a little tablet probably covered with wax, used like a slate; pugillarem in Vulg.— λέγων is used here, Hebrew fashion = to the effect.—éypawe λέγων: hypallage pro γράφων ἔλεγε (Pricaeus) = he said by writing.—20avpacav: they wondered, at this consent of the parents in giving a strange name, and felt there must be something under it—an omen.—Ver. 64. στόμα, γλῶσσα: both connected with ἀνεώχθη, though the idea of opening is applicable only to the former—a case of zeugma. ‘The return of speech a second marvel or rather a third: (1) a child of old parents; (2) the singular name; (3) the recovery of speech, much marked, and commented on among the denizens of the hill country of Judah (διελαλεῖτο). --φόβος, not terror, but religious awe in presence of the supernatural—charac- teristic of all simple people.—Ver. 66. τί dpa, etc.: what, in view of all these unusual circumstances, will this child come to? A most natural question. They felt sure all things portended an uncommon future for this child : ‘‘ omina
principiis inesse solent ”.—xat γὰρ, etc. : a reflection of the evangelist justifying the wistful questioning of the hill folk = they might well ask, for indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.
Vv. 67-79. The song of Zechariah, called from the first word of it in the Vulgate the Benedictus. It is usually divided into five strophes, but it is more obviously divisible into two main parts, vv. 67-75, vv. 76-79. (Briggs, The Messiah of the Gospels, calls these divisions strophes, thus recognising only two.) Hillmann (¥ahrb. f. prot. Theol., 1891) regards the first part as a purely Jewish Psalm, having no reference to the birth of the Baptist ; furnished with a preface, ver. 67, and an epilogue re- ferring to the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus by the evangelist. J. Weiss (in Meyer) seems to accept this conclusion, only suggesting that the second part (vv. 76-79) might be in the source used by Lk., appended to the Psalm by the Jewish-Christian redactor.
Ver. 67. ἐπροφήτευσεν, prophesied, when? At the circumcision, one naturally assumes. Hahn, however, connects the prophesying with the immediately pre- ceding words concerning the hand of the Lord being with the boy. That is, Zechariah prophesied when it began to appear that his son was to have a re- markable career.—Ver. 68. ἐπεσκέψατο, visited graciously {vide on Mt. xxv. 36), occasionally used in Sept. in the sense of judicial visitation (Ps. lxxxix. 33). Note the use of the aorist here, which runs through vv. 68-75, in vv. 76-79