The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 21

thrn wonhl be the destiny of this child. grent pioneer or Christ le briefly sketciieil Coul,l it be Umt he wae the promised out; in it all, anil through it all, tbore wB, lllea•iuh? one guiding hand-the Lord's. The ex- Ver. ~9.-0n the eighth de.y they ce.me pression, " hand of the Lord," we.,, pccn- to ciroumoise the child. Thie wo.e e.l ways, lie.rly e. Hebrew though~ne of the vivid e.mnng tl,e Hebrew people, e. solemn ch,y of anthropomorphic idiomR wh;ch, 1111 hae been rej .. iciug • it rcsembleu in somo p1uticulare aptly remarked, they could use more boldly our baptiHmo.l go.thori11gd. Relntivce were than other nation., because they had clearer iuvite,l to bo present, e.e witnesses that the thoughts of God e.s not made after the rhild ha.tl Leon formally incoq.1ore.to<.l into similitucle of men (Dent. iv. 12). Mai- tl1e eovc1111nt. It was, too, the time when mouides, the great Jewish writer of the the nume which the newly born· we.a to bear twelfth century, in hia • Yad Hacl,azakal,,' through life 1v11e given him. sayd, "And there was under his feet (Exo,1. Ver. 60.-Not eo; but he shall be called xxiv. 10); written with the finger of God John. It is cl,·nr (from ver. 62) that the old (Exod. xxxi. 18); the hand of the Lord pri,·st was afflicteu with deafness e.s well as (Exod. ix. 3); the eyes of the Lm-d (Dent. with tlumLness. At the naming ceremony, xi. 12); the e.ars of the Lord (Numb. xi. 18). the stricken Zacharias, who was patiently A II these are used with reference to the in- awaiting the hour when hie God should tellectual cape.city of the sons of men, who restore to him his lost powers, made no can comprehend only corpnreal beings : so effort to express his will. He bad already that the Law spoke in the language of the iu the past months, no doubt, written down sons of men, and all theae e.re expressions fur Elisabeth the name of the boy that was merely, ju,t as, If I whet my r,litterinr, to be born. She interrupts the cercwouy sword (Dent. xxxii. 41) ; for has he, then, a. with her wishes. The guests are surprised, sword? or does he slay with a sword? Cer- e.nd make signs to the father. He at once ta.inly not: this is only a figure; e.nd thus writes on his tablets," His 11ame is John." all are figures" (' Yarl,' eh. i. 8). The name had been already given. The Ver. 67.-Jlis father Zacharias was filled word "John" signifies "the grace of with the Holy Ghost, and :!lrO!)l!esied, saying. Jehovah." The inspi.recl hymn which follows-thought Ver, 63.-A writing-table; better, a writ- out, no doubt, with the Holy ~pint's help in inr,-tablet. The tablets in use generally at the cnuree of the long enforccu seclusion the time were usually me.de of wood, covered which his firat want of faith bad brought with a thin coating of we.x; on the soft fayer upon him-hold, a prominent place in all of wax the words were written with an Western liturgies. Like the Magnifica.t, it is iron stylus. believed to have been first introunced into Ver. 64.-And his mouth was opened im- the public worship of the Church about the mediately, and his tongue loose<l, a.nd he middle of the sixth century by St. Cresal'ius spake, and praised God. This, the first of Arlf's, It may be brietly summarized as hour of his recovered power, was without a lhank,giving for the arrival of the times doubt the occasion of his giving uttrrun~e of i\Iessio.11. to the inspired hymn (the Benedictus) which Vera. 68, 69.-He hath visited and re- is recorded at length a few verses further deemed, . . . and hath raised up. The on (vers. 68-79). It was the outcome, no teus,•s of the verbs nsetl in thes,, expressions doubt, of his silent communing wi1h the show that in Zcicltarias's mind, when ht> Spirit during the long months of his affiic- ultereu tl,e wor,ls of his lwmu. the Inee.r- tion. nation, and the glorious deliverance com- Yer. 65.-And fear came on all that dwelt menced iu that stupvutlous act of mercy, round about them : and all these sayings bel"nged to the past. He hath r;isited; were noised abroad throughout all the hill that is, a.ft,·r snme four hundred ye"rs or country of Judma. The inspired utterance silence anu absence, the Holy O11e of Israel or the ol<l priest, so long durub, in his beau- had ag-,1iu co1ue to his peopk About four tiful hymn of praise, cotuplde<l as it were centuries 1,e.d pllssed since the voice of the strange cycle of stra.ne:e events which lllalachi, the lt\,t of the prophets, had been had hnppcned iu the priestly family. heard. An horn of salvation. A meta- Ver. 66.-And the hand of tho Lord was phor not unknown in classical writings (see with him. This kind of pause in the his- Ovi,J, 'Art. Am.,' i. 239; Hor., • O<l.,' iii. tory is one of the peculiarities of St. Luke's xxi. I 8), and ,1 much-used figure in Hebre,v style. We meet with it several times in the literuture (see, o.muug other passages, Ezek. gospel story and in the history of the Acts. xxix. 21; l.l\m. ii. 3; P.r.- cnxii. 17; 1 'l'hoy lll'C vivid pictures iu a few words of Sam. ii. 10). The reference is not to the wlmt l111ppe11cd to e.n indiviuulll, lo a fumily, horns of the altar, ou which oriruiuals :ieek- or to u ,·1111sc, clming ollen e. loi·g course of ing sl\nclnary used t<> ll\y holu; nor to the year~. l lertJ the 8Lo1·y of thu chihlhoo<l of the horns with which w11rriors used to adorn  12 THE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [en. 1. 1-80.