Luke 1 - Introduction
CHAPTER 1. THE EARLY HISTORY.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 1. THE EARLY HISTORY.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπειδήπερ : three particles, ἐπεί, δή, περ, blended into one word, implying that the fact to be stated is well known (δή), important (περ), and important as a reason for the undertaking on hand (ἐπεί) = _seeing_, as is _well known_. Hahn thinks the word before us is merely a temporal not a causal pa... [ Continue Reading ]
_The preface_.... [ Continue Reading ]
καθὼς implies that the basis of these many _written_ narratives was the παράδοσις of the Apostles, which, by contrast, and by the usual meaning of the word, would be mainly though not necessarily exclusively _oral_ (might include, _e.g._, the _Logia_ of Mt.). οἱ … τοῦ λόγου describes the Apostles, t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔδοξε κἀμοὶ : modestly introducing the writer's purpose. He puts himself on a level with the πολλοὶ, and makes no pretensions to superiority, except in so far as coming after them, and more comprehensive inquiries give him naturally an advantage which makes his work not superfluous. παρηκολουθηκότι... [ Continue Reading ]
Indicates the practical aim: to give certainty in regard to matters of Christian belief. περὶ ὧν κ. λόγων : an attraction, to be thus resolved: περὶ τῶν λόγων οὓς κατηχήθης. λόγων is best taken = matters (πραγμάτων, Luke 1:1), histories (Weizsäcker), not doctrines. Doubtless this is a Hebraistic sen... [ Continue Reading ]
_The parents of John_. ἐγένετο, there was, or there lived. ἐν ταῖς ἡ., etc.: in the days, the reign, of Herod, king of Judaea. Herod died 750 A.C., and _the Christian_ era begins with 753 A.C. This date is too late by three or four years. ἐξ ἐφημερίας Ἀβιά : ἐφημερία (a noun formed from ἐφημέριος -... [ Continue Reading ]
_The birth of the Baptist announced_. From the long prefatory sentence, constructed according to the rules of Greek syntax, and with some pretensions to classic purity of style, we pass abruptly to the _Protevangelium_, the prelude to the birth of Christ, consisting of the remainder of this chapter,... [ Continue Reading ]
δίκαιοι : an O. T. term, and expressing an O. T. idea of piety and goodness, as unfolded in the following clause, which is Hebrew in speech as in sentiment: _walking_ in all the _commandments_ and _ordinances_ (equivalent terms, not to be distinguished, with Calvin, Bengel, and Godet, as moral and c... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ οὐκ ἦν, etc.: childless, a calamity from the Jewish point of view, and also a fact hard to reconcile with the character of the pair, for the Lord loveth the righteous, and, according to O. T. views, He showed His love by granting prosperity, and, among other blessings, children (Psalms 128). καθ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hope preternaturally revived_. ἐν τῷ ἱερατεύειν : Zechariah was serving his week in due course, and it fell to his lot on a certain day to perform the very special service of burning incense in the holy place. A great occasion in a priest's life, as it might never come to him but once (priests said... [ Continue Reading ]
κατὰ τὸ ἔθος is to be connected with ἔλαχε : casting lots, the customary manner of settling who was to have the honour. εἰσελθὼν is to be connected with θυμιάσαι, not with ἔλαχε. The meaning is that entering the sanctuary was the necessary preliminary to offering incense: in one sense a superfluous... [ Continue Reading ]
πλῆθος : there might be a crowd within the temple precincts at the hour of prayer any day of the week, not merely on Sabbath or on a feast day (“dies solennis, et fortasse sabbatum,” Bengel).... [ Continue Reading ]
ὤφθη : the appearance very particularly described, the very position of the angel indicated: on the _right_ side of the altar of incense; the south side, the _propitious_ side say some, the place of honour say others. The altar of incense is called, with reference to its function, θυμιατήριον in Heb... [ Continue Reading ]
_A celestial visitant_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐταράχθη describes the state of mind generally = perturbed, φόβος specifically. Yet why afraid, seeing in this case, as always, the objective appearance answers to the inward state of mind? This fear of the divine belongs to O. T. piety.... [ Continue Reading ]
δέησις : all prayed at that hour, therefore of course the officiating priest. The prayer of Zechariah was very special δέησις implies this as compared with προσευχή, _vide_ Trench, _Synonyms_ and very realistic: for _offspring_. Beneath the dignity of the occasion, say some interpreters; a very supe... [ Continue Reading ]
χαρά, ἀγαλλίασις, a joy, an exultation; joy in higher, highest degree: joy over a son late born, and such a son as he will turn out to be. πολλοὶ : a joy not merely to parents as a child, but to many as a man.... [ Continue Reading ]
μέγας, a great man before the Lord; not merely in God's sight = true greatness, but indicating the sphere or type of greatness: in the region of ethics and religion. καὶ οἶνον, etc., points to the external badge of the moral and religious greatness: abstinence as a mark of consecration and separatio... [ Continue Reading ]
describes the function of the Baptist. ἐπιστρέψει : repentance, conversion, his great aim and watchword.... [ Continue Reading ]
προελεύσεται ἐν. α.: not a reference to John's function as forerunner of Messiah, but simply a description of his prophetic character. He shall go before God (and men) = _be_, in his career, an Elijah in spirit and power, and function; described in terms recalling Malachi 4:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zechariah doubts_. The angel's dazzling promise of a son, and even of a son with such a career, might be but a reflection of Zechariah's own secret desire and hope; yet when his day-dream is objectified it seems too good and great to be true. This also is true to human nature, which alternates betw... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀποκριθεὶς : the very natural scepticism of Zechariah is treated as a fault. Γαβριὴλ : the naming of angels is characteristic of the later stage of Judaism (_vide_ Daniel 8:16; Daniel 10:21).... [ Continue Reading ]
σιωπῶν καὶ μὴ δ. λ., silent and not able to speak; a temporary dumbness the sign asked, a slight penalty; not arbitrary, however, rather the almost natural effect of his state of mind a kind of prolonged stupefaction resulting from a promise too great to be believed, yet pointing to a boon passionat... [ Continue Reading ]
_The people without_. προσδοκῶν, waiting; they had to wait. The priest was an unusually long time within, something uncommon must have happened. The thought likely to occur was that God had slain the priest as unworthy. The Levitical religion a religion of distance from God and of fear. So viewed in... [ Continue Reading ]
ὀπτασίαν : from his dazed look they inferred that the priest had seen a vision (chap. Luke 24:23; 2 Corinthians 12:1). διανεύων : making signs all he could do; he could not bless them, _e.g._, if that was part of his duty for the day, or explain his absence (here only).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Returns home_. The week of service over, Zechariah went back to his own house. λειτουργίας : in Biblical Greek used in reference to priestly service; elsewhere of public service rendered by a citizen at his own expense or of any sort of service.... [ Continue Reading ]
περιέκρυβεν : hid herself _entirely_ (περὶ), here only; ἔκρυβον : a late form of 2nd aorist. Why, not said, nor whether her husband told her what had happened to him. μῆνας πέντε : after which another remarkable event happened. Whether she appeared openly thereafter is not indicated. Possibly not (J... [ Continue Reading ]
Ναζαρέτ : the original home of Joseph and Mary, not merely the adopted home as we might infer from Matthew 2:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The announcement to Mary_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξ οἴκου Δ.: Mary, Joseph, or both? Impossible to be sure, though the repetition of παρθένου in next clause (instead of αὐτῆς) favours the reference to Joseph.... [ Continue Reading ]
χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη : _ave plena gratiâ_, Vulg [4], on which Farrar (C. G. T.) comments: “not gratiâ _plena_, but gratiâ _cumulata_ ”; much graced or favoured by God. χαριτόω is Hellenistic, and is found, besides here, only in Ephesians 1:6 in N. T. ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ, the Lord (Jehovah) _is_ or _be_... [ Continue Reading ]
διεταράχθη : assuming that ιδοῦσα (T.R.) is no part of the true text, Godet thinks that Mary _saw_ nothing, and that it was only the _word_ of the angel that disturbed her. It is certainly the latter that is specified as the cause of trouble. The salutation troubled her because she felt that it mean... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἰησοῦν : no interpretation of the name here as in Matthew 1:21; a common Jewish name, not necessarily implying Messianic functions. There may have been ordinary family reasons for its use.... [ Continue Reading ]
foreshadows the future of the child. μέγας, applied also to John, Luke 1:15. κληθήσεται, shall be called = shall be. τὸν θρόνον Δ. τ. πατρὸς α.: the Messiah is here conceived in the spirit of Jewish expectation: a son of David, and destined to restore his kingdom.... [ Continue Reading ]
Πνεῦμα Αγιον : without the article because a proper name = the well-known Holy Spirit, say some (Meyer, Farrar), but more probably because the purpose is not to indicate the person by whom, etc., but the kind of influence: _spirit_ as opposed to flesh, holy in the sense of separation from all fleshl... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἰδού, introducing a reference to Elizabeth's case to help Mary's faith. συγγενίς, late form for συγγενής (T.R.), a blood relation, but of what degree not indicated, suggesting that Mary perhaps belonged to the tribe of _Levi_. γήρει : Ionic form of dative for γήρᾳ (T.R.). Hellenistic Greek was a... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀδυνατήσει : the verb means, in classic Greek, to be weak, of persons. In Sept [5] and N. T. (here and in Matthew 17:20) it means to be impossible, of things. Commentators differ as to whether we should render: no _word_ of God shall be weak, inoperative, or no _thing_, with, on the part of, God, sh... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τ. ἡ. ταὑταις in these (not those = ἐκείναις, A. V [9]) days = at the time of the angelic visit. μετὰ σπουδῆς : no time lost, a most natural visit from one woman with a high hope, to another, a friend, in a similar state of mind. εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν (χώραν, again Luke 1:65): into the hill country, re... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mary visits Elizabeth_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐσκίρτησε : commentators discuss the connection between the maternal excitement and the quickening of the child which was cause and which effect. Let this and all other questions in reference to the movement denoted be passed over in respectful silence.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀνεφώνησεν : here only in N. T. The verb, with the following words, κραυγῇ μεγάλῃ, point to an unrestrained utterance under the influence of irrepressible feeling, thoroughly true to feminine nature: “blessed thou among women (a Hebrew superlative), and blessed the fruit of thy womb,” poetic paralle... [ Continue Reading ]
ἵνα ἔλθῃ : subjunctive instead of infin. with art., the beginning of a tendency, which ended in the substitution of να with the subjunctive for the infinitive in modern Greek.... [ Continue Reading ]
γὰρ : implies that from the movement of her child Elizabeth inferred that the _mother of the Lord_ stood before her.... [ Continue Reading ]
μακαρία, here, as elsewhere, points to rare and high felicity connected with heroic moods and achievements. ὅτι, _because_ or _that_, which? great conflict of opinion among commentators. The former sense would make ὅτι give the reason for calling Mary blessed = blessed because the things she hopes f... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mary's song_. μεγαλύνει : _magnificat_, Vulg [10], whence the ecclesiastical name for this hymn, which has close affinities with the song of Hanna in 1 Samuel 2:1-10; variously regarded by critics: by some, _e.g._, Godet and Hahn, as an extemporised utterance under inspiration by Mary, by others as... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse and the two preceding form the first of four strophes, into which the song naturally divides. The first strophe expresses simply the singer's gladness. The second (Luke 1:49-50) states its cause. The third (Luke 1:51-53) describes in gnomic aorists the moral order of the world, for the es... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀντελάβετο : laid hold: of with a view to help, as in Isaiah 41:8-9; Acts 20:35; 1 Timothy 6:2. _cf._ ἰπιλαμβάνεται, Hebrews 2:16. μνησθῆναι ἐλέους, καθὼς ἐλάλησεν : what is about to happen is presented as fulfilling a promise made to the Fathers long, long ago, but not forgotten by God, to whom 100... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mary returns to her home_. ἔμεινε : the time of Mary's sojourn with her kinswoman is given as “about three months”. This would bring her departure near to the time of Elizabeth's confinement. Did she remain till the event was over? That is left doubtful.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπλήσθη, was fulfilled, the time for giving birth arrived in due course of nature.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Birth of John_.... [ Continue Reading ]
περίοικοι (περί, οἶκος), dwellers around, neighbours, here only in N. T., several times in Sept [11] Named first because nearest; some of the relatives would be farther away and would arrive later. This gathering of neighbours and kinsfolk (συγγενεῖς) presents a “gracious _tableau_ of Israelite life... [ Continue Reading ]
ἦλθον, on the eighth, the legal day, _they came_, to circumcise the child; _i.e._, those who were concerned in the function the person who performed the operation, and the relatives of the family. ἐκάλουν may be the imperfect of repeated action = they took for granted by repeated expressions that th... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἰωάννης, _John_; presumably the mother had learned this from the father, by writing on a tablet as on the present occasion. The older commentators (Meyer also) supposed a Divine revelation.... [ Continue Reading ]
συγγενείας, kinsmanship. In Lk. only in N. T. _Cf._ Acts 7:3; Acts 7:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐνένευον (here only in N. T.): they made signs, which seems to imply that Zechariah is supposed to be deaf as well as dumb. Various suggestions have been made to evade this conclusion; _e.g._, that men are very apt to treat a dumb person as if he were also deaf (Bengel, De Wette, Godet); that they c... [ Continue Reading ]
πινακίδιον (dim. from πίναξ), here only in N. T.: a little tablet probably covered with wax, used like a slate; _pugillarem_ in Vulg [13] λέγων is used here, Hebrew fashion = to the effect. ἔγραψε λέγων : _hypallage pro_ γράφων ἔλεγε (Pricaeus) = he said by writing. ἐθαύμασαν : they _wondered_, at t... [ Continue Reading ]
στόμα, γλῶσσα : both connected with ἀνεῴχθη, 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... [ Continue Reading ]
τί ἄρα, 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”. καὶ γὰρ, etc.: a reflection of the evangelist justifying the wistful questioning... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπροφήτευσεν, prophesied, when? At the circumcision, one naturally assumes. Hahn, however, connects the prophesying with the immediately preceding 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 remarkable car... [ Continue Reading ]
_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, Luke 1:67-75; Luke 1:76-79. (Briggs, _The Messiah of the Gospels_, calls these divisions strophes, thus recogni... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπεσκέψατο, visited graciously (_vide_ on Matthew 25:36), occasionally used in Sept [14] in the sense of _judicial_ visitation (Psalms 89:33). Note the use of the _aorist_ there, which runs through Luke 1:68-75, in Luke 1:76-79 futures occur. The object of ἐπεσκέψατο is latent in τῷ λαῷ (τὸν λαὸν, _... [ Continue Reading ]
κέρας σ. = βασιλείαν, because kings were anointed with a horn of oil, or = δύναμιν, because in their horn all horned animals have their power (Euthy. Zig.); a thoroughly Hebrew symbol. ἐν οἴκῳ Δ., pointing to a descendant of David, who has wrought signal deliverance for Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἁγίων : a predicate applied in reverence to the prophets, as to the apostles in Ephesians 3:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
σωτηρίαν, in apposition with κέρας σ., resuming and developing the thought interrupted by Luke 1:70, which is parenthetical. ἐχθρῶν, τῶν μισούντων : not to be anxiously distinguished; poetic synonyms.... [ Continue Reading ]
ποιῆσαι : in effect epexegetical of salvation, though formally indicating the aim of the salvation. μετὰ τ. π., as in Luke 1:58, to make mercy with, for to show mercy to. ἁγίας, holy, applied to another of Israel's sacred inheritances: the _covenant_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅρκον for ὅρκου, depending on μνησθῆναι, a case of inverse attraction, the noun by the relative (ὃν, object of ὤμοσεν) instead of the relative by the noun. _Cf._ Luke 20:17. Examples from Greek authors in Bornemann, _Scholia_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁσιότητι : the Godward, religious aspect of conduct (Ephesians 4:24). δικαιοσύνῃ : the manward, ethical aspect.... [ Continue Reading ]
_From the general thanksgiving for Divine mercy the song turns to the special cause of gladness afforded by the birth of John_. σὺ, παιδίον : this address supposes the Baptist to be still a child, and all that is said of him is a prophetic forecast of the future, in literary form. ὑψίστου : once mor... [ Continue Reading ]
τοῦ δοῦναι, the infinitive of purpose, to be connected with προπορεύσῃ in Luke 1:76 = John will go before the Lord (Jehovah), with the view of giving the knowledge of salvation in the forgiveness of sins. This is a very general description of John's ministry, hardly differentiating it from that of C... [ Continue Reading ]
διὰ σπλάγχνα, etc., on account of, etc., indicating the fountain-head of salvation the mercy of God, described in Hebrew phrase as the _bowels of mercy of our God_. ἐπισκέψεται : the future (aorist in T.R.), though in few MSS. ([15] [16] [17]), is doubtless the true reading. In the second great stro... [ Continue Reading ]
_Conclusion_ : being a summary statement on John's history from childhood to manhood. πνεύματι : the growing strength of John's spirit, the development of a remarkable moral individuality, the main point in the view of the evangelist. ἐν ταῖς ἐρήμοις, in the desert places: not far to go from his hom... [ Continue Reading ]