Luke 1:57,58

1. Birth of John: Luke 1:57-58.

These verses are like a pleasing picture of Jewish home-life. We see the neighbours and relations arriving one after the other, the former first, because they live nearest. Elizabeth, the happy mother, is the central figure of the scene; every one comes up to her in turn. ᾿Εμεγάλυνε μετ᾿ αὑτῆς, literally, He had magnified with her, is a Hebraistic expression (הִגַדִּילעִם; comp. 1Sa 12:24 in the LXX.). This use of μετά, with, comes from the fact that man is in such cases the material which concurs in the result of the divine action.