Читать книгу A Class-Book of New Testament History - G. F. Maclear - Страница 31

ABOUT the year B.C.5, when the bloodstained reign of Herod was approaching its close, there lived in Judæa, either at the little village of Juttah, or the time-honoured city of Hebron185, an aged priest named Zacharias. His wife Elisabeth was also of the priestly family (Lk. i.5), and both enjoyed a high reputation for piety and uprightness of life, being alike righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (Lk. i.6). One great sorrow, however, cast a deep shadow over their daily life. They were now old and well-stricken in age, but no child had ever gladdened their humble home.

In the time of Solomon the priests were divided into twenty-four “courses,” each of which served at the Temple in weekly rotation (1 Chr. xxiv. 1–19). Of these, four only returned from the captivity, but they were again divided into twenty-four, and received the same names as the original courses. The course, to which Zacharias belonged, was the eighth, known as that of Abiah or Abijah (1 Chr. xxiv.10), and in process of time, in accordance with the prescribed arrangement, it devolved on him to go up to the Holy City. Of all the services at the Temple (which to avoid contention were uniformly decided by lot), none was deemed more honourable than that of entering into the Holy Place and offering incense on the Golden Altar186. This was done twice every day, before the morning and evening sacrifice, i.e. at 9 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. The sound of a small bell announced the priests’ entrance for this purpose, and on hearing it the Priests and Levites took up their position before the Altar of Burnt-offering, the space between the Porch and the Altar was cleared, and the people in the different courts stood and prayed in solemn silence (Rev. viii.1) so long as he remained within the Holy Place. As soon, however, as he reappeared, they laid the sacrifice on the altar, and the Levites, amidst the full burst of the Temple music, commenced the sacred Psalmody187.

Such was the august office which now fell to the lot of Zacharias. Bearing the incense in a large vessel of gold, he entered into the Holy Place, and was kindling it on the Golden Altar, when he was accosted by an Angel standing at the right side of the Altar. This sudden apparition startled and affrighted him. But the Angel calmed his fears, and announced that the prayers he had offered to God in secret were heard. Though Elisabeth was stricken in years, she should yet become the mother of a son, who was to be named John188. From the first hour of his existence this child should be filled with the Holy Ghost, and drinking neither wine nor strong drink, in accordance with the Nazarite’s vow, should be great in the sight of the Lord. As the second Elijah, to whom the finger of prophecy had pointed (Isai. xl.3; Mal. iii.1), he should be the immediate forerunner of the long-expected Messiah, and make ready a people prepared for him (Lk. i. 12–17).

Astounded by so sudden an announcement, the aged priest sought some assurance of the promised blessing. On this the Angel, who announced himself as no other than he that had appeared many years before to the prophet Daniel under the name of Gabriel (Dan. viii.16; ix.21), replied, that such an assurance would be vouchsafed, but, because of his unbelief, it should be in the shape of a judgment. He should be dumb, and not able to speak, till the day that these things should be performed (Lk. i.20).

While Zacharias was receiving this mysterious intimation within the Sanctuary, the people189, who crowded the Temple-courts, were anxiously expecting his return, and marvelled at his unusual delay. At length he reappeared. But his strange aspect shewed that something had occurred. When questioned he could not return any answer, and intimated by signs that he had seen a vision in the Sacred Place. Then at the close of his week of ministration he returned to his own house, where, in accordance with the announcement of the Angel, Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself for five months in quiet and peaceful retirement (Lk. i.24).

Six months after his appearance in the Temple, the same Angel was sent from God to Nazareth190, a secluded village unknown and unnamed in the Old Testament, hidden away amongst the hills of Galilee, and within the limits of the ancient tribe of Zebulun. At this village there lived a lowly Virgin named Mary, or Miriam. She belonged to the royal tribe of Judah, and the lineage of David (Lk. i.32; Rom. i.3), and was connected by marriage with Elisabeth (Lk. i.27), who belonged to the tribe of Levi. Moreover, she was at this time betrothed to Joseph, who occupied a humble position as a carpenter at Nazareth, but like herself was of the lineage of David (Lk. i.27; ii.4).

To this lowly Virgin the Angel Gabriel now appeared, and announced that by virtue of the operation of the Holy Ghost, she should become the mother of a Son, whom she was to call Jesus191 (God the Saviour). He should be great, and should be called the Son of the Highest, should sit on the throne of His father David, and reign over the house of Jacob for ever (Lk. i. 30–33). Though at first startled at the sudden address of an angelic visitant (Lk. i.29), the Virgin received his announcement with implicit faith, and prayed that it might be with her according to his word (Lk. i.38), and being informed of what had occurred to her relative Elisabeth, arose with haste to seek out her home amidst the Judæan hills. The journey of four or five days192 accomplished, she reached the humble abode, and had no sooner crossed the threshold, and saluted the aged wife of Zacharias, than the other addressed her as the mother of her Lord, and fully confirmed the words of the angel. Thus assured of the certainty of the mighty event about to happen, the lowly virgin, like Hannah at the birth of Samuel, burst forth into words of holy praise and exultation, and gave utterance to the inspired hymn, which under the name of the Magnificat, remains one of the most precious treasures of the Church, and the most familiar of her hymns (Lk. i. 46–56).

After a sojourn of about three months with Elisabeth, Mary returned to Nazareth, and Joseph perceived that she was with child. Being a just man, he resolved on privately giving her a bill of divorcement, instead of making her a public example (Mtt. i.19). But as in deep perplexity he pondered on these things, he too was visited by an Angel in a dream, and bidden not to be afraid to take to him Mary as his wife. That which was conceived in her was not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the Holy Ghost, and the Son, to whom she would give birth, he was to name Jesus, for He should save His people from their sins (Mtt. i.21).

Meanwhile the event announced in the Temple to the aged Zacharias had taken place, and Elisabeth brought forth a son. Such an event in the East is always an occasion of unbounded joy. In the present instance it would be still more so, and the relatives and neighbours of Elisabeth came together with no ordinary feelings to rejoice with her. On the eighth day, the child was brought to the priest for circumcision, and the relatives proposed that it should be named after his father, but Elisabeth demurred, and declared that it should be called John (the grace of God). Marvelling at her wishing for a name, which had no precedent in the family, they appealed by signs to the speechless Zacharias. The aged priest called for a writing tablet, and wrote His name is John, and then, while all were lost in astonishment, his mouth, which had been closed for nine months, was opened, and he too burst forth into an inspired Psalm of exultant thanksgiving, in which he acknowledged the faithfulness of God in the birth of his son, and foretold his future greatness as the forerunner of the Messiah (Lk. i. 61–79).

Born as one out of due time the child grew, waxed strong in spirit (Lk. i.80), and, in accordance with the words of the Angel, adhered steadfastly to the Nazarite vow193. Like Samson, like Samuel, no razor was suffered to come near his head. Drinking neither wine nor strong drink, he systematically denied himself all the pleasures and indulgences of ordinary life. The son of a priest, he doubtless received a strict religious education, and at some period, though when we are not told, retired to the dreary deserts west of the Dead Sea. Here, like Moses in Midian, he prepared himself by solitary communion with God for his high emprise, assumed the garb of one of the old prophets, the robe of camel’s hair fastened round the body by a leathern girdle (2 K. i.8), and subsisted on such fare as the desert afforded, eating locusts194 and wild honey (Mtt. iii.4).