seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 1:5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
OK.... Zechariah was from the order of Abijah. That has some meaning. It goes back to King David. They had more priests that they needed. So, David assigned them a schedule. He divided the priests into 24 orders, 2 for each of the twelve tribes. Then they divided the Jewish calendar. Each Order took two weeks annually, but they all worked on the major holidays. So, the reason it's important to know that Zechariah was from the order of Abijah, is the timing of the birth of John the Baptist and his cousin Jesus. When we get a little further, we should learn when Mary visited Elizabeth. It tells us how far along each lady was in her nine-month gestation. John was born a couple months before Jesus. So, it seems we can tell that it was in late May or early June when Zechariah would have been performing his duties. That's when Zechariah would have been struck dumb.
Elizabeth was a direct descendant of Aaron, Moses' brother and translator. She was related to Jesus through Mary, His mother. She would have been a cousin. She was quite old, so she wasn't going to have an easy pregnancy. She kept away from people for the first five months.
The Bible doesn't say so, but I bet she had been pregnant before and suffered miscarriages. Maybe I understand this part because I suffered through six miscarriages to enjoy three live births. After you've lost a couple babies, you don't announce the pregnancy until you make it well past the first trimester. OR... she might not have known the exact date, but felt the first jumps at about five months, signally a successful pregnancy was secure. It's hard enough to lose a baby, but the looks we get afterward can be an awful reminder. Also.... the women back in those days were judged by the number of strong sons they gave their husbands. Elizabeth would have been shamed if she claimed to be pregnant and lost it. She would be a misfit, a disgrace!
I found this while I was reading for today's study.
Remember when Jesus cleansed the temple. There were money changers and people selling sacrificial animals in the temple. Those positions would have been filled by the priests from the 24 divisions brought in for service during the festivals.
It was a bit of a racket, because though people would sometimes bring animals to be sacrificed, they had to be unblemished. Invariably those responsible for checking over the animals and birds would find a blemish, but fortunately there were some for sale in the temple, at a premium price of course.
So... the temple priests had fallen into graft. They had their hands in the collection plate. If this was happening today, the priests would be condoning the purchase of the written material people get in Sunday School. They would control the finances of the church. They would control the sermons and the blessings. They would be quite capable of controlling and tweaking the message to fit their mission, not the Mission assigned by God. They would find a blemish on any animal or human because it put ducketts in their pockets. The priesthood was corrupt. Maybe Zechariah was a little corrupt too.
I wonder, if Zechariah hadn't been struck dumb, would he have been shamed for claiming Gabriel visited him? If Zechariah was dumb when Mary came to visit, would that stop him from judging Mary for not being married? Well, we don't know.... because....
He was struck dumb.
