Luke 1:57-80

The Birth of John the Baptist

57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.

58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah,

60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child.

63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”

64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.

65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.

66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Zechariah’s Song

67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.

69 He has raised up a horn^[a] of salvation for us in the house of his servant David

70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),

71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—

72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant,

73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear

75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,

78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit^[b] ; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

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Luke 1:57-80 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LUKE

The writer of this Gospel, Luke, has been, by some, thought, as Origen {a} relates, to be the same with Lucius, mentioned in Ro 16:21, but he seems rather to be, and without doubt is, Luke the beloved physician, who was a companion of the Apostle Paul in great part of his travels in the Gentile world: he came with him to Jerusalem, and from thence accompanied him to Rome, and continued with him when in prison, and was with him to the last; see Ac 16:10,11 \Col 4:14 2Ti 4:11 Phm 1:24\. Jerom {b}, and others, say, he was a physician of Antioch in Syria; where it may be the Apostle Paul met with him, and might be the happy instrument of his conversion; so that he seems to be, by nation, a Syrian, as Jerom {c} calls him. Grotius thinks his name is Roman, and that it is the contraction of Lucilius. It is not an Hebrew name, but might be in common use in Syria; for though the Jews reckon owqwl, "Lukus", among foreign names, yet say {d} a it was a very illustrious one, and well known to them, as it may well be thought to be if Syriac, the language being spoke by them: and many Jews lived in Syria, and particularly in Antioch. Some say that this Gospel was written by the advice, and assistance, and under the direction of the Apostle Paul, as the Gospel according to Mark was by that of Peter; though the following preface does not seem so well to accord with this. Eusebius says {e} that it was the sense of the ancients, that whenever the Apostle Paul makes mention of his Gospel, he intends this according to Luke. The time of the writing of it is not certain; some say it was written in the fifteenth year after the ascension of our Lord; others in the twenty second; and others in the twenty seventh. It is commonly thought to have been written after the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, according to the order in which it stands; but this is rejected by some learned men, who rather think that Luke wrote first of all: and indeed, there are some things in his preface which look as if there had not, as yet, been any authentic account published, at least which was come to the knowledge of this evangelist. The place where he wrote it is also uncertain. Jerom says {f}, he wrote it in the parts of Achaia, perhaps at Corinth: according to the titles prefixed to the Syriac and Persic versions, he wrote it in Alexandria: the former of these runs thus;

``the Gospel of Luke, the Evangelist, which he spake and published in Greek in Alexandria the great.''

And the latter thus;

``the Gospel of Luke, which he wrote in the Greek tongue in Alexandria of Egypt.''

However, it is agreed on all hands, that it is genuine, and of divine inspiration. Eusebius {g} relates, that it was affirmed by some, that this Gospel, together with those of Matthew and Mark, were brought to the Apostle John, who approved of them, and bore witness to the truth in them.

{a} In Rom. xvi. 21. {b} Catalog. Script. Eccles. sect. 17. fol. 91. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 4. {c} Praefat in Luc. {d} T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 11. 2. & Gloss. in ib. {e} Ubi supra. (Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 39.) {f} Praefat in Luc. {g} Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 24.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 28

1. Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 12:3; Luke 2:21; Philippians 3:5
2. ver 13,63; S Matthew 3:1
3. ver 22
4. ver 13,60; S Matthew 3:1
5. ver 20; Ezekiel 24:27
6. ver 39
7. Genesis 39:2; Acts 11:21
8. S ver 15
9. Joel 2:28
10. Genesis 24:27; 1 Kings 8:15; Psalms 72:18
11. Psalms 111:9; Luke 7:16
12. 1 Samuel 2:1,10; 2 Samuel 22:3; Psalms 18:2; Psalms 89:17; Psalms 132:17; Ezekiel 29:21
13. S Matthew 1:1
14. Jeremiah 23:5; Acts 3:21; Romans 1:2
15. Micah 7:20
16. Psalms 105:8,9; Psalms 106:45; Ezekiel 16:60
17. Genesis 22:16-18
18. Hebrews 9:14
19. 1 John 4:18
20. Ephesians 4:24
21. S Matthew 11:9
22. ver 32,35; S Mark 5:7
23. ver 17; Malachi 3:1; S Matthew 3:3
24. Jeremiah 31:34; Matthew 1:21; Mark 1:4
25. Malachi 4:2
26. Psalms 107:14; Isaiah 9:2; Isaiah 59:9; Matthew 4:16; S Acts 26:18
27. S Luke 2:14
28. Luke 2:40,52

Footnotes 2

[a]. "Horn" here symbolizes a strong king.
[b]. Or "in the Spirit"