the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
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Filipino Cebuano Bible
Lucas 1:7
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from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
they had: Genesis 15:2, Genesis 15:3, Genesis 16:1, Genesis 16:2, Genesis 25:21, Genesis 30:1, Judges 13:2, Judges 13:3, 1 Samuel 1:2, 1 Samuel 1:5-8
well: Genesis 17:17, Genesis 18:11, 1 Kings 1:1, 2 Kings 4:14, Romans 4:19, Hebrews 11:11
Reciprocal: Genesis 11:30 - barren Genesis 24:1 - was old Genesis 29:31 - he opened Leviticus 20:20 - childless Joshua 13:1 - Joshua Luke 1:18 - for
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And they had no child,.... Son or daughter: and which was accounted a great infelicity: but this was not owing to the judgment of God upon them for any sins they had been guilty of, as the above character of them shows: and it had been the case of some righteous pairs before them for a great while, as Abraham and Sarah, Manoah, and his wile, Elkanah and Hannah:
because that Elizabeth was barren; so that it was peculiarly her case, and not Zacharias's: and though God had promised the people of Israel that there should be no male nor female barren among them, Deuteronomy 7:14 yet there were instances and exceptions to this general rule, as before mentioned, when it was the pleasure of God to make himself known, and magnify his power in the extraordinary conception and birth of any person; and therefore, though barrenness was reckoned a reproach to a person, there was, in this case, a particular hand of God, to answer a special purpose: the signs of sterility are, according to the Jews b, when a woman had not breasts as other women have, her voice gross, so that it could not be discerned, whether it was a man's or a woman's, c.
and they both were now well stricken in years which made the conception and birth of John the more extraordinary, and even
miraculous, and so the belief of it the more difficult; see Genesis 17:17 It may be literally rendered, "they had proceeded", or had far advanced "in their days": it is an "Hebraism", and answers to, באים בימים in
Genesis 18:11 where the Septuagint render it by the same phrase as here. The Mahometan writers Beidavi and Jallallo'din say c that Zacharias was "ninety nine" years of age, and his wife "eighty nine".
b T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 80. 2. Maimon. & Bartenora. in Misn. Yebamot, c. 1. sect. 1. & Maimon. Hilch. Ishot, c. 2. sect. 6. c In Koran, c. 3.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Well stricken in years - Old or advanced in life, so as to render the prospect of having children hopeless.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Luke 1:7. Both were now well stricken in years. — By the order of God, sterility and old age both met in the person of Elisabeth, to render the birth of a son (humanly speaking) impossible. This was an exact parallel to the case of Sarah and Abraham, Genesis 11:30; Genesis 17:17. Christ must (by the miraculous power of God) be born of a virgin: whatever was connected with, or referred to, his incarnation must be miraculous and impressive. Isaac was his grand type, and therefore must be born miraculously - contrary to the common course and rule of nature: Abraham was a hundred years of age, Sarah was ninety, Genesis 17:17, and it had CEASED to be with Sarah AFTER THE MANNER OF WOMEN, Genesis 18:11, and therefore, from her age and state, the birth of a child must, according to nature, have been impossible; and it was thus; that it might be miraculous. John the Baptist was to be the forerunner of Christ; his birth, like that of Isaac, must be miraculous, because, like the other, it was to be a representation of the birth of Christ; therefore his parents were both far advanced in years, and besides, Elisabeth was naturally barren. The birth of these three extraordinary persons was announced nearly in the same way. God himself foretells the birth of Isaac, Genesis 17:16. The angel of the Lord announces the birth of John the Baptist, Luke 1:13; and six months after, the angel Gabriel, the same angel, proclaims to Mary the birth of Christ! Man is naturally an inconsiderate and incredulous creature: he must have extraordinary things to arrest and fix his attention; and he requires well-attested miracles from God, to bespeak and confirm his faith. Every person who has properly considered the nature of man must see that the whole of natural religion, so termed, is little else than a disbelief of all religion.
