The song of Zechariah brings the narrative time to a halt to provide commentary on the extraordinary events that it recounts. It rehearses major themes of the importance of John as prophet and forerunner, the interweaving of the stories of John and Jesus into the one tapestry of the redemptive purpose of God, the faithfulness of God, and the character of the coming deliverance and restoration of the people of God. As one of three "canticles" or songs found at the beginning of Luke's gospel, the Benedictus (1:68-79), along with the Magnificat (1:46-55) and the Nunc Dimittis (2:29-32), occupies an important part in the ancient devotional exercise known as the Liturgy of the Hours. The liturgy consists of a schedule for prayer and reflection on Scripture at specific times of the day and night. Although it focuses on the Psalms, these three passages are included in the Liturgy of the Hours as major elements. This indicates that they were themselves considered, by those who devised the exercise, to be of the same literary tradition as the Old Testament Psalms. This would have pleased Luke. One of his main goals was to clarify the many ways in which Christ's ministry was a continuation and fulfillment of God's ongoing relationship with Israel as revealed in the Old Testament. More than Matthew's interest with proving by citation of texts that Jesus was the expected Messiah, Luke wished to impress upon his Gentile audience that Jesus was the proof that God's had not forgotten the promises God made to Israel. So just as the Old Testament contained Psalms that told of God's trustworthiness, Luke begins his Gospel with several new Psalms of his own.
Even in our time, we love rescue stories, whether they be of human beings or of animals. In many ways, the Bible is a rescue story, and this passage gives a brief and thoughtful consideration of what that rescue means. We gather to worship and sing Christmas carols, and inevitably, Zechariah’s theme appears before our wondering eyes:
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
’Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
—O Holy Night
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy …
—God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Hark! the herald angels sing: “Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.”
—Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Oh, come O Rod of Jesse’s stem, from ev’ry foe deliver them
That trust your mighty pow’r to save;
Bring them in vict’ry through the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, shall come to you, O Israel!
—O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Jesus was born because after sending sages and prophets into the company of human beings to no effect (see Hebrews 1), a personal visit by the Creator to his creation was deemed to be necessary — the last resort. Thus,
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus our Emmanuel
—Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
Luke is deeply concerned with the problems of theodicy raised by many historical catastrophes experienced by Israel. A provocative question: "If God has not been faithful to the promises made to God's elect people and has allowed their holy city and temple to be destroyed, what reason do Gentile Christians, who believe in this God, have to think that God will be faithful to promises made to them?" The answer provided by Luke is that God - through Jesus - was faithful to promises made to Israel, but in an unexpected way to include Gentiles, the unclean, the poor, women, Samaritans, rich toll collectors, and assorted other outcasts as well as elect people who are repentant of their initial rejection of Jesus, God's prophet and Chosen One.[1]
Luke paints a picture of Jesus as the frequently rejected prophet sent to this "reconstituted" Israel who nonetheless will save those who accept him. In this way, Luke stresses Jesus' continuity with God's previous promises to Israel, and his fulfillment of them. Jesus' life, then, for Luke, saves God's reputation by God sending yet another prophet to a rejecting people, and then raises that prophet from the dead to prove his fidelity to him. Karris concludes that this God will surely be faithful to promises made to Jesus' followers who journey from all corners of the globe to take up their places at the heavenly banquet with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.[2]
Many of the overarching themes of Luke are also present here. Jesus comes from the Israelite royal house of Judah by virtue of being Joseph's heir (1:27). We might also infer from the fact that Zechariah and Elizabeth are Aaronid Levites (1:5) and Mary is their relative (1:36), that Jesus is also of high priestly lineage through Mary. However, tribal lineage was through the father, so we must not infer that Jesus could have been a priest. We can infer that as Luke has an interest in the Son of David (King), and prophet, he also has an interest in connecting Jesus to the priesthood. Luke underscores the notion that Jesus is also the quintessential prophet in the Old Testament tradition in Chapter 4. Here Luke alone adds stories of foreigners ministered to by Elijah and Elisha to place Jesus' ministry to Gentiles in continuity to theirs - given the fact that as a prophet, he too is unwelcome in his home country (Luke 4:25-27).
The general style of the Benedictus is like the Magnificat. It gives divinely inspired commentary on the significance of the events that have begun to take place. Since the psalm does not consider Gentiles, we see the Jewish outlook of the psalm. The canticle is a poem that Luke has drawn from elsewhere to put on the lips of Zechariah, with verses 76-77 adapting the poem to this context. Luke also calls it prophecy in that while being a hymn of thanksgiving in verses 68-75, it also foresees the future in verses 76-79.
The ministry of the angel in Luke accomplishes the desired result of its mission, namely, that human creation breaks out in praise of God who has willed this and begun to accomplish the coming of the reign of God. To praise the mercy of God is to have people who look and move willingly and readily to the One who comes, as earthly creatures who have appropriated what the prophet or priest says to them even though they know that they are in no position for what they said to come to them and to happen. They have responded to the mystery of divine grace. The angel announces such a mystery of grace, despite all its improbability. God has brought home the divine Word to Zacharias. He is obedient to his heavenly calling in accordance with the incitement of the angel. The song confirms that the fact that there has taken place a visitation of the earthly creation by God and the heavenly creation.[3]
The origin of the Benedictus is obscure. Along with the Magnificat, it comes from an initial period and from the worship life of the church, or as private compositions of one or more of its members. It is an originally independent unity, a Jewish eschatological hymn, composed in Aramaic or Hebrew.[4] Verses 76-77, added by Luke, makes it obvious that we can understand the canticle before only from a Christian background. Christians have worked over hymns that originally came from the parallel movement of awakening and reform that we have learned to know much better through recent discoveries by the Dead Sea. We cannot say with any finality. Luke thought them sufficiently true and important to use them at this point as an introduction to this account of the things delivered to the Christian community.[5]
In verse 67, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking a hymn of thanksgiving in verses 68-75 and a prophesy that foresees the future in verses 76-79, fulfilling the prophesy in Joel 2:28 that the Spirit of the Lord will come upon all flesh, “and your old men shall dream dreams.”
The first portion of the Benedictus (vv. 68-75) echoes Mary’s Magnificat and resonates with Elizabeth’s words of thanksgiving. 68 “Blessed be the Lord God (YHWH Elohim) of Israel, an address we also find in Psalm 41:13, 72:18, and 106:48. In Genesis 24:27 we find a similar phrase, only now with “God of my father Abraham.” In I Kings 8:15, Solomon in his prayer uses the phrase. We have the encouragement to praise, but why are we to do so?[6] The Lord God has looked favorably, a parallel thought in Exodus 3:16, where the Lord has responded to what the Egyptians have done to them. Luke sets a pattern here in that the visitation of the Lord in the New Testament is a favorable thing. We see this in Luke 1:78, 7:16, and 19:44. The Lord God has looked favorably on the people of the Lord and redeemed them. The Lord God is also a "redeemer" calling to mind the role of the nearest relative within covenant law to ransom his kin from debt slavery and imprisonment. In Psalm 111:9, God sent redemption to the people of God. 69 The Lord God has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of the servant of the Lord, David. The NIV translates as “He has raised up a horn of salvation for us.” The image of the horn as a symbol of strength for the Davidic monarch occurs in Psalm 132:17. In Ezekiel 29:21, the Lord “will cause a horn to sprout up for David.” In Psalm 89:17, the Lord has lifted the horn of Israel by divine favor. David refers to God as “the horn of my salvation” in I Samuel 22:3. In Psalm 18:2, the Lord is “the horn of my salvation.” However, Luke may also be calling to mind the meaning of Jesus' name in Hebrew when he predicts that God will raise up a "horn of SALVATION" (Hebrew yeshua, Greek for Jesus) in the house of David. The sending of deliverer is 70 as the Lord God spoke through the mouth of holy prophets from of old. Micah says the Lord will show faithfulness and loyalty even as the Lord has “sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.”[7] Thus, the “holy prophets” have predicted this same salvation, whose words Jesus now fulfills. Luke will refer to this again in Acts 3:21. Paul will stress this in Romans 1:2, where “God promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures.” The Lord is ready to do a new work of redemption in faithfulness to the divine Word. To state the obvious here, Jewish people will differ that Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the prophecies to which the New Testament refers. However, I would pause and ask them. If not in Jesus, how do you expect fulfillment today? We need to be open to unexpected fulfillment of prophecies, of which there are many in the Bible. The prophets said 71that the Lord God would save us from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. This suggests political deliverance. This song reminds us that Christians should participate in social and political efforts. Christians know such influence will make paradise of the earth. Such involvement can make life on earth tolerable. The disorder of this world is at a great distance from the harmony promised in the fullness of the rule of God.[8] 72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors. As just noted, Micah refers to the faithfulness and loyalty the Lord has “sworn to our ancestors.” Further, the Lord God has remembered the holy covenant. The Lord has not forgotten the covenant. We find similar thoughts in exilic texts in which the Lord is mindful of the covenant forever, for their sake remembering the covenant, and remembering the covenant established in the formation of Israel.[9] In such texts, we have a biblical hint of what it means that God is omniscient. God knows the needs of the people of God, and the remembrance of them is the comfort of the righteous.[10] The Lord God remembered 73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. The covenant is in reference to Abraham (vv. 72-73, Luke 1:55; Acts 3:25). The Lord is mindful of the covenant made with Abraham and promised to Isaac (Psalm 105:8-9). The Lord will remember the covenant with Abraham and Isaac and remember the land. The Lord swore an oath to their ancestors regarding a land flowing with milk and honey. The Lord will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty to Abraham.[11] We can see another echo of Old Testament covenant traditions in the fact that the poem begins by recounting the mighty acts of God (vv. 68-73), just as covenant ceremonies begin in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 1-4; Joshua 24). We find a hint of the promise to Abraham after the near sacrifice of Isaac, in which the Lord will bless Abraham with many descendants and they will possess the gate of their enemies, and they will bless the nations.[12] The aim of God in days past had been to deliver the people out of their hand of their enemies, to free them from fear, in order that they might serve in holiness and righteousness before God. This still defines the divine purpose.
The second portion of the Benedictus (vv. 76-79) takes up and answers the question of the neighbors in verse 66, “What then will this child become?” John will not be just in the audience. He will be in the arena. The dust, blood, and sweat of life will mar him. He will strive valiantly. John will make mistakes. He will come up short. He will know great enthusiasm and devotion. He will spend himself in the worthiest of causes. His life will end with his imprisonment and execution. Yet, given that he prepared the way for the Messiah, his life ended in the triumph of high achievement. Even if we were to think of his end as a failure, he failed while daring greatly.[13] As Luke narrates Zechariah’s answer, he loosely rehearses Gabriel’s previous announcement to Zechariah about John’s birth and Elizabeth’s greeting. 76 In addition, you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge or experience of salvation (γνῶσιν σωτηρίας,) to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. The remission of sin was a not a central theme of the messianic age of salvation in contemporary Judaism.[14] Luke casts John the Baptist as a prophet of the Old Testament type as well. Just as Jesus in 1:32 is the Son of the Most High, John in 1:76 is the prophet of the Most High. Luke applies passages about the expected prophetic precursor to God's return to John several times here and in the first few chapters of Luke. Luke 1:17 evokes Malachi 4:5-6 when it portrays John as the one who comes in the spirit and power of Elijah. Luke 1:76 and 3:4 alludes to Isaiah 40:3-5, equating John with the voice that cries in the wilderness in preparation for the Lord's arrival. Luke 7:27 cites Malachi 3:1, equating John with the messenger whom God sends. Luke has the message of John the Baptist correlate with the message of the apostles as he depicts it in repentance and forgiveness of sins in Acts 2:38, 5:31, 10:43, 13:38, and 26:18. Such a message is a fulfillment of the time to which Jeremiah looked forward in 31:34, when the Lord said, “I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” 78 By the tender mercy of our God, confirms that the love and grace of God have their true origin in the movement of the heart of God. Everything that God is and does arises out of the root of this original, free, and powerful compassion, and thus is from the outset open to the need and distress of another. Compassionate words and deeds do not have their ground in a subsequent change to conditions but have their root in the divine heart.[15] This leads followers of Jesus to be merciful. This anticipates the saying of Jesus that God blesses the merciful. It reminds us that the art of being gentle — of kindness and forgiveness, sensitivity and thoughtfulness and generosity and humility and good old-fashioned love — have gone out of fashion. Ironically, as people express a shrill demand for their rights, people are destroying a basic longing and hope to have a peaceful, stable, secure, and caring place to live, be, learn, and flourish.[16]Arising out of the mercy of God, the dawn from on high will break upon us. The Old Testament has some close parallels. They are to arise and shine, for their light has come and the glory of the Lord has arisen upon them (Num 24:17, Mal 4:2, Isa 60:1-3). Those in distress are to give thanks for the steadfast love of the Lord (Ps 107:10-15). On those who dwelled in darkness a great light has shined (Isa 9:2). Even the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings (Mal 4:2). Dawn breaking upon us is in order 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. The image of one whose dawning brings light to those who sit in darkness is powerful. It has several parallels in the Old Testament. Some sitting in darkness and gloom are prisoners in misery, due to their rebellion. Even then, the Lord delivered them (Ps 107:10-15). Darkness covers the earth, but the Lord will arise, and glory will appear in such a way that the nations will come to the light they will see in Israel (Isa 60:1-3). Light has shined upon those who have sat in deep darkness (Isa 9:2). The Lord will liberate those who sit in the darkness of the prison (Isa 42:7). The reference to “the shadow of death” is a somber biblical reminder of the basic human truth that the end that has yet to come casts a shadow in advance and defines the whole path of life as a being for death in the sense that our end has not integrated into our existence. Rather, it threatens each moment of our living self-affirmation with nothingness. We thus lead our temporal lives under the shadow of death.[17] The light will come to guide our feet into the way of peace.” The song begins with referring to the enemy and ends with peace. The work of peace seems impossible. Some enemies are so devoted to evil that all that one can do is defeat them. In many other situations, however, if we want to make peace with the enemy, we will have to figure out a way to work with the enemy. At that point, the enemy becomes a partner.[18] The path to such peace will involve goodness and forgiveness.[19] In short, Luke frames the Benedictus as a prophetic psalm, by a priestly Israelite, attesting to both Jesus and John as the long-awaited fulfillments of God's promises to Israel - the proofs of God's faithfulness. This merciful and redemptive visitation of Israel by God, in faithfulness to God and to the people, forms the subject-matter of this hymn, as well as the Magnificat.
Listen to Karl Jenkins’ “Benedictus,” a beautiful meditative piece as an instrumental featuring the piano, the 14th track of his album, Adiemus.
Let me be clear with you. The events happening in Luke 1-2 have meaning considering the larger story of the redemption God already offered to the Jewish people.
The beauty of it is that Zechariah remembered. He remembered the glorious past of Israel, and the God who made it possible. He connects what is happening with what has already happened with what will happen - to maintain the ancient covenant with Abraham. This newborn son, John, will go before the Lord to prepare his way thus fulfilling God's ancient plan.
Zechariah remembered. He remembered that God promised redemption - rescue from all the enemies, all the fears, all the dark and deadly realities of life.
Zechariah remembered that God promised a fresh beginning, a new dawn.
Zechariah remembered that God promised to show the Jewish people the path to perfect peace.
[1] Robert J. Karris, O.F.M. ("The Gospel According to Luke," in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary [Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990]).
[2] Ibid, (676-77)
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7] Micah 7:19-20
19 He will again have compassion upon us;
he will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and unswerving loyalty to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.
[8] Inspired by Jacques Ellul.
[9] Psalm 105:8-9
8 He is mindful of his covenant forever,
of the word that he commanded,
for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant that he made with Abraham,
his sworn promise to Isaac,
Psalm 106:45
45 For their sake he remembered his covenant,
and showed compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
Ezekiel 16:60
60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth,
and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.
[10] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume I, 379.
[11] Leviticus 26:42
… then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
Psalm 105:8-9
8 He is mindful of his covenant forever,
of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant that he made with Abraham,
his sworn promise to Isaac …
Jeremiah 11:5
… that I may perform the oath that I swore to your ancestors,
to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.”
Micah 7:20
You will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.
[12] Genesis 22:16-18
"By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice."
[13] Inspired by Theodore Roosevelt.
[14] Forester, TDNT, VII,
[15]
[16] Wright, N.T. Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006; 8.
[17]
[18] Inspired by Nelson Mandela.
[19] Inspired by Nelson Mandela.
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