We are
continuing our Countdown to Christmas throughout the month of
December leading up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus during a
special Family Sunday Service on December 23rd
here in our Church. This morning I would like to pick up where we
left off last week by giving some additional background and
commentary along the way as we discover new characters in this story:
specifically Joseph, Mary, and the Huios of Theos. (I know it sounds
like Greek to you, but you’ll get it in a moment.)
Luke
1
26
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city
of Galilee named Nazareth,
27
to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house
of David. The virgin’s name was
Mary.
28
And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly
favored one,
the Lord is
with you; blessed are
you among women!"
29
But when she saw him,
she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of
greeting this was.
30
Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you
have found favor with God.
31
"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a
Son, and shall call His name JESUS.
32
"He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest;
and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
33
"And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His
kingdom there will be no end."
34
Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not
know a man?"
35
And the angel answered and said to her, "The
Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will
overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will
be called the Son of God.
36
"Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son
in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was
called barren.
37
"For with God nothing will be impossible."
38
Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be
to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
Additional
Personal Notes:
Background:
The year is perhaps 7 or 6BC – Most likely about this time of the
year - Herod the Great, paranoid and delusional as he was, is in his
late 60’s and on the throne as King of Judea. Jerusalem is the
center of the Kingdom and had changed greatly since being conquered
by Herod 30 years earlier, (37BC).
65
miles straight North of Jerusalem, as the crow flies, is the city of
Nazareth. It is about a 4 to 5 day walk up the trail of the
Patriarchs which leads northward from Jerusalem past Bethel, Shiloh,
Samaria, Shechem, going on with a little left, eastwards, bent around
the base of Mount Ebal and continuing north and breaking out into the
Jezreel Valley near Mount Gilboa, crossing the valley with Tel
Megiddo on the left and Mount Tabor on the right, past Shunem to
reach the base of the hills of Nazareth and ascend the steep terrain
entering the city and continuing to the top where the Synagogue and
busy marketplace of the day was located. Nazareth sat in the fertile
region of the Galilee originally belonging to the tribe of Zebulon.
v26 –
Meaning the sixth month after Elizabeth had conceived
The
city of Nazareth was not a favored place for the Jews, especially for
the descendant of the King of Judah. A proverb of the day said, “Can
anything good come from Nazareth?”
Galilee,
according to Matthew 4:15, Galilee was referred to as “Galilee of
the Gentiles”. This also indicated Christ’s favor and intent to
intermingle and ultimately save the Gentiles – thus He stood in
their shoes/place.
This
same angel, Gabriel, had appeared to Daniel near 500 years earlier
and had given him the exact account of the timing in which Messiah
would come. Now, six months after appearing to Zacharias concerning
the forerunner of Messiah, the strength of God’s might is appearing
to introduce yet another chapter in this unfolding plan of God.
v.27 –
The House of David: The City of Bethlehem in Judea was the home of
the house of David. Why was Joseph, from the house of David, living
so far north and out of the land which inherited by his father Judah?
In order to get from Bethlehem to Nazareth one would have to pass out
of Judea through Benjamin, Ephraim, Manasseh, and the edge of
Issachar before entering Zebulon and then the city of Nazareth. It
was a relatively long journey and far away from home.
Joseph
was a carpenter, no doubt from a family of carpenters, tradesmen and
those credited with the ability to construct. For the last generation
or more, between 30 & 40 years now, Herod the Great, known for
his building projects all over Israel, employed many Jewish tradesmen
in the various regional building projects, some far to the south of
Jerusalem and others to the north in the Galilee region. It is
reasonable to consider that Joseph’s father and family moved to
take advantage of the available work in that region and settled with
other craftsmen of their day also living in the city of Nazareth,
which was known for its more “common” population.
It has
been estimated that somewhere between 400 people and 400 families was
the extent of the population during this time in History. Mary’s
family was also originally from the Tribe of Judah and there is no
reason we should not consider that she and Joseph were closely
related and their families lived, moved and worked together.
Certainly she would have been encouraged to marry into both family
and a familiar class of people to which she had been accustomed …
as long as they were Jewish and hopefully from her same tribe. After
all, Judah was a royal family line from the house of David.
As long
as Messiah had not yet come, keeping to the promise of Messiah to
come from the tribe of Judah, it seemed wholly reasonable and fully
responsible to keep the lineage as strong and connected as possible
so to continue as a candidate for such a connection.
Mary –
Miriam: Exalted (certainly in God’s eyes yet perhaps not so with
most people) – Those Jews from Nazareth coupled with those in blue
collar work, closely connected with the bid of the Romans,
encouraging and facilitating the occupation’s desire to continue
their dominance, and especially poor little Mary, seemed the most
likely candidate to be chosen … yet chosen she was!
Joseph
was a just man according to Matthew 1:19
Betrothed
– engaged – married – contracted to be married
Why a
Virgin – So many reasons from purity to innocence to prophecy,
Isaiah 7:14, to necessity so as to be the Son of God and the Son of
man.
v.29 –
“Come in” indicates that Gabriel presented himself in a sudden
and close proximity to Mary in a more private setting. In other
words, she was in, not out – and he had no regard to whatever the
confines but rather, “came in” … and apparently uninvited by
the one who was already in.
One
consideration why Mary was immediately troubled by Gabriel said is
that it was unusual and not according to the customary tradition of
the day that any man might so directly approach or expressly address
a woman, especially one who was betrothed to another. She had good
reason why she was troubled by this abrupt interruption and direct
contact without the consideration of Gabriel’s appearance or as to
the specifics of his address. She was perhaps upset and a bit puzzled
… and cast in her mind – considered.
v. 30
“Fear not …” – Recently I set my mind to understand why it
seems angels often approach people with the common admonition to stop
being afraid. I have come to some considerations and believe that one
of the reasons could clearly be to facilitate people refocusing on
and actually hearing the message with which the angel was sent. It
can be difficult to get someone’s attention when their minds are
filled with fear. I suppose even heavenly messengers have to get
people’s attention before they can be assured that their intended
target actually hears what was said.
v.31 –
Jesus – Joshua/Jeshua – Jehovah Saves – God a Savior – the
same idiom as Immanuel from Isaiah 7:14 – God with us – God in
person
Isaiah
9:6 – Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace
v.32 –
Isaiah 9:7 speaks of continuing increase and greatness of His Kingdom
and government and peace …
(He
will be called the huios of the hupsistos; and the kurios theos will
give Him …)
v.33 –
eternal
v.34 –
Simple question as to what she should expect unlike the unbelief
revealed by Zacharias’ question 6 months earlier – Knowing that
she was under contract of marriage but not in any way consummated she
considered that nothing had yet happened but was desirous to know
what course she should take in respect to this message – should she
continue towards marriage or ??? – a speech of excited wonder and
marvel instead of unbelief or dissent.
“Seeing
I know not a man” – thus implies that as of the past and the
present Mary was pure and a virgin in every sense of the word. This
statement does in no way imply that Mary was taking a vow of
virginity or by this account conclude that she showed or was led to
consider the future beyond the birth of her firstborn son –
although Matthew 1:18 verifies that Mary did not know a man either
before or all the while she was pregnant with Jesus.
Shall
be called “The Huios of Theos”
v.36 –
Gabriel engenders confidence in Mary and gives testimony to a perhaps
already known miracle which had taken place amongst her own family,
in that a cousin well known by Mary had conceived in her old age –
this was no doubt a great sign to this young virgin.
Elizabeth
was from the tribe of Levi and Mary from Judah … they could only be
cousins by way of their mother’s side. The daughters of Levi were
free to marry outside of their tribe since there was no inheritance
to carry away to another tribe. These two tribes complement each
other in many ways as Kings and Priests often do in representation of
God governing in the affairs of men through men.
v.37 –
Nothing is impossible with God …
Same
words were spoken in Genesis 18:14 to Abraham concerning Sarah his
wife in the matter of Isaac. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
No doubt Mary was very familiar with the history of Abraham and this
word and understood the implication of Gabriel’s reference to
simply know that nothing was impossible with God.
v.38 –
I am but a female servant/slave/handmaid/maid servant of the Lord. Be
it unto me according to your rhema.
