St Luke Chapter I : Verses 5-10
Contents
- Luke i. 5-10. Douay-Rheims (Calloner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
- Annotations
- Douay-Rheims : 1582 text & notes
Luke i. 5-10.
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| Zachary and Elizabeth. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
Fuit in diebus Herodis, regis Judaeae, sacerdos quidam nomine Zacharias de vice Abia, et uxor illius de filiabus Aaron, et nomen ejus Elisabeth.
6 And they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame.
Erant autem justi ambo ante Deum, incedentes in omnibus mandatis et justificationibus Domini sine querela.
7 And they had no son, for that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.
Et non erat illis filius, eo quod esset Elisabeth sterilis, et ambo processissent in diebus suis.
8 And it came to pass, when he executed the priestly function in the order of his course before God,
Factum est autem, cum sacerdotio fungeretur in ordine vicis suae ante Deum,
9 According to the custom of the priestly office, it was his lot to offer incense, going into the temple of the Lord.
secundum consuetudinem sacerdotii, sorte exiit ut incensum poneret, ingressus in templum Domini :
10 And all the multitude of the people was praying without, at the hour of incense.
et omnis multitudo populi erat orans foris hora incensi.
Annotations
5. There was in the days of Herod. S. Luke begins by mentioning the name of Herod to point out the time when John the Baptist and Christ were born; and also to show that the sceptre had now departed from Judah, and had passed over to an alien, and therefore that the time for the advent of the Messiah was at hand according to the prophecy of Jacob, [Gen. xlix.10]. This Herod was the first of that name, surnamed the Great, the father and grandfather of the others. He was a native of Ascalon, an Idumæan by nation, in character a tyrant. By the favour of Cæsar he held the kingdom of Judæa; but Christ thrust him and his descendants out of this kingdom, and claimed for Himself the kingdom over Israel which by right was due to Him, though it must be understood as a spiritual kingdom.
Hence he is rightly called Herod; for Herod in Syriac is the same as “a fiery dragon.” According to Pagninus, Herod signifies in Hebrew “the conception of threshing,” for הרה is to conceive, and דוש to thresh, because he slew the infants in Bethlehem.
BEDE. (in Luc. Evang.) “ Now the time of Herod, i. e. of a foreign king, bears witness to our Lord’s coming, for it had been foretold, The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. (Gen. xlix. 12.) For from the time that our fathers came out of Egypt, they were governed by judges of their own nation, until the Prophet Samuel; and then by kings, until the carrying away to Babylon. But after the return from Babylon, the chief power was in the hands of priests, until the time of Hyrcanus, who was both king and high priest. He was slain by Herod, after which the government of the kingdom was delivered over by the command of Augustus Cæsar to this same Herod, a foreigner, in whose thirty-first year, according to the prophecy we have mentioned, Shiloh came.”
Zacharias. He was a priest and also a prophet, as will appear from verses 64 and 67. Whence his name is enrolled among the saints in the Roman Martyrology for the 5th of November: where Baronius, following Origen, Nyssen, Cyril, and Peter Alexander, is of opinion that this Zacharias was the martyr who was slain by Herod between the Temple and the Altar, and therefore that he was the one whom Christ mentions, S. Matt.xxiii. 35. His head is preserved and shown at Rome in the Lateran Basilica, from which there is a tradition that formerly blood trickled during several days. I have seen it there and venerated it.
of the course of Abia. Of that class of the priests of which (in the time of David) Abia was the head. For David, seeing that the priests, the sons of Aaron, had increased to a large number, so that all could not at once minister in the Temple, distributed them into twenty-four classes, so that each class might minister in the Temple during one week in succession. And that there might be no strife among them as to which course should be the first, second, or third, &c., these families cast lots, and obtained the first place or second, &c., according as the lot came out. In this drawing of lots the eighth place fell to Abia and his descendants. All this is clear from 1 Chron. xxiv. Josephus (Antiq. vii. 11) says of David, “He found twenty-four families of priests, and he appointed that each family should minister before God during eight days, from Sabbath to Sabbath,” in order to avoid confusion and strife among the priests.
and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron. Priests could marry a wife from another tribe because they had no inheritance in the land of Israel, which by the marriage of the wife (if she through the failure of male offspring were the heir of her father) passed over to her husband’s tribe, and so a confusion was caused of inheritances and tribes which was forbidden by the law. But Zacharias having more regard to religion, married a wife not only of the daughters of Levi, but of Aaron. Wherefore S. Ambrose says, “Not only from his parents but from his ancestors the illustrious descent of S. John is derived, a descent not exalted by secular power, but venerable from its sanctity. She was called Elizabeth from the wife of the first high priest Aaron, [Exod. vi. 23].” This Elizabeth was holy, and a prophetess: whence her memory is observed in the Roman Martyrology on the 5th of November. From her S. Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew, king of the Hungarians, surnamed the mother of the poor, and her niece S. Elizabeth, the queen of Portugal took, their name together with her sanctity.
and her name was Elizabeth. Zacharias in Hebrew is the same as “God remembered;” and Elizabeth, “the oath of God,” or “the sceptre and dominion,” or “rest,” or “fulness of God.” So that the meaning is that God, mindful of His oath, united these two in marriage, that He might raise up the sceptre of the house of David, and bestow rest and plenty and abundance on His own.
6. righteous (just) before God. Many appear just before men, but few before God, because men look upon the countenance, but God on the heart and conscience. S. Francis says truly, “Each man is what he is before God, and no more.”
walking in all the commandments, &c. Commandments, i.e. the moral precepts of the Decalogue. Ordinances (justifications), i.e. the ceremonial precepts.
God gave to the Hebrews by Moses precepts of three kinds.
1. Moral precepts, which are contained in the two tables of the law.
2. Judgments which relate to justice and human polity, and chiefly concern princes.
3. Statutes, decrees ceremonial, pertaining to the sacrifices and rites observed in the worship of God. These are called here and elsewhere justifications, Vulgate: first, because those who observe them do what is most right and just, that is to say, perform the service and worship which is most rightfully due to God. Secondly, because by the observance of these men formerly under the old law were justified legally; for those who fulfilled them were considered just persons by the Synagogue, and that not only before man but before God, if they performed those things from the true love of God. For the doers of the law are justified, [Rom. ii.13].
blameless. Sine querelâ, Vulgate; ἄμεμπτοι, Greek. Mark here that the faithful can, yea, ought to observe all the commandments of God; wherefore it is possible to keep them, and not impossible, as Calvin blasphemously asserts, who in this place makes a wonderful exhibition of himself, and all but says that Luke the Evangelist is a liar.
Further, blameless may be interpreted as “without mortal sin,” for no just man in this life can avoid all venial sins.
7. well advanced in years. He says this to show that John was born of them, not in the way of nature, but by the gift of God and by a miracle, like other eminent saints, as Isaac, Joseph, Samuel. S. Augustine (Serm. iii. on John the Baptist) says
Elizabeth was barren in body but fruitful in virtues; her child-bearing was not taken away from her, but it was delayed, until the time of fleshly desire had passed away.… In short, when all that causes blame as regards the body was quenched, and they became altogether blameless, all that speaks of barrenness is gone; old age springs into new life, faith conceives, chastity brings forth, one greater than man, one equal to the angels is born, the trumpet of heaven, the herald of Christ, the mystery of the Father, the messenger of the Son, the standard-bearer of the heavenly King, the pardon of sinners, the correction of the Jews, the calling of the Gentiles, and, so to say, the uniting bond of the Law and Grace.
9. According to the custom of the priestly office, it was his lot etc. That is, according to Bede, in his own course, which was the eighth in order, according to the lot which had originally fallen to the family of Abia. But mention of this course has been made in verse 8; and therefore the lot spoken of in verse 9 is different from the course, and more particularly limits the course. The meaning, therefore, is that when Zacharias, in the order of his course, was ministering in the temple, among the various offices of the priests the office of burning incense fell to him by lot. For because there were many priests of the course of Abia, it was appointed to them by lot what office each of them should perform in the Temple. For there were four principal offices (see Exodus 30.)—
1. To sacrifice.
2. To light the lamps on the seven-branched candlestick.
3. On the sabbath-day to place twelve new loaves on the table of shewbread.
4. To burn incense on the altar of incense.
This fourth office, therefore, had fallen by lot to Zacharias, while the three others had fallen to other priests of the same class of Abia. This is clear from the Greek ἔλαχε τοῦ θυμιᾶσαι, “he had obtained by lot to burn incense.”
Some, as S. Ambrose, Bede, Theophylact, and S. Augustine think that Zacharias was the high priest, because he burnt incense on the altar of incense, for they think that this was in the Holy of holies, which no one except the high priest might enter. But I have shown (Exod. xli. 24), that this altar was not in the Holy of holies, but in the Holy place, which the common priests used to enter daily. The expression here used, it was his lot (sorte exiit. Vulgate) confirms this; for the high priest was superior to all lots, and, whenever he chose, used to minister in the temple. Besides, at this time, not Zacharias but Joazar was the high priest, as Josephus tells us (Antiq. xvii. 8).
Morally, we may learn that angels appear while we are engaged in sacred things, and that God either Himself or by an angel speaks with the soul when we are engaged in prayer or sacrifice, as the angel appeared to Zacharias when he was burning incense.
10. And all the multitude of the people was praying without, That is, in the court outside the Holy place or Temple, which the priests alone might enter. There were two courts; the inner one, of the priests, containing the altar of burnt-offering; and the outer one, of the people, who from it beheld the sacrifices offered by the priests: but the altar of incense which was in the Holy place they could not see.
at the hour of incense. That is to say, when the priests burnt the incense; for according to the religious usage of all nations incense was burnt in the worship of God.
Douay-Rheims : 1582 text & notes
5. There was in the daies of Herod the King of Iewrie, a certaine Priest named Zacharie, of the courſe of Abia; his wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth.6. And they were both iuſt before God, walking in al the commandements and juſtifications of our Lord without blame,7. and they had no ſonne for that Elizabeth was barren, and both were ſtriken in their daies.8. And it came to passe, when he executed the prieſtly function in the order of his courſe before God,9. according to the cuſtome of the prieſtly function, he went forth by lot to offer incenſe, entring into the Temple of our Lord;10. and al the multitude of the People was praying without at the houre of the incenſe.
"We ſee here that the Prieſt did his dutie within, the people in the meantime praying without, and that the Prieſts functions did profit them, though they neither heard nor ſaw his doings."
6. iuſt before God. Againſt the Heretikes of this time, herc it is euidenc that holy men be iuſt, not only by the eſtimation of men, but in deed and before God.
6. in al the commandements. Three things to be noted directly againſt the Heretikes of our time; firſt, that good men doe keepe al Gods commandements : which (they say) are impossible to be kept. Againe, that men be iustified not by only imputation of Christes iustice, not by faith alone, but by walking in the commandements. Againe, that the keeping and doing of the commandements is properly our iustification.
6. Iuſtifications. This word is ſo vſual in the Scriptures (namely in the Pſal. 118)[1] to ſignifie the commandements of God, becaufe the keeping of them is iuſtification, and the Greeke is alwaies ſo fully correſpondent to thc ſame, that the Heretikes in this place (otherwiſe pretending to eſteeme much of the Greeke) blush not to ſay that they avoid this word of purpoſe against the iuſtification of the Papiſts. And therfore one vſeth ?Tullies word forſooth, in Latin conſtituta and his ſcholers in their English Bibles ſay, Ordinances. [2]
[1] 4 Thou hast commanded thy commandments to be kept most diligently.
Tu mandasti mandata tua custodiri nimis.
5 O! that my ways may be directed to keep thy justifications.
Utinam dirigantur viae meae ad custodiendas justificationes tuas!
[2] 6. Both were iuſt before God, and walked in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord, without reproofe. [Theodore Beza's New Testament translated out of the Greek. 1599 edition]
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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