Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 5 Study # 5
Lincolnton, NC
August 15, 2004
(086)
AV Translation:
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
1901 ASV Translation:
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
66 And all that heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, What then shall this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.
Textual Issues:
There is one minor variation between the Textus Receptus and the Nestle/Aland 26 in verse 66. The Nestle/Aland 26 has the additional word "for" in the phrase "for the hand of the Lord was with him", which the Textus Receptus does not have. The Nestle/Aland 26 could be translated "for, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him". The ASV translators, who used the text behind the Nestle/Aland 26, apparently decided to ignore the "and" in favor of the "for" -- something they should not have done.
Luke's Record:
- I. Luke records the reaction of the general populace to the gossip that spread throughout the hill country: they all became "afraid".
- II. He then says that the people "laid up" the content of the gossip in their hearts while they wondered what John was going to turn out to be.
- III. He then explains this response with the statement: the hand of the Lord was with him.
Notes:
- I. This part of the record finds its impetus in 1:15-17.
- A. In that earlier text, John's impact upon his generation (and, perhaps, beyond) is prophesied. The details are...
- 1. He shall be great in the sight of the Lord.
- 2. He shall drink no wine nor strong drink.
- 3. He shall be filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb.
- 4. He shall turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
- 5. He shall go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah.
- 6. He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.
- 7. He shall turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.
- 8. He shall prepare a people for the Lord.
- B. The question of our text is this: what is Luke's reason for recording the details of the reaction of the people?
- 1. Those details are these...
- a. Fear came upon all who dwelt around Zacharias and Elizabeth.
- b. Luke's "words" are a record of "all these words" that were spread all through that region, which he designates "the hill country of Judaea".
- 1) This is the second, and last, reference to "the hill country" in the entire New Testament The first reference was in 1:39 in the record of Mary's "hasty" trip to "the hill country" to a city of Judah (translated "Juda" in the AV). This is when we found out where Zacharias and Elizabeth lived.
- 2) That it is deliberately identified by Luke is significant for its lack of an obvious reason for the identification.
- a) When Luke told us about Zacharias, he told us about his connection with the "course of Abijah" and the practice of the casting of lots for the service of the Temple, but he never said a word about his home town or geographical roots.
- b) It is only in the Mary-record that he tells us she "hastily" went to the "hill country" to an unidentified town of Judah. There is little doubt in my mind that the names of people and places have greater significance than we typically think because of the highly deliberate selectivity Luke exercises. We were told of Nazareth in Galilee. We still have to wonder about the name of Zacharias' home town. "All these 'words' " are critical; partly because they are a part of the "jot and tittle" record of God's "Word" to man, and partly because Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, deliberately crafted his message so that each "word" conjures up something for us to think about as we ponder the "revelation of God to man".
- i. When Luke recorded Mary's hasty trip, he says she went to a town of Judah.
- ii. In the text before us, the region is called "the hill country of Judaea".
- iii. The word "Judah" is only used three times in the entire New Testament but the word "Judaea" is used 44 times.
- iv. In the principle of selectivity, the question has to arise as to why Luke deliberately focused on "Judah" in the earlier part and then switches to "Judaea" at this point.
- v. Matthew uses the word "Judah" twice in one verse in his record of the answer to the question as to "Where Christ was to be born". These two uses (Matthew 2:6) constitute the only other times in the New Testament that this particular word is selected: the implication is that the link to the Christ is both important and revealed. He was to be born in Bethlehem of Judah as a "prince of Judah" Who was to be both "governor" and "shepherd" of Israel. [In the record of the birth of "Judah" in Genesis 29:35, the decision by Leah to "praise Yahweh" marks a shift from her rather desperate attempts to "earn" her husband's love and loyalty by child-bearing to a focus upon Yahweh as the Source of her soul's delight -- and she "leaves off bearing" until she "hires" her husband with some mandrakes as she continues to compete with her sister (30:8). She did later have two more sons and a daughter, and she still wanted her husband's "love" (30:20) -- indicating that her earlier "lesson" had only been partially learned --, but the record is interesting in that the Christ was from the Tribe of Judah (Praise to Yahweh).]
- vi. Luke, by using "Judah", is recording just how precisely the son of Zacharias was to "go before the Lord": he was born in the same "hill country" where Messiah was going to be born. "I will life up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help" (Psalm 121:1).
- c. Those that heard this record laid it up in their hearts.
- d. The question that occupied them was what John was going to mean.
- 1) It was going to be thirty years before they were really going to find out.
- 2) The ground breaking began thirty years before the harvest was to come. We should take note that the plans of the Lord do not take place "instantly". There is an enormous amount of detailed precision in the preparation...one day at a time until decades have gone by -- even millenia. The meticulous care of detail should not escape us as we rush around trying to "make things happen".
- e. The reason for this impact is given as "the hand of the Lord was with him". [This is the root of 'prophecy' -- once God says a thing will be, His "hand" makes sure that it will be.]
- 2. It is clear from the prophecy that there was going to be a major shift in Israel "from" the apostasy that was rampant "to" the Lord.
- a. The thing that stands out over and over is that this "apostasy" was in full swing (one does not have to turn people to their God unless they have departed from Him).
- b. That this was going to happen shows up in the "fear", but from there it goes to the fact that "they" laid these words up in their hearts.