The Song of Zechariah Luke 1:67-71
It had been 400 years of silence on God’s end since the prophets had foretold the coming of the Messiah, the new covenant, and the forerunner of that Messiah to prepare the way. This time of anticipation was no doubt tense for those living in Israel. The book of Luke sets the stage for us by showing us what time it was, mentioning King Herod’s reign, a time when Israel was under the boot of the Roman empire, similar to that of the time of the prophets under the captivity of Babylon. There is likewise in the first chapter a connection between the old and new testaments through the priesthood, the barren woman giving birth in late age, and the temple cult. All of this setting enforces the prophecy’s role as a continuance of that same work of God that they were hearing about 400 years ago, in fact, the very ones last spoken by any prophet up until this time, and it was to happen under gentile captivity, from a Levitical priest, immediately after finishing his service in the temple.
67: This prophecy of Zechariah was not a simple song of praise but was an announcing that the last prophecy before the long period of silence had finally come true, the forerunner had arrived. The concept of continuance flows throughout this whole prophecy. The verse immediately preceding the Benedictus tells us this by stating that the words which came out of Zechariah’s mouth where the Words of the Lord produced by the Holy Spirit. This mention of the Spirit causing Zechariah to prophesy not only tied the birth of John to the OT prophets but in Joel 2:27-31 it is used to refer to the arrival of the day of the Lord which we see is picked up in V. 68. This day of the Lord is that in which God comes into the midst of His people must be a new presence not yet seen, as the temple presence in the OT had not brought the fulfillment of Joel 2:21-26. God was coming closer.
68: The first line of the Benedictus proclaims the visitation of the Lord where both judgment and redemption will occur. This concept is an eschatological one connected to the future advent as seen in Malachi 4:5-6. However, the OT also holds this as a pattern beginning in the Noahic flood and repeats in every great redemptive act of God towards His people. For this reason, God’s visitation, and God being “with us”, should terrify those who are not counted among His flock. In Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament this visitation and redemption motif was used also heavily in the intertestamental apocryphal writings that heavily saturated the minds of Jews in this era[1]. A key example of this apocryphal usage is in Wisdom of Solomon 3:5-7 where this visitation, meaning judgment, is seen in the perspective of the godly as a good thing because when they are judged they are vindicated. This shows us that the judgment of God does not necessarily carry the connotation of punishment for sin. This visitation is better understood as an auditing of Israel’s hearts to see whether or not faith and repentance can be found among them.
69: The horn of salvation being raised in the house of David is one that is only found in Davidic texts. It refers to the strength of salvation which is raised up in His house for the salvation of Israel.[2] The salvation that David spoke of long ago had arrived to bring a full and complete salvation for all of Israel. What Zechariah is doing is calling the hearers back to those Davidic prophecies so that they would know in the present place and time that those things that they had spent centuries waiting for were finally taking place. This is reinforced in V. 70 by the reminder that this was already proclaimed in the prophets.
72-73: Through the calling back to prophecies of old Zechariah shows that the things taking place are things promised to their forefathers as part of a covenant that they are party to, making the imminent fulfilment of these prophecies more personal and direct. These were promises that God gave to their fathers, and in turn, to them personally. The drawing together of the covenant promises of Abraham and of David in this prophecy show that throughout several epochs of Israelite history God has been working progressively with His people and that what they now were receiving was the fulfilling of that same promise given to Abraham, which was not disconnected from the Davidic covenant but was fulfilled in and through it.
71, 74-75: The covenantal focus of this prophecy is set between two verses that proclaim the salvation of God’s people from their enemies. The placing of this covenantal portion clearly demonstrates the connection between salvation and the unified covenantal progression of God in relation to His people[3]. In 74b-75 there is the reminder of the righteousness that the people of God were obligated to. As seen in 1 Kings 9:4-5 the covenant promises given to David are conditional on obedience to the covenant obligations. The covenant which was being fulfilled before them was one of salvation on the condition of obedience, it was the same promise given to their fathers before them of salvation through the house of King David and as such, through the righteousness of David’s Son as seen in 1 Kings 9.
76-80: In this second half of the text the focus shifts to John Himself. But when John is spoken of directly it is only in so far as he is connected with Christ. This is the job of his office as the forerunner, as the Elijah that was sent to prepare the way in Malachi 4. As the text proclaims it is John who will be called a prophet of the Highest. This idea of a prophet belonging to the Lord or a prophet speaking the Word of the Lord is especially important in the context of a people who had just suffered greatly because they listened to false prophets. There can hardly be a clearer vindication of prophetic office than miracles to verify a prophecy at your birth which vindicates your office as prophet. The clarity of this prophetic vindication for John is important because John is going to have the most important prophetic Job in the history of progressive revelation up until this point. His job is to proclaim that the Messiah has arrived and the Kingdom of God has come. In doing this he would be making salvation and the forgiveness of sins known. This, like the text of the power or might of David’s salvation that comes from His house, should be seen as referring to a person, not an abstract kind of salvation. The salvation of David and the forgiveness of sins that John the Baptist preaches is found in Christ Himself, His existence, His arrival, and His Kingdom[4]. By way of connecting salvation to the forgiveness of sins, the progressive dealing of God with His covenant people comes full circle with Abraham being justified by faith, Israel being made captive and redeemed by God in a temporal sense, the promised Son of David who will reign in the land and uphold righteousness and fidelity to God, toward this final culmination of it all where the Son of David comes and shows Himself to be the promised seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent that held man in bondage to sin, thereby bringing them salvation by faith in the forgiveness of sins. Zechariah’s focus on the forgiveness of sins being the way that John shows salvation also keeps salvation of other kinds away from the minds of the hearers. This promised Messiah was not going to bring them freedom from captivity to Rome or some kind of renewal in their works but by a forensic justification through the blood of the suffering servant only would they know of the Lord’s salvation as was foretold in Isaiah 53:11[5]. V. 78 outlines the merciful visitation of God that the people of Israel were waiting for when they would be judged as righteous, their enemies punished, and their captivity made free. However, as seen in V. 77 and in Genesis 15:6 their righteousness would be counted not by works but by faith, and it would be in the forgiveness of their sins that they would have redemption from their true captor; sin, death, and the devil (Genesis 3:15). Lastly, this peace that is mentioned is beyond a peace between the individual and God through justification. It is the newness of the day of the Lord that Isaiah speaks in the golden age passages of Isaiah 11, 59, and 65. These all speak of in different ways the new Kingdom of God coming to earth to be a recreation of God in the image of Christ, a new order[6]. This new order or Kingdom of God comes by the Root of Jesse, the redeemer of Israel. Or as phrased in V. 69, “the horn of salvation raised up in the house of David.”
The song of Zechariah begins at the point of redemption and ends with this redemption culminating in a new and recreated world. It focuses our salvation upon the forensic justification through Christ’s redemption from sin, death, and the devil. Its use of covenantal reference to Abraham who was justified by faith and David whose Son was to bring the redemption shows the connectivity of God’s working in the midst of His people, and connects this progressive revelation which shows us that all along Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins was the same promise given to David, Moses, Abraham, and even Adam, although in different levels of revelatory clarity.
[1] Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament page 263
[2] Ibid.
[3] Calvin, John. Harmony of the Evangelists vol. 1, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989), pp. 72.
[4] Nolland, John. Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 35: Luke 1-9:20, (Dallas: Word books, 1989), pp. 80.
[5] Calvin, John. Harmony of the Evangelists vol. 1, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989), pp. 76.
[6] Green, B. John, The Gospel of Luke, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), pp. 116.
