Luke 1:5 - 10

John’s Birth Announced to Zacharias (Part 1)

5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

8 So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,

9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

10 And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.

Luke, gives us the history of John the Baptist's conception instead of Jesus as Matthew did in his writing of the Gospel.

The birth of John was during the days of Herod (The Great) who was the king of Judea.

Zacharias was of a division of the tribe of Levi who had proven themselves faithful to God (1 Chronicles 24) so they were assigned to duties in the Temple.

All of the priests were required to be descendants of Aaron (brother of Moses), but that was not the case with their wives. Luke tells us that Zacharias wife (Elizabeth) also was a descendant of Aaron.

Both Zacharias and Elizabeth were living up to the requirements of the Law of Moses.

Zacharias and Elizabeth did not have any children because she had been unable to conceive during the normal age which was needed for Elizabeth to have children. At this time both Zacharias and Elizabeth were past the age of which people had children.

The priests had a scheduled rotation in which they worked in the temple. There were many priests and so that each could have a regular rest period and have an organized service in the temple there was a rotation and at this time Zacharias was handling his responsibilities of which he was assigned.

During this rotation of his assignments he was assigned to burn the incense in the temple. The burning of the incense was conducted in the Holy area on the altar of incense. (See the description in the instructions for the tabernacle. Exodus 30:1 - 10)

The burning of the incense was in the Holy area of the temple, the only ones allowed in that area were the priests. The large group of people who were praying according to Leviticus 16:17 were congregated in the temple courtyard where the Jews were allowed to be.

*** To Be Continued ***