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performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,

47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

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51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

e Isaiah li. 9.

Verse 46. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, &c.-As a pious woman waiting for the Messiah, her joy would be great, from knowing that he was already conceived, and would soon be born; and this was greatly heightened by the consideration that she was the chosen virgin mentioned by the prophet, who was to give him birth. The pious strains in which she pours forth her grateful feelings resemble those of Hannah the mother of Samuel, but they are appropriate to the occasion.

Verse 48. The low estate. The lowly condition; for though of the regal family of David, yet she was in the humblest rank of society.

The

f Psalm xxxiii. 10.

lic one, the benefit of which was to descend from generation to generation.

Verse 51. He hath scattered the proud. -There is here a probable reference to the different course taken by the divine counsel from that which proud self-confident persons so often prescribe to the Almighty. They had their anticipations as to the circumstances of the birth, or the appearance of Messiah. They probably thought that he would spring from one of the most opulent and influential remaining families of the house of David; least of all did they anticipate that he should arise in Galilee. Thus, in the event, he scattered the proud in, that is, as to what concerns, the thoughts or imaginations of their hearts; he dissipated and contradicted all their views and expectations. On which Norris, in his Treatise on Humility, excellently well observes, He perplexes the schemes of the proud, distracts their politics, breaks their measures, sets those things far asunder which they had united in one system, and so disperses the broken pieces of it, that they can never put them together again. And by this he turns their wisdom into folly, their imaginary greatness into contempt, and their glory into shame; so overruling their counsels in his wise government of the world as to make all

Shall call me blessed.-Shall acknowledge that I am a happy woman. word does not signify honour, much less religious honour, but simply happiness. So in St. James: 66 'Behold, we count them happy," or call them blessed, “that endure."

66

Verse 49. Great things.-He hath bestowed upon me wonderful benefits. And holy is his name. This may be taken imperatively, "Let his name be hallowed, and most deeply reverenced."

Verse 50. His mercy, &c.-Here she intimates that the gift was not private or confined to few, but that the mercy of God, in sending the Messiah, was a pub- turn to his, not to their praise." As God

52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

h

53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;

55' As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.

57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.

58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the

g 1 Sam. ii. 6.

h Psalm xxxiv. 10.

j Psalm cxxxii. 11; Gen. xvii. 19.

i Jer. xxxi. 3, 20.

in the exercise of his sovereignty con- to all nations. But he was to appear founds the wisdom of the wise, so he puts among the Israelites; an Israelite himdown the mighty from their seats, and exalts self, and to them the first offers of his them of low degree; fills the hungry, and grace were to be made. Thus, by the sends the rich empty away. Similar sen- Messiah, God sent help to his servant timents occur in the song of Hannah, Israel. The word means to take hold of, and frequently in the sacred songs of the in order to raise up. This was his graHebrews. They show how attentive they cious intention as to the Jews, and to all were to the divine dispensations, and how others. Our redemption is thus effected familiar they were with the principles on by the reaching down of the arm of the which they proceed. One of these is, divine mercy to raise us up from sin, to hide pride from man," and to bring misery, and ruin, and to exalt us to a state him to feel and confess his entire de- of knowledge, holiness, and joy. pendence upon God. In the way of humility God meets with every man; in the way of pride and self-sufficiency he resists and spurns him. Thus our Saviour was born among lowly people; he came to them and not to the proud, and to this trial worldly-minded men were afterwards more fully subjected. He appeared among the humble in his own humility, and the proud rejected him. The consequence of this, however, was the putting down the mighty from their seats, whilst to them that received him he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

Verse 54. He hath holpen his servant Israel.—The Messiah was promised before Israel existed as a people; the promise was universal, and made as to its benefits

In remembrance of his mercy.-That is, of his promised mercy; which, though long delayed,-for the promise was early given,—was always remembered, and was at length accomplished in "the fulness," the ripeness and maturity, of time."

Verse 55. As he spake to our fathers, &c.-This is better connected with the preceding verse, thus, In remembrance of his mercy to Abraham and his seed for ever, as he spake to our fathers.

Verse 56. And returned to her own house. -She would be then three months advanced in pregnancy; and then, or soon after, it was that, the fact being suspected by Joseph, to whom she had been betrothed, he purposed to put her away privily. See the note on Matt. i. 19.

Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.

59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

60 And his mother answered and said, Not so ; but he shall be called John.

61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.

62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.

63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.

64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.

65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them : and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judæa.

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.

67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

* Or, things

Verse 59. And they called him Zacharias.-That is, they proposed and urged it, out of respect to Zacharias, who was dumb, and therefore apparently an object of commiseration; for it was not usual for the Jews to call the son by the father's name, though they had respect to the names of kindred. Elizabeth had, how ever, learned from her husband by writing that the child was to be called John, which he confirmed. At this it is said they marvelled, either because it was an unusual thing to introduce a new name into a family, or more probably because they concluded that it was by divine appointment; and that a name so given would be realized in its joyful import when the child should come to maturity. Boys were named immediately after circumci

sion, which was usually done at home; girls did not receive their names until after they were weaned.

Verse 63. A writing table.-A writing tablet, or small plate of wood covered with wax, and written upon with a style.

Verse 65. All these sayings.—Rather all these things, comprehending both what was done and said; pmua having here, as in verse 37, and other places, the sense of matter, affair, transaction.

Verse 67. And prophesied.—This does not mean merely that Zacharias poured forth an extemporary hymn of praise to God, under a special divine afflatus,—a sense in which the verb to prophesy is sometimes taken; but, that in elevated and inspired strains of sacred verse, he not only uttered the praises of God, but

68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited

and redeemed his people,

k

69 * And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the

house of his servant David;

1

70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:

71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;

k Psalm cxxxii. 17.

spoke also of things to come, which is the proper and strictest sense of prophesying. For of the future results of the birth of his own child, and of the child of Mary, he expressly and emphatically speaks.

Verse 68. Visited and redeemed.-To visit, is either in judgment or mercy; here, in mercy of the highest order; for man was now visited, not by the ministry of angels or prophets, or the interposition of second causes, operating beneficially under the divine agency, but visited by God himself,-God incarnate, and for the purpose of redeeming, paying the redemption PRICE to divine justice, and ACTUALLY REDEEMING or delivering man from guilt and sin, and the power of Satan, and the reign of death.

Verse 69. A horn of salvation in the house of David.-This allusion to the house of David shows that he is not speaking of his own son, who was of the house of Levi, but of the Son of Mary, though yet unborn. The horn of salvation has had various interpretations; as, a mighty salvation, the abundance of salvation, a royal Saviour, &c. The horn is the well-known emblem of potentates, heads and founders of new powers and empires, and is used in this sense in the prophetic writings, especially in those of Daniel. The sense therefore is, "And hath raised up for us a Saviour Sovereign:" a new power springs from the decayed and fallen house of David, and a mighty Potentate appears, whose office is to save, not to destroy; who puts down by his might all our spiritual enemies, and be

1 Jer. xxiii. 6; xxx. 10.

comes our almighty friend, refuge, and benefactor.

Verse 70. Which have been since the world began.-Literally, from the age. The Jews divided time into the age from the creation to Messiah, and the age from the Messiah to the consummation of all things. The meaning is, that this great event had been the subject of prophecy from the earliest times, by a succession of holy prophets. To Christ indeed give all the prophets witness; Adam as the depositary and teacher of the first prophetic promises; Noah, as transmitting this important branch of knowledge; Abraham, Moses, and then the long succession of Hebrew prophets to Malachi. It is a common saying of the Jews, that all the prophets prophesied not but of the days of Messiah.

Verse 71. Saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us.

Figures taken from the deliverance of a nation from subjection to foreign conquerors; but that they are to be understood as figures, and in a spiritual sense, appears from verse 74, where this deliverance from the hand of our enemies is connected with our serving him without fear, without dread of any spiritual dangers, in holiness and righteousness before him, that is, in his sight, therefore in true and real holiness and righteousness, all the days of our life. Holiness is sometimes understood to mean, the observances rendered to God; and righteousness, duties to men; but holiness rather expresses the renewed state and habit of the soul, and righteousness all those external fruits

72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;

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73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,

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which spring from it, whether of piety, the MASTER, for so John acknowledged

justice, or mercy.

Verse 73. The oath which he sware to our father Abraham.—The oath referred to is that in Genesis xxii. 16, &c., which terminates in the assurance, that in the seed of Abraham, that is, the Messiah, "all the nations of the earth should be blessed;" which blessedness Zacharias, under the prophetic Spirit, interprets in the next verses to consist in being delivered out of the hands of our spiritual enemies, and serving God without dread, in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. In this only the true felicity of man consists; and it is by being raised into this high and glorious moral state of deliverance from guilty dread, and the power of Satan and sin, so as to serve or worship God with filial confidence, and to experience an entire sanctification of our nature, that we are "blessed" in the seed of Abraham. "God sends his Son Jesus to BLESS us, by turning us away from our INIQUITIES." Till then, man knows no true felicity, and never can know it in time or eternity. See note on verse 71.

Verse 76. Prophet of the Highest. The Highest or Most High, here, is Christ himself; for he is the same Being as "THE LORD" mentioned in the next clause, whose ways he was to prepare. See note on Matt. xi. 10. John was Christ's prophet, not only as sent by him

him to be; but as he predicted his immediate manifestation, discoursed on his glorious character, and the ends of his advent, and pointed him out as the only object of trust to guilty men. en. That our Lord is here called THE HIGHEST, throws light upon verse 35, upon which see the note; and the terms of this passage are in unequivocal proof of the Messiah's divinity. "And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of THE HIGHEST; for thou shalt go before the face of the LORD to prepare HIS ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people," &c. Thus HE whose ways were prepared by John, and who beyond all objection was JESUS, is called THE HIGHEST, THE LORD, and the Jews are styled HIS PEOPLE.

Verse 77. To give knowledge of salvation, &c.-As to give wisdom is to make wise, so to give knowledge, dovrai yrwow, is to instruct, to make to know. John did not only teach repentance, but he taught the true nature of salvation, of that salvation which Messiah was to give; and he raised spiritual notions concerning it, for he taught, not that it consisted in deliverance from the Roman yoke or any other calamity, but in the remission of sins, and the consequent restoration of truly penitent and believing persons to the favour of God and the hope of a better life. Of the spiritual

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