57 The time came for Elizabeth to have her baby. She gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very kind to her. They shared her joy.
59 On the eighth day, they came to have the child circumcised. They were going to name him Zechariah, like his father. 60 But his mother spoke up. “No!” she said. “He must be called John.”
61 They said to her, “No one among your relatives has that name.”
62 Then they motioned to his father. They wanted to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for something to write on. Then he wrote, “His name is John.” Everyone was amazed. 64 Right away Zechariah could speak again. Right away he praised God. 65 All his neighbors were filled with fear and wonder. Throughout Judea’s hill country, people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it. And because the Lord was with John, they asked, “What is this child going to be?”
67 John’s father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit. He prophesied,
68 “Give praise to the Lord, the God of Israel!
He has come to his people and purchased their freedom.
69 He has acted with great power and has saved us.
He did it for those who are from the family line of his servant David.
70 Long ago holy prophets said he would do it.
71 He has saved us from our enemies.
We are rescued from all who hate us.
72 He has been kind to our people of long ago.
He has remembered his holy covenant.
73 He made a promise to our father Abraham.
74 He promised to save us from our enemies.
Then we could serve him without fear.
75 He wants us to be holy and godly as long as we live.
76 “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God.
You will go ahead of the Lord to prepare the way for him.
77 You will tell his people how they can be saved.
You will tell them that their sins can be forgiven.
78 All of that will happen because our God is tender and caring.
His kindness will bring the rising sun to us from heaven.
79 It will shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death.
It will guide our feet on the path of peace.”
80 The child grew up, and his spirit became strong. He lived in the desert until he appeared openly to Israel.
Read Luke 1:57-80 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
In this passage, I am impressed with what is implied from what happened. While Luke begins by drawing our attention onto Zechariah’s doubt and subsequent muteness, in this passage, by the time Elizabeth gives birth, it would seem that Zechariah has a restored faith in God, and a restored obedience to the angel’s instruction.
While he was mute, Zechariah would have written out what He wanted to communicate with his wife and family. This would have included his desire for the child to be named John. Zechariah and Elizabeth probably had this discussion on the child’s name, and they both had agreed what the child’s name would be.
We don’t have any idea if the baby’s name was communicated outside of the couple, but if it had been, in the excitement of the birth, the relatives and neighbors got caught up with a different idea: Name the baby after his father Zechariah.
In many ways this is a compliment to Zechariah. By naming the child after the father, these relatives sent the message that they wanted the child to continue with the father’s legacy, and to become every bit of the man the father had become. Their desire was to compliment Zechariah by suggesting that his son be named after him.
Here’s how Luke describes what happened, “On the eighth day, they came to have the child circumcised. They were going to name him Zechariah, like his father. But his mother spoke up. ‘No!’ she said. ‘He must be called John.’” (v. 59-60)
However, their response was, “No one among your relatives has that name.” (v. 61)
Perhaps because they believed Zechariah’s opinions to be closer to theirs, or maybe because they wanted to draw out what could have been a disagreement between Zechariah and Elizabeth, they motion to Zechariah to come over. They wanted him to break this tie. While the relatives ultimately had no say over what the child’s name would be, they didn’t want it to be a name that wasn’t already in the family. They hoped that Zechariah would side with them, but when given something to write on, he wrote, “His name is John.” (v. 63)
In these four words we uncover Zechariah and Elizabeth’s marriage. While it likely had been strained because of his muteness, Zechariah had moved past his failures of faith and focused his attention on helping with a smooth pregnancy. In these four words, we discover that Zechariah and Elizabeth had communicated, and in spite of Zechariah’s temporary disability, they had kept their marriage strong while things were likely very stressful.
In John’s birth, we see a glimpse into the sort of marriage that Zechariah and Elizabeth had, and a glimpse into the man Zechariah had become. Zechariah focused on communicating during a difficult time and that communication paid off during John’s birth when their relatives had a different name in mind.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.