Christmas: Zechariah and Elizabeth (and "Little" John too)

Seeing as I am a history teacher and a super history nerd.  I thought we could use the anticipation of Christmas to take a look at some of the supporting characters of the Christmas story.  I want to investigate them from a Biblical perspective as well as a historical perspective.

So let's get started....

This first article, let's take a look at some background characters:  Elizabeth and Zechariah.

Biblically, Luke introuduces us to the couple in his first chapter. Luke 1:5-25 gives us some background on these two individuals.  We see that Zechariah is a priest and his wife, Elizabeth, is a descendant of Aaron.  We see that these two are righteous and blameless.  We are also informed that Elizabeth is unable to have children.  Luke closes out his introduction of them making sure to tell us these two are "advanced in years" aka OLD.  The best estimations put them both in their sixties at the time of the story.

Historically, we know that Zechariah was from a small town, so he may have easily been seen by others as a "hick" of sorts. He wouldn't exactly have been seen as the MVP of the priesthood.  So, many wouldn't figure him to be used an as integral piece of the coming of the Messiah.  Anyway,  Zechariah is chosen to go in and sprinkle the altar with incense.  He goes in to complete his duty and is greeted by Gabriel, the angel, standing next to the altar.  Keep in mind, there are people outside praying, waiting for Zechariah to come out. Gabriel informs Zechariah that Elizabeth is pregnant.  Not only that, but that it's a boy and he's to name him John.  Also, this John is going to be pretty significant to the Lord, as well as the people of God.

So in disbelief, Zechariah questions Gabriel.  In Luke 1:18, we seem him ask how in the world this is going to happen since he's an old dude (Kalon Reynolds' translation). So Gabriel, quite literally shuts him up.  Gabriel silences him for his and silences him good, he silences him until his baby is born.  Like so many of us, Zechariah missed the miracle.  He was worried about the circumstance that he missed what was happening!

What Zechariah didn't realize was that John was going to be the person who paved the way for the Jesus, whom Gabriel was about to tell Mary, Elizabeth's cousin and Jesus' mother, about.  We fast forward passed those verses for another article.  In Luke 1:39-80, Mary goes to visit her cousin.  The connection between these babies was evident by John leaping for joy inside of Elizabeth's belly.  Mary hung out with Elizabeth and Zechariah for about three months and then went back home.

John was born some time after that.  The people that surrounded her rejoiced, because they'd known the Lord had done a great thing in this barren woman.  When the time came to name the baby, everybody (shockingly) tried to tell her she ought to name the baby after his daddy.  That was the custom of the time anyway, and you know how people are with customs and traditions.  Moving along, Elizabeth answered them saying the baby would be named John, then the people turned to Zechariah.  Zechariah wrote on a tablet that the boy's name would be John.  Immediately following, the Lord let Zechariah's tongue loose and he began speaking blessing and praising the Lord.  Everybody around them freaked out a little and then they started to realize the Lord's hand was on this little boy.

So closing out the story of this elderly couple, Zechariah prophesied about the task that John had ahead of him, as the "prophet of the Most High." 

In the upcoming articles, we will take an even more in-depth look at some other characters in the Christmas story!