Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? for indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” —Luke 1:39-45
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes.
Into The Hill Country
As to the timing of Mary’s journey to the home of her cousin Elizabeth, our Bible reads, “and in those days;” however, the Ethiopian Scripture says “on that day”: meaning the very day of the Angel’s visitation. We take this to have been the case. It is noted that the journey was undertaken “in haste.” One may surmise different reasons for such a hurried departure. Perhaps Mary was anxious to confirm the Angel’s announcement of Elisabeth’s pregnancy. More likely, though, Mary sought the safety and acceptance of the one person on earth that would believe what had just happen to her. There is no doubt that Mary is thinking: “Elizabeth has conceived as a result of a miracle: she will understand, if anyone would, or could. I must get to Elizabeth!”
The journey from Nazareth, of Galilee, to the “hill country” of Judah is more than seventy mile distance. A trek of three days if one is traveling by horse and wagon, and as much as six or seven days if by foot. Mary’s trip took place in winter (the last week of December). We know this because the date of Elizabeth’s conception was six months earlier(1): Zacharias, being of the eighth course of priests (course of Abijah), served in the temple during 21st - 28th Sivan, (16th - 23rd June) 4 B.C.E.(2). John would have been conceived just after the angel’s visit to Zacharias, which would have been the last week of June. Now, six months later Mary has conceived and is hastening to Elizabeth — it is the very end of December. So, such a distance in winter for a young peasant girl in her mid-teens was not a small enterprise. The road was dangerous with bands of robbers hiding in the dens along the way. It was a journey that Mary surely did not undertake alone. We are not told who her traveling companions were; perhaps fellow Nazarenes on their way to the City of David on some secular or religious business. Actually it is not beyond the possibility that Mary traveled with her family as they went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Dedication(3). En Karem, the home of Elizabeth and Zacharias, is a northwestern suburb to Jerusalem, so that would make sense. We will learn that Mary was a guest in her cousin’s home for three months. This would have brought Mary’s visit up to the time of Passover. Passover was one of the three times of the year when every Jewish male was require, by the Torah, to make the trip to Jerusalem(4). So, Mary’s father would have most assuredly been in the capital at this time. Therefore, it is totally within reason that Mary would have made both the arrival and return trip in the company of her own family.
Mary’s Greeting
Upon entering the house, Mary greeted Elizabeth (v40). When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, John leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (v41). Luke’s account implies that the leaping of John and the infilling of Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit were results of Mary’s greeting. The Glory of Heaven that filled Mary’s womb manifested in her voice. That the baby in Elizabeth’s womb recognized Heaven’s unction in Mary’s voice gives witness to John’s identity with Elijah(5); also, it provides evidence that John was filled with the Holy Spirit(6), as well. Further, we are told in John 1:6 that “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” John’s response to Mary’s salutation indicates that the Sent recognized the presence of his Sender.
Elizabeth Filled With The Holy Spirit
As Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit “she spoke out with a loud voice” (v42). The Greek: anephōnêse (and she cried out) appears only here in the New Testament. The verb anephōnêse, with the following words, phōnê megalê (with a loud voice), indicates an unrestrained utterance under the influence of irrepressible feeling: it was the outburst of one being filled with the Spirit(7). Elizabeth is speaking by prophetic inspiration.
(Upon receiving the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth cried out [the Greek says: “phonê megalê”; the idea is, in modern terms: like a megaphone]: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” [v42]. Here is the very first Beatitude of the life of Christ. It is similar to the last Beatitude of the life of Christ found in John 20:29, Jesus said to Thomas, “because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” Both, the first and last Beatitude of the life of Jesus have to do with believing on the unseen Christ.)
Two things were revealed by the Holy Spirit in Elizabeth’s anointed utterance: First, that Mary would be the Mother of the Messiah; second, that the Messiah (Christ) would be her (Elizabeth’s) Lord, i.e. God.
Elizabeth, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared Mary to be the MOTHER of Jesus when she said: “blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Some, would doubt the maternal relationship of Mary with Jesus by claiming that her womb only incubated the Christ child. These persons would deny the conception (and thus, the humanity of Christ) by saying that the Son of God was implanted into Mary’s womb. Elizabeth puts that debate to rest by calling the child the “fruit” of Mary’s womb.
Theotokos
Moreover, when Elizabeth says, “But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” she is declaring Mary to be the Mother of her (Elizabeth’s) God: the Theotokos(8).
Now, before this is discounted, please give me a hearing.
The contextual way in which Elizebeth uses the word “Lord” in v43 (Heb, “ADONI”) is in the sense of the Tetragrammaton(9). This is shown by the manner in which her husband Zacharias employs the word “Lord” in the same narrative (v76). He uses it in the place of the Tetragrammaton as an echo of two great prophecies, combining the “going before Yahweh” of Malachi 3:1, with the “preparing the way” of Yahweh, of Isaiah 40:3. (Zacharias prophesied of his son, John: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,”) So, then, Elizebeth, speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit (vv41-42), and in harmony with her husband, called Mary the Mother of God — with a loud voice.
Now, one might attempt to say that when Elizebeth used “Lord” (in v43) she did not (as did her husband (in v76) in the same narrative) mean God, but lord in the sense of a human lord. That will be a hard sell, to say the least; because, it is breaking the flow of context. A text, without its context is a pretext. So it should be clear to any reader, with the least amount of discernment, that the wife is using the word “Lord” in the same sense as the husband is using the word, in the same narrative.
When it is affirmed that Mary is Theotokos (the Mother of God, or God-bearer), it is in no way implied that Mary originated deity. Not at all. When it is said that Mary is the mother of God, it is not intended to mean that she in any way originated the deity of her child. Yet she did conceive Jesus. She is the Mother of Jesus, because she bore Him in her womb for 9 months, then she birthed Him in Bethlehem. Does that not make Mary the Mother of Jesus? It is agree by every Christian that Jesus was God, as well as man, from the time of His conception; it is further agreed that Mary carried God in her womb for 9 months, then, gave birth to God in Bethlehem. Does that not make Mary the Mother of God? Or, at least, the bearer of God into our world? If we are rational people, we will answer this question in the affirmative. Who, then, can deny the maiden from Nazareth the title of: The Theotokos?
Apostolically Speaking
☩☩ Jerry L Hayes
End Notes
1. Luke 1:36, And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
2. The Creation Calendar confirms that Course 8 - Abijah, was on duty from Day 21 / Month 3 to Day 28 /Month 3 in 4 B.C.E. [21 Sivan = Sabbath, June 16, 4 B.C.E. (1720129) = Day 21 / Month 3] - [28 Sivan = Sabbath, June 23, 4 B.C.E. (1720136) = Day 28 / Month 3]
3. John 10:22, And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
4. Exodus 23:13-17, Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. 15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread:… in the time appointed of the month Abib; … 16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits … and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, … 17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.
5. See Mal 4:5; Matthew 11:13-14; 17:12-13; Mark 9:11-13; Luke 1:17.
6. Luke 1:15, For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
7. An anointed utterance always follows being “filled with the Holy Spirit”: 1). Elizabeth here; 2). Zacharias, Luke 1:67-79; 3). Disciples at Pentecost, Acts 2:4; 4). Believers of Samaria, Acts8:14-21; 5). The household of Cornelius, Acts 10:44-46; 6). The Ephesians, Acts 19:1-7.
8. Theotokos is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations, Dei Genetrix or Deipara, are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer".
9. Tetragrammaton: means “4 letters”; The four letters for Yahweh are YHWH. These 4 letters appear over 5500 times in the Hebrew OT for the name Yahweh. Because the Hebrews refused to say or write the name of Yahweh (YHWH), they substituted the Hebrew word “Adoni” (LORD), but wrote it in all uppercase letters. The King James translators followed that custom when translating the OT into English. So, then, every place where the Hebrew has the tetragrammaton (YHWH) the KJV OT has LORD in all upper case letters. However, when the OT passages are quoted in the NT the custom of writing LORD in upper case letters is not followed.
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