When Zechariah got his voice back, he got it thoroughly! Perhaps he'd been saving up. Luke tells us that he was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke a prophecy. Prophecy, in the biblical understanding, is not fortune telling or "predicting" the future. It is speaking or communicating the word of God. And Zechariah is here celebrating what God is doing. In fact, in a sense, he is announcing the redemption of the people as though it is already accomplished. God has redeemed the people, God has raised up a mighty savior...it is both being done and already accomplished.
As is common on the part of those who "prophecy" in the Bible, part of what Zechariah says is a reflection upon the history of God with the people of Israel. In the past God spoke through the mouth of the prophets to say that the people would be saved from their enemies. God had show mercy and made promises to their ancestors. God has "remembered" the covenant.
An interesting way of phrasing things in the bible is to say that God "remembered" a promise, etc. This is a very human way of putting things. If we were speaking of a human being, we would think that there'd been a memory lapse, something we wouldn't apply to God. In this sense it is reflecting the reality that God is acting on the covenant. It may carry some human emotion over a feeling that time has passed and the situation is difficult.
The promise Zechariah relates is general, not mentioning the Romans or specific nations, but that the promise to Abraham (the ancestor of the Israelites) is that the people would be rescued from the hands of their enemies and could serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness. Zechariah is delighted that his child, John, will be called the prophet of the Lord and would go forward to prepare the Lord's way. His concluding words (Luke 1:78-9) evoke a feeling of John's words about light (John 1).
After Zechariah's words, we are simply told that the child grew up, and was in the wilderness until appearing publicly to Israel. Luke relays a similiar statement about Jesus (Luke 2:40).
What do you suppose these words meant to Zechariah himself? Was he still expecting a great military leader, such as most Israelites expected from the Messiah? Being delivered from one's enemies could be taken that way.
He speaks about God's light breaking upon us and giving light to those who sit in darkness. Was he thinking only of Israelites?
This is the season of Epiphany, with its symbolism of light, and with the Wise Men being symbols of the light also appearing to the Gentile non-Israelites. What would Zechariah have thought about the light coming to Gentiles, even the enemy?
Zechariah's words conclude with being guided into the way of peace. Peace can mean different things to different people. What do you think God's definition of peace would be like?
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