GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 1:21-23
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he was delayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he was unable to speak to them. Then they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. He kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
There were three priests involved in the daily incense service, with two more assisting priests also present. Two (the assisting priests) removed the ashes from the altar and then stood to the south (to the left as one faced them from outside the holy place). The other three stood to the north after the incense ceremony was complete, and together these five spoke a blessing to the people. Modern Jews do not speak the name of the Lord (Yahweh) but substitute his name with a title such as God or simply “the Name.” The Jewish Mishnah (Tamid 7:2) states that in service in the temple, however, the priests spoke the name of God, Yahweh, aloud in the benediction.
Since the priest who was chosen by lot to go into the holy place and offer incense would not spend much time there (two or three minutes at most), the people were wondering what had happened to Zechariah. Worship always gives a comforting feeling because one knows what to expect, but this delay was outside what normally happened.
At last Zechariah came out. Rather than join the other priests in the regular (and anticipated) blessing, he was gesticulating and making motions with his hands and head. He could not speak! As he stood there, struck dumb, his brother priests probably went on with the blessing, but Zechariah couldn’t say anything at all.
The crowd guessed that he had seen a vision from God. This, too, shows us the state of faith in Israel at this time. Unlike the unbelieving Sadducees and the skeptical Sanhedrin, the ordinary people coming to worship and pray at the temple were absolutely willing to believe that their priest might see a vision. In fact, it was their first thought on this occasion. The people ached for the coming of the Savior. They yearned and longed to see the advent of the Messiah. Believers like Simeon were “waiting for the consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25). And there was Anna, the old widow, who “never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying” (Luke 2:37). It seems likely that both of these believers were with the crowd on this say, and with this sign the Lord let them know that that time was approaching at long last.
23 When the days of his priestly service were completed, he went home.
The priests served the various tribes of Israel in their villages and towns, coming five times every year to Jerusalem to serve (three times for the pilgrim festivals of Passover, Pentecost and Atonement, and twice with their priestly divisions for ordinary service). Zechariah didn’t stay in the temple after he was struck dumb. He went back home.
We don’t know where Zechariah’s home was. Somewhere in “the hill country of Judah” (Luke 1:39), it could have been in any of the more than forty cities and towns in the region. The hill country begins at the southern approach to Hebron where “the valleys become narrower and steeper, the hilltops are sharper, and the ridges are full of caves” (The Topography of the Holy Land, 1871, p. 54). From there the land undulates northward along a high plateau for some twenty miles until reaching Bethlehem and Beth Hakkerem (Neh. 3:14; Jer. 6:1). From there, a shallow dip in the land would bring the traveler north to the City of David from the southern end, with the bright walls of the Second Temple (Herod’s temple) shining in the sunlight.
The journey for Zechariah was southward from this point, up into the hill country, for the walk of a few hours or a few days to his home. Elizabeth would have to be told what happened, and since Zechariah’s division was a regional one, there would have been enough eyewitnesses to fill her in on most of the details. Perhaps he wrote down his account of what happened in the holy place; perhaps not. All we know is that he went home, back to his wife, aware of the angel’s promise. His inability to speak was a testimony of his own failures as a sinful man, just as we all have. He knew his need for the Savior, and silently, without being able to say anything about it, he would have to wait. God’s prophets had been silent for 400 years. Now this priest would be silent for 40 weeks. The silent waiting continues, but now it was drawing to a close, at long last.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota