1:5 Herod the Great ruled over Judea, the large Roman province that included all of Israel, from 37 B.C. to 4 A.D.
Luke pointed out that both of John's parents had a priestly heritage. The priests in Israel had the great privilege of intimate association with God through their worship and service in the sanctuary. Zechariah's name means "Yahweh remembers"and is significant here because the birth of John was a fulfillment of a prophecy that God would send a forerunner before Israel's Messiah. The etymological derivation of Elizabeth's name is unclear. Normally John would have become a priest and served in the temple as his father did.
David had divided the priesthood into 24 divisions and had placed the leader of one priestly family at the head of each group (1 Chron. 23-24). Abijah was the leader of the division to which Zechariah belonged (1 Chron. 24:10). The Exile had interrupted these divisions, but Israel's leaders established them again following the restoration as best they could. In Zechariah's day, each division served for one week twice a year plus during the major festivals.30
1:6 This verse shows that Elizabeth's childless condition was not the result of her sin. In the Old Testament, God normally blessed the godly with children (cf. Gen. 1:28; Ps. 127; 128). She and her husband were right with God and followed Him faithfully. "Blameless"(Gr. amemptos) means that they dealt with sin in their lives quickly and as God required, not that they were sinless (cf. Phil. 2:15; 3:6; 1 Thess. 3:13; Heb. 8:7). This Greek word is the equivalent of the Hebrew tamthat describes Noah (Gen. 6:9) and Job (Job 1:8). The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was typically superficial and hypocritical, but Zechariah and Elizabeth were truly godly.
"Sometimes we are deprived of something because God has better things awaiting us down the road. When we wait patiently on the Lord, he often gives us more than we imagined possible. Zechariah and Elizabeth wanted a child; what they got was a prophet."31
1:7 Elizabeth's condition was identical to Sarah's (Gen. 17:16-17; cf. 1 Sam. 1:5-11). Her childless state embarrassed her (cf. v. 25), and her advanced age removed the hope of bearing children from her. Whenever the Old Testament said a woman had no child it also recorded that God gave her one later.32Therefore this statement prepares the reader for a miracle.
