Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 1:76
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
76. child ] Rather, little child ( paidion) “quantillus nunc es,” Bengel.
To prepare his ways ] An allusion to the prophecies of the Forerunner in Isa 40:3; Mal 3:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And thou, child … – Zechariah predicts in this and the following verses the dignity, the employment, and the success of John. He declares what would be the subject of his preaching, and what his success.
Prophet of the Highest – Prophet of God; a prophet appointed by God to declare his will, and to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.
The face of the Lord – The Lord Jesus, the Messiah, that was about to appear. To go before the face of one is the same as to go immediately before one, or to be immediately followed by another.
To prepare his ways – This is taken from Isa 40:3. See the Mat 3:3 niote, and Isa 40:3 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 76. And thou, child, c.] Zacharias proclaims the dignity, employment, doctrine, and success of his son and the ruin and recovery of the Jews and the Gentiles.
1. His dignity. Thou shalt be called (constituted) a prophet of the Most High. Prophet has two acceptations:-
1st. A person who foretells future events; and;
2dly. A teacher of men in the things of God, 1Co 14:3.
John was a prophet in both senses: he proclaimed the mercy which should be communicated; announced the baptism of the Holy Spirit; and taught men how to leave their sins, and how to find the salvation of God. See Lu 3:5-14. His very name, Jehochanan, the grace or mercy of Jehovah, (see Lu 1:60,) was a constant prediction of the salvation of God. Our Lord terms him the greatest prophet which had ever appeared in the world. He had the honour of being the last and clearest prophet of the old covenant, and the first of the new.
2. His employment. Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. He should be the immediate forerunner of Jesus Christ, none being capable of succeeding him in his ministry but Christ himself. He was to prepare his ways, to be the honoured instrument, in the hands of God, of disposing the hearts of multitudes of the Israelites to believe in and follow the Lord Jesus.
3. Zacharias points out the doctrine or teaching of John. It should be , the science of salvation. Men are ignorant, and they must be instructed. Human sciences may be profitable in earthly matters, but cannot profit the soul. The science that teaches God must come from God. No science is of any avail to the soul that does not bring salvation with it: this is the excellence of heavenly science, and an excellence that is peculiar to itself. No science but that which comes from God can ever save a soul from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin.
4. Zacharias predicts the success of his son’s ministry. Under his preaching, the people should be directed to that tender mercy of God, through which they might obtain the remission of their sins, Lu 1:77-78. Those who are sent by God, and preach his truth, and his only, shall always be successful in their work; for it is for this very purpose that God has sent them; and it would be a marvellous thing, indeed, should they labour in vain. But there never was such a case, since God made man, in which a preacher was Divinely commissioned to preach Jesus and his salvation, and yet had no fruit of his labour.
5. Zacharias points out the wretched state in which the inhabitants of Judea and the Gentile world were then found.
(1) Their feet had wandered out of the way of peace, (Lu 1:79,) of temporal and spiritual prosperity.
(2) They had got into a state of darkness – they were blind concerning the things of God, and the things which belonged to their salvation.
(3) They had become contented inhabitants of this land of intellectual darkness – they had sat down in it, and were not concerned to get out of it.
(4) They were about to perish in it – death had his dominion there; and his swift approaches to them were now manifested to the prophet by seeing his shadow cast upon them.
Ignorance of God and salvation is the shadow of death; and the substance, eternal ruin, is essentially connected with the projected shadow. See these phrases explained at large on Mt 4:16.
6. Zacharias proclaims the recovery of a lost world. As the removal of this darkness, and redemption from this death, were now at hand, John is represented as being a day-spring from on high, a morning star, that foretold the speedy approach of the day, and the rising of the Sun of righteousness. That these words should be applied to John, and not to Christ, I am fully satisfied; and cannot give my reasons better for the arrangement I have made in the preceding notes, than in the words of an eminent critic, who, I find, has adopted nearly the same plan with myself. The passage, as I read it, is as follows: Through the tender mercy of our God, by which he hath visited us: a day-spring from on high, to give light to them that sit in the darkness and in the shadow of death, c. “Let the reader judge, whether my arrangement of this passage, which much better suits the original, be not far more elegant, and in all respects superior to the old translation. Thou, child! wilt be a teacher-THOU WILT BE a day-spring from the sky. And with what beauty and propriety is John, the forerunner of our Lord, styled the dawn of day, that ushers in the rising of the Sun of righteousness! And the concluding words – to guide our feet into the way of peace – is a comprehensive clause, after the manner of Hebrew poetry, belonging equally to the former sentence, beginning at – And thou, child! – and the latter, beginning at – A day-spring from the sky: for the people spoken of in the former are the Jews and in the latter, the Gentiles.” – WAKEFIELD.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Zacharias here foretells what came to pass about thirty years after, for it cannot be thought that John began his ministry before the sacerdotal age, especially considering Christ did not begin sooner, Luk 3:23.
Thou shalt be called the prophet; that may either signify, thou shalt be a prophet, as Mat 5:9; Joh 1:12; or thou shalt be owned or taken notice of as the prophet
of the Highest. Both were true in John. He was a prophet, (though not that Prophet, Joh 1:21), yea, and more than a prophet, saith our Saviour, Mat 11:9.
For thou shalt go before his face to prepare his ways. This was according to the prophecy, Isa 40:3; Mal 4:5; and according to what John said of himself, Mat 3:3; Mar 1:3. See Poole on “Mat 3:3“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
76-79. Here are the dying echoesof this song; and very beautiful are these closing noteslike thesetting sun, shorn indeed of its noontide radiance, but skirting thehorizon with a wavy and quivering lightas of molten goldonwhich the eye delights to gaze, till it disappears from the view. Thesong passes not here from Christ to John, but only from Christ directto Christ as heralded by His forerunner.
thou childnot “myson”this child’s relation to himself being lost in hisrelation to a Greater than either.
prophet of the Highest; forthou shalt go before himthat is, “the Highest.” As”the Most High” is an epithet in Scripture only of thesupreme God, it is inconceivable that inspiration should applythis term, as here undeniably, to Christ, unless He were “Godover all blessed for ever” (Ro9:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest,…. Here Zacharias turns himself to his son John, though an infant, and incapable of knowing what was said to him; and for the sake of those that were present, describes his office and work; and says, that he should be “called”, that is, that he should “be”, and be accounted a “prophet”: for he was not only a preacher of Christ and his Gospel, but he also foretold the coming of the Messiah; and the vengeance that should fall on the Jewish nation, for their unfruitfulness, impenitence, and unbelief: and the Prophet “of the Highest”; that is, of God; as the Persic version renders it, of the most high God; and by whom is meant, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose prophet, harbinger, and forerunner John was; and so is a proof of Christ being the supreme, or most high God:
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways; as the angel had suggested in Lu 1:17 and as was prophesied of him in Isa 11:3.
[See comments on Mt 3:3].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Yea and thou ( ). Direct address to the child with forecast of his life (cf. 1:13-17).
Prophet (). The word here directly applied to the child. Jesus will later call John a prophet and more than a prophet.
The Lord (). Jehovah as in 1:16.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And thou, child,” (kai su de paidion) “And you also young child … .. little child,” addressed to John the Baptist, his blessed son to whom He now directly spoke.
2) “Shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:” (prophetes hupsistou klethese) “Will be called a prophet of the most High … .. over all, God blessed for ever,” Rom 9:5, of the true God, a preacher, an herald, or a proclaimer of Him, Mat 11:9-11.
3) “For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord,” (proporeuse gar enopion kuriou) “For you will go around before the Lord,” as an herald, an advance courier, a crier, Mat 11:10.
4) “To prepare his ways;” (hetoimasai hodous autou) “To prepare or make ready his ways,” by calling men to repentance, belief, and baptism, in preparing them to receive Jesus Christ as Savior, and follow Him as founder of a new-covenant company of church worship, Isa 40:3; Mal 3:1; Luk 3:4-5; Act 19:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
76. And thou, child Zacharias again returns to commend the grace of Christ, but does this, as it were, in the person of his son, by describing briefly the office to which he had been appointed as an instructor. Though in a little infant eight days old he does not yet observe prophetical endowments, yet turning his eyes to the purpose of God, he speaks of it as a thing already known. To be called means here to be considered and openly acknowledged as the prophet of God. A secret calling of God had already taken place. It only remained that the nature of that calling should be manifested to men. But as the name Prophet is general, Zacharias, following the revelation brought to him by the angel, affirms that he would be the usher (80) or herald of Christ. He says, thou shalt go before the face of the Lord: that is, thou shalt discharge the office of turning men by thy preaching to hear the Lord. The reason why John, when he had nearly finished his course, affirmed that he was not a prophet of God, is explained by me at the proper place, (Joh 1:21,) and in what manner he was to prepare his ways we shall afterwards see.
(80) “ Apparitorem.” — “ Heraut.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(76) Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest.Note the recurrence of the same divine name that had appeared in Luk. 1:32; Luk. 1:35.
Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord.The verse is, as it were, an echo of two great prophecies, combining the going before Jehovah of Mal. 3:1, with the preparing the way of Isa. 40:3.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘Yes, and you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High.’
The attention now turns to John. He is to be a prophet. Yes, he will be called ‘the prophet of the Most High’. He will be great indeed, in his part in the purposes of God. Yet his greatness pales before that of ‘the Son of the Most High’ (Luk 1:32).
We must recognise here that prophecy had long ceased in Israel and the next prophet expected by Judaism was to be a restored Elijah who would introduce the last days (Mal 4:5). Thus this is a declaration that the last days are upon them. As Jesus would make clear, John was the Elijah which was to come (Mat 11:14) for he came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luk 1:17).
The sudden change in subject reflects Psalms like Psalms 19, 22.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘For you will go before the face of the Lord to make ready his ways.’
Thus he is called to be the preparer of the way, going ‘before the face of the Lord’. ‘Before the face of the Lord’ can indicate something as happening in front of God’s eyes (Gen 19:13; 1Sa 26:20). It can also indicate God positively ready to act and turning His face towards something (Psa 34:16) or the place to which men come in repentance (Lam 2:19). Here either of the first two are possible, for John will certainly be continually in God’s sight and he will also certainly be acting in preparation for God to reveal His face. But the emphasis is all on making ready. As we have already seen, he was not the final solution. This would be important for Luke’s readers to note, and especially any who were disciples of John the Baptiser (Act 19:1-6).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A hymn of prophecy:
v. 76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways;
v. 77. to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins,
v. 78. through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us,
v. 79. to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
v. 80. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. From a contemplation of the wonderful gifts of the redemption Zacharias turns to a prophecy concerning the future of the son that had been born to him according to the promise of the Lord. John would be a prophet in the highest and fullest sense of the word, Mat 11:9. His life’s work would consist in going before the face of the Lord as a true herald to prepare His ways before Him, as the prophets had said, Isa 40:3; Mal 3:1. And when the proclamation of the Law would have prepared the hearts in removing all self-righteousness and supposed piety, then John would be able to dispense the knowledge of salvation which consists in forgiveness of sins; redemption is transmitted through the remission of sins. “John is to come and give the people of God a knowledge, which is not to be a knowledge of sin, of wrath, of death, but a knowledge of salvation, that is, such preaching from which one learns how to be saved and delivered from death and sin. That is an art of which the world knows not one word. ” And this preaching is made possible through the bowels, the heart of mercy, of our God. His whole heart yearns toward us with inexpressible love and tender mercy, and for the sake of that the Daystar from on high has visited us, the light, star, or sun is risen upon us in Jesus the Savior. This true morning star with the rays of God’s divine love illumined the darkness which had been caused by sin and enmity toward Him. And the result is that those that sat in such darkness and shadow of death have felt the light and the warmth of His glow, Isa 60:1-2. Those unable to find their way in the darkness of spiritual death, He will awaken to true life, illumine them with the light of the Gospel, and guide them to the way of peace, Rom 5:1. It is a beautiful and effective, as well as complete description of the work which God performs in us through the Gospel. “This certainly means, as I think, cutting off all merit and good works from the forgiveness of sins, in order that no one may say: I have earned it. Remission of sins has only one reason, namely, because God is merciful, and out of such mercy has sent and given us His Son that He might pay for us and we should be saved through Him. Therefore it reads thus: Forgiveness of sins is not the result of our merit, nor of our good works, but of the sincere mercy of God, that He has loved us of His own free will. We had with our sins earned the fire of hell, but God looked upon His boundless mercy. That is the reason why He sent His Son and for the sake of His Son forgives us our sins. ” Of the entire hymn, Augustine writes: “O blessed hymn of joy and praise! Divinely inspired by the Holy Ghost, and divinely pronounced by the venerable priest, and daily sung in the Church of God! Oh, may thy words be often in my mouth, and the sweetness of them always in my heart! The expressions thou usest are the comfort of my life; and the subject thou treatest of the hope of all the world!”
The evangelist concludes with a note concerning the youth of John the Baptist, saying that lie grew in body and mind and spent his time out in the deserts until the Lord gave him ail indication that the period of seclusion must be followed by that of public ministry.
Summary. After a short preface, Luke relates the stories of the announcement of John the Baptist’s birth, of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus, of the visit of Mary to Elisabeth, with the hymn of Mary, and of the birth, childhood, and youth of the Baptist, with the hymn of his father Zacharias.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Luk 1:76. And thou, child, Zacharias here either pointed to John, or took him in his arms: the messenger or forerunner in Malachi was to be a prophet; Zacharias says of his son, Thou shalt be called the prophet of the Most High; and our Saviour declares, that John was more than a prophet; that is, he was a great preacher of righteousness, who called aloud unto the people torepent that they might be forgiven, and declared that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. See Mal 3:1; Mal 4:5. Isa 40:3 and Sharpe’s Second Argument.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Luk 1:76 f. , Euthymius Zigabenus.
] but thou also (see the critical remarks). See Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 181 f.; Ellendt, Lex Soph I. p. 884. The places the for even of him he has only what is great to say on a parallel with the subject, to which hitherto in his song of praise to God his prophetic glance was directed (with the Messiah), and is the continuative autem .
. .] as at Luk 1:17 , hence is God .
see on Mat 3:3 .
. . .] Aim of . . ., and so final aim of .
. .] In forgiveness of their sins , which is to be imparted to them through the Messiah (see Luk 1:78 f.) for the sake of God’s mercy (which is thereby satisfied; . . ), they are to discern deliverance; they are to discern that salvation comes through the Messianic forgiveness of sins (comp. on Mar 1:4 ), and to this knowledge of salvation John is to guide his people. Accordingly, . . . does not belong to alone ( . . ., Euthymius Zigabenus, Beza, Bengel, Kuinoel, Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, Bleek, and others), but to (Theophylact) = . . . . So also Luther, Ewald, and others. Calvin aptly remarks: “Praecipuum evangelii caput nunc attingit Zacharias, dum scientiam salutis in remissions peccatorum positam esse docet.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
Ver. 76. And thou, child ] scil. qui nunc tantillus es, in virum magnum evades: Though little, thou shalt prove great.
Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord ] Any relation to whom ennobleth, and advanceth all worth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
76. ] It is not necessary to interpret of the Messiah: it may be said of God, whose people ( Luk 1:77 ) Israel was. But the believing Christian will find it far more natural thus to apply it, especially in connexion with Mat 1:21 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 1:76-79 . From the general thanksgiving for Divine mercy the song turns to the special cause of gladness afforded by the birth of John . , : this address supposes the Baptist to be still a child, and all that is said of him is a prophetic forecast of the future, in literary form. : once more, for God. In the circle which produced this hymn, and these early records, the idea of Divine transcendency characteristic of later Judaism seems to have prevailed.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
before. Greek. pro. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
76.] It is not necessary to interpret of the Messiah: it may be said of God, whose people (Luk 1:77) Israel was. But the believing Christian will find it far more natural thus to apply it, especially in connexion with Mat 1:21.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 1:76. , and) Answering to what Zacharias has heretofore sung [prophetically uttered], there now correspond those words which follow: concerning grace towards His people, Luk 1:77 answers to the previous Luk 1:68; concerning salvation, Luk 1:77 answers to Luk 1:69; concerning mercy, Luk 1:78 answers to Luk 1:72.-, thou child) How little soever thou art now. He does not call the infant by name. He speaks as a prophet, not as a parent.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
shalt be: Luk 7:28, Mat 14:5, Mat 21:26, Mar 11:32
Highest: Luk 1:32, Luk 1:35, Luk 6:35, Psa 87:5, Act 16:17
thou shalt: Luk 1:16, Luk 1:17, Luk 3:4-6, Isa 40:3-5, Mal 3:1, Mal 4:5, Mat 3:3, Mat 3:11, Mat 11:10, Mar 1:2, Mar 1:3, Joh 1:23, Joh 1:27, Joh 3:28, Act 13:24, Act 13:25
Reciprocal: Gen 3:15 – her seed Ecc 5:8 – for Jer 1:5 – Before I Mal 4:6 – turn Mat 11:9 – A prophet Mar 9:12 – restoreth Luk 7:26 – A prophet Luk 7:27 – Behold Luk 10:1 – whither Luk 20:6 – for Joh 1:6 – a man Joh 1:31 – but Joh 4:1 – the Lord Joh 5:35 – was Joh 12:46 – am Act 9:17 – the Lord Act 19:4 – John
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE PROPHET OF THE HIGHEST
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest.
Luk 1:76
In the passage, Luk 1:76-79, we have the song of a father dedicating the infant child to missionary service.
I. It has an octave of Gospel notes.(a) Visited. Incarnation (Luk 19:10). (b) Redeemed. Calvary. You are redeemed. For service. Not your ownbought (1Co 6:19-20). (c) Salvation. Horn. Abundance of it (Eph 1:3; Isa 55:7). (d) He spake. Inspiration (2Pe 1:21). (e) His people. All souls are Mine. The heathen are His (Eze 18:4). (f) Saved delivered that we might serve Him. (g) Remission of sins. This the first rung in ladder of grace (See Psa 103:3). Thou child, to prepare His ways. No forcing to ministry. (h) To give knowledge of His salvation.
II. This the task of redeemed.It is His salvation. We to give knowledge of it. Its sourcethe tender mercy of our God. That the deep invisible spring. The streamthe dayspring, i.e. dawn of redemption day. Jesus is the light of the world. Think of Him as the Sun. His glory. His Power. Illuminates conscience. Illuminates mind. Illuminates grave. Illuminates face of God (2Co 4:6). What know of God apart from Him? Illuminates gates of heaven. Shows where they are, and how reached.
III. That sit in darkness.Exactly describes Christless world. Sit, i.e. their abiding condition. Observe sins three descriptions: bondage (Luk 1:74); darkness (Luk 1:79); wandering (Luk 1:79). The way of peace. There is such a way. If a Christian, you know it. If a Christian, you cannot but show it.
IV. To sum up.Here series of great realities. We have been put in trust with all this. The realities of a Christless world. We have liberty. Proclaim liberty. We have the light. Give it to those who sit in darkness. We have been led into the way of peace. Lead others into it. We shall profit our own souls as we do this.
Rev. R. C. Joynt.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6
Thou, child, has specific reference to his own son who had just been born. Called the prophet was done by Jesus in Mat 11:9. Go before . . . to prepare his ways pertains to the work of John in preparing a people for Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 1:76. Yea and thou, child, in accordance with the great blessing already spoken. Zacharias, as a father, speaks o his son, as a prophet he foretells the career of the last and greatest of the prophets; but in a priest, singing of Messianic deliverance, paternal feeling takes a subordinate place. He introduces the position of his son only as relates to the coming of the Messiah.
For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord. Comp. Luk 1:17. The Lord may refer to God, rather than to the Messiah. But in any case the glory of Jehovah was to appear in the advent of the Messiah, who was Himself the Lord.
To prepare his ways. Comp. on Mat 3:3.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Luk 1:76-78. And thou child He now speaks to John his son, yet not as a parent, but as a prophet; shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest Thou shalt be the messenger of God Most High. Our Lord declares that John was more than a prophet: that is, he was a great preacher of righteousness, who called aloud to the people to repent, that they might be forgiven; and he foretold that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his way Thou shalt go before the Lord Christ, to point him out as the Messiah to his people, and to dispose and prepare them to receive him as such by repentance toward God, productive of fruit worthy of repentance, and by faith in him and subjection to him as a divinely-commissioned teacher, a mighty Saviour, and righteous governor. See note on Mat 3:3. To give knowledge of salvation to his people To preach to Gods people the glad tidings of salvation, present and eternal, as attainable; to show them the way of attaining it, namely, by repentance and faith in the Messiah, and to give all such as should comply with these terms the knowledge of their having attained it, at least in part, by assuring them of the remission of their sins, that blessing being a branch of present, and a pledge and earnest of future salvation. Through the tender mercy of our God , the bowels of mercy, a strong Hebraism, implying Gods tender compassions for mankind, immersed as they are in sins and miseries. These two words are often used in Scripture both jointly and separately. They signify pity, because that passion in us is commonly attended with a motion of the bowels, especially when the object of it is one we have an interest in. See Isa 63:15; Php 2:1; Col 3:12; where bowels of mercy signify the most tender mercy. The word , bowels, used by itself signifies any strong affection whatever, Phm 1:7. John the Baptist gave people to understand, that though their case was deplorable, by reason of sin, it was not desperate, because pardon might be obtained through the tender and unspeakable mercy of God. Whereby the day-spring The dawning day of morning light; that is, the gospel dispensation, as superior to the patriarchal or Mosaic, with their types and shadows, as the light of the rising sun is superior to that of the moon and stars. This gospel-day dawned in the ministry of John the Baptist; and it increased more and more during the personal ministry of Christ, and it shone out with meridian splendour on the day of pentecost, and thenceforward, when, in consequence of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, the Holy Spirit, in his various gifts and graces, ordinary and extraordinary, was poured out on the Christian Church. It is true the word , here rendered day-spring, may signify, as some render it, the rising sun: for Zacharias is here alluding to the passages in the prophetic writings which describe the Messiah by the metaphors of the light and sun, particularly Mal 4:2; where he is called the Sun of righteousness, both on account of the light of his doctrine, and the joy produced by his appearing. See the note there, and on Isa 60:1-2; Isa 60:19. Indeed no figure was ever more happily imagined, or more naturally applied, than this which represents the promised seed under the notion of the sun. For most aptly may Jesus be likened to the rising sun; his doctrine being to the souls of men what light is to their bodies. It is altogether necessary for directing our steps in the paths of truth and righteousness; it is exceedingly sweet to the spiritual taste, by discovering the most important and delightful truths; nay, like the light, it throws a beauty and pleasantness upon every thing in this lower world, which, without the assurance of Gods reconcileableness, would be but a dark and dreary scene to sinners, however noble and beautiful in itself. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2 d. Luk 1:76-77.
From the height to which he has just attained, Zacharias allows his glance to fall upon the little child at rest before him, and he assigns him his part in the work which has begun. Luk 1:76 refers to him personally, Luk 1:77 to his mission.
Vers. 76 and 77. And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 To give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins.
The reading , and thou, connects, by an easy transition, the forerunner with the work of the Messiah. The Alex. reading , but thou, brings out more strongly, too strongly, doubtless, this secondary personality; it has against it not only the sixteen other Mjj., but further, the Peschito, the Italic, Irenaeus, and Origen, and must therefore be rejected. The title of prophet of the Highest simply places John the Baptist in that choir of the prophets of whom Zacharias speaks in Luk 1:70; later on, Jesus will assign him a higher place.
In saying the Lord, Zacharias can only be thinking of the Messiah. This is proved by the , before Him, in , and the , His ways. But he could not designate Him by this name, unless, with Malachi, he recognised in His coming the appearing of Jehovah (comp. Luk 1:17; Luk 1:43, Luk 2:11). The second proposition is a combination of the two propositions, Isa 40:3 () and Mal 3:1 (),prophecies which are also found combined in Mar 1:2-3. The article before , to give, indicates a purpose. This word, in fact, throws a vivid light on the aim of John the Baptist’s ministry. Why was the ministry of the Messiah preceded by that of another divine messenger? Because the very notion of salvation was falsified in Israel, and had to be corrected before salvation could be realized. A carnal and malignant patriotism had taken possession of the people and their rulers, and the idea of a political deliverance had been substituted for that of a moral salvation. If the notion of salvation had not been restored to its scriptural purity before being realized by the Messiah, not only would He have had to employ a large part of the time assigned to Him in accomplishing this indispensable task; but further, He would certainly have been accused of inventing a theory of salvation to suit His impotence to effect any other. There was needed, then, another person, divinely authorized, to remind the people that perdition consisted not in subjection to the Romans, but in divine condemnation; and that salvation, therefore, was not temporal emancipation, but the forgiveness of sins. To implant once more in the hearts of the people this notion of salvation, was indeed to prepare the way for Jesus, who was to accomplish this salvation, and no other. The last words, by the remission of their sins, depend directly on the word , salvation: salvation by, that is to say, consisting in. The article is omitted before , as is the case when the definitive forms, with the word on which it depends, merely one and the same notion.
The pronoun refers to all the individuals comprehended under the collective idea of people. The authorities which read are insufficient.
The words to His people show that Israel, although the people of God, were blind to the way of salvation. John the Baptist was to show to this people, who believed that all they needed was political restoration, that they were not less guilty than the heathen, and that they needed just as much divine pardon. This was precisely the meaning of the baptism to which he invited the Jews.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Verse 76
It is interesting to observe how the natural feelings and partialities of the father are here merged in the higher emotions of inspiration and prophecy. With his own infant son before him, his only son, the child of his old age, and on an occasion the most exciting to a father’s feelings,–the burden of his song is the great blessings which are to come upon the world through the instrumentality of another child, yet to be born. It is only in conclusion that he turns to his own son, and then to assign him the comparatively humble part of going before the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1:76 And thou, {m} child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
(m) Though you be at this present time ever so little.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
These verses focus on John and his ministry. This description of John clearly links him with Elijah (cf. Isa 40:3; Mal 3:1; Mal 4:5). Even though Luke omitted the conversation about Elijah that followed the Transfiguration (cf. Mat 17:10-13; Mar 9:11-13), he undoubtedly recognized John’s role as the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecies. [Note: See Walter Wink, John the Baptist in the Gospel Tradition, pp. 42-45.] It is difficult to say if Zechariah used "Lord" here only in the sense of Messiah or also in the sense of God. John would prepare the way (path) for the Lord by giving His people the knowledge (experience) of salvation (cf. Luk 3:3; Act 4:10-12; Act 5:31-32; Act 13:38).
"We might have expected that Zechariah’s song would be all about his little boy. He surprised us by beginning with the Messiah whom God was about to send. But he was very pleased about John, and in this part of his song he prophesies the child’s future." [Note: Morris, p. 80.]