THE ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH
PART II
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
Gabriel greeting the priest Zechariah
In the days of King Herod of Judea, there lived a priest called Zechariah who belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood .... Luke 1:5a
Blessed is he who chose Aaron and his sons to stand to serve before the Lord in the house of the Holy of Holies. Mishnah: Middot, 5:4K
+ + +
All Biblical passages are from the New American Bible Revised Edition unless designated NJB (New Jerusalem Bible) or LXX (Septuagint Greek Old Testament translation). LORD or GOD in all capital letters in the NABRE refers to the divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh). The answers to the questions are at the end of the lesson.
Luke 1:5-25 ~ The Angel
Gabriel Foretells the Birth of John the Baptist
5 In the days of Herod,
King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of
Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6
Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. 7 But they had no child because Elizabeth
was barren, and both were advanced in years. 8 Once when he was serving as
priest in his division's turn before God, 9 according to the practice of the
priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to
burn incense. 10 Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying
outside at the hour of the incense offering, 11 the angel of the Lord appeared
to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. 12 Zechariah was
troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. 13 But the angel said to him,
"Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife
Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. 14 And you will
have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great
in the sight of [the] Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He
will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, 16 and he will
turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will go before
him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward
children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare
a people fit for the Lord."18 Then Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I
know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." 19 And the
angel said to him in reply, "I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to
speak to you and to announce to you this good news [euangelizesthai]. 20 But
now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take
place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their
proper time." 21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and were
amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. 22 But when he came out, he was
unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the
sanctuary. He was gesturing to them but remained mute. 23 Then, when his days
of ministry were completed, he went home. 24 After this time, his wife
Elizabeth conceived, and she went into seclusion for five months, saying, 25 "So
has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my
disgrace before others." [...] Greek, Interlinear
Bible Greek-English, vol. IV, page 151-153.
A Description of Temple Worship in the First Century
AD
The priest Zechariah had traveled with his brother priests of the clan of Abijah (1 Chronicles 24:3-4, 10, 19; Luke 1:5) four miles from their village of Ein Karem to the holy city of Jerusalem. They had come to fulfill their week-long obligation to serve God in the offering of the twice-daily Tamid worship service and the other sacrifices at the holy Jerusalem Temple.1 The last time this elderly descendant of Aaron served in the Temple was during the most recent pilgrim feast when all the priestly clans were required to present themselves for service to Yahweh.2 Zechariah had reached a venerable old age and knew his years of serving God in His holy Temple were ending.
The Jerusalem Temple, with its gleaming white walls, was one of the most beautiful buildings in antiquity. The Temple's large precincts included outer courts like the Court of the Gentiles and the Court of the Women and the sacred inner Court of the Priests and the Court of Israel. The Court of the Priests contained the great bronze Altar of Burnt Offerings and the Bronze Laver for ritual hand and foot purification. The Court of the Priests was opened to a colonnade known as the Court of Israel, where the men of the covenant attended the twice-daily worship services (see the book "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Lamb"). The Court of the Priests was directly in front of the Temple Sanctuary with its impressive Portico and huge double doors. A large oil lamp was suspended above the door and was continually kept burning to signify the presence of God in His Sanctuary. The main Sanctuary, oriented east to west, comprised two rooms: the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. These sacred spaces contained the sacred furniture God commanded Moses to replicate from what he saw in the heavenly Sanctuary (Exodus 25:8-9).
Within the first sacred space known as the Holy Place, in the center of the room but to the right side, was the golden table holding God's "Bread of the Presence" (Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24:5-9). Across from the table on the left side of the room was the Menorah golden lampstand, whose burning oil lamps signified the presence of God's Spirit (Exodus 25:31-40). At the far end of the room, in front of a richly embroidered curtain, stood the golden Altar of Incense upon which the designated priest burned the sacred incense. The covenant people believed that the rising smoke of the incense carried their prayers to the heavenly Sanctuary in the hands of a ministering angel (Exodus 30:1-8; Revelation 8:3-5).
The cube-shaped room at the west end of the Sanctuary was separated from the Holy Place by the curtain. It was the most sacred part of the Sanctuary, containing the Tabernacle (dwelling place) of the Lord, the Holy of Holies. In the days of King Solomon's Temple, the Holy of Holies held the most sacred relic of worship, the golden box known as the Ark of the Covenant, covered with a solid gold lid called the Mercy Seat. Above the Mercy Seat, between the golden cherubim, the presence of God dwelled with His covenant people (Exodus 25:10-16, 22). However, in the 1st century AD, the Holy of Holies was an empty space, and the only visible object was the foundation stone, which was part of the bedrock beneath the Temple.3
During the non-festival season, or "ordinary time" in the liturgical calendar, the Temple's chief priests fulfilled numerous daily duties, including hearing the confessions of repentant sinners as they placed their hands upon the animal that would be offered for sacrifice in atonement for their unintentional sins (Leviticus 17:11; Numbers 15:27-31; Hebrews 9:7, 21-22). The priests were also obligated to cook and eat the sin sacrifice and preside over the forgiven sinner's communion sacrifice, followed by the sacred communion meal that the covenant member and his family and friends ate within the precincts of the Temple. However, as Yahweh's spiritual representatives to the people, the chief priests' foremost ministerial duty was to offer the liturgy of the single sacrifice of the twice-daily Tamid lambs for the atonement and sanctification of the entire covenant people.4 All other sacrifices were offered in addition to the Tamid lambs (repeated fifteen times in Numbers 28-29).
Zechariah understood that his most important Temple duty was service in the liturgy of daily worship, which surrounded the sacrifice of the Tamid lambs. The Hebrew word tamid had a double meaning. It meant "standing" in an upright position and to that which is continual or perpetual. The Tamid sacrifice was the first communal sacrifice God established at Mt. Sinai before the sin of the Golden Calf (Exodus 29:39-42). This holiest sacrifice (the two lambs were considered a single sacrifice) took precedence over all other sacrifices. It required a liturgical service in concert with the daily offering of two unblemished male lambs. One lamb was offered in the morning and the second in the evening, our afternoon. This perpetual sacrifice was to be kept burning on the altar fire day and night as long as the Sinai Covenant endured. The Tamid lamb's blood atoned for the covenant people's communal sins and re-established fellowship with God. No other sacrifice was as important as the daily sacrifice of the Tamid lambs, entirely consumed in the altar fire. Each lamb was offered with unleavened flour mixed with oil, with the priest's offering of an unleavened wafer-like griddle cake and a red wine libation (Exodus 29:38-42; Leviticus 2:5-16; 7:9-10; Numbers 28:4-8). The Tamid was offered daily without exception; it preceded and superseded all other sacrifices, even the sacrifices of the annual feasts like the Passover (Numbers 28:4-29:39).5See "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice," available at www.amazon.com.
When Zechariah and his kinsmen arrived at the Temple on the Sabbath to begin their week of service, the clan was divided into seven groups of priests, each group assigned to one day of service. For Zechariah and the other priests assigned to that day's Tamid service, the preparation for the liturgical service began before dawn. Every day, the ministerial duties of the priests were assigned by drawing lots for the Tamid liturgical services. Those who wanted to participate in the first lot had to rise before the trumpet signal of the Cockcrow (3:00 AM).6They were required to ritually purify themselves by immersion in the pool of the Temple mikveh and to dress in their priestly tunics of white linen, woven all in one piece with no seams, and linen drawers (Mishnah: Tamid 1:1Q; Jn 19:23-24). The priestly tunic was only worn during liturgical services (Ezekiel 42:14).7
At or near the 3:00 AM hour of the trumpet signal of the "Cockcrow" (see Mark 13:35), the Temple superintendent called the priests assigned to that day's service who were ready to participate in the first drawing of lots. The priests, dressed in their seamless white linen liturgical garments, assembled in the Chamber of Hewn Stones (Mishnah: Tamid 1:2E). This hall was near the inner Temple court, the Court of the Priests, where the great bronze sacrificial altar stood. The drawing of the first round of lots selected the priests who were to cleanse the sacrificial altar, collecting the ashes of the Tamid sacrifice from the previous day that had to be disposed of outside the gates of the city and select and pile the wood for the altar fire that was kept continually burning.
The second round of lots occurred when the priests reassembled in the Chamber of Hewn Stones after preparing the sacrificial altar. The priests who drew in the second round were assigned the duties of preparing for the sacrifice of the Tamid lamb for the morning sacrifice and the Sanctuary's Holy Place for the morning service. The preparations for the Holy Place included cleansing the golden Menorah, replacing the burnt-out wicks, filling the cups of the lampstand with oil, and cleansing the golden Altar of Incense by removing the ashes from the previous day.
The lesser ministerial order of the Levites (men of the tribe of Levi who were not descendants of Aaron), whose clan was also called for their weekly duty, saw to the baking of the unleavened wafer offerings of the High Priest and other necessary preparations that did not require the attention of the chief priests (2 Chronicles 23:28-32). They assisted the chief priests in the Court of the Priests, served in the Temple orchestra and choir, and served as the Temple guards and doorkeepers. The Levites, however, were not permitted to serve at the Altar of Sacrifice, enter the Sanctuary, or the Chamber of Hewn Stones (Numbers 18:1-7).8
When a Levite positioned on the pinnacle of the Temple announced that the first rays of dawn were visible in the eastern sky, the first unblemished male Tamid lamb was led out from the enclosure for those unblemished lambs selected for the Tamid sacrifice. The lamb of sacrifice received a drink of water from a golden bowl and was inspected by the anointed High Priest (or a priest acting as his representative) one last time. When he pronounced that the victim was "without fault" (without blemish or defect), it was tied to the north side of the sacrificial altar (Mishnah: Tamid 3:4). In addition to ritual immersion that morning, before assembling in the Chamber of Hewn Stones and before entering the Sanctuary, all the priests ritually sanctified their hands and feet in the holy water of the Temple water basin (Exodus 30:17-21; Mishnah: Tamid 2:1B; M. Yoma 4:5; M. Kelim 1:9).
At the third hour (9 AM), three blasts on the silver trumpets announced the beginning of the morning liturgy as the Temple gates slowly opened to admit the people to the Temple complex. The doors that led into the Temple Sanctuary also opened to admit the priests assigned the various duties to prepare the Holy Place. The covenant people streamed through the gates into the Temple precincts for the morning worship service as the first Tamid lamb was sacrificed at God's holy Altar of Burnt Offerings.9
A priest collected the blood of the morning Tamid lamb in a chalice, and the lamb's body was skinned, cut into pieces, cleaned, and salted in preparation for the sacrificial altar as the priests in the Holy Place went about their duties. When the Holy Place was prepared, all the priests assigned to that day's service, including Zechariah, assembled in the Chamber of Hewn Stones one last time. The assembled priests, the High Priest, and other permanent Temple priests joined in reciting the prescribed prayers and pronouncing God's blessings on the people (Mishnah: Tamid 5:1).
After the priestly ceremony, it was time to draw the third and fourth lots. If the High Priest was not going to burn the sacred incense, the third lot was to choose his representative to burn the incense on the golden Altar of Incense. The fourth round of lots was to select those priests who would carry the body parts of the sacrificed lamb, the grain offering, and wine libation to the Altar of Burnt Offerings. If it was the morning service, the third lot chose Zechariah to burn the holy incense on the Altar of Incense that stood before the Holy of Holies (Exodus 30:1-10). If it was the afternoon liturgical service when the second unblemished male lamb was sacrificed at the ninth hour (3 PM), the lot for burning the incense was the only lot cast.10 The burning of incense was the only duty not repeated by the priests selected by lot in the morning service.11 According to the ordinances of the Sinai Covenant, only the chief priests, descended from Aaron, were permitted to burn the sacred incense for the morning and afternoon Tamid sacrifices (Exodus 30:7-8). To offer incense improperly or to offer incense without proper authorization was to incur the wrath of God. Men had died for such offenses, including two sons of Aaron and Davidic king Uzziah, struck with a skin disease (probably leprosy) for his sin of attempting to usurp the holy act (Numbers 16:1-35, 40; 2 Kings 15:5-7; 2 Chronicles 26:16-21).
When Zechariah drew the lot to burn the incense, tears must have welled up in the old man's eyes. He had participated in the lot drawing lot for many years and was not chosen. To be selected to burn the incense for the Tamid sacrifice was a once-in-a-lifetime event for a priest. Only those priests who had never been selected for this honor could participate in the drawing of the lot for burning the incense as the High Priest's representative (Mishnah: Tamid, 5:2A). The covenant people believed that an angel carried the prayers of the people, enveloped in the smoke of the holy incense, into the heavenly Sanctuary, laying the people's petitions before the throne of Yahweh. Except for the High Priest, who always burned the afternoon offering of the incense before entering the Holy of Holies once a year at the feast of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement; Mishnah: Yoma, 5:1), no other priest would come so close to the presence of God as the priest who offered the prayers of the people in the burning of the sacred incense at the entrance to the Holy of Holies in the morning and afternoon Tamid sacrifice (Leviticus 16:2-14).
As the priests prepared the sacrificed Tamid lamb for the altar, Zechariah and the priests selected to assist him walked from the Chamber of Hewn Stone into the Court of the Priests. As the men of the covenant watched from the Court of Israel in the colonnaded area to the side of the sacrificial courtyard, and the women were praying in the outer Court of the Women, one of the priests assisting Zechariah climbed up the ramp to the sacrificial Bronze Altar. The priest placed embers from the altar fire in a golden vessel while a second priest spooned the sacred incense into a golden censer. Then Zechariah and his brother priests slowly walked from the altar's courtyard up the steps of the Sanctuary's Portico and into the Temple's Holy Place.
As they walked into the Holy Place, a priest struck a gong-like instrument called the magrefah (Mishnah: Tamid, 5:6). Its deep notes resonated against the Temple walls and echoed far into the city of Jerusalem and across the Kidron Valley to the east, announcing that the incense was about to be offered and the people's prayers, enveloped in the holy smoke carried by an angel to God in His heavenly Sanctuary. The Levitical choir and orchestra quickly assembled on the steps that led from the Court of the Women to the Court of the Priests in preparation for the hymns of praise they would offer to Yahweh, with the congregation singing "Hallelujah" and repeating as a response, every first line of the selected psalms in response to the choir's verses of the hymn (Mishnah: Tamid, 7:4).
In the morning service, with the sounding of the gong, the blood of the lamb, collected in a chalice at the moment of sacrifice, was first sprinkled against the sides of the sacrificial altar and then poured out at the altar's base, presenting to Yahweh God of Israel the atoning blood of the sacrifice for the sins of the people (Leviticus 17:11). After the pouring out of the blood ceremony, the supervising priest announced that the incense was about to be offered. At that moment, trumpets sounded (Mishnah: Tamid, 7:3), the incense burned on the Altar of Incense, and the Tamid victim was placed on the sacrificial altar as the High Priest or the officiating priest offered a round, unleavened wheat wafer, which was held up before the people and then broken in pieces before being placed on the altar fire (Mishnah: Tamid, 3:3; 4:3). The music of the Levitical orchestra and choir and the singing of the psalm of the day accompanied the offerings.12 The sacrifice concluded with the blast of two trumpets as the red wine libation was poured out on the side of the sacrificial altar, and the assembly of priests, now standing on the steps of the Sanctuary Portico, prayed aloud with their arms extended palms upward, giving the final priestly benediction and blessing (Numbers 6:24-27).
However, the order would have been slightly different if Zechariah offered the incense in the afternoon service. The blood of the unblemished male lamb was sprinkled and then poured out. The body of the Tamid lamb was placed on the altar fire as the priest held up the unleavened wheat wafer, broke it, and placed it on the altar fire. Then came the incense offering, followed by the pouring out of the red wine libation. In this way, the offering of the prayers of the covenant people in the smoke of the holy incense embraced the single sacrificial offering of the two Tamid lambs: in the morning service offered before the victim was placed on the altar fire and in the evening/afternoon offered after setting the victim on the altar fire (Mishnah: Tamid, 5:2-6:3; M. Yoma 3:5).
On a day that would alter the course of the old priest's life forever, Zechariah and his assisting priests entered the Sanctuary, walking the length of the Holy Place to the golden Altar of Incense that stood at the end of the room in front of the richly embroidered curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. The priest carrying the live coals from the sacrificial altar in the courtyard carefully placed the burning coals on the Altar of Incense, a square, gold-covered column, as the second priest handed the censer and its golden spoon to Zechariah. The altar was twice as tall as wide and stood chest high. Its recessed gold top had four horn-like protrusions, one at each corner, and the top was trimmed with a golden fence to contain the coals and the incense (Exodus 30:1-8). The priest, who positioned the embers, then prostrated himself before the Incense Altar and the Holy of Holies and then, rising, stepped back for Zechariah to approach the golden altar. The officiating chief priest standing at the Sanctuary's doorway then commanded that the time of incensing had arrived. As Zechariah moved forward, his brother priests bowed low and withdrew, leaving Zechariah alone in the Holy Place (Mishnah: Tamid 6:3).
The old priest solemnly approached the Altar of Incense, which stood before the curtain that shielded the Holy of Holies and spooned the incense onto the fire of the incense altar. In the outer court, the congregation had been facing the Altar of Burnt Offerings, watching as the cloud of white smoke, called in Hebrew the Olah, rose high into the sky. The rising column of smoke from the sacrificial altar reminded the people of the pillar of cloud that signified the presence of God in the Exodus experience and assured the people that God had graciously accepted the covenant community's offering of the Tamid lamb in atonement for their sins and the restoration of God's fellowship with His people. But now the congregation turned away from the sacrificial altar and toward the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies, where the smoke from the incense was pouring out of the open doors. The people fell to their knees and then, spreading their hands, humbly prostrated themselves in prayer and submission to Yahweh as their prayers rose to Heaven in the smoke from the incense. A profound silence enveloped the entire Temple complex (Revelation 8:1; Mishnah Tamid 3:6, 9; 5:5-6; 6:1-3).
After he placed the incense on the altar, Zechariah was startled by a sudden movement. Turning, he saw an angelic being standing to the right side of the Altar of Incense: Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense (Luke 1:8-11).
Answers to the questions are
at the end of the lesson.
Question #1: The Temple liturgy was patterned after the Divine
Liturgy Moses witnessed in the heavenly Sanctuary (Exodus 25:8-30:37). The
celebration of the Roman Catholic Mass and the Divine Liturgy of our Eastern
Rite brothers are patterned after the Divine Worship St. John witnessed in the
heavenly Sanctuary recorded in the Book of Revelation. What elements of the Jerusalem
Temple's daily Tamid service and other Old Covenant obligations are familiar to
you in the celebration of the Mass and the Catholic liturgical calendar? See
the answer at the end of the lesson.
The New Covenant people of God are the inheritors of the liturgical worship offered to God in the liturgy of the Sinai Covenant. These elements can still be found only in the Roman Catholic Mass and the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Rites. For a comparison between St. John's vision of heavenly Liturgy and the Mass, see the chart: "The Liturgy of the Mass Reflected in St. John's Vision of Divine Worship in the Book of Revelation" in the handout for this study.
During the reign of the Roman
client king, Herod the Great, the priest Zechariah performed his priestly
duties in Yahweh's Jerusalem Temple. The Temple, on Mt. Moriah in the city of
Jerusalem, was the only place on earth where legitimate sacrifice could be
offered to the God of Israel (Deuteronomy 12:8-12; 2 Samuel 24:18-25; 1 Chronicles 21:18-22:1; 2 Chronicles 3:1). As he was serving in Yahweh's earthly Sanctuary,
Zechariah was startled by the sudden appearance of a messenger from God.
Question #2: What was the priest Zechariah doing when the angel
came to him? See Luke 1:8-11, Exodus 30:1-10, and Revelation 8:3-4.
Question #3: Incense was burned twice daily during the Tamid liturgical worship services at the Jerusalem Temple. What was the significance of the Altar of Incense, and what did the burning of the incense represent? See Psalm 141:2, Exodus 25:8-9, 30:1-10, and Revelation 5:8; 8:1-4.
Daily worship revolved around the sacrifice of the Tamid lambs, the first and most important sacrifice of the Sinai Covenant (Exodus 29:38-42; Mishnah: Tamid 1:1-7:4). The sacrifice known as the "standing" (meaning of the Hebrew word Tamid), as in a perpetual, never-ending sacrifice, was offered as a communal sacrifice in atonement not only for the sins of the covenant people, but according to the 1st century AD Jewish theologian, Philo of Alexandria, for all humanity: Accordingly, it is commanded that every day the priests should offer up two lambs, one at the dawn of day, and the other in the evening [afternoon]; each of them being a sacrifice of thanksgiving; the one for the kindnesses which have been bestowed during the day, and the other for the mercies which have been vouchsafed in the night, which God is incessantly and uninterruptedly pouring upon the race of men (Philo, Special Laws, I, 169). The body of the sacrificial victim, which had to be an unblemished male lamb not younger than eight days and not older than a year, was to remain slowly burning on the sacrificial altar in the Court of the Priests every day and night so long as the Sinai Covenant endured.
In the morning service, the first Tamid lamb was slain at 9:00 AM as the gates to the Temple area opened to admit the covenant faithful, and the doors to the holy Sanctuary opened to admit the priests.13The High Priest or his priestly representative placed the incense on the Altar of Incense just before the morning Tamid lamb (having been sacrificed, cut into pieces, and salted) was laid on the great bronze Altar of Burnt Offerings in the courtyard of the priests (Exodus 27:1-8; 38:1-7; 1 Kings 8:62-64). In the afternoon service (the Jewish evening equates to our afternoon since the Jewish day ended at sundown), the second Tamid Lamb was slain at 3:00 PM, and just after the victim was laid on the altar fire, the priest in the Sanctuary burned the incense on the Altar of Incense.14 In the daily worship services, the incense embraced the sacrifice of the Tamid lambs, being offered just before the morning Tamid and just after the afternoon Tamid. Each service lasted about two hours as we count time and three hours as the ancients counted time (ancient peoples counted time and a sequence of days the way we count objects; they did not have the concept of a zero-place value).15
Once a year, the Altar of Incense and the Ark of the Covenant also became altars of sacrifice (Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 16:12-15). The only time blood was smeared on the Altar of Incense and the Ark of the Covenant was during Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), which, according to the liturgical calendar, was observed in the fall (Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 16:1-34; Hebrews 9:7-8). Some Church Fathers believed the angel Gabriel's visitation to Zechariah occurred on the feast of Yom Kippur. If it were on this feast that Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist, it would explain the selection of John's feast day celebrated in the Church nine months later on June 24th, assuming that Yom Kippur fell on the 24 or 25th of September that year and making the event of Jesus's Incarnation six months later (see Luke 1:26, 36) on about March 25th and His birth nine months later on December 25th. Several Church Fathers wrote that Jesus died in the same month and day He was conceived. March/April is the time of the Passover; therefore, it is possible that the Passover in circa AD 30 occurred late in March, as some Fathers of the Church suggested. It has been calculated that the date of Passover AD 30 was April 7th. Still, since the calculations for the year that accounted for making up the difference between the ancient solar and lunar calendars were somewhat arbitrary, it is impossible to know the exact date according to our modern calendar.
While it is likely that Zechariah's experience with the divine occurred near the time of Yom Kippur, it is unlikely that Zechariah served as the High Priest during this time because he did not need to draw a lot to perform the service. Only the anointed High Priest could offer the incense of the afternoon Tamid on the Feast of Yom Kippur and smear the blood of the Yom Kippur sacrifice on the incense altar; there is no mention in Luke's passage of Zechariah offering blood on the incense altar (Mishnah: Yoma, 5:1). The 1st century AD historian Flavius Josephus and other sources provide comprehensive lists of the anointed High Priests until the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Zechariah is not listed as an anointed High Priest (see the chart: "The Rulers of Judea" in Handout II of this study). It is more likely that Zechariah was selected as the High Priest's representative to perform this priestly duty during the daily Tamid worship service, a once-in-a-lifetime honor for a priest (Mishnah: Tamid 5:2). Except for the High Priest burning incense on Yom Kippur, at no other time was an ordinary priest in such proximity to God as when chosen by lot as the High Priest's representative to burn the incense on the golden Altar of Incense. It is also likely that Zechariah's encounter with the angel Gabriel took place at the time of the afternoon (evening for the Jews since their day ended at sundown) liturgical service because that is the same hour when Gabriel visited the Prophet Daniel (Daniel 9:20-21). The only other mention of the angel Gabriel in Sacred Scripture is in the Book of Daniel.
Question #4: Who was the prophet Daniel? What was his history? See Daniel 1:1-7, 20.
Daniel's visions all involved the historical countdown to the coming of the Messiah. The first revelation in the Book of Daniel concerned the four empires that would dominate the covenant people before the arrival of a fifth kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms (Daniel 2:44). It was revealed to Daniel that the first kingdom, in the succession of kingdoms, was Babylon (Daniel 2:37-38). Babylon was to be succeeded by a kingdom not as great, which would be conquered by a kingdom that would cover the known world of Daniel's time. The third kingdom would be succeeded by a fourth, which in turn would be overcome by a fifth kingdom that will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and itself last for ever (Daniel 2:39-44).
Historically, Babylon was conquered by the Empire of the Medes and Persians (539 BC). The Medo-Persian Empire was conquered by the Greek armies of Alexander the Great (invasion of Asia Minor in 336 BC). The Greek Empire of Alexander was divided into four smaller kingdoms after his death (323 BC) and conquered by the Romans (in successive conquests from 148-63BC).
Question #5: Daniel prophesized a fifth kingdom that would succeed the fourth world empire (the Roman Empire) and rule forever in Daniel 2:44-45. But is there a historical fulfillment for the fifth kingdom? For other references to the fourth kingdom, see Daniel 7:23-26 and the fifth kingdom in Daniel 7:14, 18, and 27. What is the historical fifth kingdom?
Note: All the Davidic kings had vicars; for the description of the duties of a vicar during the reign of King Hezekiah, see Isaiah 22:20-23. Compare the description of Eliakim's authority to the authority Jesus conferred on St. Peter and Peter's successors, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis I (see Matthew 7:24; 16:19). The title "Pope" is a transliteration of the Greek word "pappas," a child's name for his father. Pappa/Pope is the title of the Bishop of Rome because his authority is like a father's supreme authority over his children and because his authority is to be exercised after Christ's example of loving yet firm parental authority that was given to Him by the God the Father (John 15:7-17). The vicars of the Davidic kings were called the "fathers" of the covenant people (see the description of a Davidic vicar in Isaiah 21:21-23 and compare it to Jesus's Vicar of His Kingdom of the Church.
Please read Daniel 8:1-27
Question #6: What was Daniel's first experience with the angel
Gabriel? What mysteries did Gabriel reveal to Daniel, and what are the references
to the morning and afternoon Tamid sacrifice in these passages from the Book of
Daniel? Note: The Tamid is mentioned by its Hebrew name (English translations
will usually read "perpetual" or "daily" sacrifice) in the Book of Daniel five
times: 8:11, 12, 13; 11:31; 12:11. The Tamid is referred to as the "perpetual
sacrifice" in 8:13, there is a reference to "evenings and the mornings" in
Daniel 8:26 which may also be a reference to the Tamid, and the Tamid is
mentioned as the "evening sacrifice" in 9:21 (their "evening" was our afternoon
since the next day began at sundown). The Tamid is mentioned in Daniel more
times than in any other Bible book except for the Book of Numbers, chapters
28-29.
| Animals in vision | Interpretation and historical fulfillment |
|
Ram with two horns |
The Persian empire was formed by the union of the Medes and the Persians. |
| He-goat Greek king with one horn | Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire (invasion 336 BC; defeated Persians at Issus in 333; final victory at Arbela in 331 BC). |
| He-goat's one horn becomes four | When Alexander the Great died, his empire was divided among his four Greek generals (323 BC). |
| The little horn that grows toward the "Land of Splendor" | The Seleucid Greeks expanded the empire from Syria to Asia Minor and as far as the Indus River, becoming the largest of the four Greek empires, dominating even the Promised Land of the Jews. |
| Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2002; revised 2022 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved. | |
The historical implication of Daniel's vision for Judah: When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, his world empire that stretched across the known world from Greece to Egypt and across Asia Minor to the Indus River was divided among four of his generals into four Greek kingdoms. One of "the smaller horns" of the four small horns that grew out of the one horn of the "He-goat" "grew big" (Daniel 8:9). This vision was fulfilled in the Greek kingdom of the Seleucids (Syria), the largest of the four Greek kingdoms which dominated the "Land of Splendor," controlled the Holy Land as part of their domain. In the second century BC, the Greek Seleucid ruler Antiochus Epiphanes tried to destroy Jewish culture and religion in his attempt to force the Jews to adopt Hellenistic culture and the worship of the Greek gods. These efforts were successful for a time, and even the Tamid daily sacrifice was abolished (Daniel 8:11-14; 9:26; 1 Maccabees 1:10/11- 15/16, 41/43-64/67). The daily Tamid sacrifice and Temple worship were restored in the revolt led by the great Jewish leader Judah Maccabeus (2 Maccabees 10:1-8), and "the boastful king," Antiochus Epiphanes, died "at the hand of God" (of natural causes). Before he died, Antiochus attributed both his illness and impending death to his defilement of the Jerusalem Temple (1 Maccabees 6:1-13; 2 Maccabees 9:1, 5-29).
Question #7: What was Daniel's second encounter with the angel Gabriel? What time of the day did this encounter occur, and what was Gabriel's message to Daniel? Please read Daniel 9:1-4, 13-27.
This prophecy was fulfilled historically in Jesus the Messiah (in Hebrew masiyah or malkiyyahu means "Anointed One" or "Yahweh's Anointed"), the Son of God the King crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem in AD 30 (John 19:19-20). It was also fulfilled in General Titus, son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, who in AD 70 (40 years after Christ's Ascension) destroyed the Jerusalem Temple, set up the abomination of pagan standards within the Temple precincts (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 6.6.1 [316]), and ended the Tamid and all animal sacrifice at the Temple forever. Following the destruction of the Temple, the people of Judea were enslaved by the Romans. An estimated million of those who survived the war were sold into slavery throughout the Roman world.16
It is possible that Zechariah's encounter with Gabriel (Lk 1:11-19) was also at the hour of the afternoon Tamid sacrifice. Zechariah was very familiar with the prophetic countdown to the coming of the Messiah promised in the Book of Daniel. He knew this was the only book of Sacred Scripture that named the angel Gabriel. Just as Zechariah placed the incense on the golden Altar of Incense in the Temple Sanctuary, the angel Gabriel stepped from behind the curtain that shielded the Holy of Holies and stood to the right side of the Altar of Incense where the Archangels stand before the heavenly Altar of Incense (Luke 1:11; Revelation 8:3).
Question #8: What did the angel tell Zechariah in Luke 1:13 without revealing his name?
The best translation of John's Hebrew name, Yohanan (Yehohanan), is "Yahweh is mercy," or "Yahweh is merciful." Fr. McKenzie, Dictionary of the Bible, page 442, translates the name as "Yahweh is gracious," while Fr. Fitzmyer, Gospel of Luke, translated it as "Yahweh as shown favor." Hen is the Hebrew word for "grace," while hanum is "favored," and hanan means "to stoop or bend in kindness to inferior = to show mercy" (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and Lexicon).
Question #9: The angel told Zechariah that the promised child was to be consecrated to God from his mother's womb, and he was never to drink wine or any fermented liquor (Luke 1:14-15)." Were there other men whom God similarly consecrated from the womb? Who were they? See Numbers 6:1-4; Jeremiah 1:4-5; Judges 13:3-7; 1 Samuel 1:11.
Question #10: What was a Nazirite? What purpose did a Nazirite serve? The word in Hebrew means "consecrated one." How long did one live as a Nazirite, and could women make a Nazirite vow? See Numbers 6:1-21.
The Nazirite stipulations are set forth in Numbers chapter 6:1-21 and fall between the priestly obligations and duties (Numbers 3:1-4:49), purity laws (Numbers 5:1-31), and the priestly prayer (Numbers 6:22-27). According to early Church historians, St. James, the first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem, was a kinsman of Jesus. According to Church history, he was the author of the New Testament Letter of James and a lifetime Nazirite (see The Works of Hegesippus, Book 2, chapter 22 and Eusebius, Church History, 2.23.4). Gentile Queen Helen of Adiabene, a Jewish convert, kept a Nazirite vow for almost 20 years.
Note: In AD 60, St. James, Bishop of Jerusalem, asked St. Paul, as a gesture of goodwill, to pay for the sacrifices of four Nazirite Jewish Christians. It was no small gesture but was a rather expensive demonstration of Paul's Jewish Christian solidarity (Acts 21:23-26).
Question #11: What was the purpose of the vow Nazirite? Is it possible that John the Baptist was a Nazirite? Why did the angel command that John never consume fermented liquor?
Question #12: When would John (the Baptist), son of Zechariah, first come into the presence of God?
Then, too, drinking wine to
excess in Scripture is symbolic of rebellion and violation of God's Law (see
Isaiah 5:11-12 and the Agape Bible Study lesson: "How to Study the Prophets").
Question #13: What examples appear in the Old Testament of men of
God drinking to excess and becoming defiled? For example, see Genesis 9:20-24;
19:32-35 and Leviticus 10:1-3, 9
Question #14: How would you define St. John's mission when he reached adulthood? How could the prohibition against drinking fermented liquor impact his ministry? What unique position does St. John hold in the history of salvation?
Question #15: The angel Gabriel compared Zechariah and Elizabeth's promised child to the 9th century BC prophet Elijah. When he became an adult, how did John the Baptist resemble Elijah? See 2 Kings 1:7-8, Matthew 3:4-6, and Mark 1:4.
Question #16: What Old Testament prophecy did the angel quote to Zechariah in Luke 1:16-17, and how was this quote related to Elijah? The Old Testament quote is in bold type: Gabriel said, And he will bring back many of the Israelites to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to reconcile fathers to their children and the disobedient to the good sense of the upright, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him? Also see Sirach 48:1, 10.
Luke 1:18-19: Zechariah said to the angel, "How can I know this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years." The angel replied, "I am Gabriel, who stand in God's presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news." The "good news" that Gabriel brought was more than the birth of a son for Zechariah. In the Greek text, the angel used the verb euangelizesthai, which means "to preach the good-news," a word often translated as "Gospel," referring to the "good news" of the Gospel of salvation. Zechariah was honored to be the first to whom the gospel of the Kingdom was preached! St. Luke used this verb ten times in his Gospel and fifteen times in Acts.
Rebuking the old priest's
disbelief, the angel said: "Look! Since you did not believe my words, which
will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power
of speech until this had happened."
Question #17: When Zechariah expressed doubt concerning the angel's
message, what happened, and what was the significance of the revelation of the
angel's name? Hint: you may recall that the only other time this angel is named
in Scripture is in the Book of the Prophet Daniel (Dan 8:16 and 9:21).
Luke 1:21-22: Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and
were surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary so long. When he came out, he
could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the
sanctuary. But he could only make signs to them and remained dumb.
While Zechariah was in the
Holy Place, his brother priests had gathered on the Sanctuary steps for the
ritual blessing of the people. When the incensing priest had finished, he was
supposed to join them in giving the final priestly benediction. As the congregation
and the priests waited for him, they must have become increasingly concerned. Men
had died in offering up the holy incense "sinful men offering the incense
inappropriately (Numbers 16:1-35, 40;
2 Chronicles 26:16-21). The priests and the people must have been relieved when
Zechariah finally appeared at the Sanctuary doors, but it was then that they
realized he had lost his power of speech because of what had happened to him within
the Sanctuary.
Luke 1:23-24: When his time of service came to an end he returned home.
Some time later his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept to
herself, saying, "The Lord has done this for me, now that it has pleased him to
take away the humiliation I suffered in public."
Zechariah's priestly division
of Abijah returned to their homes at the end of the week. Although deprived of
the power of speech, Zechariah could still write, and he must have written down
his experience with the angel and shared with Elizabeth the news of the tremendous
blessing God was giving them.
Question #18: What was the humiliation that Elizabeth spoke of in Luke 1:25?
See Genesis 16:1-5; 30:1, 23;
1 Samuel 1:5-8; 2 Samuel 6:20-23; and
Hosea 9:11.
Elizabeth must have thought of the Israelite heroine Hannah, the mother of Samuel (1 Sam 1:2-22 and 2:1, 21). Hannah had suffered humiliation because she had not given her husband children. However, after years of bareness, she was blessed by God when He opened her womb to receive the child who would one day become His prophet, Samuel. Elizabeth may have even prayed Hannah's prayer of praise, which begins:
My heart exults in Yahweh, in my God is my strength lifted up,
my mouth derides my foes, but I rejoice in your deliverance (1 Sam 2:1).
The answers to the questions are at the end of the lesson. See Handout 1 for The Liturgy of the Mass reflected in St. John's vision of Divine Worship in the Book of Revelation.
Endnotes:
1. Since the time of King
David, the families of the chief priests and the families of the Levites (lesser
ministers) were separated into divisions. There were twenty-four courses or
clans of priests who were descendants of Aaron, the first High Priest, and
there were twenty-four courses or clans of the lesser order of ministers known
as the Levites (1 Ch 23:1-24; 24:7[8]-17[18]; 25:31). Each clan of both the
higher and lower orders of ministers was expected to serve one week in the
Jerusalem Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath, twice a year. In addition, all the
clans of both priests and Levites were required to come to Jerusalem to serve
in the Temple for the three pilgrim feasts of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of
Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles that required the attendance of
all male covenant members (Ex 23:14-17; 34:18-23;
Dt 16:16 & 2 Ch 8:13).
2. God commanded that three times a year, every man of the covenant must present himself before the Lord's holy altar with his sacrifices during the "pilgrim feasts" of Unleavened Bread, celebrated in the spring on Nisan the 15th " 21st, the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), known by its Greek name as the Feast of Pentecost or fiftieth-day in the 1st century AD (celebrated fifty days from the day after the Sabbath that fell during the 7days of Unleavened Bread), and the Feast of Tabernacles, celebrated in the fall from Tishri 15th -21st (Ex 23:14-18; 34:18-23; Dt 16:16; 2 Ch 8:13).
3. See 2 Maccabees 2:1-6. The stone was a raised part of the bedrock upon which the Temple stood that dated back to the time of the Temple of Solomon. In the Holy of Holies, a part of the rock was three fingers higher than the floor and called the Shetiyyah (Mishnah: Yoma, 5:2). The Ark of the Covenant rested up this foundation stone before the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 587/6 BC. When the Temple was rebuilt after the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile in 517/6 BC, the Holy of Holies was an empty space.
4. The priest who offered the sin sacrifice of a covenant member ate the sin offering with his family in the Temple Holy Place (Lev 6:17-7:10 [6:24-7:10]). Except for the Tamid and other whole burnt offerings, wholly consumed on the sacrificial altar (2 Ch 2:3/4), all sacrifices were eaten in a sacred meal, either by the priests or by the offeror and his family. The offeror and his family ate the communion sacrifice in the Holy Place of the Temple (Lev 7:1-38 [7:1-28]), with a portion given to the priests (Lev 7:28-34 [7:18-24]). The sacred meal of the Passover sacrifice was eaten in Jerusalem at sundown (when one day ended and the next began) on the first day of Unleavened Bread (Ex 12:8, Mishnah: Pesahim). The Chagigah festival communion offerings were eaten in Jerusalem as a sacred meal during the pilgrim feasts (Mishnah: Hagigah). Sacrifices to Yahweh could only be offered at His holy Temple in Jerusalem (Dt 12:11-12; 2 Ch 3:1). See the chart on "The Seven Annual Remembrance Feasts of the Sinai Covenant" in the lesson Handout.
5. The instructions for the Tamid sacrifice in Numbers chapters 28-29 records fifteen times that all other sacrifices are offered in addition to the daily Tamid. In the case of the Passover sacrifice, the afternoon Tamid was sacrificed an hour earlier, and the Passover victims were sacrificed from 3-5 PM our time unless Passover fell on the Eve of the Saturday Sabbath, on a Friday. At that time, the Tamid was sacrificed at 12:30 PM our time (Mishnah: Pesahim, 5:1D).
6. During the era of Roman domination, the night was divided into four watches: sundown (6-9 PM), midnight (9 PM-midnight), cockcrow (midnight to 3 AM), and dawn (3 AM- dawn). Jesus mentions these Watches in Mt 14:25, Mk 6:48, and 14:35 (mentions all four Night Watches), and in Lk 12:38. The trumpet that signaled the end of the Third Night Watch and the beginning of the Fourth at 3 AM was called the "Cockcrow." The Roman guards blew the signal of the watch changes from the Antonia Fortress, and the Temple guards blew their watch change signals from the Temple. The trumpet signal of the "cockcrow" is recorded in the Mishnah in M. Sukkah 5.4, M. Tamid 1:2, M. Yoma 1:8, and in Mt 26:34, 75; Mk 13:35 (watch signals, including the "cockcrow"); 14:30 & 72 (mentions the two trumpet signals of the cockcrow); Lk 22:34, 61; Jn 13:38. See the chart on the divisions of the night and the day in Handout 4.
7. Like Catholic priests, the Old Covenant priests were only permitted to wear their liturgical garments when in service to the Lord: Once the priests have entered, they will not go out of the holy place into the outer court without leaving their liturgical vestments there, since these vestments are holy; they will put on other clothes before going near places assigned to the people (Ezekiel 42:14). Also see Mishnah: Tamid 5:3; The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, page 109.
8. The Levites and the lay members of the covenant designated as "standing/Tamid men") were forbidden access to the Sanctuary unless they were offering a personal communion sacrifice or the laymen officiating in the Tamid sacrifice on behalf of the people were forbidden entrance into the Court of the Priests except at the time of cultic requirements (Mishnah: Kelim 1:8; Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, page 209).
9. Mishnah: Tamid 3:7-4:2; Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, page 108 (the morning sacrifice was at the third-hour Jewish time, or 9 AM and the evening/afternoon sacrifice was at the ninth hour or 3 PM; "evening" was anytime from noon until sundown).
10. The 1st century AD Jewish priest/historian Flavius Josephus wrote in The Antiquities of the Jews 14.4.3 [65] concerning the time of the evening/afternoon Tamid sacrifice: ...but did still twice each day, in the morning and about the ninth hour, offer their sacrifices on the altar... (the ninth-hour Jewish time was 3 PM our time). It was the "evening sacrifice" because, for the Jews whose day began at sundown, the "evening" of the day started just as the sun passed high noon and began to descend into the end of the day. The evening/afternoon Tamid lamb was brought to the altar bayin ha ereb, "between the twilights" of the day (between dawn and dusk), which is noon, and was sacrificed at 3 PM.
11. Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, page 127; The Works of Philo, Special Laws, I, 171; Mishnah: Tamid 5:2-6:1.
12. The Levitical choir began to sing after the incense offering. They sang a different psalm for each day of the week. On Sunday, they sang Psalm 24; Monday they sang Psalm 48; Tuesday they sang Psalm 82; Wednesday they sang Psalm 94; Thursday they sang Psalm 81, Friday they sang Psalm 93, and on the Sabbath, they sang Psalm 92.
13. The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, page 108: According to general agreement, the morning sacrifice was brought at the third hour,' corresponding to our nine o'clock.
14. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 14.4.3 [65]: ... but did still twice each day, in the morning and about the ninth hour, offer their sacrifices on the altar... The ninth-hour Jewish time is 3:00 PM our time.
15. Christianity and the Roman Empire, page 282; Calendar: Humanity's Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year, page 189; Mapping Time: The Calendar and its History, pages 77-78, 81. Therefore, Scripture records that Jesus was in the tomb for three days, from Friday before sundown to Sunday morning, instead of two days, as we would count the days. Parts of the day were counted as a day.
16. Some scholars have suggested that the prophecy of a murdered Messiah was fulfilled in the death of the last legitimate Aaronic High Priest of the Zadok line, Onias III, who was assassinated in Antioch, Syria c. 172 BC. His death was indeed followed by the desecration of the Temple and the temporary suspension of the Tamid and other sacrifices in c. 167-164, but the Sanctuary was not destroyed. Daniel's prophecy may have a double level of fulfillment in the events of the second century BC and the death of Jesus the Messiah. The Zadok line of Aaron was the line King David designated as High Priests. According to the Prophet Ezekiel, only the sons of Zadok were permitted to serve as high priests because they alone were faithful to Yahweh when the Levites with the rest of Israel were unfaithful (Ezekiel 40:46; 43:19; 44:15; 48:11). In Jesus's time, orthodox believers, like those at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, considered the non-Zadok High Priests, like Annas and Caiaphas, to be illegitimate, wicked priests.
Answers to the questions in Lesson 2
Answer #1:
Answer #2: He was fulfilling his priestly duty by burning incense in the Sanctuary of Yahweh on the golden Altar of Incense in front of the Holy of Holies.
Answer #3: Burning incense on the golden Altar of Incense was established as part of liturgical worship according to the commands of the Sinai Covenant. The Altar of Incense was patterned after the incense altar Moses saw in the heavenly Sanctuary. The incense represented the prayers of the covenant people that an angel of the Lord carried to the heavenly Sanctuary, presenting the covenant people's prayers to God.
Answer #4: The Babylonians took Daniel captive in c. 609 BC, before the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple (destroyed 587/6 BC). In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated Pharaoh Necho's armies at the Battle of Carchemish. He seized the old Assyrian Empire, making Babylon the regional superpower and Judah a vassal state of Babylon. The reigning Davidic king and other royal family members were taken as captives to Babylon to ensure Judah's loyalty as a vassal state. Young Daniel and other children of noble or royal birth were taken captive at this time. The captive children were raised and educated in the Babylonian court of King Nebuchadnezzar, where several of them, including Daniel, eventually became court officials (Daniel 1:20).
Answer #5: The fifth kingdom is the Kingdom of the Messiah "the "stone untouched by (human) hands" (Daniel 2:44-45). The fifth kingdom is the kingdom John the Baptist came to proclaim (Matthew 3:2), and Jesus came to establish (Matthew 4:17). It is the kingdom promised to David that would be eternal (2 Samuel 7:16; 1 Chronicles 17:14), the universal Church of Jesus Christ. Upon His earthly throne, Christ's Vicars (Prime Ministers) govern and guide His kingdom. They are the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church. Jesus told the Apostles in the Upper Room: and now I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father conferred one on me... (Luke 22:29). Also see CCC# 551-53; 881-82; 763-65; 936.
Answer #6: In his first encounter with Gabriel, the angel interpreted Daniel's vision of the Ram and the He-Goat and the four smaller horns that sprung out of the one horn of the He-goat (Daniel 8:5, 8). This vision was historically fulfilled in Alexander the Great, the "He-goat" Greek king in Daniel 8:21. King Alexander of Greece conquered the empire that was the successor to the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire. The Medo-Persian Empire, composed of the union of the Persians and the Medes, was represented in Daniel's vision as the two-horned Ram. But at the height of his power, Alexander suddenly died when he was only 32 years old (Daniel 8:8: "the big horn snapped"). His death resulted in his Greek world empire's division into four lesser kingdoms ruled by Alexander's four most powerful Greek generals (Daniel 8:8: "four horns pointing to the four winds of heaven"). One of the kings of the Greek Syrian kingdom would successfully abolish the Tamid sacrifice for a time (Daniel 8:11-13, 26). This was the first vision Gabriel interpreted for Daniel.
Answer #7: In the second encounter, Daniel calculated that the 70 years of exile prophesized by the Prophet Jeremiah were ending (Jeremiah 25:11-12). He confessed his sins and the sins of his people, petitioned God to restore his people to their ancestral lands and rebuild Yahweh's Temple on Mt. Moriah ("the holy mountain of my God"). Daniel was praying "at the hour of the evening sacrifice," which would have been the afternoon Tamid service, which started at 3:00 PM and concluded at about 5:00 PM (Daniel 9:20-21). In this second and final encounter, Gabriel revealed to Daniel that his people would be allowed to return to the Promised Land and to rebuild the city of Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25). However, then the angel revealed the prophecy of the coming of the "Anointed Prince" who would be put to death outside his city (Daniel 9:26). At a time, after the death of the "Anointed One," Gabriel told Daniel that God's Sanctuary in Jerusalem would be ruined by "a prince who is to come" who would desecrate the Temple, put an end to all Temple sacrifice, including the Tamid. And a great persecution would follow these events (Daniel 9:26b-27).
Answer #8: Gabriel told Zechariah not to be afraid and that God had heard his prayers: he and his elderly wife would have a son they were to name "John."
Answer #9: The child was to be consecrated from his mother's womb like the priest Jeremiah and the Nazirites Samuel and Samson.
Answer #10: Men and women not descended from Aaron or of the tribe of the Levites could take a vow and serve God as Nazirites. During the length of the vow, the Nazirites could not drink wine or any product that came from the vine, nor could they cut their hair. After completing their vow, the Nazirites cut their hair, which was burned on God's sacrificial altar in Jerusalem with multiple animal sacrifices (Numbers 6:18-20).
Answer #11: Service in the priesthood was hereditary; however, if someone not of Aaron's line believed they were called to serve Yahweh, or if a man or a woman wanted to honor God for the granting of a petition, they could be consecrated and serve Yahweh as a Nazirite for a prescribed length of time (see Acts 21:23-26) or for life as in the case of the prophet Samuel and the judge Samson. John the Baptist was the son of a priest and a priest himself; it would not be necessary for him to take a Nazirite vow to serve God. That John was commanded not to drink wine or strong drink from his mother's womb may be associated with his mission as the precursor of Christ. Priests in service to Yahweh in the Temple were forbidden to drink wine or any fermented liquor while serving in the Temple. Leviticus 10:9 lists Yahweh's instructions to Aaron, the high priest, concerning consuming wine for priests when serving God in the Sanctuary: When you come to the Tent of Meeting, you and your sons with you, you may not drink wine or any other fermented liquor, to avoid incurring death. Since there is no further mention of the other requirements that identified a Nazirite as there was in the case of Samson and Samuel (i.e., the requirement that a Nazirite must never cut the hair, etc.), and since God forbade a chief priest in service in the Temple to drink, it is more likely that the prohibition against drinking wine was because John was God's priestly representative in service in the world in announcing the coming kingdom of the Messiah.
Answer #12: John first came into the presence of God the Son when the pregnant Virgin Mary visited John's mother, Elizabeth (Luke 1:41), and the unborn John, becoming aware of the presence of God in Mary's womb, leaped for joy in his own mother's womb.
Answer #13: Examples of the drinking of wine to excess leading to sin and rebellion appear in several Old Testament narratives:
Answer #14: St. John's mission was to travel throughout the Holy Land, calling the covenant people to repentance to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. He was to serve as the precursor of the Messiah and as the anointing priest of the Son of God at Jesus's baptism. Perhaps the restriction against drinking strong liquor was because John wasn't serving Christ in the Jerusalem Temple; he was serving Christ in the world. Therefore, his priestly ministry was not limited to a building. It could be that this was part of this priestly function and condition of purity in service to the Messiah. John the Baptist is the last prophet of the Old Covenant.
Answer #15: John and Elijah wore a camel hair cloak, a leather loincloth, and God sent both men to call the covenant people to repentance.
Answer #16: Malachi 3:23-24: Look, I shall send you the prophet Elijah before the great and awesome Day of Yahweh comes. He will reconcile parents to their children and children to their parents, to forestall my putting the country under the curse of destruction. The prophecy Gabriel quoted concerned the sign of the coming of Elijah before the Advent of the Messiah.
Answer #17: For the first time, the angel revealed his name: I am Gabriel, who stand in God's presence, and then he silenced Zechariah by removing his power of speech. When the angel revealed his name, the elderly priest would have understood the reason for the birth of his son: this child was to serve God in the spirit of the Prophet Elijah, calling the people of God to repentance in preparation for the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah. With the reference to Elijah and remembering the prophecies revealed to the Prophet Daniel by the angel Gabriel concerning the arrival of the Anointed One, Zechariah would have immediately grasped that Gabriel was revealing the coming of the promised Davidic Messiah whose advent Zechariah's son, John, would announce. It must have been divine intervention that kept that faithful old heart pumping!b
Answer #18: To be infertile was a humiliation and even a punishment, as in the case of King Saul's daughter Michal. She ridiculed her husband and God's anointed king, David, for dancing before the Ark of the Covenant and, as a result, was barren. Elizabeth's neighbors may have speculated that she was a failure as a woman or that God was punishing her for some reason. The mother of the Prophet Samuel had been ridiculed and taunted by her husband's other wife before God granted her petition to bear a child.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2002; revised 2008; revised 2023 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.