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Matthew Henry's Commentary - Luke 1:26-38
Luke Chapter 1
The narrative which this evangelist gives us (or rather God by him) of the life
of Christ begins earlier than either Matthew or Mark. We have reason to thank
God for them all, as we have for all the gifts and graces of Christ's ministers,
which in one make up what is wanting in the other, while all put together make a
harmony. In this chapter we have, I. Luke's preface to his gospel, or his
epistle dedicatory to his friend Theophilus, ver. 1-4. II. The prophecy and
history of the conception of John Baptist, who was Christ's forerunner, ver.
5-25. The annunciation of the virgin Mary, or the notice given to her that she
should be the mother of the Messiah, ver. 26-38. IV. The interview between Mary
the mother of Jesus and Elisabeth the mother of John, when they were both with
child of those pregnant births, and the prophecies they both uttered upon that
occasion, ver. 39-56. V. The birth and circumcision of John Baptist, six months
before the birth of Christ, ver. 57-66. VI. Zacharias's song of praise, in
thankfulness for the birth of John, and in prospect of the birth of Jesus, ver.
67-79. VII. A short account of John Baptist's infancy, ver. 80. And these do
more than give us an entertaining narrative; they will lead us into the
understanding of the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.
The Birth of Christ Foretold.
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of
Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in
unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee:
blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his
saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And
the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt
call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the
Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there
shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I
know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son
in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37
For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid
of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from
her.
We have here notice given us of all that it was fit we should know concerning
the incarnation and conception of our blessed Saviour, six months after the
conception of John. The same angel, Gabriel, that was employed in making known
to Zacharias God's purpose concerning his son, is employed in this also; for in
this, the same glorious work of redemption, which was begun in that, is carried
on. As bad angels are none of the redeemed, so good angels are none of the
redeemers; yet they are employed by the Redeemer as his messengers, and they go
cheerfully on his errands, because they are his Father's humble servants, and
his children's hearty friends and well-wishers.
I. We have here an account given of the mother of our Lord, of whom he was to be
born, whom, though we are not to pray to, yet we ought to praise God for.
1. Her name was Mary, the same name with Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron;
the name signifies exalted, and a great elevation it was to her indeed to be
thus favoured above all the daughters of the house of David.
2. She was a daughter of the royal family, lineally descended from David, and
she herself and all her friends knew it, for she went under the title and
character of the house of David, though she was poor and low in the world; and
she was enabled by God's providence, and the care of the Jews, to preserve their
genealogies, to make it out, and as long as the promise of the Messiah was to be
fulfilled it was worth keeping; but for those now, who are brought low in the
world, to have descended from persons of honour, is not worth mentioning.
3. She was a virgin, a pure unspotted one, but espoused to one of the same royal
stock, like her, however, of low estate; so that upon both accounts there was
(as it was fit there should be) an equality between them; his name was Joseph;
he also was of the house of David, Matt. i. 20. Christ's mother was a virgin,
because he was not to be born by ordinary generation, but miraculously; it was
necessary that he should be so, that, though he must partake of the nature of
man, yet not of the corruption of that nature: but he was born of a virgin
espoused, made up to be married, and contracted, to put honour upon the married
state, that that might not be brought into contempt (which was an ordinance in
innocency) by the Redeemer's being born of a virgin.
4. She lived in Nazareth, a city of Galilee, a remote corner of the country, and
in no reputation for religion or learning, but which bordered upon the heathen,
and therefore was called Galilee of the Gentiles. Christ's having his relations
resident there intimates favour in reserve for the Gentile world. And Dr.
Lightfoot observes that Jonah was by birth a Galilean, and Elijah and Elisha
very much conversant in Galilee, who were all famous prophets of the Gentiles.
The angel was sent to her from Nazareth. Note, No distance or disadvantage of
place shall be a prejudice to those for whom God has favours in store. The angel
Gabriel carries his message as cheerfully to Mary and Nazareth in Galilee as to
Zacharias in the temple at Jerusalem.
II. The address of the angel to her, v. 28.
We are not told what she was doing,
or how employed, when the angel came unto her; but he surprised her with this
salutation, Hail, thou art highly favoured. This was intended to raise in her,
1. A value for herself; and, though it is very rare that any need to have any
sparks struck into their breast with such design, yet in some, who like Mary
pore only on their low estate, there is occasion for it. 2. An expectation of
great news, not from abroad, but from above. Heaven designs, no doubt, uncommon
favours for one whom an angel makes court to with such respect, Hail thou,
chaire—rejoice thou; it was the usual form of salutation; it expresses an esteem
of her, and good-will to her and her prosperity.
(1.) She is dignified: "Thou art highly favoured. God, in his choice of thee to
be the mother of the Messiah, has put an honour upon thee peculiar to thyself,
above that of Eve, who was the mother of all living." The vulgar Latin
translates this gratiá plena—full of grace, and thence gathers that she had more
of the inherent graces of the Spirit than ever any had; whereas it is certain
that this bespeaks no other than the singular favour done her in preferring her
to conceive and bear our blessed Lord, an honour which, since he was to be the
seed of the woman, some woman must have, not for personal merit, but purely for
the sake of free grace, and she is pitched upon. Even so, Father, because it
seemed good unto thee.
(2.) She has the presence of God with her: "The Lord is with thee, though poor
and mean, and perhaps now forecasting how to get a livelihood and maintain a
family in the married state." The angel with this word raised the faith of
Gideon (Judg. vi. 12): The Lord is with thee. Nothing is to be despaired of, not
the performance of any service, not the obtaining of any favour, though ever so
great, if we have God with us. This word might put her in mind of the Immanuel,
God with us, which a virgin shall conceive and bear (Isa. vii. 14), and why not
she?
(3.) She has the blessing of God upon her: "Blessed art thou among women; not
only thou shalt be accounted so by men, but thou shalt be so. Thou that art so
highly favoured in this instance mayest expect in other things to be blessed."
She explains this herself (v. 48), All generations shall call me blessed.
Compare it with that which Deborah saith of Jael, another that was the glory of
her sex (Judg. v. 24), Blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
III. The consternation she was in, upon this address (v. 29).
When she saw him,
and the glories with which he was surrounded, she was troubled at the sight of
him, and much more at his saying. Had she been a proud ambitious young woman,
that aimed high, and flattered herself with the expectation of great things in
the world, she would have been pleased at his saying, would have been puffed up
with it, and (as we have reason to think she was a young woman of very good
sense) would have had an answer ready, signifying so much: but, instead of that,
she is confounded at it, as not conscious to herself of any thing that either
merited or promised such great things; and she cast in her mind what manner of
salutation this should be. Was it from heaven or of men? Was it to amuse her?
was it to ensnare her? was it to banter her? or was there something substantial
and weighty in it? But, of all the thoughts she had as to what manner of
salutation it should be, I believe she had not the least idea of its being ever
intended or used for a prayer, as it is, and has been, for many ages, by the
corrupt, degenerate, and anti-christian ages of the church, and to be ten times
repeated for the Lord's prayer once; so it is in the church of Rome. But her
thoughtfulness upon this occasion gives a very useful intimation to young people
of her sex, when addresses are made to them, to consider and cast in their minds
what manner of salutations they are, whence they come, and what their tendency
is, that they may receive them accordingly, and may always stand on their guard.
IV. The message itself which the angel had to deliver to her.
Some time the
angel gives her to pause; but, observing that this did but increase her
perplexity, he went on with his errand, v. 30. To what he had said she made no
reply; he therefore confirms it: "Fear not, Mary, I have no other design than to
assure thee that thou hast found favour with God more than thou thinkest of, as
there are many who think they are more favoured with God than they really are."
Note, Those that have found favour with God should not give way to disquieting
distrustful fears. Doth God favour thee? Fear not, though the world frown upon
thee. Is he for thee? No matter who is against thee.
1. Though she is a virgin, she shall have the honour of being a mother: "Thou
shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt have the
naming of him; thou shalt call his name Jesus," v. 31. It was the sentence upon
Eve, that, though she should have the honour to be the mother of all living, yet
this mortification shall be an allay to that honour, that her desire shall be to
her husband, and he shall rule over her, Gen. iii. 16. But Mary has the honour
without the allay.
2. Though she lives in poverty and obscurity, yet she shall have the honour to
be the mother of the Messiah; her son shall be named Jesus—a Saviour, such a one
as the world needs, rather than such one as the Jews expect.
(1.) He will be very nearly allied to the upper world. He shall be great, truly
great, incontestably great; for he shall be called the Son of the Highest, the
Son of God who is the Highest; of the same nature, as the son is of the same
nature with the father; and very dear to him, as the son is to the father. He
shall be called, and not miscalled, the Son of the Highest; for he is himself
God over all, blessed for evermore, Rom. ix. 5. Note, Those who are the children
of God, though but by adoption and regeneration, are truly great, and therefore
are concerned to be very good, 1 John iii. 1, 2.
(2.) He will be very highly preferred in the lower world; for, though born under
the most disadvantageous circumstances possible, and appearing in the form of a
servant, yet the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, v.
32. He puts her in mind that she was of the house of David; and that therefore,
since neither the Salique law, nor the right of primogeniture, took place in the
entail of his throne, it was not impossible but that she might bring forth an
heir to it, and therefore might the more easily believe it when she was told by
an angel from heaven that she should do so, that after the sceptre had been long
departed from that ancient and honourable family it should now at length return
to it again, to remain in it, not by succession, but in the same hand to
eternity. His people will not give him that throne, will not acknowledge his
right to rule them; but the Lord God shall give him a right to rule them, and
set him as his king upon the holy hill of Zion. He assures her, [1.] That his
kingdom shall be spiritual: he shall reign over the house of Jacob, not Israel
according to the flesh, for they neither came into his interests nor did they
continue long a people; it must therefore be a spiritual kingdom, the house of
Israel according to the promise, that he must rule over. [2.] That it shall be
eternal: he shall reign for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end, as
there had been long since of the temporal reign of David's house, and would
shortly be of the state of Israel. Other crowns endure not to every generation,
but Christ's doth, Prov. xxvii. 24. The gospel is the last dispensation, we are
to look for no other.
V. The further information given her, upon her enquiry concerning the birth of
this prince.
1. It is a just enquiry which she makes: "How shall this be? v. 34. How can I
now presently conceive a child" (for so the angel meant) "when I know not a man;
must it therefore be otherwise than by ordinary generation? If so, let me now
how?" She knew that the Messiah must be born of a virgin; and, if she must be
his mother, she desires to know how. This was not the language of her distrust,
or any doubt of what the angel said, but of a desire to be further instructed.
2. It is a satisfactory answer that is given to it, v. 35. (1.) She shall
conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, whose proper work and office is to
sanctify, and therefore to sanctify the virgin for this purpose. The Holy Ghost
is called the power of the Highest. Doth she ask how this shall be? This is
enough to help her over all the difficulty there appears in it; a divine power
will undertake it, not the power of an angel employed in it, as in other works
of wonder, but the power of the Holy Ghost himself.
(2.) She must ask no questions concerning the way and manner how it shall be
wrought; for the Holy Ghost, as the power of the Highest, shall overshadow her,
as the cloud covered the tabernacle when the glory of God took possession of it,
to conceal it from those that would too curiously observe the motions of it, and
pry into the mystery of it. The formation of every babe in the womb, and the
entrance of the spirit of life into it, is a mystery in nature; none knows the
way of the spirit, nor how the bones are formed in the womb of her that is with
child, Eccl. xi. 5. We were made in secret, Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16. Much more was
the formation of the child Jesus a mystery; without controversy, great was the
mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, 1 Tim. iii. 16. It is a new
thing created in the earth (Jer. xxxi. 22), concerning which we must not covet
to be wise above what is written.
(3.) The child she shall conceive is a holy thing, and therefore must not be
conceived by ordinary generation, because he must not share in the common
corruption and pollution of the human nature. He is spoken of emphatically, That
Holy Thing, such as never was; and he shall be called the Son of God, as the Son
of the Father by eternal generation, as an indication of which he shall now be
formed by the Holy Ghost in the present conception. His human nature must be so
produced, as it was fit that should be which was to be taken into union with the
divine nature.
3. It was a further encouragement to her faith to be told that her cousin
Elisabeth, though stricken in years, was with child, v. 36. Here is an age of
wonders beginning, and therefore be not surprised: here is one among thy own
relations truly great, though not altogether so great as this; it is usual with
God to advance in working wonders. Greater works than these shall ye do. Though
Elisabeth was, on the father's side, of the daughters of Aaron (v. 5), yet on
the mother's side she might be of the house of David, for those two families
often intermarried, as an earnest of the uniting of the royalty and the
priesthood of the Messiah. This is the sixth month with her that was called
barren. This intimates, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, that all the instances in the
Old Testament of those having children that had been long barren, which was
above nature, were designed to prepare the world for the belief of a virgin's
bearing a son, which was against nature. And therefore, even in the birth of
Isaac, Abraham saw Christ's day, foresaw such a miracle in the birth of Christ.
The angel assures Mary of this, to encourage her faith, and concludes with that
great truth, of undoubted certainty and universal use, For with God nothing
shall be impossible (v. 37), and, if nothing, then not this. Abraham therefore
staggered not at the belief of the divine promise, because he was strong in his
belief of the divine power, Rom. iv. 20, 21. No word of God must be incredible
to us, as long as no work of God is impossible to him.
VI. Her acquiescence in the will of God concerning her, v. 38.
She owns herself,
1. A believing subject to the divine authority: "Behold, the handmaid of the
Lord. Lord, I am at thy service, at thy disposal, to do what thou commandest
me." She objects not the danger of spoiling her marriage, and blemishing her
reputation, but leaves the issue with God, and submits entirely to his will. 2.
A believing expectant of the divine favour. She is not only content that it
should be so, but humbly desires that it may be so: Be it unto me according to
thy word. Such a favour as this it was not for her to slight, or be indifferent
to; and for what God has promised he will be sought unto; by prayer we must put
our amen, or so be it, to the promise. Remember, and perform thy word unto thy
servant, upon which thou has caused me to hope. We must, as Mary here, guide our
desires by the word of God, and ground our hopes upon it. Be it unto me
according to thy word; just so, and no otherwise.
Hereupon, the angel departed from her; having completed the errand he was sent
upon, he returned, to give an account of it, and receive new instructions.
Converse with angels was always a transient thing, and soon over; it will be
constant and permanent in the future state. It is generally supposed that just
at this instant the virgin conceived, by the overshadowing power of the Holy
Ghost: but, the scripture being decently silent concerning it, it doth not
become us to be inquisitive, much less positive.
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