John’s father, Zacharias was a priest of the course of Abia, the eighth of the 24 courses into which the priesthood was divided. His testimony was that he was a good man. As was customary with the rank and file priests, he served in the Temple for two weeks of the year, most likely with a six month interval between them. During one of his periods of service something both remarkable and wonderful happened. After some 400 years of silence, God spoke – He sent a communication from heaven. It was not directed to the High Priest, or to one of the chief priests, but to Zacharias who was on duty in the Temple - in the Holy Place burning incense.
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| Model of the Temple |
His tour of duty had started unremarkably. He had arrived on the Friday, as was usual, and passed through the triple gate at the foot of the Southern wall of the Temple. This was the gate reserved for the priests’ use – the general public gained access through other gates. Climbing up through the priests’ passageway under the Herodian extensions he exited into the sunshine on the Temple Mount facing the one of the Huldah gates. He passed through the Huldah gate reserved for the priests, crossed the court of Gentiles, entered the court of Israel and skirted the court of prayer to reach the vestment keeper’s office which was located in the building at the side of the court of priests. There he collected his priestly robes before making his way down the staircase to the sacred baths reserved for the priesthood to bathe and robe; and thence to the hall of the priests where he deposited his everyday clothes in one of the 96 lockers. All this took place on the Friday for the courses of priests changed on the Sabbath. His place of residence during his tour of duty was to be the ‘chamber of the hearth’, an important building in close proximity to the court of priests. The ground level was the priests’ dining room and the upper level is where they slept.
For a normal day, the captain of the Temple called them at cock-crowing, which is 3 a.m. After eating in the dining room, Zacharias left by the side door and joined other priests to share a sacramental meal and to say prayers. It was only after all proper preparations had been completed that the duty priests would report to the hall of polished stones where lots were cast to allocate individual tasks, for example, who would kill the sacrifice, who sprinkle the blood, who sweep the inner altar, who clean the lampstand, who burn the incense, etc. Zacharias was allocated a ‘once in a lifetime’ honour of burning the incense in the Holy Place at the time of prayer.
He was joined by two others who cleaned the altar and kindled the fire but they left on completion of their duties leaving Zacharias alone to burn the incense and recite the prayers of intercession. Although the great door into the Temple building (the Gate of the Golden Vine) was open, there was a curtain which would have prevented others from seeing what went on inside. It was when the smoke of the incense was rising he saw in the cloud an angel on the right side of the golden altar. This, according to R. Nathan and Simeon ben Asai[1], was the place where the Shekinah had talked to Moses.[2] He had never burnt incense in the Holy Place before, but he knew the appearance of the angel was unusual. Also, fresh in his mind was the warning he had received regarding the correct procedure to be followed, for all priests were aware of the punishment delivered to Nadab and Abihu who offered ‘strange fire’.[3] So it was not surprising that the angel first said, “Fear not” before giving him a message regarding the birth of a son – the forerunner of the Messiah.
Zacharias must have been staggered at the encounter - an angelic visitor announcing the birth of the fore-runner of the Messiah; and that to a humble, albeit godly priest, who was blessed with a similarly godly wife. Their recorded testimony was: “they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless”. (Luke 1:5,6 )
The angel was Gabriel (the might of God), the same one who had announced to Daniel that Messiah would appear 483 years after the edict to rebuild the Temple. To Zacharias he announced that Messiah’s appearance was imminent, and declared his ‘not yet conceived’ son was to be a symbolic fulfilment of the last recorded prophetic utterance (by Malachi); “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” (Mal. 4:5,6) Luke’s record is detailed: “… the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”” (Luke 1:13–17)
Zacharias could not believe it, for although he and Elizabeth had been praying for a son for a considerable time, he had given up hope. So he asked for a sign, as if the appearance of one of God’s mighty angels was not enough! He got his wish – but not the kind of sign he was hoping for. He was struck dumb and deaf[4], disabilities that would not be reversed until the words of Gabriel were confirmed by events. When he emerged from the Holy Place he was expected to pronounce the Numbers 6:24-26 benediction on the people.[5] However, to the consternation of those waiting outside at the time of prayer he was unable to fulfil this last part of his morning service. When, at the end of seven days he came to the end of his tour of duty he returned home to a city in Judah.
As for Elizabeth, she conceived and went into seclusion. Because the child was to be so remarkable a son, so strict a Nazarite, and so famous a prophet, Elizabeth sequestered herself in case she should defile herself in any way, and thereby contract any uncleanness upon the Nazarite in her womb. This was in harmony with the instruction given by the angel of the LORD to the mother of the other Nazarite by divine appointment, Samson, “Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean.” (Judges 13:4)
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