The Women of Christmas: Elizabeth, Part 1

Now that we have finished the study on Mary, let’s look at the life of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth and Zechariah are only mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. Since it is such a long passage of Scripture, I encourage you to read all of Luke chapter 1 to get a clear picture of them. We will pull out specific Scriptures as we go along with this study.

In the study on Mary, and the introduction to the Women of Christmas, I mentioned that under the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit would come on the prophet, priest, and king. In Mary’s story, we saw the element of The King. In Elizabeth’s story, we are going to witness the life of the priest.

Just like Mary and Joseph’s lineage both extended back to King David, Elizabeth and Zechariah’s lineage both extended back to Aaron, the brother of Moses, who was the first High Priest.

Let’s look at some verses that describe their priestly lineage, and what the priests would do.

“In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and whose wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years.

One day while Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And at the hour of the incense offering, the whole congregation was praying outside.” (Luke 1:5-10 BSB)

Luke 1:5 tells us that Zechariah was a priest, and he was of the priestly division of Abijah. According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, there are eight people in the Old Testament named Abijah. One of them was a descendant of Aaron, who was a priest in the time of David.

We can find this Abijah in 1 Chronicles 24:10.

Luke also tells us that Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. Aaron was the first High Priest to the Hebrew people and the brother of Moses and Miriam. Aaron’s parents were Jochebed and Amram. Jochebed was a daughter of Levi. (See Numbers 26:59.)

Priests descended from Aaron who was a Levite. But not all Levites, who descended from Levi were priests. Priests came from the tribe of Levi, although the Levites didn’t have the same function as the priests. The Levites were assistants to the priests and served the priests in different ways.

So, Zechariah and Elizabeth both descended from the tribe of Levi and were both descendants of Aaron. The Israelites had the custom of marrying within their same tribe. That might be why we also see Mary and Joseph both being from the tribe of Judah. And I imagine if we could determine who Anna’s husband was, he would also be from the tribe of Asher, just like she was.

Another fun fact about Israel was the way the land was arranged. In the Old Testament they were given tribal allotments. All of Joseph’s sons, except two, were given portions of land throughout Israel. Those two were Joseph and Levi. Joseph’s portion went to Ephraim and Manasseh, his sons born to him in Egypt. And the Levites didn’t get a land assignment. They lived dispersed throughout the land of Israel, to serve God and meet the needs of the people.


What does all of this have to do with Jesus?

Under the New Covenant, Jesus is our Great High Priest. The book of Hebrews discusses the levitical priesthood and outlines Jesus as high priest in detail. Here are a few Scriptures that outline His service as High Priest.

“But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.” (Hebrews 7:24-28 BSB)


What does this have to do with you?

Jesus is our High Priest. Under the New Covenant, the Bible also refers to Believers in Jesus as priests.

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.” (Revelation 5:10 BSB)

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)




Many blessings to you as you continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him, and who you are in relationship to Him.

Beth

To learn more about Jesus as our High Priest, please read Hebrews 3:1 and 5:1-10.

To read one of my previous posts about Elizabeth, you can find it here, in my Women in the Life of Jesus series.

The Women of Christmas

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! I have had it in my heart for a while to write about the "Women of Christmas." I have written about them a little bit in my series on Women in the Life of Jesus, but there is so much more to explore.

Something that the Lord has been emphasizing during this season, I believe, is the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have heard that under the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit would only come on 3 offices, the prophet, priest, and king. I think we can add the judge to that as well because we see Him in the life of Deborah and Sampson for example.

But He would come and leave. It doesn't seem like they have the Holy Spirit permanently residing in them. I think that's why David prayed this in Psalm 51:11,

"Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me."

Do you remember?

But something happens when we get to the New Testament. We start having a transition. Grace is coming.

How does this involve the Women of Christmas? Which women are they? To me the Women of Christmas are Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna.

In Luke's Gospel, chapter 1 and 2, we see the story of Christmas. Luke and Matthew are the only two Gospel writers that mention the birth of Jesus, but Luke is the only one that mentions Elizabeth and Anna.

We also see mention of the Holy Spirit. Just like there was more angelic activity surrounding the birth of Jesus, it also seems as though there was more activity with the Holy Spirit.

Why? I think there is a reason. Everything is significant. It all means something.

Over the next few days, I would like to share a (short) series about the Women of Christmas with you.

Merry Christmas,
Beth

If you would like to read the series Women in the Life of Jesus, click on the highlighted link.

To read the Women of Christmas series, use the following links:

The Women of Christmas: Mary, Part 1

The Women of Christmas: Mary, Part 2

The Women of Christmas: Mary, Part 3 

The Women of Christmas: Elizabeth, Part 1

Women in the Life of Jesus: Elizabeth

"But 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."-Luke 1:13


Scripture where she is found: Luke 1

Her story:

Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist, and cousin to Mary the mother of Jesus.

Elizabeth was an old woman when the angel came to visit her husband Zacharias. The scriptures do not tell us how old she was, just that they were both “well advanced in years.”

The angel told Zacharias that they would have a son. Elizabeth had been unable to have a child, so when the angel Gabriel told Zacharias she would have a son now, he didn’t believe him. Due to his unbelief, he lost his ability to speak until the child was born.

In the 6th month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the angel Gabriel also came to visit Elizabeth’s cousin Mary, who was a young girl, and tells her she is also going to have a baby, but her pregnancy would come about in a different way, by the power of the Holy Spirit. While the angel was with Mary, he tells Mary about Elizabeth’s pregnancy, and Mary decides to go visit her cousin.



"Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” -Luke 1:39-45


My thoughts:

With God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). An old woman who was said to be barren conceives and has a baby. That means with God’s help, she could get pregnant and deliver a baby, even in old age.

The supernatural events that took place throughout the first few chapters of Luke are astounding. Angels were being seen, over and over again. And women were prophesying.

As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice, the baby (John) moved in Elizabeth’s tummy and she began to prophesy. The baby heard Mary’s voice. He knew whose voice it was. He knew whom she was carrying.

All of these things are amazing supernatural things of God.

I like it that the Holy Spirit was moving among just the women in this meeting. Mary goes on to prophesy and they both rejoice together over what God is doing.

I have to point out that I believe both of these women were already very familiar with the things of God, and what the Scriptures had to say, or else I don’t think God would have been able to use them in this way. Luke 1:6 says of Elizabeth and John.
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

They were also a picture of things to come, because in Jesus, all would be made righteous.







To read more posts in this series, go here to Women in the Life of Jesus.

To find out more about Elizabeth, check out The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs.

The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs

"As David once wrote, 'The Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng.' Amen to that!  Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna are among that mighty throng who've heard God's truth and gladly given him the glory."

-excerpt, Chapter 8, Women of Christmas

I love Christmas.  Each year it seems like I want to start celebrating earlier and earlier.  Reading Christmas literature is something I like to do to deepen the meaning of the season for me.  This year I started with The Women of Christmas by author Liz Curtis Higgs.

The Women of Christmas is a a detailed commentary of the story of Christmas as pertaining to three women, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and Anna, the prophetess who worshiped God day and night in the temple.  The book contains 8 chapters with a devotional/study guide at the back of the book for each chapter.

One of the first things I noticed about this book was the incredible amount of research the author has done.  It was amazing!  There are a lot of footnotes in this book, which I like.  I like to read a book and take away information about the Bible that I didn't know before.  In The Women of Christmas, Liz discusses things like the age of Elizabeth when she became pregnant with John the Baptist, the theory behind the possibility that Zechariah was also deaf along with being mute, and the very important encounter of Mary with the angel Gabriel. 

I really enjoyed this book.  I loved the research that was put into this.  That was the biggest thing for me.  I like it when an author does their homework.  I was a little disappointed with the book cover.  The dust jacket which serves as the cover is beautiful, but the book itself is plain and did not include the beauty you see on the dust jacket.  Also, I was a little confused about why the author chose to include information about Simeon in the book, other than to segue into her information about Anna. 

I recommend this book to anyone who would like to delve deeper into the Christmas story.  This book is a great one for study.  It would also be a great book for a Women's Bible study around Christmastime.

Many blessings to you as we make our way toward the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.,

Beth

Disclosure:  I received this book free as part of a free books for bloggers program at Waterbrook Multnomah.  I was not required to give a positive review.  The thoughts and opinions here are entirely my own.