Biblion Bible Commentary
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Gabriel and Mary
Luke 1:26-38
26 Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, · WEB
The same angel, the same form of announcement, a question that sounds like the priest's — and an entirely different answer.
Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth Luke 1:26.
Everything about the setting is a step down from the last scene. Not Jerusalem but Galilee; not the temple but Nazareth , a village of no consequence; not a priest on the day of his life but a girl not yet married. The same angel is sent to both.
To a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David's house. The virgin's name was Mary Luke 1:27. Betrothal was legally binding and lasted about a year before the bride was brought home. Her situation is stated plainly and twice, because everything in the paragraph turns on it.
"Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you" Luke 1:28. The greeting is what troubles her — she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be Luke 1:29. She is frightened by being addressed that way, not by the appearance, and the account says she thought about it. The first thing recorded of her is that she weighed what she was told.
"You have found favor with God" Luke 1:30. Favor found is not favor earned, and nothing in the passage offers a reason for the choice.
The announcement follows the same shape as the one in the temple — a son, a name given in advance, a mission — and then goes far past it. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom" Luke 1:32–33.
That is the promise made to David, quoted almost as it stands 2 Samuel 7:12–16, with one difference: the dynasty that failed and ended in exile is being restored in a person, and the reign has no end.
"How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?" Luke 1:34.
Her question and Zechariah's look alike on the page and are answered oppositely, which is the strongest evidence that they are not alike. He asked how can I be sure and was given a sign he had not asked for. She asks how can this be — not whether, but by what means — and is told.
"The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God" Luke 1:35. The verb overshadow is the one used of the cloud settling on the tabernacle Exodus 40:35. Nothing crude is described and nothing is explained; the presence that filled the tent is said to come, and the account stops there.
"Behold, Elizabeth your relative also has conceived a son in her old age... For nothing spoken by God is impossible" Luke 1:36–37. A sign is given anyway, unrequested — and it is a person she can go and see, which is what she does in the next verse.
"Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word" Luke 1:38.
The consent is the hinge of the chapter. She has just been told something that will cost her a reputation she cannot recover and may cost her the marriage, and she answers with the word for a household slave and asks for nothing. Zechariah left the sanctuary silent; Mary is left alone in a village with the whole weight of it, and the angel departs.
settled What this mark means