till Elijah - his memory for blessing! - come, as it is said, Mal. iv. 6,' &c. From this
isolated and enigmatic sentence, Professor Delitzsch's implied inference (Zeitschr. fur
Luther. Theol. 1875, p. 593) seems too sweeping.
Thus, from whatever source the narrative may be supposed to have been derived, its
details certainly differ, in almost all particulars, from the theological notions current at
the time. And the more Zacharias meditated on this in the long solitude of his enforced
silence, the more fully must new spiritual thoughts have come to him. As for Elisabeth,
those tender feelings of woman, which ever shrink from the disclosure of the dearest
secret of motherhood, were intensely deepened and sanctified in the knowledge of all that
had passed. Little as she might understand the full meaning of the future, it must have
been to her, as if she also now stood in the Holy Place, gazing towards the Veil which
concealed the innermost Presence. Meantime she was content with, nay, felt the need of,
absolute retirement from other fellowship than that of God and her own heart. Like her
husband, she too would be silent and alone - till another voice called her forth. Whatever
the future might bring, sufficient for the present, that thus the Lord had done to her, in
days in which He looked down to remove her reproach among men. The removal of that
burden, its manner, its meaning, its end, were all from God, and with God; and it was
fitting to be quite alone and silent, till God's voice would again wake the echoes within.
And so five months passed in absolute retirement.
Book II
FROM THE MANGER IN BETHLEHEM TO THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN
Chapter 4
THE ANNUNCIATION OF JESUS THE MESSIAH, AND THE BIRTH OF HIS
FORERUNNER
(St. Matthew 1; St. Luke 1:26-80)
FROM the Temple to Nazareth! It seems indeed most fitting that the Evangelic story
should have taken its beginning within the Sanctuary, and at the time of sacrifice. Despite
its outward veneration for them, the Temple, its services, and specially its sacrifices,
were, by an inward logical necessity, fast becoming a superfluity for Rabbinism. But the
new development, passing over the intruded elements, which were, a fter all, of
rationalistic origin, connected its beginning directly with the Old Testament dispensation
- its sacrifices, priesthood, and promises. In the Sanctuary, in connection with sacrifice,
and through the priesthood - such was significantly the beginning of the era of
fulfillment. And so the great religious reformation of Israel under Samuel had also begun
in the Tabernacle, which had so long been in the background. But if, even in this Temple-
beginning, and in the communication to, and selection of an idiot 'priest,' there was
marked divergence from the Rabbinic ideal, that difference widens into the sharpest