Luke 1:24
And after those days his wife Elisabeth jconceived, and hid herself five months, saying,
And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,
Μετὰ δὲ ταύτας τὰς ἡμέρας συνέλαβεν Ἐλισάβετ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ περιέκρυβεν ἑαυτὴν μῆνας πέντε, λέγουσα
Textual key: no entry
j:
Genesis 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
Genesis 21:2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Genesis 25:21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Genesis 30:22 ¶And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
Genesis 30:23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
1 Samuel 1:19 ¶And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.
1 Samuel 1:20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.
Judges 13:5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Ver. 24,25. How long after those days the Scripture saith not, but it is probable it was soon after, as in the case of Abraham, and in the case of Manoah’s wife, Jud 13:3, who conceived presently after the revelation.
not that she hid herself from seeing any person, but she concealed from those whom she saw the hopes that she had of her being with child, and perhaps what her husband had let her know by writing of the revelation he had from the angel: not that she herself doubted the thing, that were unreasonable to presume, after the seeing of her husband made dumb for a sign of it, and the next words will let us know the contrary; but to avoid the discourse of people upon so unusual a thing, who might possibly think her too vain in speaking of a thing so improbable and unlikely as this was. In the mean time she did not conceal herself from God, but said,
ascribing it all to the power of God, who keepeth the key of the womb in his hand, and maketh the fruit of it his reward.
it is the same with Luk 1:48,
He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. The favour of God to his creatures is oft expressed under this notion, Psa 25:18 Psa 84:9 119:132.
To take away my reproach among men. Barrenness is no more than a reproach amongst men; it was more especially a reproach to Jewish women, not only in regard of the expectation of being the mother of the Messias, (for none could expect that but a virgin, Isa 7:14, and she of the tribe of Judah, to which the Messiah was promised, and one of the house of David, to whose family he was promised as a branch), but in regard of the special promise to Abraham, to whom a seed was promised, numerous as the dust, and as the stars, to which the barren woman could contribute nothing. It is a great mercy when God favoureth his people with any in evidences which take away their reproach amongst men, and a just cause for his people’s thankful acknowledgment.