Songs of Christmas: Mary’s Song (2)

Pastor Ethan Kallberg

The Songs of Christmas • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Songs of Christmas: Mary’s Song

Luke 1:46-56

Newtown, CT Tragedy – 2 Peter 3:9 (NASB95) 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Acts 17:31 (NASB95) 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Revelation 20:11–13 (NASB95) 11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

Romans 8:28 (NASB95) 28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

End of the world Dec. 21st - Matthew 24:36 (NASB95) 36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

At least 1007 years from now.

Revelation 20:7–10 (NASB95) 7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9 And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

This song is called “The Magnificat” because the Latin version of Luke 1:46 is Magnificat anima mea Dominum.

What God did for Mary (vv. 46–49) 46 And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 “For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. 49 “For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. Her praise for What He did. Another way of putting this would be, “I never saw him so great as now I find him so good.” My soul … my spirit—“all that is within me” (Psalm 103:1 (NASB95)1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.). Praising work must be soul work. Matthew Henry

My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. God is called Saviour in the O.T. (Deuteronomy 32:15 (NASB95) 15 “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— You are grown fat, thick, and sleek— Then he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation. Psalm 24:5 (NASB95) 5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

In Titus Paul calls the Father “Savior” three times (cf. Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4). In every context he also calls Jesus “Savior” (cf. Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6).

By calling Him Savior, Mary recognized that the baby who was receiving life from her was the One who would give spiritual life to her. Her expression of what He did. He saw the low economic and social state in which she lived. Such a state would be short-lived. God had placed her in a state of blessing. Because of her son, humiliation would disappear.

How low is the condition on which, in our case, God has mercifully looked! We have been brought from a depth of moral poverty and been called blessed. The Result of what He did. She knew her Son would bring in a new order because he was the King that Israel was waiting for. For her this meant that she would be the mother of and a child of the King of the universe. The mother because she carried the child in her womb, and His child because she too would have to be born again. Both positions were far superior to our current status.

“the Mighty One” This reflects the Patriarchal name of God, El Shaddai, cf. Exodus 6:3 (NASB95) and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Lord (Yahwhey), I did not make Myself known to them.

Warren Wiersbe notes, Not only was God mindful of her, but He was also mighty for her. God is both mindful and mighty for us as well.

Application: ponder for a moment what God has done for you. Did you deserve to experience God’s favor? When you think about what he has done, do you feel praise radiating from your soul? [We recently got out some old videos of Charis shortly after she was born. We watched her taking a bath for the first time, opening presents on her first birthday, bouncing in a Johnny jump up, and banging on pots and pans. My heart welled up with gratitude to God for his goodness to me; I can’t imagine the praise that filled the heart of Mary.]

What God did for us (vv. 50–53) 50 “And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him. 51 “He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. 52 “He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. 53 “He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed. He helps the Helpless (50-51) 50. Mercy (ἔλεος). The word emphasizes the misery with which grace (see on ver. 30) deals; especially the sense of human wretchedness coupled with the impulse to relieve it. Bengel remarks, “Grace takes away the fault, mercy the misery.”

This is for all generations not just the one into which Jesus was born. Fear – reverence which stems from a concrete belief in God through experiencing His character. He helps the humble (52) Rulers (dynasties) – marvellously illustrated in the case of Mary’s Son, whose exaltation above all dynasties is the greatest fact in civilization. [Empires season 3: The Kingdom of David program, mostly wrong but did get one thing right – The Jewish empire is great not because they were so powerful militarily, but because they conquered with ideas.]

Exalted the humble – The grace of God works contrary to the thoughts and ways of this world system (1 Corinthians 1:26–27 (NASB95) 26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, He helps the hungry (53) Mary experienced this (53), and so do all who really hunger after God and righteousness. They have a beatitude always in store for them Matthew 5:6 (NASB95) 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Stanley Jones said, “the Magnificat is the most revolutionary document in the world.” As the Daily Bible Series points out, these verses speak of three revolutions of God. He scatters the proud in the plans of their hearts. That is a moral revolution. Christianity is the death of pride. Why? Because, if a man puts his life next to Christ in comparison, it tears the last bits of pride from him. Kennel Sometimes something happens to a man which with a vivid, revealing light shames him. O. Henry has a short story about a boy who was brought up in a village. In school he used to sit beside a girl and they were fond of each other. He went to the city and fell into evil ways. He became a pickpocket and a petty thief. One day he snatched an old lady’s purse. It was clever work and he was pleased. And then he saw coming down the street the girl whom he used to know, still sweet with the radiance of innocence. Suddenly he saw himself for the cheap, vile thing he was. Burning with shame, he leaned his head against the cool iron of a lamppost. “God,” he said, “I wish I could die.” He saw himself.

Christ enables a man to see himself. It is the deathblow to pride. The moral revolution has begun. He casts down the mighty—he exalts the humble. That is a social revolution. Christianity puts an end to the world’s labels and prestige. Muretus was a wandering scholar of the middle ages. He was poor. In an Italian town he took ill and was taken to a hospital for waifs and strays. The doctors were discussing his case in Latin, never dreaming he could understand. They suggested that since he was such a worthless wanderer they might use him for medical experiments. He looked up and answered them in their own learned tongue, “Call no man worthless for whom Christ died.” He has filled those who are hungry … those who are rich he has sent empty away That is an economic revolution. Those who are rich, who are not hungry, who, like Laodicea, think they have need of nothing, are full of themselves and their own righteousness, and think they have a sufficiency in themselves, those he sends away from his door, they are not welcome to him, he sends them empty away, they come full of self, and are sent away empty of Christ. He sends them to the gods whom they served, to their own righteousness and strength which they trusted to.

What God did for Israel (vv. 54–55) 54 “He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever.” 56 And Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her home. He has helped Israel Isaiah 63:11 (NASB95) 11 Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them,

He has remembered His Promises Conclusion (56)

James Fausset – “What an honored roof was that which, for such a period, overarched these cousins”

Mary then returned home. The Greek has the words “her home,” indicating that she was still a virgin and was not yet married to Joseph.1

An unmarried local girl comes down from the hills at least three months pregnant. Imagine the wagging heads, the rumor mill (not these days). It made no difference to Mary. God had confirmed his word for her. A baby leaped. The Spirit moved. Elizabeth blessed. God gave Mary a song of praise. Let the people say what they would. Mary was willing to bear any disgrace in order to become God’s instrument of grace.2

Application: Mary’s song contains quotations from and references to the Old Testament Scriptures, especially the Psalms and the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1–10. Mary hid God’s Word in her heart and coupled with her circumstances turned it into a song. Here was a poor girl who had memorized God’s Word so well that it flowed from her soul. May Mary’s godliness and devotion to God be an example to us.

As the celebration of Christ’s advent draws close, let us magnify God our Savior for what He’s done for us, what He’s done for the world, and what he has done for Israel. It will be our magnificat to the child who became a man and is now our Savior, our King, and our God.

1:46–49. Mary’s faith displayed itself in praise. In a song resembling Hannah’s in 1 Samuel 2, Mary praised God for his great acts for her. Her praise included two actions: giving glory to God and rejoicing in the presence and actions of God. The Lord had looked down on Mary with loving care. He saw the low economic and social state in which she lived. Such a state would be short-lived. God had placed her in a state of blessing. Because of her son, humiliation would disappear. From now on throughout all history people would recognize who she was and the state of blessing she occupied. She did nothing to earn or deserve this. The almighty God had caused it with his mighty acts. So praise him. Call him holy. See him as the transcendent God so uniquely pure and separated from sinful humans.

1:50–53. This holy one is not totally separated. He reaches down in mercy, finding in each generation people who worship him. He attacks the proud, removing them from political power and position. He pays careful, loving attention to the humble, raising them up to new positions of importance. The poor find food from him, while the rich are given nothing. No wonder the young virgin praised God.

1:54–55. Such praise reflected historical reality. The history of Israel tells the story of God’s mercy. Start with Genesis 12 and read onwards. Each page recalls tender, loving salvation for an undeserving people. Yes, God does what he promises (cf. v. 45).

1:56. Mary stayed until Elizabeth was ready to give birth to John (see v. 36), then she returned to her people. What a surprise for Nazareth! An unmarried local girl comes down from the hills at least three months pregnant. It made no difference to Mary. God had confirmed his word for her. A baby leaped. The Spirit moved. Elizabeth blessed. God gave her a song of praise. Let the people say what they would. Mary was willing to bear the disgrace in order to become God’s instrument of grace.3

The joy of Mary (vv. 46–56). Hers was a joy that compelled her to lift her voice in a hymn of praise. The fullness of the Spirit should lead to joyful praise in our lives (Eph. 5:18–20), and so should the fullness of the Word (Col. 3:16–17). Mary’s song contains quotations from and references to the Old Testament Scriptures, especially the Psalms and the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1–10. Mary hid God’s Word in her heart and turned it into a song.

This song is called “The Magnificat” because the Latin version of Luke 1:46 is Magnificat anima mea Dominum. Her great desire was to magnify the Lord, not herself. She used the phrase “He hath” eight times as she recounted what God had done for three recipients of His blessing.

What God did for Mary (vv. 46–49). To begin with, God had saved her (Luke 1:47), which indicates that Mary was a sinner like all of us and needed to trust the Lord for her eternal salvation. Not only had He saved her, but He had also chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah (Luke 1:48). He had “regarded” her, which means He was mindful of her and looked with favor on her. No doubt there were others who could have been chosen, but God chose her! The Lord had indeed showered His grace on her (see 1 Cor. 1:26–28).

Not only was God mindful of her, but He was also mighty for her, working on her behalf (Luke 1:49). Mary would have no problem singing “Great Things He Hath Done!” (see Luke 8:39; 1 Sam. 12:24; 2 Sam. 7:21–23; and Ps. 126:2–3) Because she believed God and yielded to His will, He performed a miracle in her life and used her to bring the Saviour into the world.

What God did for us (vv. 50–53). In the second stanza of her song, Mary included all of God’s people who fear Him from generation to generation. We have all received His mercy and experienced His help. Mary named three specific groups to whom God had been merciful: the helpless (Luke 1:51), the humble (Luke 1:52), and the hungry (Luke 1:53).

The common people of that day were almost helpless when it came to justice and civil rights. They were often hungry, downtrodden, and discouraged (Luke 4:16–19), and there was no way for them to “fight the system.” A secret society of patriotic Jewish extremists called “the zealots” used violent means to oppose Rome, but their activities made matters only worse.

Mary saw the Lord turning everything upside down: the weak dethrone the mighty, the humble scatter the proud, the nobodies are exalted, the hungry are filled, and the rich end up poor! The grace of God works contrary to the thoughts and ways of this world system (1 Cor. 1:26–28). The church is something like that band of men that gathered around David (1 Sam. 22:2).

What God did for Israel (vv. 54–55). “He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). In spite of Israel’s destitute condition, the nation was still God’s servant and He would help the people fulfill His purposes. God was on Israel’s side! He would remember His mercy and keep His promises (Ps. 98:1–3; also see Gen. 12:1–3; 17:19; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). Were it not for Israel, Jesus Christ could not have been born into the world.

Mary stayed with Elizabeth until John was born, and then she returned to Nazareth. By then, it was clear that she was pregnant, and no doubt the tongues began to wag. After all, she had been away from home for three months; and why, people were likely asking, had she left in such a hurry? It was then that God gave the good news to Joseph and instructed him what to do (Matt. 1:18–25).4

46. A magnificent canticle, in which the strain of Hannah’s ancient song, in like circumstances, is caught up, and just slightly modified and sublimed. Is it unnatural to suppose that the spirit of the blessed Virgin had been drawn beforehand into mysterious sympathy with the ideas and the tone of this hymn, so that when the life and fire of inspiration penetrated her whole soul it spontaneously swept the chorus of this song, enriching the Hymnal of the Church with that spirit-stirring canticle which has resounded ever since from its temple walls? In both songs, those holy women, filled with wonder to behold “the proud, the mighty, the rich,” passed by, and, in their persons the lowliest chosen to usher in the greatest events, sing of this as no capricious movement, but a great law of the kingdom of God, by which He delights to “put down the mighty from their seats and exalt them of low degree.” In both songs the strain dies away on Christ; in Hannah’s under the name of “Jehovah’s King”—to whom, through all His line, from David onwards to Himself, He will “give strength”; His “Anointed,” whose horn He will exalt (1Sa 2:10); in the Virgin’s song, it is as the “Help” promised to Israel by all the prophets.

My soul … my spirit—“all that is within me” (Ps 103:1).

47. my Saviour—Mary, poor heart, never dreamt, we see, of her own “immaculate conception”—in the offensive language of the Romanists—any more than of her own immaculate life.

54. holpen—Compare Ps 89:19, “I have laid help on One that is mighty.”

55. As he spake to our fathers—The sense requires this clause to be read as a parenthesis. (Compare Mic 7:20; Ps 98:3).

for ever—the perpetuity of Messiah’s kingdom, as expressly promised by the angel (Lu 1:33).

56. abode with her about three months—What an honored roof was that which, for such a period, overarched these cousins! and yet not a trace of it is now to be seen, while the progeny of those two women—the one but the honored pioneer of the other—have made the world new.

returned to her own house—at Nazareth, after which took place what is recorded in Mt 1:18–25.5

D. Mary Magnifies the Lord (1:46–56)

1:46–49 The Magnificat resembles Hannah’s song (1 Sam. 2:1–10). First, Mary praised the Lord for what He had done for her (vv. 46b–49). Notice that she said (v. 48) “all generations will call me blessed.” She would not be one who conferred blessings but one who would be blessed. She speaks of God as her Savior, disproving the idea that Mary was sinless.

1:50–53 Secondly, she praised the Lord for His mercy on those who fear Him in every generation. He puts down the proud and mighty, and exalts the lowly and hungry.

1:54, 55 Finally, she magnified the Lord for His faithfulness to Israel in keeping the promises He had made to Abraham and to his seed.

1:56 After staying with Elizabeth about three months, Mary returned to her own house in Nazareth. She was not yet married. No doubt she became the object of suspicion and slander in the neighborhood. But God would vindicate her; she could afford to wait.6

1:46-55. In response to the situation at hand Mary recited a song which praised God’s favor on her and her people. “The Magnificat,” as the song is called, consists almost entirely of Old Testament allusions and quotations. The same is true of the songs of Zechariah and Simeon (vv. 1:68-79; 2:29-32). Mary’s song has similarities to Hannah’s song (1 Sam. 2:1-10). First, Mary praised God for His special favor on her (Luke 1:46-50). Mary saw herself as part of the godly remnant that had served Yahweh. She called God my Savior (sōtēri mou) showing an intimate acquaintance with Him. She spoke of His faithfulness (v. 48), power (v. 49), holiness (v. 49), and mercy (v. 50). Second, Mary praised God for His special favor on Israel (vv. 51-55). Through the Child that she was to bear, God was being merciful to Abraham and his descendants. Mary was aware that the birth of her Child was a fulfillment of the covenant promises to Abraham and his people.

1:56. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months, apparently until John was born (cf. v. 36). Mary then returned home. The Greek has the words “her home,” indicating that she was still a virgin and was not yet married to Joseph.7

IV. Mary’s song of praise, upon this occasion. Elisabeth’s prophecy was an echo to the virgin Mary’s salutation, and this song is yet a stronger echo to that prophecy, and shows her to be no less filled with the Holy Ghost than Elisabeth was. We may suppose the blessed virgin to come in, very much fatigued with her journey; yet she forgets that, and is inspired with new life, and vigour, and joy, upon the confirmation she here meets with of her faith; and since, by the sudden inspiration and transport, she finds that this was designed to be her errand hither, weary as she is, like Abraham’s servant, she would neither eat nor drink till she had told her errand.

1. Here are the expressions of joy and praise, and God alone the object of the praise and centre of the joy. Some compare this song with that which her name-sake Miriam, the sister of Moses, sung, upon the triumphant departure of Israel out of Egypt, and their triumphant passage through the Red Sea; others think it better compared with the song of Hannah, upon the birth of Samuel, which, like this, passes from a family mercy to a public and general one. This begins, like that, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, 1 Sa. 2:1. Observe how Mary here speaks of God.

(1.) With great reverence of him, as the Lord: “My soul doth magnify the Lord; I never saw him so great as now I find him so good.’ ’ Note, Those, and those only, are advanced in mercy, who are thereby brought to think the more highly and honourably of God; whereas there are those whose prosperity and preferment make them say, What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? The more honour God has any way put upon us, the more honour we must study to give to him; and then only are we accepted in magnifying the Lord, when our souls magnify him, and all that is within us. Praising work must be soul work.

(2.) With great complacency in him as her Saviour: My spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour. This seems to have reference to the Messiah, whom she was to be the mother of. She calls him God her Saviour; for the angel had told her that he should be the Son of the Highest, and that his name should be Jesus, a Saviour; this she fastened upon, with application to herself: He is God my Saviour. Even the mother of our Lord had need of an interest in him as her Saviour, and would have been undone without it: and she glories more in that happiness which she had in common with all believers than in being his mother, which was an honour peculiar to herself, and this agrees with the preference Christ have to obedient believers above his mother and brethren; see Mt. 12:50; Lu. 11:27, 28. Note, Those that have Christ for their God and Saviour have a great deal of reason to rejoice, to rejoice in spirit, that is rejoicing as Christ did (Lu. 10:21), with spiritual joy.

2. Here are just causes assigned for this joy and praise.

(1.) Upon her own account, v. 48, 49. [1.] Her spirit rejoiced in the Lord, because of the kind things he had done for her: his condescension and compassion to her. He has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden; that is, he has looked upon her with pity, for so the word is commonly used. “He has chosen me to this honour, notwithstanding my great meanness, poverty, and obscurity.’ ’ Nay, the expression seems to intimate, not only (to allude to that of Gideon, Jdg. 6:15) that her family was poor in Judah, but that she was the least in her father’s house, as if she were under some particular contempt and disgraced among her relations, was unjustly neglected, and the outcast of the family, and God put this honour upon her, to balance abundantly the contempt. I the rather suggest this, for we find something toward such honour as this put upon others, on the like consideration. Because God saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, Gen. 29:31. Because Hannah was provoked, and made to fret, and insulted over, by Peninnah, therefore God gave her a son, 1 Sa. 1:19. Whom men wrongfully depress and despise God doth sometimes, in compassion to them, especially if they have borne it patiently, prefer and advance; see Jdg. 11:7. So in Mary’s case. And, if God regards her low estate, he not only thereby gives a specimen of his favour to the whole race of mankind, whom he remembers in their low estate, as the psalmist speaks (Ps. 136:23), but secures a lasting honour to her (for such the honour is that God bestows, honour that fades not away): “From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed, shall think me a happy woman and highly advanced.’ ’ All that embrace Christ and his gospel will say, Blessed was the womb that bore him and the paps which he sucked, Lu. 11:27. Elizabeth had once and again called her blessed: “But that is not all,’ ’ saith she, “all generations of Gentiles as well as Jews shall call me so.’ ’ [2.] Her soul magnifies the Lord, because of the wonderful things he had done for her (v. 49): He that is mighty has done to me great things. A great thing indeed, that a virgin should conceive. A great thing indeed, that Messiah, who had been so long promised to the church, and so long expected by the church, should now at length be born. It is the power of the Highest that appears in this. She adds, and holy is his name; for so Hannah saith her song, There is none holy as the Lord, which she explains in the next words, for there is none beside thee, 1 Sa. 2:2. God is a Being by himself, and he manifests himself to be so, especially in the work of our redemption. He that is mighty, even he whose name is holy, has done to me great things. Glorious things may be expected from him that is both mighty and holy; who can do every thing, and will do every thing well and for the best.

(2.) Upon the account of others. The virgin Mary, as the mother of the Messiah, is become a kind of public person, wears a public character, and is therefore immediately endued with another spirit, a more public spirit than before she had, and therefore looks abroad, looks about her, looks before her, and takes notice of God’s various dealings with the children of men (v. 50, etc.), as Hannah (1 Sa. 2:3, etc.). In this she has especially an eye to the coming of the Redeemer and God’s manifesting himself therein.

[1.] It is a certain truth that God has mercy in store, mercy in reserve, for all that have a reverence for his majesty, and a due regard to his sovereignty and authority. But never did this appear so as in sending his Son into the world to save us (v. 50): His mercy is on them that fear him; it has always been so; he has ever looked upon them with an eye of peculiar favour who have looked up to him with and eye of filial fear. But he hath manifested this mercy, so as never before, in sending his Son to bring in an everlasting righteousness, and work out an everlasting salvation, for them that fear him, and this from generation to generation; for there are gospel privileges transmitted by entail, and intended for perpetuity. Those that fear God, as their Creator and Judge, are encouraged to hope for mercy in him, through their Mediator and Advocate; and in him mercy is settled upon all that fear God, pardoning mercy, healing mercy, accepting mercy, crowning mercy, from generation to generation, while the world stands. In Christ he keepeth mercy for thousands.

[2.] It has been a common observation that God in his providence puts contempt upon the haughty and honour upon the humble; and this he has done remarkably in the whole economy of the work of man’s redemption. As God had, with his mercy to her, shown himself mighty also (v. 48, 49), so he had, with his mercy on them that fear him, shown strength likewise with his arm. First, In the course of his providence, it is his usual method to cross the expectations of men, and proceed quite otherwise than they promise themselves. Proud men expect to carry all before them, to have their way and their will; but he scatters them in the imagination of their hearts, breaks their measures, blasts their projects, nay, and brings them low, and brings them down, by those very counsels with which they thought to advance and establish themselves. The mighty think to secure themselves by might in their seats, but he puts them down, and overturns their seats; while, on the other hand, those of low degree, who despaired of ever advancing themselves, and thought of no other than of being ever low, are wonderfully exalted. This observation concerning honour holds likewise concerning riches; many who were so poor that they had not bread for themselves and their families, by some surprising turn of Providence in favour of them, come to be filled with good things; while, on the other hand, those who were rich, and thought no other than that to-morrow should be as this day, that their mountain stood strong and should never be moved, are strangely impoverished, and sent away empty. Now this is the same observation that Hannah had made, and enlarged upon, in her song, with application to the case of herself and her adversary (1 Sa. 2:4–7), which very much illustrates this here. And compare also Ps. 107:33–41; 113:7–9; and Eccl. 9:11. God takes a pleasure in disappointing their expectations who promise themselves great things in the world, and in out-doing the expectations of those who promise themselves but a little; as a righteous God, it is his glory to abase those who exalt themselves, and strike terror on the secure; and, as a good God, it is his glory to exalt those who humble themselves, and to speak comfort to those who fear before him. Secondly, This doth especially appear in the methods of gospel grace.

1. In the spiritual honours it dispenses. When the proud Pharisees were rejected, and Publicans and sinners went into the kingdom of heaven before them,—when the Jews, who followed after the law of righteousness, did not attain it, and the Gentiles, who never thought of it, attained to righteousness (Rom. 9:30, 31),—when God chose not the wise men after the flesh, not the mighty, or the noble, to preach the gospel, and plant Christianity in the world, but the foolish and weak things of the world, and things that were despised (1 Co. 1:26, 27)—then he scattered the proud, and put down the mighty, but exalted them of low degree. When the tyranny of the chief priests and elders were brought down, who had long lorded it over God’s heritage, and hoped always to do so, and Christ’s disciples, a company of poor despised fishermen, by the power they were clothed with, were made to sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,—when the power of the four monarchies was broken, and the kingdom of the Messiah, that stone cut out of the mountain without hands, is made to fill the earth,—then are the proud scattered, and those of low degree exalted.

2. In the spiritual riches it dispenses, v. 53. (1.) Those who see their need of Christ, and are importunately desirous of righteousness and life in him, he fills with good things, with the best things; he gives liberally to them, and they are abundantly satisfied with the blessings he gives. Those who are weary and heavy-laden shall find rest with Christ, and those who thirst are called to come to him and drink; for they only know how to value his gifts. To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet, manna is angels’ food; and to the thirsty fair water is honey out of the rock. (2.) Those who are rich, who are not hungry, who, like Laodicea, think they have need of nothing, are full of themselves and their own righteousness, and think they have a sufficiency in themselves, those he sends away from his door, they are not welcome to him, he sends them empty away, they come full of self, and are sent away empty of Christ. He sends them to the gods whom they served, to their own righteousness and strength which they trusted to.

[3.] It was always expected that the Messiah should be, in a special manner, the strength and glory of his people Israel, and so he is in a peculiar manner (v. 54): He hath helped his servant Israel, antelabeto. He hath taken them by the hand, and helped them up that were fallen and could not help themselves. Those that were sunk under the burdens of a broken covenant of innocency are helped up by the blessings of a renewed covenant of grace. The sending of the Messiah, on whom help was laid for poor sinners, was the greatest kindness that could be done, the greatest help that could be provided for his people Israel, and that which magnifies it is,

First, That it is in remembrance of his mercy, the mercifulness of his nature, the mercy he has in store for his servant Israel. While this blessing was deferred, his people, who waited for it, were often ready to ask, Has God forgotten to be gracious? But now he made it appear that he had not forgotten, but remembered, his mercy. He remembered his former mercy, and repeated that to them in spiritual blessings which he had done formerly to them in temporal favours. He remembered the days of old. Where is he that brought them up out of the sea, out of Egypt? Isa. 63:11. He will do the like again, which that was a type of.

Secondly, That it is in performance of his promise. It is a mercy not only designed, but declared (v. 55); it was what he spoke to our fathers, that the Seed of the woman should break the head of the serpent; that God should dwell in the tents of Shem; and particularly to Abraham, that in his seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed, with the best of blessings, with the blessings that are for ever, and to the seed that shall be for ever; that is, his spiritual seed, for his carnal seed were cut off a little after this. Note, What God has spoken he will perform; what he hath spoken to the fathers will be performed to their seed; to their seed’s seed, in blessings that shall last for ever.

Lastly, Mary’s return to Nazareth (v. 56), after she had continued with Elisabeth about three months, so long as to be fully satisfied concerning herself that she was with child, and to be confirmed therein by her cousin Elisabeth. Some think, though her return is here mentioned before Elisabeth’s being delivered, because the evangelist would finish this passage concerning Mary before he proceeded with the story of Elisabeth, yet that Mary staid till her cousin was (as we say) down and up again; that she might attend on her, and be with her in her lying-in, and have her own faith confirmed by the full accomplishment of the promise of God concerning Elisabeth. But most bind themselves to the order of the story as it lies, and think she returned again when Elisabeth was near her time; because she still affected retirement, and therefore would not be there when the birth of this child of promise would draw a great deal of company to the house. Those in whose hearts Christ is formed take more delight than they used to do in sitting alone and keeping silence.8

1:46–47. Verses 46–55 emphasize the exaltation of the poor and humble and the casting down of the proud and wealthy. This emphasis of Mary’s song strongly resembles the praise song of Samuel’s mother, Hannah, in 1 Samuel 2:1–10; Hannah celebrated when the Lord opened her barren womb. (Luke omits the imagery of military triumph that Hannah had applied to her rivalry with Peninnah.) Hebrew poetry commonly uses synonymous parallelism (in which a second line reiterates the statement of the first); thus “soul” and “spirit” are used interchangeably here, as often in Scripture; joy and praise are also linked (cf. Ps 33:1; 47:1; 95:2; 149:1–5).

1:48. The Old Testament spoke of those who obeyed God, especially the prophets, as God’s servants. It also emphasized God’s exalting the humble and reveals the importance ancient culture placed on one’s honor and name enduring after one’s death.

1:49–50. In verse 50 Mary alludes to Psalm 103:17, which in context emphasizes God’s faithfulness, in spite of human frailty, to those who fear him.

1:51. This is the language of vindication through judgment; often in the Old Testament, God’s “arm” would save his people and “scatter” their (his) enemies. Mary weaves together the language of various psalms.

1:52–53. The principle that God exalts the humble and casts down the proud was common in the Old Testament (e.g., Prov 3:34; Is 2:11–12, 17; cf. Ecclus 10:14). “Filling the hungry” comes from Psalm 107:9, where God helps those in distress, because he is merciful.

1:54–55. God had promised to be faithful to his people Israel forever, because of the eternal covenant he had made by oath with their ancestor Abraham (e.g., Deut 7:7–8). Israel is God’s “servant” in Isaiah 42–49 (cf. comment on Mt 12:15–18).

1:56. Although ancient texts sometimes speak of pregnancy as lasting ten months, it was known that it normally lasted nine; the three months mentioned here plus the six of verse 26 suggest that Mary was present long enough to see John’s birth.9

The song of Mary (1:46–56)

This song is the outpouring of praise from a humble heart. When we think of how many people have tried to make Mary almost a goddess (‘Queen of Heaven’), this song reveals that her focus is not on herself, but on the blessings granted to her. Her opening words are beautiful: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour …’ (v. 46). Mary wanted God to have all the praise. Some have claimed that, in order to give birth to the Lord Jesus, Mary must have been without sin. Yet she calls God her ‘Saviour’, thus recognizing that she herself was a sinner whom God had saved.

Mary’s song introduces us to the saving work of the Lord Jesus—the one who would minister particularly among the poor, the humble and the unknown.10

II. The inspiration of Mary. (Vers. 46–55.) We have in the Magnificat of Mary the noblest of Christian hymns. There are traces of such earlier efforts as Hannah’s prayer; but this only brings out the continuity of the revelation, and in no way affects the originality of Mary’s inspiration. And here let us notice: 1. How God is the Source of Mary’s joy. It is not in herself she rejoices, but in God as her Saviour. This is the great fact we have all got to realize—that our Saviour, not our state, is the fountain of joy. And when we consider his power, and his revealed purposes, and the course of his redeeming love, we must acknowledge that there is in him abundant reason for our joy. Mary felt in body, soul, and spirit the joy of her Lord. 2. Mary recognizes in her own selection the condescending love of God. It is not those the world would select as instruments whom God chooses. The world selects the rich. God chooses “the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him” (Jas. 2:5); so here Mary signalizes her “low estate” as magnifying her Lord’s condescending love. How beautiful a spirit to cultivate! Instead of the honour done her unduly exalting her, it only leads her to adore the Divine condescension in stooping to such as she was. 3. She believes in her everlasting fame. She knows that the Incarnation will prove such a stupendous fact that all generations will call her blessed. As the mother of Messiah, she cannot but have the homage of all coming generations. She ought consequently to be with all of us “the blessed mother of the Christ of God.” 4. She feels herself the subject of great mercy from the Holy One. And is this not the acknowledgment which all God’s people may make? Hath he not done great things for all his people, whereof they are glad (Ps. 126:1)? 5. She takes the widest views of God’s dealings with others. Thus she recognizes: (1) That those who fear God receive his mercy in every generation. (Ver. 50.) This is the law of mercy—it is given to those who fear God. It was never meant to encourage men in recklessness or presumption. (2) The proud experience his dispersive power. (Ver. 51.) This is brought out in history. The Jewish captivities, their present dispersion, “the decline and fall of the Roman Empire,” and many a judgment since, have been illustrations of this line of procedure on the part of the Most High. (3) The deposition of rulers and the exaltation of the humble. (Ver. 52.) Mary is here speaking of the usurpers in Palestine, and the exaltation of those they despised. The law was marvellously illustrated in the case of Mary’s Son, whose exaltation above all dynasties is the greatest fact in civilization (cf. δυνάστας of ver. 52). (4) The satisfaction of the needy, and the disappointment of the rich. (Ver. 53.) Here is another aspect of the law of the Divine dealings. Those who feel their need, and hunger after satisfaction, receive it from God. Mary experienced this, and so do all who really hunger after God and righteousness. They have a beatitude always in store for them (Matt. 5:6). On the other hand, those who are rich, that is, who feel independent and will not look to the Lord for help, who have, in short, “received their consolation,” are sent empty away. Disappointment sooner or later becomes their portion. This was the experience of Pharisee and Sadducee and all the well-to-do and self-righteous classes in our Lord’s time. And undoubtedly the arrangement is just. (5) The fidelity of God to his covenant with Israel. (Vers. 54, 55.) In the Incarnation God was sending real help to his people. It was the crowning act of mercy, and the fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham and his seed. Mary thus began with God’s holiness, and passed in review his power, his mercy, and finally his faithfulness. All these are illustrated pre eminently in the Incarnation.

III. These inspiration present to us the character of the gospel. For we have before us two lowly women, deep in their self-abasement. The self-righteous spirit has been annihilated within them, and they are thus fitted to be God’s instruments. Secondly, we find them maintaining this beautiful spirit after they have become the special objects of the Divine favour. Grace does not spoil them, but provokes within them gratitude. They abound in praise, not in pride. Thirdly, they enter into hopes for their people and the world, as well as for themselves. It is so with real Christians. They become of necessity large-hearted. The inspirations received lead to outbursts of joyful anticipation for all the world. The assertion of Luke that Mary returned home (ver. 56) does not necessarily imply that she did not wait for John’s birth and circumcision. The probabilities are in favour of supposing that she did so wait, and received the additional consolations which the song of Zacharias was so fitted to bring. Strengthened by her long visit to Elisabeth, she would be the better able to go back to Nazareth and brave all suspicion there. God, by a special communication, made Joseph’s suspicion altogether to cease, and Mary was taken by him as wife, instead of being privately divorced. The Virgin’s trust in God smoothing her way was thus gloriously fulfilled (Matt. 1:18–25), and she found herself passing onwards upon a path of peace towards that signal influence and power which she has exercised among men.—R. M. E.11

A WONDROUS HYMN

Luke 1:46–56

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has exulted in God, my Saviour, because he looked graciously on the humble estate of his servant. For—look you—from now on all generations shall call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me and his name is holy. His mercy is from generation to generation to those who fear him. He demonstrates his power with his arm. He scatters the proud in the plans of their hearts. He casts down the mighty from their seats of power. He exalts the humble. He fills those who are hungry with good things and he sends away empty those who are rich. He has helped Israel, his son, in that he has remembered his mercy—as he said to our fathers that he would—to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Here we have a passage which has become one of the great hymns of the church-the Magnificat. It is saturated in the Old Testament; and is specially kin to Hannah’s song of praise in 1 Samuel 2:1–10. It has been said that religion is the opiate of the people; but, as Stanley Jones said, “the Magnificat is the most revolutionary document in the world.”

It speaks of three of the revolutions of God.

(i) He scatters the proud in the plans of their hearts. That is a moral revolution. Christianity is the death of pride. Why? Because if a man sets his life beside that of Christ it tears the last vestiges of pride from him.

Sometimes something happens to a man which with a vivid, revealing light shames him. O. Henry has a short story about a lad who was brought up in a village. In school he used to sit beside a girl and they were fond of each other. He went to the city and fell into evil ways. He became a pickpocket and a petty thief. One day he snatched an old lady’s purse. It was clever work and he was pleased. And then he saw coming down the street the girl whom he used to know, still sweet with the radiance of innocence. Suddenly he saw himself for the cheap, vile thing he was. Burning with shame, he leaned his head against the cool iron of a lamp standard. “God,” he said, “I wish I could die.” He saw himself.

Christ enables a man to see himself. It is the deathblow to pride. The moral revolution has begun.

(ii) He casts down the mighty—he exalts the humble. That is a social revolution. Christianity puts an end to the world’s labels and prestige.

Muretus was a wandering scholar of the middle ages. He was poor. In an Italian town he took ill and was taken to a hospital for waifs and strays. The doctors were discussing his case in Latin, never dreaming he could understand. They suggested that since he was such a worthless wanderer they might use him for medical experiments. He looked up and answered them in their own learned tongue, “Call no man worthless for whom Christ died.”

When we have realized what Christ did for all men, it is no longer possible to speak about a common man. The social grades are gone.

(iii) He has filled those who are hungry … those who are rich he has sent empty away. That is an economic revolution. A non-Christian society is an acquisitive society where each man is out to amass as much as he can get. A Christian society is a society where no man dares to have too much while others have too little, where every man must get only to give away.

There is loveliness in the Magnificat but in that loveliness there is dynamite. Christianity begets a revolution in each man and revolution in the world.12

Mary’s faith-response is even more striking when we realize that, according to Old Testament Law, her pregnancy while still single might well be dealt with by stoning! And certainly her fiancé, who would know the child was not his, would hardly go through with the marriage. Yet all these things Mary was willing to trust God to work out!

Instead of worry, joy filled Mary’s heart And her praise song, known as the Magnificat (vv. 46–55), was filled with praise for God and with a vivid awareness of His greatness and love. What was Mary’s vision of God?

[He] has done great things (v. 49).

Holy is His name (v. 49).

His mercy extends to those who fear Him (v. 50).

He has performed mighty deeds (v. 51).

[He] has lifted up the humble (v. 52).

He has filled the hungry (v. 53).

Mary knew God as a God of power and a God of concern, the One who cares enough for the humble and the hungry to reach down and to meet human need.

Perhaps this helps to explain Mary’s response to the Lord. She had a clear vision of who God is. She knew Him as a God who cares … who cares enough to act. May we each know God so well!

♥ Link to Life: Youth / Adult

Ask each group member to jot down three images that he or she has of what God is like. Then read Mary’s Magnificat, and jot down her images of what God is like. Compare: How are the two visions of God alike? How do they differ?13

1:46–47 “soul … spirit” These two terms (psuchē and pneuma) are in a parallel relationship; therefore these are synonymous (as are “Lord” and “God my Savior”). Man is a unity, not a dichotomy or trichotomy (cf. Gen. 2:7). This is a controversial issue, so I would like to insert the note from my commentary on I Thess. 5:23:

“This is not an ontological dichotomy in mankind, but a dual relationship to both this planet and to God. The Hebrew word nephesh is used of both mankind and the animals in Genesis, while spirit (ruah) is used uniquely of mankind. This is not a proof-text on the nature of mankind as a three-part (trichotomous) being. Mankind is primarily represented in the Bible as a unity (cf. Gen. 2:7). For a good summary of the theories of mankind as trichotomous, dichotomous, or a unity, see Millard J. Erickson’s Christian Theology (second edition) pp. 538–557; Frank Stagg’s Polarities of Man’s Existence in Biblical Perspective (p. 133) and W. T. Conner, Revelation and God, pp. 50–51.”

“exalts … rejoiced” The first is PRESENT TENSE. The second is AORIST TENSE. It is possible that the first phrase refers to the unborn Messiah and the second phrase to Mary’s faith in YHWH.

1:46 “Mary” There is an interesting discussion about which name—(1) Mary, (2) Elizabeth, or (3) no name at all—appeared in the original autograph. All Greek witnesses have “Mary” (spelled two different ways), but three Latin texts and comments by Irenaeus and Jerome, commenting on Origen’s notes, have given rise to speculation. For further information, see Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, pp. 130–131.

1:47 “God my Savior” Mary recognizes her need for a savior!

As there has been an ambiguity in the use of Lord (kurios), possibly referring to YHWH or the Messiah, it is interesting to me how this possibly “purposeful” ambiguity continues throughout the NT. The Trinitarian aspect of God’s nature unifies the Father and the Son.

In Paul’s letter to Titus he calls the Father “Savior” three times (cf. Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4). In every context he also calls Jesus “Savior” (cf. Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6).

1:48 “humble state” God chose a young peasant girl to be the Messiah’s mother (cf. Gen. 3:15). Isn’t that just like God! He is in control. He will be magnified. He does not need human merit or performance. He will bring redemption!

“will call me blessed” Elizabeth has already blessed her younger relative twice (cf. vv. 42, 45). This will be repeated throughout time because of the significance of her Son!

1:49 “the Mighty One” This reflects the Patriarchal name of God, El Shaddai (cf. Exod. 6:3).

“holy is His name” See Special Topic at 1:35.

1:50 “His mercy is upon generation after generation” This is an OT allusion to YHWH’s unchanging character of mercy and covenant loyalty toward those who believe (cf. Deut. 5:10; 7:9; Ps. 103:17).

“fear Him” This means to respect or revere Him, to keep Him in a place of awe (of God in Acts 9:31; of government officials in Rom. 13:7; of slave owners in I Pet. 2:18).

1:51 “He has done mighty deeds with His arm” This is an anthropomorphic phrase. God does not have a physical body. It is used in the Bible to describe God’s power to act (cf. Ps. 98:1; 118:15–16; Isa. 51:9; 52:10). Often Jesus is depicted at the Father’s right hand (cf. Matt. 22:44; 26:64; Luke 20:42; 22:69; Acts 2:33, 34; 5:31; 7:55, 56).

“He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart” This reflects YHWH’s actions in the OT recorded in the Septuagint (cf. Num. 10:35; Deut. 30:1, 3; Jer. 51:20–22). God’s ways are so different from mankind’s ways (cf. Isa. 55:8–9). He exalts those who are weak, powerless, and humble, like Mary (cf. Luke 10:21).

The Greek term for “proud” (huperēphanos) is used often in Isaiah (cf. LXX 1:25; 2:12; 13:11; 29:20).

“heart” See Special Topic below.

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HEART

The Greek term kardia is used in the Septuagint and NT to reflect the Hebrew term lēb. It is used in several ways (cf. Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich and Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon, pp. 403–404).

1. the center of physical life, a metonymy for the person (cf. Acts 14:17; II Corinthians 3:2–3; James 5:5)

2. the center of spiritual (moral) life

a. God knows the heart (cf. Luke 16:15; Rom. 8:27; I Cor. 14:25; I Thess. 2:4; Rev. 2:23)

b. used of mankind’s spiritual life (cf. Matt. 15:18–19; 18:35; Rom. 6:17; I Tim. 1:5; II Tim. 2:22; I Pet. 1:22)

3. the center of the thought life (i.e. intellect, cf. Matt. 13:15; 24:48; Acts 7:23; 16:14; 28:27; Rom. 1:21; 10:6; 16:18; II Cor. 4:6; Eph. 1:18; 4:18; James 1:26; II Pet. 1:19; Rev. 18:7) “heart” is synonymous with mind in II Cor. 3:14–15 and Phil. 4:7)

4. the center of the volition (i.e. will, cf. Acts 5:4; 11:23; I Cor. 4:5; 7:37; II Cor. 9:7)

5. the center of the emotions (cf. Matt. 5:28; Acts 2:26, 37; 7:54; 21:13; Rom. 1:24; II Cor. 2:4; 7:3; Eph. 6:22; Phil. 1:7)

6. unique place of the Spirit’s activity (cf. Rom. 5:5; II Cor. 1:22; Gal. 4:6 [i.e. Christ in our hearts, Eph. 3:17])

7. The heart is a metaphorical way of referring to the entire person (cf. Matt. 22:37, quoting Deut. 6:5). The thoughts, motives, and actions attributed to the heart fully reveal the type of individual. The OT has some striking usages of the terms

a. Gen. 6:6; 8:21, “God was grieved to His heart” (also notice Hosea 11:8–9)

b. Deut. 4:29; 6:5, “with all your heart and all your soul”

c. Deut. 10:16, “uncircumcised heart” and Rom. 2:29

d. Ezek. 18:31–32, “a new heart”

e. Ezek. 36:26, “a new heart” vs. “a heart of stone”

1:52 This is parallel to v. 51, as is v. 53.

1:53 This is a quote from Ps. 107:9. The same concept is found in Ps. 146:7–9. God’s ways are not man’s ways (cf. Isa. 55:8–11).

1:54 “to Israel His servant” The term “servant” was originally used in the OT as an honorific title for leaders (e.g. Moses, Joshua, David).

It came to be used in a collective sense for Israel, especially in the Servant Songs of Isaiah (cf. 41:8–9; 42:18–19; 43:10). This collective sense is personified in an ideal Israelite (the Messiah in Isa. 42:1; 52:13–53:12).

“In remembrance of His mercy” God is and has been faithful to Israel because of His unchanging character (cf. Mal. 3:6) of mercy and covenant love (Hebrew hesed).

1:55 This verse emphasizes the call of Abraham (cf. Gen. 12, 15, 17) and his descendants who will provide a family and a nation for the Messiah. Jesus is the fulfillment of “the seed” of Abraham (cf. Rom. 2:28–20; Gal. 3:15–19).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1:56

56And Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her home.

1:56 “then returned to her home” Obviously to face ridicule. Belief always costs!

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1:57–58

57Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. 58Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.14

Luke 1:46

Doth magnify (μεγαλυνει [megalunei]). Latin, magnificat. Harnack argues that this is also the song of Elisabeth because a few Latin MSS. have it so, but Mary is correct. She draws her material from the O.T. and sings in the noblest strain.

Luke 1:47

Hath rejoiced (ἠγαλλιασεν [ēgalliasen]). This is aorist active indicative. Greek tenses do not correspond to those in English. The verb ἀγαλλιαω [agalliaō] is a Hellenistic word from the old Greek ἀγαλλω [agallō]. It means to exult. See the substantive ἀγαλλιασις [agalliasis] in Luke 1:14, 44. Mary is not excited like Elisabeth, but breathes a spirit of composed rapture. My spirit (το πνευμα μου [to pneuma mou]). One need not press unduly the difference between “soul” (ψυχη [psuchē]) in verse 46 and “spirit” here. Bruce calls them synonyms in parallel clauses. Vincent argues that the soul is the principle of individuality while the spirit is the point of contact between God and man. It is doubtful, however, if the trichotomous theory of man (body, soul, and spirit) is to be insisted on. It is certain that we have an inner spiritual nature for which various words are used in Mark 12:30. Even the distinction between intellect, emotions, and will is challenged by some psychologists. God my Saviour (τῳ θεῳ τῳ σοτηρι μου [tōi theōi tōi sotēri mou]). Article with each substantive. God is called Saviour in the O.T. (Deut. 32:15; Psa. 24:5; 95:1).

Luke 1:48

The low estate (την ταπεινωσιν [tēn tapeinōsin]). The bride of a carpenter and yet to be the mother of the Messiah. Literal sense here as in 1:52. Shall call me blessed (μακαριουσιν με [makariousin me]). So-called Attic future of an old verb, to felicitate. Elisabeth had already given her a beatitude (μακαρια [makaria], 1:45). Another occurs in 11:27. But this is a very different thing from the worship of Mary (Mariolatry) by Roman Catholics. See my The Mother of Jesus: Her Problems and Her Glory.

Luke 1:50

Fear (φοβουμενοις [phoboumenois]). Dative of the present middle participle. Here it is reverential fear as in Acts 10:2; Col. 3:22. The bad sense of dread appears in Matt. 21:46; Mark 6:20; Luke 12:4.

Luke 1:51

Showed strength (ἐποιησεν κρατος [epoiēsen kratos]). “Made might” (Wycliff). A Hebrew conception as in Psa. 118:15. Plummer notes six aorist indicatives in this sentence (51–63), neither corresponding to our English idiom, which translates here by “hath” each time. Imagination (διανοιᾳ [dianoiāi]). Intellectual insight, moral understanding.

Luke 1:52

Princes (δυναστας [dunastas]). Our word dynasty is from this word. It comes from δυναμαι [dunamai], to be able.

Luke 1:54

Hath holpen (ἀντελαβετο [antelabeto]). Second aorist middle indicative. A very common verb. It means to lay hold of with a view to help or succour. Servant (παιδος [paidos]). Here it means “servant,” not “son” or “child,” its usual meaning.15

46. Said (εἶπεν). Simply. Compare ver. 42. “Elizabeth’s salutation was full of excitement, but Mary’s hymn breathes a sentiment of deep inward repose” (Godet). Compare the song of Hannah (1 Sam. 2). Hannah’s song differs from Mary’s in its sense of indignation and personal triumph compared with Mary’s humility and calmness.

My soul — spirit (ψυχή — πνεῦμα). See on Mark 12:30. The soul is the principle of individuality, the seat of personal impressions, having a side in contact with the material element of humanity, as well as with the spiritual element. It is thus the mediating organ between the spirit and the body, receiving impressions from without and from within, and transmitting them by word or sign. Spirit is the highest, deepest, noblest part of our humanity, the point of contact between God and man.

47. God my Saviour (τῷ θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρί μου). Note the two articles. “The God who is the or my Saviour.” The title Saviour is often applied to God in the Old Testament. See Septuagint, Deut. 32:15; Ps. 24:5; 25:5; 95:1.

48. Regarded (ἐπέβλεψεν). See on Jas. 2:3. Compare 1 Sam. 1:11; Ps. 31:7; 119:132, Sept.

50. Mercy (ἔλεος). The word emphasizes the misery with which grace (see on ver. 30) deals; hence, peculiarly the sense of human wretchedness coupled with the impulse to relieve it, which issues in gracious ministry. Bengel remarks, “Grace takes away the fault, mercy the misery.”

From generation to generation (εἰς γενεὰς καὶ γενεὰς). Lit., as Rev., unto generations and generations.

Fear (φοβουμένος). The word is used in both a good and a bad sense in the New Testament. For the latter, see Matt. 21:46; Mark 6:20; 11:32; Luke 12:4. For the former, as here, in the sense of godly reverence, Acts 10:2, 22, 35; Col. 3:22; Apoc. 14:7; 15:4.

51. Shewed strength (ἐποίησεν κράτος). Lit., made strength. So Wyc., made might. A Hebrew form of expression. Compare Ps. 118:15, Sept.: “The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly” (ἐποίησε δύναμιν, made strength).

In the imagination (διανοίᾳ). The faculty of thought, understanding, especially moral understanding. Wyc. refers the word here to God: with mind of his heart. Some prefer to render “by the imagination,” thus making the proud the instrument of their own destruction. Compare 2 Cor. 10:5.

54. Hath holpen (ἀντελαβέτο). The verb means to lay hoid on: thence to grasp helpfully or to help. To lay hold in the sense of partaking (1 Tim. 6:2), carries us back to the primitive meaning of the word according to its composition: to receive instead of, or in return (ἀντὶ), and suggests the old phrase to take up for, espouse the cause of. Wyc., has took up, but probably not in this sense.

Servant (παιδὸς). Often child, son or daughter, but here servant, in allusion to Isa. 41:8. Meyer truthfully says that the theocratic notion of sonship is never expressed by παῖς. See Rev., Acts 3:13, 26; 4:27, 30.16

Vers. 39–56.—The two expectant mothers. I. The retirement. Elisabeth (ver. 24) had hidden herself when she knew that the promise of the angel would he fulfilled. Why she did so we are not told, but the language of ver. 26 suggests a religious motive. She was filled with gratitude, and she desired, perhaps, a season of holy rest and communion with God. “In silence and solitude,” says Thomas á Kempis, “the soul advantageth herself, and learneth the mysteries of Holy Scripture.” The same reason may partly have influenced Mary. But, besides this, there is no doubt that she wished to enjoy fellowship with her who alone could share her feeling, and with whom (ver. 36) her own prospect of motherhood was so intimately associated. Who can speak of the welcome, the salutations, the conferences, of the two cousins?

“O days of heaven and nights of equal praise,

Serene and peaceful as these heavenly days,

When souls, drawn upward in communion sweet,

Enjoy the stillness of some close retreat,

Discourse, as if released and safe at home,

Of evils past and danger yet to come,

And spread the sacred treasure of the breast

Upon the lap of covenanted rest!”

II. The song of Mary. Elisabeth, receiving Mary, speaks by the Holy Ghost. Mary had been told of her cousin’s condition, but Elisabeth had received no intimation of Mary’s. The arrival of the latter is the moment of special revelation. Elisabeth (ver. 42) lifts up her voice with a loud cry. The sound of Mary’s voice (ver. 44) had occasioned the prophetic impulse. She declares the Virgin the mother of her Lord, and in beautiful humility asks, “Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” And, it may be, feeling the contrast between the faith of the Virgin and the unhelief of her husband, she pronounces a blessing on her who had believed. Then, in response from Mary, comes the song which the Christian Church has incorporated into its liturgies, which it has regarded as the opening of that fountain of praise, that wonderful hymnology, which has made glad the city of God. With regard to this hymn—“the Magnificat,” as it is usually designated: 1. Compare it with the song of Hannah (1 Sam. 2). In both there is the same blending of personal gladness with the emotion and experience of the Church; the same losing of self in the sense of an unspeakable loving-kindness; the same boasting in the Lord as he who “fills the hungry with good things, and sends the rich empty away.” Mary was familiar with this song. Her thought would naturally take shape in utterance charged with its spirit and imagery, even as it represents the purest forms of Hebrew piety. Yet who can fail to see that her utterance is lifted to a higher plane, and is thrilled by a higher inspiration? 2. The song of Mary marks the transition from Old Testament to New Testament praise. The Old Testament is present, not only in the language employed throughout, but also (vers. 54, 55) in the earnest laying hold of the singular providence of God towards Israel, and the covenant made with Israel’s fathers—“with Abraham and his seed for ever.” But the germ of the New Testament is manifest in the special thanksgiving (vers. 48, 49). God the Saviour has appeared, and his might is to be declared in the Son because of whose birth all generations shall call her blessed. Thus the two covenants are united in all true Christian praise. The Old Testament is not a thing past; it is completed, and therefore more than ever one possession in Christ. “All the promises of God in him are yea.”

“Both theirs and ours thou art,

As we and they are thine;

Kings, prophets, patriarchs, all have part

Along the sacred line.”

3. Finally, the song of Mary illustrates Ps. 40:1–8: whose waits patiently for the Lord will, like Mary, know that he inclines to and hears the cry of the soul; and a new song will be given to the lips, even praise to our God. The new song of the redeemed soul has its prototype in that which arose from the hillside dwelling in the uplands of Judah.17

I. Mary’s response to God’s distinguishing goodness to her. She received from God a kindness that was: 1. Necessarily unique. Only to one of the daughters of men could be granted the peculiar honour conferred on her. We are naturally and properly affected by mercies which speak of God’s distinguishing goodness to us. 2. Fitted to fill her heart with abounding joy. She was to become a mother, and the mother of One who should render to his people services of surpassing value; no wonder that her “spirit rejoiced” in such a prospect. 3. Calculated to call forth all that was highest and worthiest in her nature. She would have to cherish and to rear, to teach and to train, that illustrious Son who should call her “mother.” 4. Certain to confer upon her an honourable immortality. All generations would call her blessed. 5. Rendered to one who could not have expected it. God had stooped low to bless, even to the low estate of “his bondmaiden.” And, impressed with this wonderful and unanticipated goodness, she poured forth her gladness in a song of holy gratitude, of lofty praise. Such should be—

II. Our appreciation of God’s abounding kindness to ourselves. 1. The indebtedness under which our heavenly Father has laid us. It is, indeed, as different as possible from that which inspired this sacred lyric. Yet may we most reverently and most becomingly take the words of Mary into our lips—both the utterance of felt obligation and the language of praise. For: (1) How low is the condition on which, in our case, God has mercifully looked! from what depth of error, of folly, of wrong, has he raised us!—a depth with which the lowly estate of Mary is not to be compared. (2) With what a great salvation has he delivered us!—a salvation with which even the national deliverance Mary would be expecting of her Son is of very small account. (3) And what a lasting good he confers upon us who have received God our Saviour! The blessing of an immortality of undying fame is very precious to these thirsting human spirits of ours: but is it comparable with that of an actual immortality of conscious, eternal life with God and with the good in the heavenly kingdom? Distant generations will not hear our name, but in remotest times we shall be dwelling and serving in unimaginable joy. 2. The response we should make to our Father. (1) Great gladness of heart. We should rejoice in God our Saviour; welcoming him, trusting and resting in him, finding our refuge and our strength in his faithfulness and his love. (2) Honouring him before all men. “Magnifying the Lord” with the utterance of the lip, with the obedience of the life, with active service in his vineyard.—C.

Vers. 49–55.—God revealed in Jesus Christ. We see much more in Mary’s words than the thoughts which were present to her mind at the time of utterance; for we stand well within that kingdom of God of which she stood on the threshold. To the holy confidence she entertained in God’s goodness to all Israel, and especially to herself up to that hour, there was added a reverent wonder as to this new manifestation of Divine mercy. So she sang of the power and the holiness, the mercy and the faithfulness, of Jehovah. Through bitterest experiences (ch. 2:35) she passed into the light of truth and the rest of God, and now she sees how much greater occasion she had than she knew at the moment to sing in such strains of the character of God. We look at these Divine attributes as expressed in the coming of the Saviour.

I. His Divine power. “He that is mighty hath done … great things” (ver. 49); “He hath showed strength with his arm” (ver. 51). God’s power is very gloriously manifested in the formation and furniture of this earthly home, in the creation of successive generations of mankind, in the providential government of the world, including the mastery of all physical forces and the control of all human energies; but by far the most wonderful exhibition of Divine power is in the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ. To exert a transforming power on one intelligent, free, disloyal spirit; to conquer a rebellious, to win an estranged, soul; to raise a fallen nature, and uplift it to a height of holy excellence; to make that which had lowered itself to the basest fit for the society of the holiest in heaven; to do this not in one individual case but in the case of “ten thousand times ten thousand;” to introduce a power which can elevate and ennoble families, communities, nations; which is changing the character and condition of the entire race;—this is “the power of God,” this is the doing of him “that is mighty.”

II. His Divine holiness. “Holy is his Name” (ver. 49); “He hath scattered the proud,” etc. (vers. 51, 52). God’s holiness is shown in his providential interpositions, in his humbling the haughty, in his scattering the cruel and the profane, in his raising the lowly and the pure and the true. Thus he has been revealing his righteousness in every nation and in every age. But nowhere does his holiness appear as it is seen in (1) the mission of his Son, who came to put away sin; in (2) the life and language of his Son, who illustrated all purity and condemned all iniquity; in (3) the death of his Son, who by the sacrifice of himself uttered God’s thought and feeling about sin as nothing else could speak it, and struck it such a death-blow as nothing else could strike it.

III. His Divine mercy. (Ver. 50.) Many are the testimonies borne by Old Testament saints to the pity, the patience, the mercy, of the Lord. But in Jesus Christ—in his spirit, in his example, and more particularly in his redeeming death and work—is the manifestation of the grace of God. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In the gospel of Christ the pity, the patience, the magnanimity, of God rise to their fullest height, reach to their noblest breadth.

IV. His Divine faithfulness. (Vers. 53–55.) God, who made us for himself and for truth and righteousness, who has made our hearts to hunger for the highest good, does not leave us to pine and perish; he fills us with the “rich provision” of his truth and grace in Jesus Christ. “As he spake unto our fathers,” so he has done, granting not only such a One as they hoped for, but One that has been to the whole race of man a glorious Redeemer, in whom all nations are blessed with a blessing immeasurably transcending the most sanguine hopes of his ancient people.

1. Let our souls be so filled with the greatness and the goodness of God as thus revealed, that we shall break forth into grateful song, magnifying his Name. 2. Let us return at once to him, if we yet remain at a distance from him; for we have no right to hope, and no reason to expect, that he will ever manifest himself to us in more attractive features than as we see him in the Son that was born of the lowly Virgin.—C.18

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