Luke 1:59, 60

Luke 1:59-60

Luke 1:59-61 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.

a. . Alfred Edersheim, writing in his book, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Book II, Chapter 4, gives us a glimpse of the Jewish circumcision service. “We can scarcely be mistaken in supposing, that then, as now, a benediction was spoken before circumcision, and that the ceremony closed with the usual grace over the cup of wine, when the child received his name in prayer that probably did not much differ from this at present in use: “Our God, and the God of our fathers, raise up this child to his father and mother, and let his name be called in Israel Zacharias, the son of Zacharias. Let his father rejoice in the issue of his loins, and his mother in the fruit of her womb, as it is written in Proverbs 23:25, and as it is said in Ezekiel 16:6, and again in Psalm 105:8, and Genesis 21:4;” the passages being, of course, quoted in full. The prayer closed with the hope that the child might grow up, and successfully, “attain to the Torah, the marriage-baldachino, and good works.”

       b. At the beginning of this prayer as the rabbi is praying, “Our God, and the God of our fathers, raise up this child to his father and mother, and let his name be called in Israel Zacharias, the son of Zacharias…” Elizabeth interrupts and says “No, his name is John!”