Reference: Mary, The Virgin
Fausets
(See GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST.) Probably Matthan of Matthew is Matthat of Luke, and Jacob and Heli were brothers; and Heli's son Joseph, and Jacob's daughter Mary, were first cousins. Joseph, as male heir of his uncle Jacob who had one only child Mary, would marry her according to the law (Nu 36:8). Thus the genealogy of the inheritance or succession to David's throne (Matthew's) and that of natural descent (Luke's) would be primarily Joseph's, then Mary's also (Ps 132:11; Lu 1:32; Ro 1:3). She was sister or half-sister to Mary (Joh 19:25), and related to Elisabeth who was of the tribe of Levi (Lu 1:36). (See MARY OF CLEOPHAS; ELISABETH.) In 5 B.C. (Lu 1:24, etc.) Mary was living at Nazareth, by this time betrothed to Joseph, when the angel Gabriel came from God to her in the sixth month of Elisabeth's pregnancy. (See GABRIEL.)
He came in no form of overwhelming majesty, but seemingly in human form, as is implied by the expression "he came in," also by the fact that what she was "troubled at" was not his presence but "his saying" (compare Da 10:18-19). "Hail thou that art highly favored" (kecharitomenee) cannot mean as Rome teaches in her prayer to the Virgin, "Hail Mary full of grace"; that would be pleerees charitos as in Joh 1:14; the passive of the verb implies, as usually in verbs in -oo, she was made the object of God's grace, not a fountain from whence grace flows to others; as Joh 1:30 explains it, "thou hast found favor (charin) with God"; so Eph 1:6, echaritoosen, "He hath graciously accepted us." "The Lord is (or, BE) with thee (Jg 6:12), blessed art thou among women"; not among gods and goddesses.
As Jael (Jg 5:24); "blessed" in "believing" (Lu 1:45), more than in conceiving Christ (Lu 8:19-21; 11:27-28); compare her own practice, Lu 2:51; Mt 12:49-50. "Her relationship as mother would not at all have profited Mary if she had not borne Christ more happily in the heart than in the flesh" (Augustine, Tom. 4, De Sanct. Virg.). In Lu 11:27-28, during His last journey, a month before His crucifixion (A.D. 30), upon a woman of the company exclaiming, "blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked," He said, "yea, rather (menounge) blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it"; the blessedness even of Mary is not her motherhood towards Him, but her hearing and obeying Him.
The Spirit's prescience of the abuse of the words Lu 1:28 appears in the precautions taken subsequently in the same Gospel to guard against such abuse. The Virgin's words (Lu 1:48) "all generations shall call me blessed" mean not, shall call me by that name, "the Blessed Virgin," but shall count me blessed, as in Jas 5:11 (the same Greek). The nations shall count JESUS, not the Virgin, the fountain of all blessedness (Ps 72:17). When in "fear she cast in her mind what might the meaning of the salutation be," the angel reassured her by the promise, "behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus.
He shall be great (not merely as John Baptist 'in the sight of the Lord,' Lu 1:15, but as the Lord Himself), and shall be called (i.e. shall be really what the name means) the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David (not merely His throne in heaven whereon David never sat, but on Zion, Jer 3:17), and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shi all be no end." She asked, not incredulously as Zacharias (Lu 1:18), but in the simplicity of faith which sought instruction, taking for granted it shall be, only asking as to the manner, "how shall this be, seeing I know not a man?"
The angel therefore explained, "the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee (as with a cloud, denoting the mildest, gentlest operation of the divine power, coveting, quickening, but not consuming: Mr 9:7), therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (from whence our creed saith, "He was conceived by the Holy Spirit," etc.; compare Ge 1:2. "As the world was not created by the Holy Spirit, but by the Son, so the Son was not begotten by the Holy Spirit, but by the Father, and that before the worlds, Christ was made of the substance of the Virgin, not of the substance of the Holy Spirit, whose essence cannot be made. No more is attributed to the Spirit than what was necessary to cause the Virgin to perform the actions of a mother. And because the Holy Spirit did not beget Him by any communication of His essence, He is not the Father of Him." Pearson, Creed, 165-166.)
Gabriel instanced Elisabeth's being six months advanced in pregnancy, who once was barren, to confirm the Virgin's faith that "nothing is impossible with God" (Ro 4:17-21); she evinced her faith in the reply, "behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word," Her expression of humble, believing acceptance of and concurrence in the divine will (Lu 1:38,45) was required, and may be with reverence supposed to be recorded to mark the date of our Lord's conception. Mary then went in joyous haste to the hill country of Judah, to a city where Zacharias and Elisabeth lived, whether Jutta, (Jos 21:13-16) a priests' city, or Hebron, S. of Jerusalem and much further S. of Nazareth in Galilee. On Mary's saluting Elisabeth the latter hailed her as "mother of her Lord," inasmuch as at her salutation "the babe leaped in her womb for joy," adding, in contrast to Zacharias whose unbelief had brought its own punishment," blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things told her from the Lord."
Mary then under the Spirit uttered the hymn known as the "Magnificat," based on Hannah's hymn (1Sa 2:2). In it we see a spirit that drank deeply at the wells of Scripture, a humility that "magnified the Lord" not self, that "rejoiced" as a sinner in "her Savior" (disproving Rome's dogma of the immaculate conception), a lively sense of gratitude at the mighty favor which the Mighty One conferred on one so low, a privilege which countless Jewish mothers had desired (Da 11:37, "the desire of women"), and for which all generations should count ("call") her happy (makariousin, compare Ge 30:13), and an exemplification of God's eternal principle of abusing "the proud and exalting them of low degree," and a realization of God's faithfulness to His promises "to Abraham of mercy and help to Israel forever." Mary stayed with her cousin three months, and just before John the Baptist's birth returned to her own house at Nazareth.
Then followed Joseph's discovery of the conception and his tender dealing with her, and reception of her by God's command (Matthew 1), as being the virgin foretold who should bring forth Immanuel (Isa 7:14; Jer 31:22). (See JOSEPH.) Augustus' decree (Luke 2) obliged them to go to Bethlehem, God thereby causing His prophecy (Mic 5:2) to be fulfilled, Mary there giving birth to the Savior. The shepherds' account of the angels caused wonder to others, "but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart"; so again Lu 2:51, not superficial, but reflective and thoughtfully devout. The law regarded her as unclean until the presentation 40 days after the birth (Leviticus 12). Then she was bound to offer a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or turtle dove for a sin offering, to make atonement for her poverty compelled her to substitute for the lamb a pigeon or turtle dove.
Simeon's hymn followed, at the close of which he foretold, "a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed"; the anguish of her Son should pierce the mother's heart, and be a testing probation of character to her as well as to all others (Joh 9:39; 19:25; Ps 42:10); that she had misgivings and doubts is implied in her accompanying His brethren afterward, as if enthusiasm was carrying Him too far (Mt 12:46; Mr 3:21,31-35; Joh 7:5). The flight to Egypt followed; then the return, at first designed to be back to Bethlehem, but through fear of Archelaus to Nazareth of Galilee, their former home.
Then the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Then Leah said, "Happy am I! For women will call me happy." So she named him Asher.
"Every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers.
So to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands, and Libnah with its pasture lands, and Jattir with its pasture lands and Eshtemoa with its pasture lands, read more. and Holon with its pasture lands and Debir with its pasture lands, and Ain with its pasture lands and Juttah with its pasture lands and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands; nine cities from these two tribes.
"Most blessed of women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Most blessed is she of women in the tent.
The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior."
"There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.
Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?" And the man of God answered, "The LORD has much more to give you than this."
As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
May his name endure forever; May his name increase as long as the sun shines; And let men bless themselves by him; Let all nations call him blessed.
The LORD has sworn to David A truth from which He will not turn back: "Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
"At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the LORD,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
"How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth-- A woman will encompass a man."
Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me. He said, "O man of high esteem, do not be afraid Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!" Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, "May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me."
"He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.
"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity."
And they cried out, saying, "What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?"
While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him.
And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! "For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."
"For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."
saying, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!"
When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses."
When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses."
Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him.
Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You."
A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You." Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"
Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers!
Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! "For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."
"For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."
Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!"
"For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.
Zacharias said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years."
After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying,
And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
"And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah,
"And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord."
"And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord." And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord,
"For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
"For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.
And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
And His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd. And it was reported to Him, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You." read more. But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."
While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed."
While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed." But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."
But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
"This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'
His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."
After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.
For not even His brothers were believing in Him.
And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind."
Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" read more. Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,
(as it is written, "A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU") in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, "SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE." read more. Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
We count those blessed who endured You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.