Luke 1:39-56

Mary Visits Elisabeth. The Magnificat. The passage links the two preceding incidents, and serves to show the inferiority of John the forerunner, to Jesus the Messiah. Mary (finding herself with child) proceeds to verify the sign. She seeks Elisabeth in a Judæ an village (perhaps Ain Karim, six miles west of Jerusalem, where a ruin called Mar Zacharias is shown). Elisabeth's unborn babe recognises the mother of the Messiah, and Elisabeth herself knows of Mary's honour, and praises her belief (follow mg. in Luke 1:45). The Song of Mary which follows is full of OT reminiscences, especially the Song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1). But it is something more than possible that it should be ascribed not to Mary but to Elisabeth. Some of the Old Latin texts (a, b, etc.; p. 601) read Elisabeth in Luke 1:46, and this is supported by Irenaeus, Niceta of Remesiana (the fourth-century author of the Te Deum), and perhaps by Cyril of Jerusalem. In the original text there was possibly no name, then some scribe inserted Mary, because Luke 1:48 seemed appropriate to her. But it is just as suitable to Elisabeth (low estate is perhaps the humiliation of childlessness), and the her of Luke 1:56 most naturally means the person who has been singing. The Syriac versions saw this, and read Mary remained with Elisabeth. Of course the name Mary (instead of she) in Luke 1:56 may be simply due to the verse being at a distance from that in which the name is previously given, but both on external and internal evidence there is much in favour of the hypothesis which assigns the song to Elisabeth, and connects it with the birth of John rather than of Jesus. In Luke 1:54 the Sinaitic Syriac has his son, which may have been original and was changed to his servant because only Jesus can be God's Son.