Luke 1:42-45

2. The salutation of Elizabeth: Luke 1:42-45. “ And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44. For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45. And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. ”

The course of Elizabeth's thought is this: first of all, Mary and the Son of Mary (Luke 1:42); next, Elizabeth herself and her son (Luke 1:43-44); lastly, Mary and her happiness. The characteristic of all true action of the Holy Spirit is the annihilation of the proper individuality of the person who is the instrument of it, and the elevation of his personal feelings to the height of the divine word. This is precisely the character of Elizabeth's salutation; we shall find it the same in the song of Zacharias. Thus the truth of this word, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, is justified by this very fact. The reading of some Alexandrians, ἀνεβόησεν, would indicate a cry, instead of a simple breaking forth into speech. The reading κραυγῇ of three other Alex. would have the same meaning. They both savour of exaggeration. In any case, both could not be admitted together. We may translate, Blessed art thou, or Blessed be thou. The former translation is best; for exclamation is more in place here than a wish.

The superlative form, blessed among, is not unknown to classical Greek.

The expression, the fruit of thy womb, appears to imply that the fact of the incarnation was already accomplished; so also does the expression, the mother of my Lord (Luke 1:43). ῞Ινα, in order that (Luke 1:43), may keep its ordinary meaning: “What have I done in order that this blessing might come to me?” This ἵνα is used from the standpoint of the divine intention.

From Mary and her Son, her thought glances to herself and her own child. In calling Mary the mother of my Lord, she declares herself the servant of the Messiah, and consequently of His mother also.

Everything of a sublime character springs from a deeper source than the understanding. The leaping of John, a prelude of the work of his life, belongs to the unfathomable depths of instinctive life. Elizabeth sees in it a sign of the truth of the presentiment she felt as soon as she saw Mary.

At Luke 1:45 she reverts to Mary. The expression blessed is doubtless inspired by the contemplation of the calm happiness that irradiates the figure of the young mother. ῞Οτι cannot be taken here in the sense of because; for the word πιστεύσασα, she that believed, in order that it may have its full force, must not govern anything. “Blessed is she that, at the critical moment, could exercise faith (the aorist)!” De Wette, Bleek, Meyer, think that the proposition which follows should depend on πιστεύσασα : “she who believed that the things...would have their accomplishment.” The two former, because σοί would be necessary in place of αὐτῇ; the third, because all that had been promised to Mary was already accomplished. But Elizabeth's thought loses itself in a kind of meditation, and her words, ceasing to be an apostrophe to Mary, become a hymn of faith. This accounts for the use of a pronoun of the third person. As to Meyer, he forgets that the accomplishment is only just begun, and is far from being completed. The glorification of the Messiah and of Israel still remains to be accomplished. Τελείωσις denotes this complete accomplishment. But how could Elizabeth speak of the kind of things which had been promised to Mary? What had passed between the angel and Zacharias had enlightened her respecting the similar things that must have taken place between heaven and Mary.