Luke 1:46-56

3. The song of Mary: Luke 1:46-56. Elizabeth's salutation was full of excitement (she spake out with a loud voice), but Mary's hymn breathes a sentiment of deep inward repose. The greater happiness is, the calmer it is. So Luke says simply, εἶπε, she said. A majesty truly regal reigns throughout this canticle. Mary describes first her actual impressions (Luke 1:46-48 a); thence she rises to the divine fact which is the cause of them (Luke 1:48; Luke 1:48); she next contemplates the development of the historical consequences contained in it (Luke 1:51-53); lastly, she celebrates the moral necessity of this fact as the accomplishment of God's ancient promises to His people (Luke 1:54-55).

The tone of the first strophe has a sweet and calm solemnity. It becomes more animated in the second, in which Mary contemplates the work of the Most High. It attains its full height and energy in the third, as Mary contemplates the immense revolution of which this work is the beginning and cause. Her song drops down and returns to its nest in the fourth, which is, as it were, the amen of the canticle.

This hymn is closely allied to that of the mother of Samuel (1 Samuel 2), and contains several sentences taken from the book of Psalms. Is it, as some have maintained, destitute of all originality on this account? By no means. There is a very marked difference between Hannah's song of triumph and Mary's. Whilst Mary celebrates her happiness with deep humility and holy restraint, Hannah surrenders herself completely to the feeling of personal triumph; with her very first words she breaks forth into cries of indignation against her enemies. As to the borrowed biblical phrases, Mary gives to these consecrated words an entirely new meaning and a higher application. The prophets frequently deal in this way with the words of their predecessors. By this means these organs of the Spirit exhibit the continuity and progress of the divine work. Criticism asks whether Mary turned over the leaves of her Bible before she spoke. It forgets that every young Israelite knew by heart from childhood the songs of Hannah, Deborah, and David; that they sang them as they went up to the feasts at Jerusalem; and that the singing of psalms was the daily accompaniment of the morning and evening sacrifice, as well as one of the essential observances of the passover meal.

Vers. 46-55. “ And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

48a. For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden.

48b. For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49. For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name.

50. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation.

51. He hath showed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away.

54. He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; 55. (As He spake to our fathers), to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. ”