Luke 1:46

Luke 1:46. And Mary said. The influence of the Holy Spirit is not asserted, but assumed in Mary's case. ‘The angel's visit was vouchsafed to Mary later than to Zacharias, yet her song of thanksgiving is uttered long before his: faith is already singing for joy, while unbelief is compelled to be silent.' This song of Mary, called the MAGNIFICAT. from the first word of the old Latin version, is the unpremeditated outpouring of deep emotion, and may be divided into regular stanzas and lines. It is the last Psalm of the Old Testament' and the first of the New. It is entirely Hebrew in its tone and language, and echoes the lyrics of the Old Testament. The mother of our Lord at such a time especially in view of the effect produced on Elisabeth would be doubtless inspired by the Holy Ghost to sing this song, so ‘full of ardent love and thankfulness;' she, the daughter of David's royal race, might well ‘become in an instant both poetess and prophetess,' and representing at that moment the last generation of hoping Israel and ‘the hope of Israel' itself, she was the very person to bring to the approaching Messiah the fragrance of the noblest flower of Hebrew lyric poetry. Objections have been raised against the genuineness of this and the songs of Zacharias (Benedictus) and Simeon (chap. Luke 2:29-32). But the utterance of such songs is not itself improbable on the lowest view of poetic inspiration, as it is called, while on the higher ground of biblical inspiration their utterance under these circumstances and by these persons becomes in itself highly probable. Because poetic they are not unhistorical. The hymns could not have been composed after the death of our Lord. They are Messianic rather than Christian; pointing to the period assigned them by Luke as the true date of their composition. The Magnificat recalls at once the song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10, and also several passages in the Psalms (Psalms 31, 112, 126). ‘The grace of God (Luke 1:48), His omnipotence (Luke 1:49-51), His holiness (Luke 1:49; Luke 1:51; Luke 1:54), His justice (Luke 1:52-53), and especially His faithfulness (Luke 1:54-55), are here celebrated.' It is divided into four stanzas, as indicated in our arrangement of the text.

My soul doth magnify the Lord. The ‘soul,' when distinguished from the ‘spirit' (Luke 1:47), is that part of our nature which forms the link between the spirit and the body, here expressing through the mouth the sentiment which previously existed in the ‘spirit.'