The Angel of YHWH continued his discourse to Zacharias:
(14) ―And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
(15) For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also
be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
(16) And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
(17) He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, "to turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children," and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord‖.
(Luke 1:14-17 NKJV)
This prophecy, which the angel of YHWH gave to Zacharias concerning the conception, birth and life of
Yochanan the Immerser, has a number of key elements:
He would be great in YHWH's sight.
He was not to drink wine or strong drink. This implies that he, like Samson, was under a Nazarite vow from
birth. (Numbers 6 and Judges 13:5).
He was to be filled with the Holy Spirit from conception.
He would turn many Israelites to YHWH.
He, like the prophesied Elijah to come, would reconcile the fathers with the children (Mal 4:5-6).
He would turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.
He would make the people ready to receive YHWH.
At the conclusion of these most beautiful and profound prayers, the daily sacrificial offering was placed on
the great outdoor altar to be burned. Then, all of the officiating priests (a total of four had been chosen by lot
that morning to perform various functions) stood on the steps, which led down to the Court of the Priests, for
the Aaronic Benediction. This benediction consisted of the priests holding up their hands and spreading their
fingers in a special manner, while the priest who had officiated at the burning of the incense recited this
scriptural blessing:
(24) ―The LORD bless you and keep you;
(25) The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
(26) The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace‖. (Num 6:24-26)
However, Zacharias was unable to speak and could not recite the blessing.
―And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple.
But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the
temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless‖. (Luke 1:21-22 NKJV)
Undoubtedly, one of the other priests who were specially selected for service on that day stepped in and
gave the required benediction so that the ceremony could be brought to its proper conclusion.
The Circumcision Prophecy
As said in the previous sections of this exegesis, it was the custom to name a male child on the eighth day of
his life when his circumcision took place. So it was on this very occasion that YHWH chose to loose the
tongue of Zacharias. Inspired by the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), Zacharias gave utterance of a prophecy
about his newborn son.
―Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied saying:
Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David...
̳And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace‘‖.
(Luke 1:67-70, 76-79 NKJV)