Day 6
Luke Chapter 1 v.7) “ And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.”
Analysis
Zacharias and Elisabath had no children, infact Luke says that Elizabeth was barren.
In the greek, the word for barren is “steiros“, where we dervive the word “sterile” which means: incapable of producing offspring, not productive.
It was physically impossible for Elizabeth to have children, and I’m sure that this was the cause of much grife and reproach to both her and Zacharias. Unlike what we see today, in Ancient times, expecially in the Jewish economy, if you had no offspring, you were considered cursed by God. With Zacharias being a priest, having this socal curse hanging over him could not have looked good on his resume. Seeing that the office of the priesthood was passed down from father to son,the posterity of his blood line was essential to carrying on the family business. Yet as time passed by and no child came, the hopes of this poor couple begain to slowly wither away.
Luke says that “they both were now well stricken in years.”
This term “stricken in years” simply means that they were now in their old age, coming into the final chapters of their lives. For these two, all hope for a child was gone. All that lay ahead of them now was the shadow of the grave. The death of one would leave the other to face their end alone, and the thought of this was at times more then iether of them could bare. Yet, even in the face of these bleak circumstances, Luke says in the previous verse that they were both perfectly faithful to God. Amiss the disappointments of youthful dreams and the dark outlook of closing years, they remained blameless, righteous before the Lord.
What an example God has left for us! There are times in our lives when we strink from being faithful to Him due to disappointing circumstances, our shattered dreams seem to cause us to renounce our loyalty to him, to withdraw our affections from him. We say “well if you had done this for me” or “if that had gone this certain way, I never would have…” But the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth shows us that this ought not to be. “Be thou faithful unto death” is the commition that is given to us. No matter the hardship, no matter how great the disappointment, God beckins us to press on, drawing ever so closly to him, gaining the strength needed to be the upright people that He has called us to be. He says “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
