Luke 1:39-45 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;… Remarkable that Elisabeth allowed herself to be swallowed up in the greater icy of Mary. Did not felicitate herself, but pronounced the mother of her Lord blessed among women. Her ecstatic reference to her own babe is in marked consistency with the whole tone of her spirit. These were some of the real blessings of the advent of Jesus Christ. Before He was yet born the promise of His coming sent gladness into human hearts. The mother rejoiced, and her coming child seemed already to share His mother's ecstasy. All this typical. The coming of Christ should always be associated with the creation of new and higher joys. The exclamation of Elisabeth shows how possible it is for all our tenderest interests and proudest hopes to be absorbed in noble Christian emotion. If ever a woman could be tempted to exalt her own comforts and expectations, so as to shut out from her view the condition of other people, Elisabeth was surely exposed to such a temptation. The case, however, was not one of each woman rejoicing in selfish anticipations of her own happiness; already there was a payment of homage when homage was the price of self-suppression — a beautiful proof this, that the work that was done in the case of Zacharias and Elisabeth was the work of the Holy Ghost. Probably there is no finer test of the religiousness of our spirit than the subordination of our personal joys to the gladness which is demanded by the presence and claims of Jesus Christ. (Dr. Parker.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;WEB: Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah, |
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