The Life of Christ

o Later, the entire region of Palestine became divided up into 24 districts.

One of the 24 family names was Abijah.

o

Each priestly course or family would minister in the temple for a one-week period every six months during the calendar year (Josephus, Vol. 7, Chapter 14, Section 7).

• During the major feasts of Israel, all the courses were called upon to minister, providing a staff of approximately 17,000 priests ministering to a feast crowd of about 150,000 worshipers.

• One other interesting point is that before going up to minister in Jerusalem, each course of priests would first gather together in one of the cities of refuge to fast and pray. Nazareth happened to be one of these cities, according to Edersheim.

The course of Abijah was the 8th of the 24 courses (1 Chron. 24:10); eight being the biblical number of new beginnings .

Lk. 1:5

“Daughter of Aaron”

• Elizabeth was also from a family of priests, meaning she was from the tribe of Levi.

• They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. This meant both of them came from a pure ancestry extending all the way back to Aaron, himself.

• They were equally yoked, an important model for couples today who feel called to the ministry.

Lk. 1:6-7 And they were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. 7 And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in 1 years.

To be “advanced in years” was the Jewish way of saying they were about 60 years old.

• This couple naturally reminds us of Abraham and Sarah.

Lk. 1:8-9 Now it came about, while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

When an entire family of priests would go up to minister in the temple, each job assignment was determined by the casting of lots.

• Zacharias drew the most sacred of all responsibilities — go into the Holy Place of the Temple and burn incense before the Lord. This was as close to the Most Holy as one could get.

• He had never done this before and would never do it again.

• Most priests never received this opportunity during their entire lifetime.

Lk. 1:10-13 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. 11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear 1 gripped him. 13 But

13