Difference between revisions of "Elisabeth"

<p> <b> ELISABETH. </b> —The NT notice of [[Elisabeth]] is confined to the [[Third]] Gospel, and its brief record concerning her may well be due to St. Luke’s acquaintance with [[Mary]] the mother of our Lord. It is interesting to know that she was a kinswoman (συγγενίς, Luke 1:36) of Mary, though it is unfortunately impossible to verify the exact relationship that existed between them. Elisabeth is described, with her husband [[Zacharias]] (wh. see), as a faithful adherent of the OT type of religion—strict and regular in observance of the Law (Luke 1:6). She enjoyed the double distinction, according to [[Jewish]] thought, of being both a priest’s daughter and a priest’s wife (Luke 1:5). The joy of such a twofold honour was, however, diminished by the fact that she was barren (Luke 1:7), to an Oriental woman little less than a calamity. But a single event in the [[Gospel]] narrative at once dispelled her sorrow and entitled her to a place of honour not among Jewish women alone, but in the eyes of the whole world. In her old age (Luke 1:38) she became the mother of John the Baptist. </p> <p> Between the promise and the birth of this child she was visited by Mary (Luke 1:39), who remained with her for a period of three months (Luke 1:56), and to whom she was made a proof of the Almighty’s power (Luke 1:36-38). On Mary’s appearance she received a special inspiration of the [[Holy]] Spirit, which even enabled her to recognize in her kinswoman the mother of her ‘Lord’ (Luke 1:41 ff.), and in Mary’s [[Child]] a fulfilment of the promise of [[Jehovah]] Himself (Luke 1:45). [[Herein]] she unconsciously illustrated the meaning of her own name, which in its [[Hebrew]] form signifies ‘God is an oath.’ </p> <p> On the theory (upheld by Burkitt, Harnack, <i> et al. </i> ) that the <i> [[Magnificat]] </i> ought to be attributed to Elisabeth and not to Mary, see artt. Birth of Christ, p. 203b note, and Magnificat. </p> <p> H. Bisseker. </p>

<p> (Ε᾿λισάβετ ), wife of [[Zacharias]] or Zachariah, and mother of John the [[Baptist]] (Luke 1:5). She was a descendant of Aaron, or of the race of the priests; and of her and her husband this exalted character is given by the evangelist: "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless" (Luke 1:7; Luke 1:13). They had remained childless till the decline of life, when an angel foretold to her husband [[Zachariah]] the birth of John, and Zachariah returning home, [[Elisabeth]] conceived. During five months she concealed the favor [[God]] had granted her; but the angel [[Gabriel]] discovered to the [[Virgin]] [[Mary]] this miraculous conception, as an assurance of the birth of the [[Messiah]] by herself. (See [[Annunciation]]). Mary visited Elisabeth, and when she saluted her, Elisabeth felt the quickening of her unborn babe. When her child was circumcised she named him John, according to previous instructions from her husband (Luke 1:39-63). B.C. 7. (See [[Zacharias]]). </p> <p> The name in this precise shape does not occur in the Old Testament, where the names of few females are given. But it is a [[Hebrew]] name, the same in fact as ELISHEBA (See [[Elisheba]]) (q.v.). It is perhaps etymologically connected with Elissa or Elisa, the Phoenician name of queen [[Dido]] (Virgil, AEn. 4:335), whence the modern Eliza, Elizabeth. </p>