No 13

(Elizabeth)

Her name means “God is my oath” in Hebrew. Among the many prominent women of Bible History, Elizabeth seems to be one of the least known, perhaps because of being overshadowed by two of her relatives - her cousin, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, and her son, John The Baptist. Of the four Gospels, only Luke records her story. She was the wife of Zacharias, a priest in the temple of the Lord in the division of Abijah whose job was to burn incense. She was of the daughters of Aaron (Luke 1:5).

They must have led a holy life for the Lord to pick her to be the Messiah’s fore-runner. The Bible records in Luke 1 : 6 “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” A notable fact was that she was barren (v7) and this was a sign of divine disfavour because in the culture in which she lived, childlessness was seen as a reproach since blessings were linked to birthrights and family lines. However, having a child when one was barren was not something new in the Bible – Sarah gave birth to Isaac (Gen 30:23) and Anna gave birth to Samuel (1 Sam 1:5-10).

The Bible plainly states that both Elizabeth and Mary were filled with the Holy Spirit. When Mary came to visit her, Elizabeth said “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” (v42). The Lord chose Elizabeth to bear John the Baptist because He knew that she was worthy of the task and that she was a woman of faith.