Luke 1:5 ¶ There was in the
days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the
course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name
was Elisabeth.
Historians generally
believe that Herod or Herod the Great as he was called, ruled Judea as a
subservient king to the Roman Empire. He was known for his massive building
projects including the expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, called
Herod’s temple, and the fortress of Masada where much later Jews will fight to the
death in revolt against Rome finishing with a mass suicide. He also built the
port at Caesarea Maritima, Herod was an Idumean and Idumea is Edom, which we
know from Genesis. Herod is, in a sense, a type of Esau, only without the
charm.
Judaea was ruled by
Herod until his death at which time it was divided between three of his sons as a tetrarchy, with Judea as a Roman province until Rome
assumed complete control later in the first century.
Zacharias was from the clan of Abia, the Greek
version of the Hebrew Abijah, a descendant of Aaron through Eleazar. Elisabeth
was also a descendant of Aaron.
1Chronicles 24:1 ¶ Now these are the divisions of the sons
of Aaron. The sons of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 2 But Nadab and Abihu died before their father,
and had no children: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest’s
office. 3 And David distributed them,
both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar,
according to their offices in their service. 4
And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the
sons of Ithamar; and thus were
they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there
were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to
the house of their fathers. 5 Thus were
they divided by lot, one sort with another; for the
governors of the sanctuary, and governors of the house of God, were of the sons of Eleazar, and of the
sons of Ithamar. 6 And Shemaiah the son
of Nethaneel the scribe, one of
the Levites, wrote them before the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest,
and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and before
the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites: one principal household
being taken for Eleazar, and one
taken for Ithamar. 7 Now the first lot
came forth to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, 8 The third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,
9 The fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to
Mijamin, 10 The seventh to Hakkoz, the
eighth to Abijah,
No comments:
Post a Comment