Charles Spurgeon Commentary Luke 1:5-6

"There was in the days of Herod, king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah: and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." — Luke 1:5-6 (ASV)

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. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

There have been some good people who have lived in very bad times; never was there a worse reign than that of Herod, seldom or never a better man and woman than Zacharias and Elisabeth. Let no one excuse themselves for sinning because of the times in which they live. You may be rich in grace when others around you have none, even as Gideon's fleece was wet with dew when the whole floor was dry. God help us, in these evil days, to be righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless!

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. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

Here you have a very interesting couple, Zacharias and Elisabeth, a priest with a wife. I have often marveled why the Church of Rome should think it wrong for priests to be married, when it is evident that the priests under the Law were so.

The priests had grown so numerous that there was not room for them all to work at the Temple at one time; they were divided into twenty-four courses, and Zacharias would, therefore, come up to Jerusalem for two weeks to take his share of the service.

Zacharias and Elisabeth were notable for excellence of character: They were both righteous before God. Not only did they stand high in the esteem of men, but the great God, who reads the hearts of all and sees how they live in secret, reckoned them to be righteous: They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments—that is, in the moral precepts of the Law—and ordinances—that is, in the ceremonial rites—of the Lord blameless.