§ 2. Birth and Childhood

† 3. Mary's Visit to Elizabeth

‡ Luke 1:39–56

Luke 1:39

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah,

Luke 1:40

and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

Luke 1:41

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

the baby leaped in her womb

Genesis 25:21–23

Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, "If it is thus, why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her,

"Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the older shall serve the younger."

Luke 1:42

and she exclaimed with a loud cry,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

blessed is the fruit of your womb

Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 5-6, 12-15

When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.
But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you.

Deuteronomy 28:4

Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.

Deuteronomy 30:8-10

And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Luke 1:43

And why is this granted to me
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Luke 1:44

For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears,
the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

Luke 1:45

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment
of what was spoken to her from the Lord."

Luke 1:46

And Mary said,
"My soul magnifies the Lord,

My soul magnifies the Lord

Exodus 15:20-21

Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them:
"Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."

Luke 1:47

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

Luke 1:48

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

humble estate

The Greek here (ταπείνωσις) indicates a lowering, lessening, or humiliating.

James 1:9-10

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,
and the rich in his humiliation,
because like a flower of the grass
he will pass away.

he has looked on the humble estate

Genesis 16:11

The angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction.

Genesis 29:32

Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, "Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me."

1 Samuel 1:11

She vowed a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head."

Luke 1:49

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.

Luke 1:51

He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

Luke 1:52

he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;

Luke 1:53

he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

Luke 1:54

He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,

Luke 1:55

as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever."

Luke 1:56

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

about three months

With Elizabeth in the sixth month (verse 36), Mary's visit is a month, months, and half a month.

On the Womb

Several times it is written of a servant that he was chosen while still in the womb.

Psalm 22:10

On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother's womb you have been my God.

Psalm 71:6

Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

Galatians 1:15-16

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone....

Jonah 1:17-2:2

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying,
"I called out to the LORD, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice."

Matthew 12:40

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Job 3:1, 9-13, 20

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see the eyelids of the morning,
because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
Why did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts,
that I should nurse?
For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept;
then I would have been at rest....
Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul...?

Job 10:18-19

Why did you bring me out from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.

Job 38:8-11

Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?