the dawn of heaven: the benedictus, john the baptist, and messianic allusions

8/6/2019 The Dawn of Heaven: The Benedictus, John the Baptist, and Messianic Allusions

1/18

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BAPTIST PROFESSORS OF RELIGION

THE DAWN OF HEAVEN:

THE BENEDICTUS, JOHN THE BAPTIST, AND MESSIANIC ALLUSIONS

PRESENTED DURING THE

NEW TESTAMENT I SECTION

BY

THOMAS J. WHITLEY

24 MAY 2011


2/18

LUKE 1:67-79 TRANSLATION

1:67 And his father Zechariah was filled1 with the Holy Spirit2 and prophesied,3 saying,4

1:68 Blessed bethe Lord God of Israel,5 for he has visited6 and made7 redemption8 forhis people.9

1:69 And he has raised up10 a horn11 of salvation12 for us13 in the house of David14, hisservant15

1:70 Just as he spoke16 by the mouth17 of his holy prophets from old,

1evplh,sqh from pi,mplhmi, to fill. Aorist passive indicative 3rd singular.

2pneu,matoj agi,ou. Both are genitive neuter singular. With comes because it is a verbal genitiveof content, Wallace 94.

3evprofh,teusen from profhteu,w, to prophesy. Aorist active indicative 3rd singular.

4le,gwn from le,gw, to say. Present active participle nominative masculine singular. Participle ofmanner.

5tou/ VIsrah,l. Article shows the case of the noun. See Wallaces description of the article as a

function marker with indeclinable nouns, 240.

6evpeske,yato fromevpiske,ptomai, go to see, visit. Aorist middle indicative 3rd singular.

7evpoi,hsen from poie,w, do, make. Aorist active indicative 3rd singular.

8lu,trwsin. Accusative feminine singular. Direct object ofevpoi,hsen.

9tw/| law/|. Dative masculine singular. Dative allows the for. Dative of advantage.

10h;geiren fromevgei,rw, wake, rouse, raise up. Aorist active indicative 3rd singular.

11ke,raj. Accusative neuter singular. Direct object of h;geiren.

12swthri,aj. Genitive feminine singular. Descriptive genitive (?). See Wallace 79.

13hmi/n. Dative plural. Dative of advantage.

14Daui.d. Genitive masculine singular. Possessive genitive.

15paido.j. Genitive masculine singular. Genitive of apposition with Daui.d.

16evla,lhsen from lale,w, speak. Aorist active indicative 3rd singular.

17dia. sto,matoj. Genitive neuter singular. Genitive of means.


3/18

1:71 Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate18 us.

1:72 To do19 compassion20 with our fathers and to remember21 his holy covenant,

1:73 The oath22 which23 he swore24 to Abraham, our father. To grant25 to us,

1:74 thatfearlessly, having been rescued26 from27 the hand of enemies,28 to serve29him

1:75 in holiness and righteousness before him30, all of our days.31

18misou,ntwn from mise,w, hate, detest, abhor. Present active participle genitive masculine plural.Substantival participle marking possession.

19poih/sai from poie,w, do, make. Aorist active infinitive. Infinitive of result.

20e;leoj. Accusative neuter singular. Direct object of poih/sai.

21mnhsqh/nai from mimnh,|skomai, remember, remind oneself. Aorist passive infinite. Infinitive of

result.

22o[rkon. Accusative masculine singular. Cognate accusative. Wallace 190.

23o]n. Accusative masculine singular. This is a case of inverse attraction, in which it refers back too[rkon, Wallace, 339.

24w;mosen from o;mnumi, swear, take an oath. Aorist active indicative 3rd singular.

25tou/ dou/nai from di,dwmi, give. Aorist active infinitive. With no governing verb it is difficult todetermine whether this genitive articular infinitive is a purpose infinitive or an epexegetical infinitive.

Fitzmeyer, 1:385, opts for epexegetical.

26rusqe,ntaj from ru,omai, rescue, deliver. Aorist passive participle accusative masculine plural.Temporal participle.

27evk with genitive ceiro.j merits from. Genitive of separation.

28evcqrw/n. Genitive masculine plural. Genitive of possession, i.e. theevcqrw/n possess the ceiro.j.

29latreu,einfrom latreu,w, serve (in a religious sense). Present active infinitive, direct object of dou/

nai. Takes dative object, thusauvtw/|.

30auvtou/. Object ofevnw,pion because it takes a genitive.

31pa,saij tai/j hme,raij. Dative feminine plural. Dative of time.


4/18

1:76 And even you, child, will be called32 prophet33 of the Most High,34 for you will goon before35 the Lord36 to prepare37 his ways.

1:77 To give38 knowledge of salvation to his people in39 forgiveness of their sins.

1:78 on account of40

themerciful compassion of our God, whereby41

the dawn42

ofheaven43 will visit44 us.

1:79 to shine45 to those46 who sit47 in darkness and theshadow of death, to guide48 ourfeet in the way of peace.49

32klhqh,sh| from kale,w, call. Future passive indicative 2nd singular.

33profh,thj. Nominative masculine singular. kale,w in the passive takes nominative, Wallace, 40.

34uyi,stou. Genitive masculine singular. Superlative adjective. Genitive of possession.

35proporeu,sh| from proporeu,omai, go before. Future middle indicative 2nd singular.

36kuri,ou. Genitive masculine singular. Object ofevnw,pion.

37etoima,sai frometoima,zw, prepare, make ready. Aorist active infinitive. Purpose infinitive.

38tou/ dou/nai from di,dwmi, give. Aorist active infinitive. Genitive articular epexegetical infinitive,

Marshall, 93.

39evn. With dativeavfe,sei in.

40dia.. With accusative spla,gcna because or on account of.

41evn oi-j. Literally in which.

42avnatolh.. Nominative feminine singular.

43evx u[youj. Genitive neuter singular.

44evpiske,yetai fromevpiske,ptomai, visit

45evpifa/nai fromevpifai,nw, appear, shine. Aorist active infinitive. Purpose infinitive.

46toi/j. Dative masculine plural. Dative complement ofevpifa/nai.

47kaqhme,noij from ka,qhmai, sit. Present middle participle dative masculine plural. Substantivalparticiple.

48tou/ kateuqu/nai from kateuqu,nw, lead, direct, guide. Aorist active infinitive. Genitive articularepexegetical infinitive.

49eivrh,nhj. Genitive feminine singular. Attributive genitive.


5/18


6/18

Spirit being upon him, that is a signifier that this person is either speaking on behalf of

God or his actions are led by God.

! We are then left with 1:76-79. Bovon calls this section the salutation.54 Nolland

thinks that these verses could also stand alone as a hymn anticipating the visitation of

God which John was to herald.55 Nolland further states that it is most likely that vv.

76-79 were composed for their present setting.56 The question that follows, then, is for

what setting exactly was 1:76-79 composed? Were they composed with a broader

setting in mind, understanding Jesus as the climax and main referent or were they

composed with just an immediate setting in mind, understanding the verses to relate to

John the Baptist alone?

It is clear that Luke-Acts is not about John the Baptist; he is but a minor character in the

broader narrative. For Luke, John the Baptist is the precursor to Jesus, he simply prepares his

way. The Benedictus potentially alludes to some of this, though only if read within the context of

the entire Luke-Acts narrative. When Zechariahs song is read on its own, however, it appears

that Richard Dillon was correct when he declared that a follower of John composed this canticle

as the climax of Johns nativity.57 When read as a stand-alone song of praise, the Benedictus

unmistakably celebrates John, his work, and possibly even his perceived messiahship.

The lack of reference to Jesus and the specific references to John make this point

54 Bovon, Luke, 68.

55 Nolland, Luke, 83.


57 Richard J. Dillon, The Benedictus in Micro- and Macrocontext The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

68 (2006): 470.


7/18

difficult to combat. Bovon supports this reading, saying that it is a hymn and also a

prophecy sung in regard to Johns birth by his disciples.58

While I maintain that this canticle was originally composed by a follower of John

to celebrate John, there are two obvious questions that remain unanswered, why does

Luke use it and how does he appropriate it? Richard Dillon answers that question this

way:

There is evidence that Luke preserves in these cases an idea he does not fully

accept; and when this happens, as we know from elsewhere, he usually edits

the refractory idea around to his own perspective.

After he repeats that Johnpreached a baptism of repentance unto the forgiveness of sins, he eliminates

Mark's report of the actual baptizing of crowds of people by John and of the

confession of sins by the baptized, all of which is reduced to the generalizing

summary in Luke 3:7: John spoke to the crowds that had come out to be

baptized by him. In fact, Luke systematically pushes John's baptizing into the

background, even excluding him from the scene of Jesus' baptism (3:19-22; cf.

Mark 1:9-11).59

So, Dillon surmises that Luke chose to use the thanksgiving song and to simply modify

the material around it. Thus, the light imagery in 1:78-79 is picked up on in chapter two

when the glory of the Lord shines around the shepherds (2:9). When interpreting the

light imagery in 1:78-79, Luke Timothy Johnson asserts that the reference for Luke

would obviously be to the birth of Jesus.60 This does appear to be true for Luke and

appears to be another example of Luke preserving a pericope that he does not fully

agree with and revising it to fit his desired narrative.

58 Bovon, Luke, 69.

59 Dillon, The Benedictus, 477.

60 Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, Sacra Pagina Series 3, ed. Daniel J. Harrington

(Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991), 47.


8/18

VERSE BY VERSE COMMENTS

Verses 68-75

This section of verses, as previously mentioned, makes up the original core of

the canticle. Johnson likens this section to the Jewish blessing prayer, the berakah.61

Johnson further describes a berakah, an initial statement of praise is followed by the

reasons for the praise.62 Johnsons rendering of the section is appropriate. It is

possible, though, to get a bit more specific. The opening, Blessed bethe Lord God of

Israel, is technically a benediction.63 The reasons for praise are then introduced by the

o[ti-clause in 1:68b. The first reason given to bless God is that God has visited and

made redemption for his people (1:68b). Vinson remarks thatevpeske,yato,visit, is a

rare word,64 though I found no other commentator take this position. Instead, the more

common position is thatevpeske,yatowas a word with which Luke would have been fairly

familiar, as it is used in the Hebrew Bible quite a few times.65 Moreover, Luke uses the

term five times between Luke and Acts.66 Bovon notes that the expression (as verb or

8

61 Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, 45.


63 Bovon, Luke, 72. 1QM 14.4-5, an Essene song, begins in a similar fashion: Blessed be the

God of Israel / who keeps mercy toward His Covenant, / and the appointed times of salvation / with thepeople He has delivered.

64 Vinson, Luke, 51.

65 See Gen 50:24-25; Exod 3:16; 4:31; 13:19; 30:12; Isa 23:17; Pss 80:14; 106:4; Ruth 1:6.

66 Luke 1:78; 7:16; 19:44; Acts 7:23; 15:14.


9/18

substantive) is attested in absolute usage in the Judaism of that time, as here, and

designates the eschatological visit.67

! The next reason for praising God comes at 1:69, he has raised up a horn or

salvation for us in the house of David, his servant. I. Howard Marshall sees this as the

means of redemption, going on to say that God has brought onto the stage of

history . . . a horn of salvation, i.e. a mighty Saviour.68 The leap to a mighty Saviour

may seem a bit premature, but the connection is supported by the Hebrew Bible and

other interpreters as well. Nolland notes thatke,raj,horn, is an OT metaphor for

strength or power.69 Johnson also understands horn as a symbol of power (like a

scepter), as in Ps 17:3 (LXX), where horn of salvationis in apposition to rock and

refuge and strength. 70 Additionally, Bovon supports this reading. The horn is a

symbol of power (Deut 33:17), especially of military might. God himself or his servant,

the king or Messiah, can be compared with this image.71 The horn, though, in its

current context, being raised in the house of David (1:69), is more than a symbol of

power, it also appears to be a messianic allusion. Johnson remarks that this coupling

makes the allusion clearly also messianic.72 Bovon states the messianic allusion this

9

67 Bovon, Luke, 72. Bovon lists other attestations as Wis 3:7; Ps. Sol. 3:11; 10:4; 11:6; 15:12.

68 Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, 91.



71 Bovon, Luke, 72.



10/18

way, here the Davidic tradition is revised for the present time, and Luke interprets it in

an unmistakably messianic fashion.73

! The next major subsection in 1:68-75 is 1:71-73a. These verses form a strophe,

which could be understood either as an apposition to the work of God indicated in vv.

68-69, or as the purpose of the divine will.74 These verses appear to make up what has

been spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets from old (1:70). The promises include

salvation (salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us, 1:71),

doing compassion (to do compassion with our fathers, 1:72a), and remembering the

covenant (to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our

father, 1:72b-73a). God will remain faithful, not forgetting the covenant.

! Following the recounting of these promises is vv. 73b-75, which have God

granting to us thatfearlessly, having been rescued from the hand of enemies, to serve

him in holiness and righteousness before him, all of our days. Nolland calls these

verses the best commentary on v. 79, which speaks of the way of peace. While, as

Bovon says, a normal deliverance does not take place without fear, here the hand of

God is so active that the people are delivered from their enemies without fear.75 There

is a purpose, though, in the deliverance, to serve him in holiness and righteousness

before him, all of our days (1:74b-75). This is the natural by-product of experiencing

deliverance by God.

10

73 Bovon, Luke, 72.

74 Bovon, Luke, 73.

75 Bovon, Luke, 74.


11/18

Verses 76-79

This section was likely a later addition to the original song of praise, and as such

is quite different from the rest of the passage. For starters, there is an abrupt shift from

third person to second person, so that the child, John the Baptist, is being addressed

directly. Unlike Marys son, who will be called the son of the Most High (1:32), John the

Baptist will be called a prophet of the Most High (1:76). John is the forerunner, the one

who will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways (1:76). This role was interpreted

by the Baptists community in reference to God himself (evnw,pion kuri,ou,before the

Lord); the Christian community applied it to the Messiah Jesus.76 Luke aided in

promulgating the Christian interpretation of which Bovon speaks by demoting John, in a

sense, and emphasizing less the baptizing role of John, as is prominent in Mark, and

more his prophetic role.77

As the one who is preparing the way for the Lord, John is to give knowledge of

salvation to his people in forgiveness of their sins (1:77). This knowledge of salvation,

though, is more than intellectual knowledge, as it results from existentially experiencing

forgiveness, and emerges from a living relationship with God as the fruit of the

preaching of repentance.78 Psalm 98:2 helps us know that knowledge of salvation is a

Hebrew idiom for the experience of salvation.79

11

76 Bovon, Luke, 74.

77 See Bovons discussion in Luke, 75.

78 Bovon, Luke, 75.



12/18

This knowledge of salvation is given to his people in forgiveness of their

sins (1:77). Speaking again to the pre-Christian, and pre-Lukan, nature of the

Benedictus, Nolland notes that only in the mention of forgiveness of sins (v 77) is

there something that might look distinctly like a Christian development. But since it is

John who here brings the forgiveness of sins, not even this is to be accounted as a later

Christian development.80

It is now in the passage that the dawn of heaven visits. This phrase will be

examined in more detail in the following section, so for now it will suffice to say that this

phrase likely harbors a messianic allusion. The visiting of this dawn of heaven has as

its purpose to shine to those who sit in darkness and theshadow of death, to guide our

feet in the way of peace (1:79). All of 1:79 is built on the light imagery introduced in

1:78b. Divine light is shining on those who sit in darkness and theshadow of death.

While, the first thought may be that this is a reference to unbelievers, we must note the

first person plural pronounhmw/n. It is ourfeet that are being guided by the light. Thus, it

is most likely that weare a part of the group depicted as those who sit in darkness and

theshadow of death.

12



13/18

DAWN OF HEAVEN

! It is one thing to talk about a divine light shining on those in darkness. It is

another thing, though, to speak of the source of that light. Luke 1:78 asserts that the

dawn of heaven,avnatolh evx u[youj,is the source of that light. In context the passage

states that the dawn of heaven will visit to shine to those who sit in darkness and the

shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace (1:78b-79). This phrase, avnatolh

evx u[youj,has been translated numerous ways. The RSV renders it when the day shall

dawn upon us from on high, while the NRSV changes it slightly to say, the dawn from

on high will break upon us. Both the ESV and the NRS translateavnatolhas sunrise.

Liddell-Scott defines it as risingabove the horizon, of any heavenly body, e.g. the

sun.81 Technically, then, the phrase could be translated, rising from on high. This

translation, though, does not bring out thatavnatolhis a noun and should be translated as

such. Thus, Bovons options of the one arising or the dawn are more appropriate.82

Thatavnatolhshould be understood as a messianic allusion is supported by many.

Joel Green works through the meaning ofavnatolhthis way:

The manifestation of gods mercy according to the Song is the coming of the

Messiah. This way of understanding the dawn from on high recognizes acomplex interplay of scriptural metaphors. Dawn might simply represent the

coming of salvation, using the metaphor of light/star (e.g., Isa 60:1; Mal 4:2). . . .

13

81 H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, Greek-English Lexicon: With a Revised Supplement, (Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1996), 123.

82 Bovon, Luke, 76.


14/18

Consequently, dawn in 1:79 might be rendered as Dawn; that is, Zechariah

prophesies Gods sending a messianic figure.83

Schlier in TDNT supports this reading, avnatolh evx u[youjmight be equated with . . .

Messiah of God.84

Behind this understanding ofavnatolhas a messianic reference lay

numerous Hebrew Bible/LXX passages. In LXX Jeremiah 23:5, Zechariah 3:8, and 6:12

avnatolhis used forxm;c,(sprout, shoot, growth). It is on the basis of these passages that

avnatolhbecame a name for the Messiah in the Synagogue.85 Schlier also notes that

Philo understands the term as a star shining from heaven (Conf. 14). It is not that

avnatolh,on its own, is enough to consider this phrase a messianic allusion, instead it is

its juxtaposition withevx u[youj(from on high or from heaven).Evx u[youjalludes to God

asu,yistoj(the highest), but, as Bovon points out, is not simply equivalent with him. In

contrast to a visitor from earth, it describes the divine Messiah (cf. 1:32, 35).86

! It is from this that Bovon is able to state unequivocally that No one doubts that

avnatolh(the one arising, the dawn) is a messianic metaphor . . . .evx u[youj(from on

high) gives it the necessary precision; the son of David sprouts not like others, from

the earth, but out of heaven.87 While there is evidence ofavnatolhbeing used as a name

for the messiah in synagogues,88 that reading is not necessary here. That is, instead of

reading this as a title, it can be read as symbolizing the appearing of the messiah.

14

83 Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. EerdmansPublishing Company, 1997), 119.

84 Schlier, avnate,llw, TDNT1:352-353.


86 Bovon, Luke, 76.

87 Bovon, Luke, 76.



15/18

Evx u[youj, then, denotes the messiahs origin. Bovon then proceeds to identify the

messiah while remarking on the tension of a rising coming from heaven. For Luke,

even this tension is pregnant with content: Jesus will arise in the midst of humanity,

within his people. Yet it will happen from heaven.89

Bovon, it appears, has a short memory, for he has apparently forgotten that he

earlier said of the Benedictusthat it is a hymn and also a prophecy sung in regard to

Johns birth by his disciples.90 How then, can this be a hymn and prophecy celebrating

Johns birth that yet references Jesus as the messiah? The simple answer is that John

is called the prophet of the Most High at 1:76 and John is to go on before the Lord to

prepare his ways (1:76); he is not called the son of the Most High as Jesus was

earlier. It is true that there is a distinction between the titles and roles given to Jesus and

John in the larger nativity pericope. If, in spite of this, one reads the Benedictus, as it

may have been in a previous form, as commemorating John the Baptist s birth, and not

Jesus, then it is not unreasonable to assert that the visiting of the dawn of heaven

was a messianic reference to John. If, as has been previously said, Luke preserves . . .

an idea he does not fully accept and then simply edits the refractory idea around to

15

89 Bovon, Luke, 76.

90 Bovon, Luke, 69.


16/18

his own perspective,91 it is very possible that the phraseavnatolh evx u[youjwas originally

composed by a follower of John who understood John the Baptist to be the messiah.92

16

91 Dillon, Benedictus, 477.

92 This is certainly an idea that is not without support in other realms of New Testament studies.

See James D Tabor, The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth ofChristianity (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006); John D Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography(San

Francisco: Haper Collins, 1989); Shimon Gibson, The Cave of John the Baptist: the StunningArchaeological DiscoveryThat has Redefined Christian History(New York: Doubleday, 2004); Bart D.Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. (3d ed.; New York:

Oxford University Press, 2004).


17/18

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bovon, Franois. Luke 1: A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1-9:50. Hermeneia.! Edited by James Crouch. Translated by Helmut Koester. Minneapolis, MN:! Fortress Press, 2002.

Brown, Raymond E. The Annunciation to Zechariah, the Birth of the Baptist and the! Benedictus (Luke 1:5-25, 57-80). Worship62/6 (1988): 482-496.

Culpepper, R. Alan. Luke. The New Interpreters Bible 9. Nashville: Abingdon Press,! 1995.

Dillon, Richard J. The Benedictus in Micro- and Macrocontext. The Catholic! Biblical Quarterly68 (2006): 457-480.Green, Joel B. The Gospel of Luke. The New International Commentary on the New! Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997.

Johnson, Luke Timothy. The Gospel of Luke. Sacra Pagina Series 3, edited by! Daniel J. Harrington. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991.

Kittel, Gerhard, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the NewTestament. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids, MI:William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964-1976.

Liddell, H. G. and R. Scott. Greek-English Lexicon: With a Revised Supplement.! Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

Marshall, I. Howard. The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text. The !New! International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: William B.! Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978.

McNicol, Allan J. Rebuilding the House of David: The Function of the Benedictus! in Luke-Acts. RestorationQuarterly40/1 (1998): 25-38.

Nolland, John. Luke 1-9:20. Word Biblical Commentary 35A. Dallas, TX: Word! Books, 1989.

17


18/18

ODay, Gail R. The Praise of New Beginnings: The Infancy Hymns in Luke.! Journal for Preachers14/1 (Advent 1990): 3-18.

Vinson, Richard B. Luke. Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. Macon, GA: Smyth! & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated, 2008.

18

the dawn of heaven: the benedictus, john the baptist, and messianic allusions

Documents