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Mary And Elizabeth
George
L. Faull
Dear
Brother Faull,
How was Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, related? The Bible says they were cousins but Elizabeth was a Levite and Mary was of Judah!
Here was my
reply:
This is a good question that occurred to me many years ago, too. The word “cousins” is used 12 times in the
Bible and is translated many ways. In
the KJV it is translated kinsman (7), cousin (2), kinfolk (2), and kin (1).
Vine says it comes from two Greek words and means “born with”.
Strong says it simply means, “of the same kin”, “a relative (by blood)”,
and in a wider sense “of the same race” or “a fellow countryman”.
The translated word “cousins” appears in the following Scriptures:
Mark 6:4, Luke
1:36, 56; 2:44; 14:12; 21:16, John 18:26, Acts 10:24, Romans 9:3; 16:7, 11, 21.
From this we can not deduct any more than that they were relatives of the
same kin. There was, however, an
obvious close relationship since Mary went and stayed with Elizabeth until the
birth of John the Baptist.
Those who want to deny that Mary is of the tribe of Judah by this
passage and claim she is a Levite, thus disproving Jesus as the Christ, ignore
plain Scripture that state Mary’s Davidic origin. (Luke 1:27,
32, 69; Romans 1:3; II Timothy 2:8; Hebrews 7:14)
Elizabeth’s father was of the tribe of Aaron (Luke 5:1) for she was of the daughter of the
daughters of Aaron. However, her mother
could have been of Judah and be Mary’s mothers’ sister. This would have made her Mary’s aunt. It was not unusual for women to inter-marry
with another tribe. Even Aaron married
a woman of Judah as seen by comparing:
Exodus 6:23, “And Aaron took him
Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and
Ithamar.”
And
I Chronicles 2:10, “And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah;”
If a woman did marry out of her tribe, she forfeited her fathers’
land. Remember the daughters of
Zelophehad. (Numbers 27:1-11 and 36:1-4)
However, the Levites inherited no land, so the Levite girls would not
hesitate to marry into another tribe.
(See Deuteronomy
18:1-2)
Elizabeth’s name is interesting.
Her Greek name is the Greek form of Aaron’s wife’s name, “Elishaba”. It means “an oath of the Lord” or “God’s oath”. Zacharias, her husband’s name means, “remembered by the LORD”.
There was “an oath of
God”
(Elizabeth) that a forerunner to the Messiah would come. It is impossible for God to lie. “God remembered”
(Zacharias)
and gave them a son. Zacharias said,
“his name is John” (not “it will be” or “we will call him” John) but “His name
is John”. John means, “grace of God”. God remembered (Zacharias) God’s oath
(Elizabeth) and thus was the boy who would declare “the grace of God” (John).
John 1:17, “The law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. The law and prophets prophesied
until John (grace). Matthew 11:3
This boy would declare the grace of God for he said of Jesus, “Behold,
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world”. John 1:29
In light of this read Zacharias’ word in Luke
1:67-79,
“67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied,
saying, 68 Blessed be the Lord God of
Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69 And hath raised up an
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70 As he spake by
the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71 That
we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and
to remember his holy
covenant; 73 The
oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 74 That he would
grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might
serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the
days of our life. 76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the
Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his
people by the remission of their sins, 78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the
dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79 To give light to them that sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Look closely at verses
72 and 73. “God remembered His Holy covenant and
the “oath which he swore” to “give remission
of sins” and “tender mercy of our God”.
Elizabeth (God’s oath), Zacharias (is remembered) and John (grace of
God).
What a message!
Do you see what an interesting book the Bible is? You have a question. You seek its answer. Your doubt becomes faith and the answer
always leads to the remission of sins and the grace of God!