Thoughts for the Day

Luke 1:23-24 When his time of service was complete, he returned home.  After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.

What a home coming that must have been for Zechariah!  Had news travelled ahead of him?  Probably not, but I can also imagine Elizabeth hearing rumours that Zechariah had “had a bit of a turn in the temple” and could no longer speak.  Did she imagine he’d had something like stroke?  How did they communicate? Was she literate? How much was Zechariah able to share with her?  So much speculation!  But this we do know,  Elizabeth was not pregnant when Zechariah came home, only “After this …”  The next step in God’s plan is once again dependent on the free choice of people, and who can say whether this action was purely a matter of pleasure, or in their particular circumstances was in some measure an act of obedience? 

We are not told whether Elizabeth immediately believed what Gabriel had announced or only when her body gave her unmistakeable signs.  Nor are we told why she remained in seclusion for 5 months.  I speculate (but it is pure speculation) that by that stage no one could any longer question the nature of condition, which surely they would have earlier.  However, I find it a beautiful detail of God’s care that in his plan he waits until she is receiving visitors again before sending Gabriel to Mary and Mary to Elizabeth.