Be It unto Me

Matthew opens his Gospel with a family tree, and his first line is a claim: Jesus Christ is “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1). The Lord had promised Abraham that through his seed all nations would be blessed (Genesis 22:18), and David that his throne would be established forever (2 Samuel 7:12–13). Matthew arranges the generations in three sets of fourteen (1:17), and he names four women besides Mary: Thamar, Rachab, Ruth and “her that had been the wife of Urias” (1:3–6). Their stories include a foreigner, a Canaanite from Jericho, and painful family history. Notice also the careful wording of verse 16: Joseph is “the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus.” The Savior entered a real, imperfect family, and God kept His covenants through it.

🔗 Cross-references

• Genesis 22:18 ↗The Lord promises Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
• 2 Samuel 7:12–13 ↗The Lord promises David that the throne of his kingdom will be established forever.
• Ruth 4:13–17 ↗Ruth, a woman of Moab, becomes the great-grandmother of King David.

Luke writes so that Theophilus might “know the certainty” of what he had been taught (1:4), and he begins in the temple. Zacharias and Elisabeth are “righteous before God” and “blameless” (1:6), yet childless and now old. When the lot falls to Zacharias to burn incense in the holy place, the angel Gabriel says, “thy prayer is heard” (1:13). Their son will go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children” (1:17). Zacharias asks for a sign and receives silence. Elisabeth, once she conceives, praises the Lord for taking away her “reproach among men” (1:25). Their righteousness did not shorten the wait, but the wait never meant the Lord had forgotten them.

🔗 Cross-references

• Doctrine and Covenants 27:7 ↗Latter-day revelation adds that Elias visited Zacharias and promised him a son named John.
• 1 Samuel 1:10–11 ↗Hannah, another woman who waited years for a child, pours out her soul to the Lord at the tabernacle.
• Mosiah 24:13–15 ↗Alma’s people learn that the Lord can ease burdens and strengthen us while we wait for deliverance.

Six months after the temple, Gabriel comes to Nazareth, a small town in Galilee, and greets a young woman engaged to Joseph: “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee” (1:28). Her child will be named Jesus, called “the Son of the Highest,” and “of his kingdom there shall be no end” (1:32–33), an echo of last week’s promise in Isaiah 9:7. Mary asks, “How shall this be?” (1:34). Gabriel explains that the Holy Ghost will come upon her and the power of the Highest will overshadow her, so the child will be called the Son of God (1:35). Then he points to Elisabeth as evidence. Mary’s reply is simple and complete: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (1:38).

🔗 Cross-references

• 1 Nephi 11:13–21 ↗Nephi sees in vision a virgin in Nazareth, exceedingly fair, the mother of the Son of God.
• Alma 7:10 ↗Alma names Mary as the mother of the Son of God, a precious and chosen vessel.
• Isaiah 9:7 ↗Isaiah’s promise that His government and peace would have no end, echoed in Luke 1:33.

Mary goes “with haste” into the hill country to Elisabeth (1:39). At her greeting the unborn John leaps, and Elisabeth, filled with the Holy Ghost, testifies of the unborn Savior: “the mother of my Lord” (1:43). She blesses Mary for believing (1:45). Mary answers with praise that echoes Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2. Her soul magnifies the Lord; He has regarded her “low estate” (1:48); He scatters the proud, puts down the mighty, exalts the lowly and fills the hungry (1:51–53). Two women, one old and one young, both carrying promises, spend three months together (1:56). In those quiet months, they strengthened each other.

🔗 Cross-references

• 1 Samuel 2:1–8 ↗Hannah’s prayer of praise, which Mary’s words echo in theme and phrasing.
• Psalm 34:3 ↗“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.”

The promise is fulfilled, and the neighbors rejoice with Elisabeth. On the eighth day, relatives expect the baby to be named Zacharias after his father. Elisabeth refuses: “Not so; but he shall be called John” (1:60). They turn to Zacharias, who asks for a writing tablet and writes, “His name is John” (1:63). In that moment of obedience his mouth is opened, and the first thing he does is praise God (1:64). The whole hill country begins asking, “What manner of child shall this be!” (1:66). Latter-day revelation adds that John was ordained by an angel when he was eight days old (Doctrine and Covenants 84:28). Months of silence ended with an act of faith. The chapter closes with the child growing “strong in spirit” in the deserts until the day he was shown to Israel (1:80).

🔗 Cross-references

• Doctrine and Covenants 84:27–28 ↗John was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb and ordained by an angel at eight days old.
• Luke 1:13 ↗The name John was part of Gabriel’s original promise in the temple.

Matthew tells Joseph’s side. Learning that Mary is expecting, Joseph, “being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example,” plans to end the engagement quietly (1:19). Even before revelation, he chooses mercy over public shame. Then, “while he thought on these things,” an angel comes in a dream (1:20). The child is of the Holy Ghost; His name will be Jesus, “for he shall save his people from their sins” (1:21), and He fulfills Isaiah’s promise of Emmanuel, “God with us” (1:23). Joseph wakes and does exactly as he was told (1:24). He will obey again, just as promptly, when danger comes (Matthew 2:13–14). The Lord trusted His Son’s childhood to a man like that.

🔗 Cross-references

• Isaiah 7:14 ↗Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin and the son called Immanuel, which Matthew quotes.
• Matthew 2:13–14 ↗Joseph again acts immediately on a dream, taking Mary and Jesus to safety in Egypt.

End the week with the first words Zacharias spoke after his silence. Filled with the Holy Ghost, he looks back over everything this chapter has shown. God has visited and redeemed His people (1:68). He is remembering His holy covenant and the oath He swore to Abraham (1:72–73). The child John will prepare the Lord’s ways and give knowledge of salvation “by the remission of their sins” (1:76–77). And the One coming after him is “the dayspring from on high,” sent “to give light to them that sit in darkness” and “to guide our feet into the way of peace” (1:78–79). Last week Isaiah promised a great light to people in darkness. This week, a priest who waited decades announces that the dawn has come.

🔗 Cross-references

• Isaiah 9:2 ↗Isaiah’s promise of light for people in darkness, which Zacharias echoes in Luke 1:79.
• Genesis 22:16–18 ↗The oath the Lord swore to Abraham, which Zacharias says God is now remembering.