The Magnificat

Until Christmas day, this daily e-mailing will lead you the reader's up to Christmas day with biblical details of Jesus' birth from the pregnancy of Mary his mother by the Holy Spirit of YHWH. Remember that the celebration of Christmas is for Jesus' birth and not the giving of gifts to each other. JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON. Travel with the ministry for the next 3 days to Christmas with biblical chronology of His birth. Lets remember that Jesus' exact birth date is unknown. - Rev. Lynwood F. Mundy Note: The Magnificat is one of the Bible's most beautiful songs of praise to God recorded. Read: Luke 1:46-55 MAGNIFICAT [măg nĭfˊə kăt].† The name commonly given to Mary’s song of praise (Luke 1:46–55), from the first word of the Latin translation of the song: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum.…” Like the related songs in 1:68–79; 2:29–32, the Magnificat represents what would be expected of common Palestinian Jews such as the speakers are portrayed. What is hoped for is the fulfillment of the covenant with Abraham (1:55; cf. vv. 72–73) and Israel’s salvation (v. 54; cf. 2:25), in which Gentiles may, however, participate (vv. 31–32). This salvation is envisioned at least partly in military terms (1:51–52). While these ideas are elsewhere put to use in Christian teaching and imagery, in the Magnificat they appear as an unqualified expression of the eschatological and nationalistic piety common in Judaism from ca. 200 B.C. to A.D. 100. But in the present context of the song, namely the gospel of Luke, the salvation spoken of is that which has come in Jesus and is not bound to any nation (cf. vv. 69, 77; 2:11, 30–32). The content of the Magnificat is not specifically linked to the situation of Mary, except at 1:48 (cf. vv. 38, 42, 45). In that verse (cf. 2 Esdra 9:45) and with every line in Mary’s song, there are close relations—sometimes word for word—to several of the Psalms and poetic passages elsewhere in the Old Testament and later Jewish literature, particularly the song of Hannah (1 Sam. 2:1–10). The lack of specificity and the parallel between Elizabeth’s story and Hannah’s story suggest that the song was Elizabeth’s and not Mary’s. Indeed, a small possibility exists that the song was originally ascribed to Elizabeth at Luke 1:46, either by the appearance of her name there in place of Mary’s (as in three Latin manuscripts and three references to the song in the Church Fathers) or by the absence of any name (“And she said…”; cf. vv. 41–44, 56). But because of the connections of vv. 48 and the overwhelming manuscript evidence, Mary’s name should be retained at vv. 46. Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1987). 680.