A Coming Christ in
Advent
Introduction to the Lucan Canticles.
The Benedictus.
(Luke 1:67-79)
Sunday, December 10, 2006
10 to 10:50 am, in the Parlor.
Everyone is welcome!
Stir up your power, O Lord, and
with great might come among us;
and, because we are sorely
hindered by our sins, let your
bountiful grace and mercy speedily
help and deliver us; through Jesus
Christ our Lord, to whom, with you
and the Holy Spirit, be honor and
glory, now and for ever.
- Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent, Book of Common Prayer, p. 212


A Coming Christ in
Advent: Essays on the
Gospel Narratives
Preparing for the Birth
of Jesus. Raymond E.
Brown, The Liturgical
Press, Collegeville, MN,
1988. ISBN: 0-81461587-2.
Raymond E. Brown,
S.S., was a world renown
New Testament biblical
scholar and the Auburn
Distinguished Professor
of Biblical Studies at
Union Theological
Seminary in New York.
Dr. Brown died in 1998.
The Lucan Canticles
The Lucan Canticles
Four Canticles

There are four canticles (= hymns or psalms)
in Luke’s infancy narrative:
1. The Magnificat (1:42-55)
 2. The Benedictus (1:67-79)
 3. The Gloria in Excelsis (2:13-14)
 4. The Nunc Dimittis (2:28-32)

The Lucan Canticles
Note on the Gloria

The Gloria is so brief that we can only guess at
its origin
An expanded form is part of the Eucharist
 May have been structured antiphonally:

One set of lines (2:13-14) now assigned to the angels:
“Glory in the highest heavens to God, and on earth
peace to those favored (by Him),”
 Other set of lines is assigned to the disciples when Jesus
enters Jerusalem (19:38): “Peace in heaven, and glory in
the highest heaven.”

The Lucan Canticles
Origin

Four possibilities for the origin of the
canticles:

1. composed by those they are attributed to in the
narrative:
Magnificat by Mary
 Benedictus by Zechariah
 Nunc Dimittis by Simeon
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2. composed by Luke as he wrote the rest of the
infancy narratives
The Lucan Canticles
Origin

Four possibilities for the origin of the
canticles:
3. composed by Luke and added later to an already
existing (either by Luke or before Luke) infancy
narrative
 4. composed before Luke wrote his gospel by
someone other than Luke, and added by Luke to an
already existing infancy narrative

The Lucan Canticles
Origin
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Idea (1), that Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon
actually spoke these words as described seems
unlikely – ordinary people cannot compose
polished poetry on the spot.
Idea (2), that Luke composed the canticles
along with the rest of the infancy narrative also
seems unlikely, as the canticles fit in
awkwardly with the narrative.

In fact, the narrative reads more smoothly without
the canticles!
The Lucan Canticles
Origin

Some scholars support idea (3), that Luke
composed the canticles later and went back
and grafted them in the narrative.
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Main problem with this idea: we would expect
more uniformity among the canticles if Luke
composed them all.
Most scholars, including Fr. Brown, supports
idea (4), that the canticles pre-date Luke and
Luke grafted them into the infancy narrative,
adding a few modifications.
The Lucan Canticles
Origin
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So, what was Luke’s source?
The canticles conform to Jewish hymnic style (a
mosaic of lines from earlier poetry) and thought (a
complete dependence upon God for victory) from the
period 200 BC to 100 AD, as seen in:
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1 Maccabees
Judith
2 Baruch
4 Ezra
Dead Sea War Scroll and Hodayoth (Thanksgiving Psalms)
The Lucan Canticles
Jewish Hymnic Style
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This Jewish hymnic style is a “mosaic” style
where nearly every phrase is taken from the
earlier poetry of Israel (Psalms, the Prophets,
Torah hymns …)
For example: the opening of the Benedictus:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel
 because He has visited
 and accomplished the redemption of His people,
 and raised up for us a horn of salvation
 in the house of David His servant
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The Lucan Canticles
Jewish Hymnic Style

Is a mosaic of earlier poetry of Israel:
Psalms 41:14 (13), Psalm 72:18, Psalm 106:48 (the
endings of the three books of the psalter): “Blessed
be the Lord, the God of Israel”
 Psalm 111:9: “He sent redemption to His people
 Judges 3:9: “And the Lord raised up a savior for
Israel.”
 Psalm 132:16-17: “I shall clothe her priests with
salvation… I shall make a horn to sprout for
David.”
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The Lucan Canticles
Jewish Hymnic Style

Is a mosaic of earlier poetry of Israel:
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Ezekial 29:21: “On that day I shall make a horn sprout for
all the House of Israel”
I Samuel 2:10 (Hannah’s hymn): “He will exalt the horn of
His anointed [Messiah]”
Psalm 18:3(2): “My God … the horn of my salvation.”
15th Benediction of the Shemoneh Esreh (Jewish prayer
contemporary with Luke): “Let the shoot of David (Your
Servant) speedily spring up and raise his horn in Your
Salvation … May you be blessed, O Lord, who lets the
horn of salvation flourish.”
The Lucan Canticles
Jewish vs. Jewish-Christian
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The canticles contains:
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This would be difficult to explain from a purely
Jewish source between 200 BC and 100 AD
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A tone of salvation accomplished
An emphasis on the House of David
The Jewish Maccabean victories of the second century BC
might have led to songs of deliverance, of salvation
accomplished, but their leaders were Levitical priests,
unlikely to emphasize the House of David
The canticles therefore are felt to most likely arise
from a Jewish-Christian source
The Lucan Canticles
The Anawim
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Which particular Jewish-Christian Group might have
composed the canticles?
The religious thought and piety of the canticles
(complete dependence upon God for victory)
conforms to that of the Anawim or “Poor Ones”
The Anawim or Poor Ones were those who could
not trust in their own strength, who knew and deeply
felt their utter dependency upon God:
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The lowly, the poor, the sick, the downtrodden, widows and
orphans
The opposite of the Anawim or Poor Ones: the rich, the
proud and self-sufficient who showed no need of God
The Lucan Canticles
The Anawim
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After the exile in Babylon, the Anawim or
Poor Ones were a Jewish group that regarded
themselves as the ultimate narrowing down of
the “remnant” of Israel

“remnant” of Israel = the “remains” of God’s
chosen people that God would save.
The Lucan Canticles
The Anawim

The Qumran community of the Dead Sea scrolls may
have been a sectarian group of Anawim or Poor Ones.
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The writer of the Qumran or Dead Sea Scroll Hodayoth
(Thanksgiving Psalms; QH) frequently called himself a
“poor one”
He wrote (evocative of the Magnificat): “You, O Lord,
have assisted the soul of the poor one and the needy against
one who is stronger than he. You have redeemed my soul
from the hand of the mighty.” (1QH ii 34-35)
In other Dead Sea Scrolls, there are references to the
Qumran group as Anawim and as the Community of the
Poor
The Lucan Canticles
The Anawim
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Brown and other scholars have suggested the
composers of the Lucan canticles may have
been another group of Jewish Anawim or
Poor Ones who had converted to Christianity.
This group of Anawim or Poor Ones continued
to worship in the Temple and looked for a
messiah from the House of David
The Lucan Canticles
The Anawim

In Jesus they might have found a fulfillment of
their messianic expectations:
Jesus blessed the “poor ones:” the poor, the
hungry, the downtrodden and persecuted (Luke
6:20-22)
 Jesus was himself persecuted and put to death
 Yet Jesus fully entrusted himself to God (Luke
23:46)
 And God raised him and exalted him as savior
(Acts 5:31)
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The Lucan Canticles
The Anawim
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Some scholars go further to argue that these JewishChristian Anawim might have been a community of
Jewish Christian Anawim or “Poor Ones” at
Jerusalem:
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Acts 2:43-47; 4:32-37: Luke describes the first Jewish
Christian believers as “poor ones:” people who sold all
their possessions and gave their wealth to the poor
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Paul talks of his collection of money for the Jerusalem church,
supporting such a picture of the early Jerusalem church.
Acts also talks of the temple piety of the early Jewish
Christians in Jerusalem: “They went to the Temple together
every day” (Acts 2:46, 3:1)
The Lucan Canticles
Luke’s Use of the Canticles
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Did Luke do violence to put such JewishChristian canticles on the lips of Mary,
Zechariah, and Simeon?
If the canticle composers were indeed Anawim
or Poor Ones with lives of temple piety, then it
was very appropriate:
Mary was a poor one.
 Zechariah and Simeon lived lives of temple piety.
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The Benedictus
The Benedictus
Translation

lntroductory Praise
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Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel:
First Strophe
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68a
68b
Because He has visited
68c and accomplished the redemption of His people,
69a and has raised up for us a horn of salvation
69b in the house of David His servant,
70 as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old:
71a salvation from our enemies
71b and from the hand of all those who hate us,
Second Strophe
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72a
Showing mercy to our fathers
72b and remembering His holy covenant,
73 the oath which He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us 74 that, without fear,
delivered from the hands of our enemies,
we might serve Him 75 in holiness and justice,
before Him all the days of our lives.
The Benedictus
Translation
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Lucan insertion:
 76a
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But you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High;
76b for you will go before the Lord to make ready His ways,
77a to grant to His people knowledge of salvation
77b in the forgiveness of their sins.
Conclusion
 78a
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Through the heartfelt mercy of our God
78b by which there has visited us a rising light from on high,
79a appearing to those who sat in darkness and the shadow
of death,
79b guiding our feet into the way of peace."
The Benedictus
Early Jewish Christian Christology
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Christology: the theological study of “who is Jesus?”
The Benedictus begins with praise for the God of
Israel: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel”
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The early Jewish Christians thought of themselves as still
belonging to Israel
This same blessing ends the three sections or books of the
psalter – attributed to David (Psalms 41:14(13), 72:18, and
106:48)
1 Kings 1:48: this same blessing was also said by David
after Solomon’s accession to the throne of Israel
The Benedictus
Early Jewish Christian Christology

The two strophes describe the saving action of
God:
First Strophe: reminds us that the messiah (the
“horn of salvation”) from the House of David was
foretold by the prophets (2 Samuel 7)
 Second Strophe: reminds us that the messiah was a
fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises to
Abraham
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Thus Luke evokes the Old Testament history
of salvation as pointing to Jesus, just as
Matthew does with his genealogy
The Benedictus
Early Jewish Christian Christology

Zechariah, speaking the Canticle, is praising
God for the birth of John the Baptist. The
Lucan insertion makes it clear that John is not
the messiah, but rather someone who will
prepare the way for the messiah, for the Lord.
The Benedictus
Early Jewish Christian Christology
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The description of the saving action of God, of the
messiah (the “horn of salvation”), is entirely in Old
Testament language.
We don’t find the more sophisticated language
describing “who Jesus is” (that is, “Christology”) that
we find in:
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the early hymn Paul quotes in Philippians 2:6-11, speaking
of Jesus’ origins, humble life as a servant, obedient death
on a cross, and exaltation
The Prologue hymn in John 1:1-18, speaking of Jesus, the
Logos or Word of God, coming into the world, rejected by
his own, manifesting his glory.
The Benedictus
Early Jewish Christian Christology

The Canticles, describing “who Jesus is” (=
Christology) in purely Old Testament
language, are perhaps the oldest preserved
Christian hymns of praise.
Next Week:
The Annunciation to
Mary, the Visitation,
and the Magnificat