The Nativity Study Guide

Know the Setting

Luke places the story “in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea” (Luke 1:5). Zacharias was a priest “of the course of Abia” (Luke 1:5), one of the priestly divisions listed in 1 Chronicles 24:10 (spelled Abijah there). His wife Elisabeth was “of the daughters of Aaron” (Luke 1:5).

Both were “righteous before God” (Luke 1:6), yet “they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years” (Luke 1:7).

Zacharias was chosen by lot to burn incense in the temple, while “the whole multitude of the people were praying without” (Luke 1:10).

Who Speaks

• The angel Gabriel, who names himself in verse 19
• Zacharias (verse 18)
• Elisabeth (verse 25)

Look Closer

• Luke never tells us exactly what Zacharias had prayed for. The angel says “thy prayer is heard” (Luke 1:13) and then promises a son. Reflection: many readers connect the prayer to the couple's long hope for a child, but the text leaves the prayer itself unstated.
• Compare two questions. Zacharias asks, “Whereby shall I know this?” (Luke 1:18) Mary later asks, “How shall this be” (Luke 1:34) Gabriel gives the reason Zacharias was made silent: “because thou believest not my words” (Luke 1:20).
• The silence had an end built into it: “until the day that these things shall be performed” (Luke 1:20). Watch for its fulfillment in Song 3.

Know the Setting

“In the sixth month” (Luke 1:26) of Elisabeth's pregnancy (see verse 36), Gabriel was sent to Nazareth, “a city of Galilee” (Luke 1:26).

Mary was “a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David” (Luke 1:27). Espoused means Mary was already Joseph's wife. Matthew calls Joseph “her husband” (Matthew 1:19) and the angel calls Mary “thy wife” (Matthew 1:20). They had not yet come together, so Mary was still a virgin (Luke 1:34).

Afterward Mary went “into the hill country with haste” (Luke 1:39) to Elisabeth's home and stayed “about three months” (Luke 1:56).

Who Speaks

• Gabriel
• Mary (verses 34, 38, and her song in 46–55)
• Elisabeth (verses 42–45)

Look Closer

• Mary was “troubled at his saying” (Luke 1:29) and asked, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” (Luke 1:34) Gabriel answered her question. Reflection: her words ask how it will happen, not whether God can do it.
• Notice “Fear not, Mary” (Luke 1:30). The same words come to Zacharias, Joseph, and the shepherds.
• Elisabeth called Mary “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43) and said, “blessed is she that believed” (Luke 1:45).

Know the Setting

When the son was born, Elisabeth's “neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her” (Luke 1:58).

“On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child” (Luke 1:59), and they expected to name him after his father.

Who Speaks

• Elisabeth (verse 60)
• Neighbors and relatives (verse 61)
• Zacharias, first in writing (verse 63), then “filled with the Holy Ghost” (Luke 1:67) in prophecy (verses 68–79)

Look Closer

• Elisabeth spoke first: “Not so; but he shall be called John” (Luke 1:60). Luke does not say how she knew the name. Let the text's silence stand.
• Zacharias “asked for a writing table, and wrote” (Luke 1:63). Then “his mouth was opened immediately” (Luke 1:64), and his first recorded words praised God, and the silence ended just as Gabriel had said (Luke 1:20).
• His prophecy speaks first of the Lord who “hath visited and redeemed his people” (Luke 1:68), and only then of his son: “thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways” (Luke 1:76).

Know the Setting

Mary was Joseph's espoused wife, and “before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:18).

Joseph was “a just man” (Matthew 1:19), and “not willing to make her a publick example” (Matthew 1:19), so he “was minded to put her away privily” (Matthew 1:19), ending the marriage quietly. Instead, after the dream, he “took unto him his wife” (Matthew 1:24).

Who Speaks

• The angel of the Lord, in a dream (verses 20–21). Matthew does not name this angel.
• Matthew, quoting the prophet (verses 22–23)
• Joseph has no recorded words. He acts.

Look Closer

• Joseph's faith is shown by what he does: he “did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him” (Matthew 1:24).
• The angel calls him “Joseph, thou son of David” (Matthew 1:20), recalling his place in David's family line (see Matthew 1:1–16).
• The child receives two names. JESUS, “for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21); and Emmanuel, “which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

Know the Setting

“There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed” (Luke 2:1), and each person went “into his own city” (Luke 2:3).

Joseph went to “the city of David, which is called Bethlehem” (Luke 2:4), “because he was of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4), with Mary, “being great with child” (Luke 2:5).

Centuries earlier, the prophet Micah had named this small town.

Who Speaks

• Luke narrates the journey.
• Micah the prophet (Micah 5:2)
• In Matthew, the chief priests and scribes quote Micah to Herod (Matthew 2:5–6).

Look Closer

• Micah calls Bethlehem “little among the thousands of Judah” (Micah 5:2). When the chief priests quote it in Matthew, they say Bethlehem “art not the least among the princes of Juda” (Matthew 2:6). Reflection: small in size, it was not least in purpose.
• Micah says the coming ruler's “goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
• Luke does not mention a donkey or describe the road. Our pictures show a donkey as an artistic choice.

Know the Setting

“While they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered” (Luke 2:6).

“She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

Who Speaks

• The angel, announcing the birth to the shepherds (verses 10–11)
• Mary and Joseph have no recorded words here.

Look Closer

• Luke tells the birth itself in just two verses. He does not mention a stable, animals, or an innkeeper, and he does not say the birth happened at night. Our pictures use a traditional stable as an artistic choice.
• The angel gives three titles at once: “a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
• The good news is personal: “unto you is born this day” (Luke 2:11).

Know the Setting

“There were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8).

Who Speaks

• The angel of the Lord (verses 10–12)
• The heavenly host (verse 14)
• The shepherds, to one another (verse 15)

Look Closer

• First one angel came, and “the glory of the Lord shone round about them” (Luke 2:9). Then “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host” (Luke 2:13). These are two separate moments.
• Luke says the host was “praising God, and saying” (Luke 2:13). Many carols say "singing," but Luke's word is "saying."
• The angel gave a sign, and the shepherds “came with haste” (Luke 2:16) and found it just as they were told. Then “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

Know the Setting

“There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem” (Matthew 2:1) “in the days of Herod the king” (Matthew 2:1).

Herod “was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew 2:3). The chief priests and scribes pointed to Bethlehem from the prophet's words.

Who Speaks

• The wise men (verse 2)
• The chief priests and scribes (verses 5–6)
• Herod (verse 8)

Look Closer

• Matthew never says how many wise men came or calls them kings. He names three gifts: “gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). Our pictures show three travelers as an artistic choice.
• They found “the young child with Mary his mother” (Matthew 2:11) in “the house” (Matthew 2:11). Matthew does not say how long this was after the birth.
• Herod said he wanted to “come and worship him also” (Matthew 2:8), but the next verses show his true intent (Matthew 2:13). The wise men were “warned of God in a dream” (Matthew 2:12) and went home “another way” (Matthew 2:12).