ENCOURAGEMENT FROM WOMEN IN THE HILL COUNTRY

LUKE 1:39–56

The good news of great joy brought by the angel Gabriel must have prompted in Mary recurring thoughts and questions about what this announcement meant (Luke 1:26–35). In the days after learning that she would conceive the Son of God by the Holy Spirit, Mary left Nazareth and departed for the hill country of Judea for a reason.

Following Gabriel’s visit, Mary probably wondered how her family and community would receive the news of her pregnancy. She was “pledged to be married to . . . Joseph” (Luke 1:27). Like other matches within her Jewish culture, Mary’s betrothal was a legal contract that carried with it numerous expectations.22 During the time between their betrothal contract and formal marriage, the couple was considered husband and wife. Although there is no indication in the Bible, it was common within the culture for the girl to be married by thirteen and the man by eighteen to twenty.23 Contact between the couple was strictly prohibited, and sexual relations prior to the wedding could result in their execution.24

Mary traveled from the region of Galilee to Judea in order to meet with her relative Elizabeth.
© Direct Design.

Mary had entered a betrothal agreement that was considered a legal marriage contract, and she had not engaged in sexual relations (Luke 1:27, 34). Yet she was pregnant and so would be considered unfaithful to her marriage contract, which made it probable that Joseph would divorce her because of her perceived unfaithfulness (Matt. 1:19). Potentially, both she and her baby would struggle to survive as social outcasts, and she even faced the possibility of execution (Deut. 22:23–24).25

It is no wonder that “Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea” (Luke 1:39) to visit her relative, Elizabeth, a woman who knew something about disgrace. Elizabeth had felt the sting of social humiliation because she was childless (Luke 1:7, 25). Her long wait for a child was rewarded, and she gave birth to John, the forerunner of the Messiah. The angel Gabriel had earlier told Mary that Elizabeth was six months along in her pregnancy (Luke 1:36–37). Thus Mary found reassurance from Elizabeth—a family member who lived in the hill country.

Ein Kerem. It is believed by some that Elizabeth and Zechariah lived at Ein Kerem, a village near Jerusalem’s western suburbs.

Mary shared her experience with Elizabeth, who was also participating in the miraculous unfolding of God’s rescue and restoration of humanity. Mary received and gave reassurance as she greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s baby leaped within her. Then Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, blessed Mary for believing that the Lord would do what he had said (Luke 1:41–45), and Mary praised God in a song that celebrated the way he takes the humble and exalts them (Luke 1:46–55).

This song holds a note of victory that is reminiscent of Hannah’s joyful song hundreds of years earlier (1 Sam. 2:1–10). Hannah came from a village in the hill country of Ephraim, a few miles north of Jerusalem, and like Elizabeth, she had been childless for years and felt the brunt of social ostracism (1 Sam. 1:3–8). But God announced to her that she would give birth to Samuel, who grew up to become the prophet of Israel who anointed David as king (1 Sam. 1:17–20; 16:13).

So it was that Elizabeth and Hannah saw their social disgrace give way to honor. Both lived in the hill country where Mary found reassurance as she pondered the wondrous ways of God.26

Ramah. Hannah came from the village of Ramah, about eight miles north of Bethlehem.

Early second-century marriage contract, known as a ketubah, discovered in the Judean desert among the archives of Babata.
© Collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority, exhibited at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.