Zechariah was an Old Testament Priest, waiting for the Promised Redeemer. Though he and his wife were elderly, and unable to have children, he prays for a son. An angel appears, and tells him his prayer has been heard, and his wife will bear a son who will not only be an answer Zechariah’s personal prayer, but who will play a part in answering the prayers of the nation of Israel. But instead of just believing and being thankful, Zechariah wants proof. The Lord responds with a 9-month “time- out”, where Zechariah is not able to speak. God answers his prayer anyway, and the moment Zechariah names the child “John,” in obedience to the angel’s original words, his voice comes back, and his first words are considered a prophetic “song,” which came to be known as the “Benedictus.”
There are many Christmas songs that involve reindeer, heat misers, presents, silver bells, and elves, but almost no one sings the actual songs that were sung around the birth of Jesus. In the Bible there are 4 (or 5) songs at the birth of Jesus. Technically there are 4 with the 5th being alluded to, but we wanted to look at the songs we don’t know the tune to, to get a better picture of how the Christmas would have been perceived.
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