There are, however, two verses in the Hymn which require further notice. The word anatole is translated dayspring in the last couplet, because it is treated here as giving light to those who sit in darkness. But in Zech. iii. and vi. it is used of Joshua the son of Zerubbabel and translated Branch. The thought of Joshua the High Priest as prefiguring Jesus our High Priest suggested the idea of the Branch, but its other meaning suggested the star of the East ushering in the day.
Distinguish between the Zacharias who speaks and the Zechariah of the Old Testament, the prophet whose words he uses. Note that Joshua and Jesus are the same word, and that the prophet's words about Joshua are used by John's father about Jesus. {85} Also there are references to Psalm cxxxii., where vv. 1 and 11 mention God's remembrance and God's oath, and v. 17 has the horn of David and I will make to flourish, using a word akin to the word for dayspring (exanatelo, anatole).
v. 2. A mighty salvation. In S. Luke (A.V.) horn of salvation: see Psalm xviii. 2. The horn is used as the symbol of strength.
v. 6. The oath is in Gen. xxii. 16, 17, 18, By myself have I sworn—that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven—and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. It is explained (Gal. iii. 16) that Abraham's seed is Christ: in Him all nations are blessed. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal. iii. 29). Thus the oath to multiply Abraham's seed is fulfilled in the increase of the Christian Family.
v. 9. Thou, child,=John the Baptist.
The Highest=God Almighty.
v. 10. St John Baptist was to give people knowledge of Jesus—the Saviour.
v. 11. The Dayspring is Jesus. The word for dayspring in Greek means "springing up," and is translated Branch in Zech. iii. 8 and vi. 12, and Jer. xxiii. 5.
v. 12. Read Isaiah ix. 2 (to give light, &c.) and Isaiah xlix. 9-11 (to guide, &c.). Also 2 Pet. i. 19 and Rev. xxi. 23 and xxii. 16.
It will be noticed that although the occasion was the Birth of John, yet his father's Hymn is directed to the Coming of Jesus. Jesus is the Dayspring or {86} Branch—John is to be the herald of the Saviour. Not till the 9th verse does the father address his infant son: his mind is turning upon the greater Birth which was to come six months later.