Matthew Poole and continuators on Luke 1:5

5 There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

The Holy Ghost for infinitely wise Reasons, giveth us here an account both of the time when Iohn the Baptist was born, and also of his Parentage. It was in the time of Herod the King of Judea, that is, he who was the Son of Antipater (not Herod the Tetrarch of Galilee, of whom you read, Luke 3.1. who put Iohn Baptist to Death (that was thirty one or thirty two years after this, he is usually called Herod the great, who fought his way to the Government of the Jews (under the Romans) and came to his Throne by the Slaughter of the Iewish San[illegible: 1 letter]edrim, by which means he also extinguished all the Government, which till his time held in the Tribe of Iudah, tho not in a single Person, (for that was destroyed in Iohn, soon after the time of Iudas Maccabeus) yet in a Select Number out of that Royal Tribe. So that in this Herods time the Prophecy of dying Iacob, Gen. 49.10. was fulfilled. The Scepter, that is, the Government departed from Juda, and the Lawgiver from his Feet, which was a certain Sign (in order to the fulfilling of that Prophecy) that Shilob, that is, the Messias was coming. This for the time. A certain Priest, named Zacharias, some will have him to have been the High Priest, or his Deputy, but that cannot be, for the High Priest was but one, and so not within the Courses of the Priest, but of the Eldest Family from Aaron; and tho it be said v. 9. that his Lot was to Burn Incense, yet it must not be understood of the Incense mentioned, Lev. 16.12. to be Burned upon the yearly Day of Exp[illegible: 1 letter]ation, (which indeed none but the High Priest might do,) but of the daily Incense mentioned in the Law, Exod. 30.6, 7, 8. which any of the Priests did in their Courses. This Zacharias was of the Course of Abia. The Eldest Son of Aaron was always the High Priest, his other Sons were Priests; in a long Course of time, their Descendants so Multiplyed, that they were too many all at the same time to Minister in the Temple. David therefore divided them into Courses, each Course waited their Month, 1 Chron. 24.5, 6. there is an account of the Distribution of the Priests into twenty four Courses. In Davids time the Eighth Course, was the Course of Abia, it appeareth by Nehemiah 124, 17. That after the Captivity they kept the Denominations of these Courses, but it is probable the order of them was altered. We Read of Abiah, in Nehem. 12. but whether his was then, or at this time when Luke Wrote his Gospel, the Eighth Course I cannot tell. It is enough for us, that Zachariah was one of the ordinary Priests of the Course of Abia. Whose Office it was to serve in the Temple in his Course (which was the Course of such as derived from the Abia, mentioned in 1 Chron. 24.5, 6.) And his Wife was of the Daughters of Aaron, and her Name was Elizabeth. This is added not to signify Zacharias his obedience to the Divine Law, which obliged the Priests to marry within their own Tribes, for the reason of that Law, being only to prevent the Confusion of the Inheritances, which fell by Lot to the several Tribes, and by the Will of God were to be so kept distinct, th[illegible: 1 letter] Tribes of Levi having no such Inheritance, might intermix with any other Tribe, and did so, the High Priest was only obliged to Marry some of his own people, Levit. 21.14. and Iehojada, 2 Kings 11.[illegible: 1 letter]2. Married one of the Tribe of Iuda, but it is added to shew the Honourableness of Elizabeths Stock. Moses and Aaron, were the two first Governours of the Israelites. Elizabeth was not only of the Tribe of Levi, but descended from Aaron, whom God made the Noblest Family of the Levites. Her Name was Elizabeth. It is an Hebrew Name, Exod. 6 23. and (as you may see there) was the very Name of Aarons Wife the Daughter of Aminadab, and Sister of Naashon. As it may be variously Written it signifyeth, The Rest, or the Oath, or the Rod of my God.

Marginal references: Mat. 2.1.; Chr. 24.10.