Luke 1:63

63 He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is Yochanan." They all marveled.

Luke 1:63 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 1:63

And he asked for a writing table
That is, he made signs for one, for as yet he could not speak. The Persic version renders it "ink", and the Ethiopic, a book, and the Vulgate Latin, a notebook. The word signifies "a little table", such as they used to write not only "upon", but "in"; and was sometimes of brass F20, sometimes of wood, and sometimes of wax F21, on which they wrote with a style or pen;

and wrote, saying, his name is John:
not that he must be, or shall be, so called; but this is his name, and no other; being what the angel had given him before his conception, and Zacharias now confirms:

and they marvelled all;
they were astonished, not so much at the new name brought into the family, as at the agreement between Elisabeth and Zacharias in this point, when the latter was both deaf and dumb; they knowing nothing, as yet, of the angel's message to him.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 Haryocration. Lex. p. 244.
F21 Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 2. c. 30.

Luke 1:63 In-Context

61 They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name."
62 They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.
63 He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is Yochanan." They all marveled.
64 His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.
65 Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Yehudah.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.