Luke 1:46–56
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
Section Overview
Mary breaks out in praise to the Lord for the great things he has done for her and for God’s work in overturning the proud, toppling the mighty, and exalting the lowly. This hymn is often called the Magnificat, the Latin word for “magnifies.” The Lord works on behalf of the poor and turns away from the rich. The Lord is showing mercy to Israel, fulfilling the covenant promises he made to his people; these works of the Lord are inaugurated now and will be consummated with the second coming of the Christ.
Section Outline
II. Preparation for Jesus’ Ministry (1:5–4:13)
A. Two Births Predicted (1:5–56) . . .
2. Birth of the Christ (1:26–56) . . .
c. Mary Praises God (1:46–56)
Response
God’s work on behalf of his people produces praise and thanksgiving in our hearts. It may seem that evil will triumph when the rich are prospering and mistreating the godly. Mary reminds us that the Lord is faithful to his covenant promises, that the promises given to Abraham will be fulfilled. In fact, they are fulfilled in an inaugurated way in Jesus the Messiah. Ultimately, the wicked will be defeated and the righteous will triumph, for the Lord’s kingdom will come in its fullness in Jesus Christ’s return. Goodness will finally triumph, the evil will be judged, and the Lord will reign forever!
1:46–47 Hearing Elizabeth’s words, which confirm what Gabriel said to her about being the mother of the Lord, spurs Mary to break out in praise. Songs of praise, of course, are common in the OT, and Mary’s song is modeled in many respects after Hannah’s praise at the birth of Samuel (1 Sam. 2:1–10). It is also stocked, however, with many other allusions to the OT. Luke 1:46–47 provide an example of synonymous parallelism, in which two lines communicate the same basic truth. The “soul” and “spirit,” then, should not be segregated from one another but are two different ways of saying that Mary with her entire being gives praise to the Lord. Mary’s magnification of the Lord resonates with the words of Psalm 34:3 (“Oh, magnify the Lord with me”). Her rejoicing in God as her Savior picks up 1 Samuel 2:1 (“I rejoice in your salvation”) and Psalm 35:9 (“Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation”; cf. also Isa. 61:10; Hab. 3:18). We should add that even in synonymous parallelism the two lines are not totally synonymous, for in the second line God is praised as “Savior,” showing that Mary praises him for his deliverance. Isaiah especially emphasizes the Lord as Savior (Isa. 43:3, 11; 45:15, 21; 49:26; 60:16; 63:8), and his delivering word takes place at the second exodus—Israel’s deliverance from Babylon. For Luke the promises of the second exodus are fulfilled in Jesus, the one who delivers his people in accord with the covenant promises.
1:48–50 Mary now explains why she magnifies and praises the Lord. The Lord has looked on her humble position (Gk. tapeinōsin) and exalted her by granting her the privilege and blessing of bearing the Christ. Mary repeats the notion that she is the Lord’s servant (cf. Luke 1:38). All future generations will remember how Mary plays an unforgettable and unrepeatable role in the history of salvation, and what God has done for Mary he will do for all who are humble. The words “from now on” signal that a new day has arisen with the coming of the Christ (cf. also 5:10; 12:52; 22:18, 69). The same word for “humble estate” (tapeinōsin) is used of Hannah’s “affliction” when she had no children (1 Sam. 1:11 LXX). Leah also gave thanks to God for looking upon her “affliction” (tapeinōsin; Gen. 29:32 LXX). The Lord has “looked” (epeblepsen) graciously on Mary’s humble estate, just as he looked at Israel’s misery in the past (cf. 1 Sam. 9:16 LXX).
Mary also praises the Lord for the wonderful things he has done, echoing Deuteronomy 10:21, which exults in how the Lord did great and awesome things by delivering Israel from Egypt (cf. Ps. 71:19). What the Lord has done for Mary is not for her alone but also for Israel as a whole, signaling that a new exodus, a new redemption—the final and climatic act of redemption—is taking place through Jesus. The Lord who intervenes on behalf of his people is holy; there is no one like him, for he is utterly unique. We think again of Hannah, who said, “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God” (1 Sam. 2:2). Psalm 111:9 also connects the holiness and greatness of God’s name to his redemption of his people.
God’s redemption of his people is an act of mercy (eleos) and grace, and yet that mercy is given to those who fear the Lord. God’s mercy is a repeated theme in Luke chapter 1 (1:54, 58, 72, 78; cf. 10:37; 16:24; 17:13; 18:38–39). Mary echoes Psalm 103:17 (cf. Ps. 100:5), which reads, “The steadfast love [LXX eleos] of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him.” Mary recognizes that the fulfillment of covenant promises reflects God’s grace and kindness and that Israel does not deserve the gift bestowed on them.
1:51 The psalm shifts from an emphasis on what the Lord has done for Mary to his work on behalf of Israel. How should we interpret the aorist verbs in Luke 1:51–54? Is Mary referring only to God’s past work of redemption for Israel? Or is she saying that with the birth of the Christ God has brought down the nations as he did in the past? Or should the aorist verbs be interpreted in prophetic terms so that Mary envisions the future destruction of those who oppose the Lord? Certainly the Lord has worked on Israel’s behalf in the past, but in context Mary probably has in mind the present and the future. Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah are looking forward in chapter 1 to the consummation of God’s promises to his people, to the fulfillment of God’s covenant. At the same time they are filled with joy because they see in the revelation given to them and in the birth of the two children that the Lord is acting now to bring in his kingdom.
God’s strong arm in Psalm 89:10 anticipates the new exodus by which Israel will be freed from the grip of Babylon, and Mary also recalls the first exodus, in which the Lord “scattered” and “crushed Rahab [Egypt]” by his “mighty arm” (Psalm 89:10). God’s strength in saving his people from Egypt is often emphasized in the OT (e.g., Ex. 6:1, 6; Deut. 7:19). The Lord scatters the proud, bringing them down from their high position (cf. Num. 10:35; Ps. 68:1). Hannah also warns the proud and arrogant that the Lord is weighing their actions (1 Sam. 2:3). God is now acting in the birth of Jesus to deliver his people and bring in his kingdom.
1:52–53 Mary praises the Lord because he casts down the mighty and exalts the humble. Hannah says that the Lord “brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor” (1 Sam. 2:7–8). The casting down of the proud and the lifting up of the humble is characteristic of God (Prov. 3:34; cf. Luke 14:11). The Lord worked in such a way in Israel’s past, especially in freeing Israel from Egypt, and now the capstone of his work is taking place in Jesus.
One of Luke’s favorite themes surfaces here. The Lord satisfies the hungry and the poor but frustrates the rich (cf. Ps. 107:9). We have seen already that Luke emphasizes the dangers of riches. Jesus promises blessing for the poor and woe to the rich (Luke 6:21, 24). Hannah sounds the same note: “Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger” (1 Sam. 2:5). Such words are fully realized only at the eschaton, and there is a recognition in the very word “rich” that the wicked are rich for some time. In Jesus God is acting to bring to fruition what he promised to the humble, to the poor, to the faithful. His covenant promises will come to pass, and the godly will experience eschatological riches.
1:54–56 The covenantal nature of the Lord’s saving acts comes to the forefront in Luke 1:54–55. The Lord has intervened—Mary exclaims—for the sake of Israel, remembering the covenant mercy he promised to his people. In former days the Lord remembered his covenant promises to Israel when he sent Moses to deliver them (Ex. 2:24–25; cf. Ex. 6:5). The Lord’s covenant cannot be revoked: “he remembers his covenant forever, the promise he ordained for a thousand generations” (Ps. 105:8 CSB). As Psalm 105:42 says, he remembers his promise to “his servant” Abraham. The Lord showed his mercy by entering into covenant with Israel as his chosen servant (Isa. 41:8–10). The covenant with Abraham is particularly in view (Gen. 12:1–3; 17:1–14; cf. Ps. 105:9), and this is clear from Luke 1:55.
The promise is not limited to Abraham but also belongs “to his offspring forever.” The covenant with Abraham is everlasting (Gen. 17:7), and the Lord promises to fulfill it, which is signified by the Lord’s passing through the pieces himself of the animals cut in two (cf. also Jer. 34:18–20), which is the Lord’s way of saying that he will suffer the same fate as the animals’ if his covenant promises are not realized (Gen. 15:7–21). Micah 7:20 captures the inviolability of the covenant with Abraham. “You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love [LXX eleon] to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.” The covenant with Abraham is fulfilled via the Davidic covenant, through the offspring of David (cf. 2 Samuel 7; Psalms 2; 89; 132). The Lord promises to show covenant mercy (eleos—the same word Luke uses in 1:54) “to David and his offspring forever” (2 Sam. 22:51 LXX). Mary affirms that the covenant promises are fulfilled in Jesus. God has shown his mercy to his people with the arrival of the Christ.
After Mary finishes her song, she stays three months with Elizabeth and leaves shortly before Elizabeth is due to give birth. We are not told why Mary does not stay until the birth, but since she leaves the focus is on the birth of the Baptist in the next story. As she returns to her house, she is not yet married to Joseph, further confirming the virginal conception.