What follows is the prayer by Zechariah known as a Canticle after he receives back his ability to speak. He was previously made mute because of his disbelief before the Angel sent by God. The prayer is known in Catholic Tradition as the Benedictus because in Latin that is the first word of Zechariah’s song. It means blessed.
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,
Luke narrates that Zechariah has been filled with the Holy Spirit and like his wife, will there prophesy before those present. This is not a new concept limited to the Gospels and the Book of Acts but present repeatedly in the Old Testament. In Numbers 11:25-29 the Spirit of God descends on the elders and they…prophesy, in 1 Samuel 10:6-10 Saul is filled with the spirit when he prophesies his anointing as King of Israel and the Prophet Joel in Joel 2:28-29 says that the spirit will pour upon the people and they shall prophesy after it happening so this seems to be a mechanism by God to bring prophecy to the peoples, the Holy Spirit fills the person and speaks through them.
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people,
Zechariah gives his Benediction, his blessing of God, the Lord God of Israel. His blessing is in response to God visiting his people and redeeming them. This prophecy is that toward the oncoming Incarnation of Jesus where God will in the flesh visit his people and dwell among them and also by taking on a Human Nature, will redeem them.
A long time expectation of the people toward God is that He will do this. Psalm 106:4-5 speaks of this, the Israelites had an expectation that at some point he would come and save them. Both Malachi and Isaiah will speak of the same promise that is to come, Zechariah is proclaiming that is about to be fulfilled.
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
The Horn of salvation in the house of David is a reference to Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2:10.
“The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
The anointed would be the Christ, that is what Christos means, the anointed figure, the King who will receive God’s strength (or we could interpret as authority) will be given to this one born of the House of David. This would be the figure of Jesus who is a descendant of David and the anointed (Christos) who will receive authority from the ancient of days.
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14)
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
Isaiah, Malachi, Joel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Zacheriah and Micah and so on, all speak of what is to come. The father of John the Baptist is again, proclaiming that the culmination of all things before this moment in the fullness of time are about to come into fruition. Everything the prophets said is about to come true.
71 that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant,
The ancient Israelites and the first century Jews believed that the Messiah would deliver them from their enemies, those who have attacked them over the centuries. That all the promises made to their ancestors about deliverance would occur because this was a part of the covenant promises made by God. He said he would save them and extend his mercy toward them, God bound himself by his covenant promise, he will deliver what he promised.
73 the oath which he swore to our father Abraham,
74 to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
Zechariah brings to mind the original covenant made with Abraham, where God picked out his portion after the splintering of the nations at Babel, that his descendants would bless the entire world including all the nations that had made themselves enemies of the Israelites.
All so they would be able to worship the Lord God without fear of oppression. Now some had the view that this would come about because God would destroy these enemies but God instead converts the hearts of these nations and Christendom will become the dominant faith of the world at large. They will be able to worship in holiness and righteousness, a purification of the liturgy will occur, as is described in the Letter to Hebrews.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
Zechariah now turns his prophetic attention to his Son, John. He will be called the Prophet of the Most High. John the Baptist will be considered the greatest and the last of the Old Covenant prophets. He is the forerunner who will “go before the Lord to prepare his ways”. John will fulfil all of this in his ministry and will only begin to decrease when it is time for the Lord to increase, when he points him out as the Lamb of God that Isaac himself asked of atop Mount Moriah when Abraham was called to sacrifice for the Lord.
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,
John will give a baptism of repentance which will prepare the peoples whose hearts are open for the salvation offered by Jesus. Their sins will be forgiven through Jesus and John’s ministry is the preparation of that. He will give knowledge to the Lord’s people in the forgiveness of their sins.
78 through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high
All of these great things will occur through the tender mercy of God and a day will arrive from on high, another way of saying the Day of the Lord, the inauguration of the New Covenant.
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Zechariah says that this mercy and salvation will be a light to those who sit in darkness and those in the shadow of death. Those who sit in darkness would be the Gentiles, Galilee was described this way. They did not have the light of God’s revelation in a covenantal form though they were God fearers.
In Job 10:21-22 Sheol is described a shadowy place:
“Before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and deep shadow, to the land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
Zechariah might be using a Hebraism where he is not talking about two separate things but is actually just reaffirming the first thing. So he could be talking just about the light being brought to the Gentiles who live in darkness.
Isaiah will say “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” in reference to the Gentiles but he will also say: “I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” Which seems to be referencing those who are dead in Sheol. I think it’s likely that, as it is also Church teaching, that Zechariah is referring to both the living who are in Darkness without revelation and also those who are dead in Sheol cut off from the beatific vision like our first parents and the patriarchs until Jesus opens it for them.
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