Music recording by Ben Doggett. From Joy to the World by Isaac Watts, 1719. View the Lyrics. Narration by Aimee Riegert.

Devotional by Lynn Marie Kohm.

Image: Jewish betrothal ceremonies involved the presentation of a marriage contract or ketubah. The ceremony was sealed by a shared cup of wine, and the bridegroom would present gifts to his bride.

From Genesis to Jesus, with Jacob and David in between, young Hebrew children knew their Torah and other sacred scroll stories. It is the in-between that Mary would have known very well—the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Patriarchs’ descendants spreading abroad with blessings.

So when Mary heard the angel speak to her about this offspring she would soon bear, continuing the throne of David, reigning over the house of Jacob forever, without an end to His kingdom, strong connotations of the prophesied Messiah were likely apparent to her. Every Jewish child would know these facts, even though it had been a thousand years since David.

Yes, she also knew the facts of life and was engaged to Joseph, but they had not yet cohabited—so she knew this must be supernatural—yet what a petrifying thrill to consider! Though her obedient reply was without hesitation, she still must have been stunned beyond belief with the totality of the message. Absolutely shocked by the news that she was going to have a baby now—and the nature of that pregnancy and how it was to come about she couldn’t really imagine—she still caught the importance of “the throne of David” and “the house of Jacob.”

This angelic visit and ensuing pronouncement are commonly called the Annunciation, meaning “to announce.” My guess is that Mary thought a lot about this heavenly social call. Luke is likely to have gotten this story of the angel’s appearance to Mary straight from Mary herself. I’ll bet they had quite a conversation about it, even though Mary would have been much older (somewhere between age 60 and 75) by the time of Luke’s interview with her around 60 A.D. The promises to the house of Jacob had been fulfilled in the Messiah—and Mary was going to make sure Luke had every detail.