According to Numbers 4:3, the eligible age to serve as priest was 30 to 50 years old. To serve before the Lord would require that Zechariah be ceremonially clean. With so many priests available and being old, Zechariah could not have taken the time to serve as a priest in the temple. Zechariah could have stayed home. But he feared the Lord and kept his place.
Around two thousand (2,000) priests were in each of the twenty-four (24) divisions in those days. Burning incense happened every morning and evening. According to the rules of the priesthood, a priest could offer the incense only once in his lifetime. Many priests died without ever offering incense. Offering incense was a rare blessing. It was the highlight of a priest’s life of faith. Zechariah being picked that year, most likely when he was 50, was unexpected. But not as unexpected as an angel suddenly appearing to him when he was about to burn incense in holy place in the Temple, so near to the Lord in the Holy of Holies.
The angel went into great detail about his soon-to-be-born son. That too was unexpected, for both he and his wife were old (7). Zechariah would have been required to pray to God for Israel. However, he slipped in a personal prayer. He and his wife were childless. He asked for a son. The angel said they were going to be given a power-filled eccentric Holy Spirit wilderness evangelist. He would make “ready a people prepared for the Lord.” An unexpected answered prayer. Never give up on the Lord.
