For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 15. After the angel had assured him of the joy this son should bring to many, he acquaints him of the excellency of his virtue. He shall be great before the Lord. He did not extend the boundaries of empire; he did not obtain the triumphs of war, and force captive and degraded kings to pay him homage: but, what is much greater, preaching in a desert, he renounced the pleasures of the world, and with the greatest fortitude repressed and subdued the concupiscence of the flesh. Therefore it is said, he shall drink no wine, nor strong drink. Saint Ambrose.—And shall drink no wine, nor strong drink: [4] lit. sicera, by which is signified any liquor that is apt to make a man drunk, according to S. Jerom. Witham.—This prohibition of the angel was a part of the consecration of the Nazarites. See Numb. 6:3. The word sicera properly signifies wine of the palm-tree; and next to wine of the grape, there was no more common liquor, none more intoxicating. V.—And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb; from which words some conjecture, that Saint John the Baptist, though conceived in original sin, yet might have been freed from the guilt of it before he came into the world. Of this see Saint Augustine Ep. lvii. now Ep. clxxxvii. ad Dardanum. t. ii, p. 685. Ed. Ben. Witham.