Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
Declarations like Mary's Magnificat are problematic relative to what I said. They are given as having been spoken without time to contemplate or rehearse. I am willing to grant that it could have been spoken on the fly since God can put words in our mouths. I am also willing to accept that what is recorded is a somewhat edited version (whether by Mary, Luke, or whoever was/were the source(s) of Luke's account). Still, unless entirely fabricated, I believe that the gist of it was Mary's utterance in a state of being somewhat overwhelmed by it all.
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There is probably a lot of good commentary on Mary's prayer, but I'm uninformed of it. I simply shared my subjective impression. Probably that impression was historically-lensed: today it looks like a liturgical prayer. But at the moment of utterance it may have been anything but.
A couple of thoughts come to mind, though: first is that when it was written down by Luke it may have become somewhat formalized/ritualized. Just guessing. No way I can know (though, like I said, there may be literature out there on this). Also, it was the prayer of a person who was steeped in the liturgies of a people and a nation. Look at Psalm 147:19,20 "He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the Lord." (NIV) So it might be expected that a person would open their mouths and utter mysteries from of old, written down by the ancients. When you open your mouth, it should be apparent whether or not you know his laws. The claim of the Jews was that this was their allotment.
A friend and I were talking about Mary, and he mentioned that if anyone should have argued with the angel Gabriel about the revelation sent from God, it was Mary, and not Zechariah. Zechariah and Elizabeth were advanced in years. But Mary was without husband, and the penalty for unmarried sex was severe. Yet she bowed to the will of God.