thou shalt be dumb
Luke 1:20
Why was Zechariah punished for his lack of belief and asking for a sign, when long before Abram had
done something very similar (Genesis 15:8)? Rather than speculating,
let's first look at the differences between the two encounters:
- God had only just started to reveal himself to Abram, whereas Zechariah had the benefit of the
entire Old Testament, which he should have been studying, including prophecies about Jesus.
- Abram only said "Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?", but Zechariah complained
that God wasn't powerful enough: "For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years."
- God spoke to Abram in a vision, whereas for Zechariah God sent one of his most powerful and
important angels, in person.
- Zechariah had specifically prayed (v13), presumably on faith that God would hear and
answer, then acted surprised when God did answer. (We don't know if he prayed for a child or
prayed for the Messiah to come in his lifetime, but God was going to answer both.)
On June 14, 2026, my pastor Kevin Looper suggested
that Zechariah was punished for his unbelief
because "he forgot what story he was in" -- not the story of a married couple needing a son, but
part of the Greatest Story Ever Told, Jesus coming into the world. This is an unusual answer that
breaks with all the classic commentaries. Yet Pastor Kevin has a very good point! If the story
was ONLY about Zechariah needing a child, God would have given him and his wife a son a long time ago. But God
had a much greater plan that was far more amazing than what any human could think up. That plan
needed Jesus to come into the world at a very specific time, and it needed to be very obvious
that it was God's plan and not an accident. Abram was given very specific details about his future
son and his role in announcing the Messiah, fulfilling scripture, but he couldn't even fathom
that as he was still hung up on "for I am an old man." After all of Israel's history, after all
of the Old Testament scripture and prophecies, what a weak God be believed in! No wonder
he was punished.
But, ironically, his punishment was also an answer. He asked for (another) sign from God, and he
got it, by God miraculously making him mute until his baby son's circumcision. Be careful what
you ask for... God answers prayer!
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