Luke 1:18

Whereby shall I know? The promise seemed too good to be true! No doubt for years Zacharias had prayed for a son (see on v. 13), and now that his prayer was about to be answered his faith did not rise to accept the answer. How often men see difficulties in the way of the fulfillment of the promises of God, forgetting that “with God nothing shall be impossible” (v. 37). Thus it was with Sarah (see Gen. 18:11, 12), with Moses (see Ex. 4:1, 10, 13), with Gideon (see Judges 6:15-17, 36-40), and with the believers praying at the house of Mary for Peter’s release (see Acts 12:14-16). Even Abraham, who “staggered not at the promise of God” (Rom. 4:20), felt the need of tangible evidence upon which to rest his faith (see Gen. 15:8; 17:17).

I am an old man. The retirement age for Levites was 50 (see on Num. 8:24). However, priests retired from active service only when age or infirmity made it physically impossible for them to minister at the altar. Abraham and Sarah were described as “well stricken in age” when they were 99 and 89 years of age respectively (Gen. 18:11). At about the age of 92, Joshua was called “old and stricken in years” (see on Joshua 13:1), though he lived to be 110 (Joshua 24:29). David was said to be “old and stricken in years” (1 Kings 1:1) at the time of his death, in his 71st year (2 Sam. 5:4, 5). It is probably safe to conclude that Zacharias was between 60 and 70 years of age, perhaps closer to the latter.

Well stricken in years. See on v. 7.