Luke 1:5

Herod the Great ruled over Judea, the large Roman province that included all of Israel, from 37 B.C. to A.D. 4.

Luke pointed out that both of John’s parents had a priestly heritage. The priests in Israel had the great privilege of intimate association with God through their worship and service in the sanctuary. Zechariah’s name means "Yahweh remembers" and is significant here because the birth of John was a fulfillment of a prophecy that God would send a forerunner before Israel’s Messiah. The etymological derivation of Elizabeth’s name is unclear, but possibly it means "God’s covenant." [Note: Bailey, p. 107.] Normally John would have become a priest and served in the temple as his father did.

David had divided the priesthood into 24 divisions and had placed the leader of one priestly family at the head of each group (1 Chronicles 23-24).

"Actually only four divisions returned from the Exile (Ezra 2:36-39), but the four were subdivided to make up twenty-four again with the old names." [Note: Leon Morris, The Gospel According to St. Luke, p. 68.]

Abijah was the leader of the division to which Zechariah belonged (1 Chronicles 24:10). The Exile had interrupted these divisions, but Israel’s leaders established them again following the restoration as best they could. In Zechariah’s day, each division served for one week twice a year plus during the major festivals. [Note: J. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, pp. 198-207.]