Luke 1:61-62

‘And they said to her, “There is none of your kindred who is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, what he would have him called.’

The relatives were both surprised and put out. ‘Why’, they said, ‘there is no one in your family called by that name.’ And determined to have their own way, they turned to the father. He was the one with the final choice. Surely he would agree with them. Psychologically we have here an accurate picture. The busybody, but trying to be helpful, male relatives, aware of the problems (the father is dumb, and possibly deaf, the mother not to be regarded too much) attempting to do what they think is right to help the couple out, and in the last resort having to approach the father so as to gain his authority because the wife is being awkward.

So they made signs to him asking what the baby should be called. This may be the first indication we have that Zacharias had also been made deaf (the word used in Luke 1:22 can mean deaf and dumb), or it may simply have been because people who are not disabled often over-exaggerate the disablement of the disabled (just as we might sometimes shout because a person stammers or is disabled). They would think, if he could not speak, surely he could not hear. Being dumb he could not easily correct them. So he may not have been deaf, and their behaviour may later have become a family joke, although discreetly so as not to cause offence.