‘There was in the days of Herod, king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah: and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.'
Herod, king of Judaea (this is to be seen as Judaea in its widest sense, the lands of the Jews, including Samaria, Galilee and Peraea - compare Acts 2:9; Acts 10:37), otherwise known as Herod the Great, reigned from c. 37 BC to around 5 to 1 BC. The latter dating depends mainly on whether the coins issued by his sons were ‘optimistically' dated or not, and on which eclipse of the moon Josephus was referring to. These are the main bases for dating the time of Herod's death. If the enrolment of Joseph at the time of Jesus' birth was that of the celebration of the 25th year of Augustus' reign, when a decree went out that all men of quality should declare their loyalty to Caesar, it occurred in 3 BC which would suggest that 1 BC may well be correct for the death of Herod, and would indicate that his death occurred shortly after his slaughtering of the innocent babes in Bethlehem, which took place within the two years after Jesus' birth (Matthew 2:16).
But for Israel those were dark days. They did not relish being under the Roman yoke, nor did they like having an Idumaean king. He may have commenced the rebuilding of the Temple, but he was only a ‘half-Jew' (descended from the Edomites who had been forced to be circumcised under John Hyrcanus), and he had also built pagan temples and other pagan buildings in the land. Furthermore he was a bloodthirsty tyrant, as dangerous to his wife and children as to anyone else. He was, of course, submissive to Rome, for it was from Rome that he gained his authority. He would not have been king otherwise. And that too would put him in disfavour. Thus Luke is stressing that it was in the days of such a king, tyrannical, bloodthirsty, treacherous (in Jewish eyes), and totally worldly, that God revealed His plan to raise up the true ‘son of David' promised by the Scriptures. There could have been no greater contrast.
Zacharias was a priest of the course of Abijah. Since the time of David the priesthood had been split into twenty four courses, one of which was the course of Abijah. History had to some extent decimated those courses, but they had been re-established again from what remained. These ‘courses' took it in turns to staff the Temple services, each course being on duty for a week twice a year, with all present for the great feasts, and because there were so many priests, lots would be cast to see who should perform what ritual. Because there were so many priests, officially no priest ever had the opportunity to offer the incense more than once in his lifetime. (Those who had done so would be excluded from the lot). Thus what was about to happen to Zacharias was a once in a lifetime sacred moment. Zacharias' wife was also a daughter of Aaron, called Elisabeth. So both were of priestly families. It was considered a blessing to a woman of Israel to be married to a priest, and for a priest to marry a wife of priestly descent was seen as a highly respected and honoured thing, and as revealing his dedication to God. So these two, although unknown and living in ‘the hill country of Judaea', were both seen in Israel as being the salt of the earth.
‘And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.' This really indicates that they were good living people who sought as best they could to observe God's requirements. It is not saying that they were perfect. But it demonstrates that their desire was always to please the Lord, and that they were careful to obey His word. In the Old Testament the idea was used in this way of Noah (Genesis 6:9).
‘Righteous before God.' From a human point of view they could not be faulted in their fulfilment of what He required. ‘Ordinances' - ‘dikaiomasin' - were something declared to be right.
The name Zacharias (Hebrew Zechariah) means ‘YHWH remembers'. It was very appropriate here for what is about to happen demonstrates that God has not forgotten His people. We do not know the meaning of Elisabeth although attempts have been made.