The Birth and Blessing of John / Paul Thomas Smith

Excerpt from Birth of the Messiah by Paul Thomas Smith. 
(reading only)

Elisabeth gave birth in the month of Tishri, or October, during harvest-time and the Festival of Tabernacles. With that holiday the Jewish year came to an end. Significantly, John's future mission would help bring the period of the old covenant to an end, even as the Messiah would introduce a new age and a new covenant upon the earth.

Traditionally, a weeklong celebration followed a male baby's birth, ending on the eighth day with circumcision performed by a village priest. The practice of circumcision had been introduced by the Lord to the patriarch Abraham. A physical mark of membership among God's covenant people, it served as a reminder to Abraham and his posterity "that thou mayest know for ever that children are not accountable before me [for baptism] until they are eight years old" (JST Gen. 17:11).

Following the circumcision, the priest prepared to name the son "Zacharias," but Elisabeth said, "Not so; but he shall be called John" (Luke 1: 60). Sons were customarily named in honor of their father or a relative, but the final determination was up to Zacharias. Since people believed he was stricken deaf as well as dumb, the question was posed to him by signs, "and he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John." And thus the infant was named. (See Luke 1:62—63.)

At this point, Zacharias's ability to speak was immediately restored. Cradling the infant in his arms, he blessed John and prophesied:

"And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

"To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins" (Luke 1:76—77).

John, while only eight days old, was also blessed by an angel. This angel ordained him "unto this power" in his future ministry, "to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews, and to make straight the way of the Lord before the face of his people, to prepare them for the coming of the Lord, in whose hand is given all power" (D&C 84:28). Therefore, as Joseph Smith taught, "being Lawful heir to the Levitical Priesthood the people were bound to receive his testimony."¹²

News of John's birth and its attendant experiences spread rapidly throughout the hill country, and many wondered, "What manner of child shall this be!" (Luke 1:66).