Elizabeth (Biblical person)

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Elizabeth, also spelled Elisabeth or Elisheva (Hebrew אֱלִישֶׁבַע / אֱלִישָׁבַע "My God is an oath", Standard Hebrew Elišévaʿ / Elišávaʿ, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĔlîšéḇaʿ / ʾĔlîšāḇaʿ)(Arabic: إشاع) was the mother of John the Baptist, according to the New Testament. In recent film The Nativity Story she was played by actress Shohreh Aghdashloo.

[edit] In the Bible

According to the Gospel of Luke, Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron the priest (Luke 1:5). She and her husband Zechariah were "righteous before God, living blamelessly" (1:6), but childless. Zechariah was visited by the Angel Gabriel, who told him his wife would have a son who "will be great in the sight of the Lord" (1:15).

The pregnant Elizabeth was visited by her cousin (1:36) Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus:

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leapt in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry:

"Blessed are you amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb." (1:41-2)

Elizabeth is not mentioned in the New Testament outside of the Gospel of Luke. Some modern sceptical scholars argue that she is a fictional character and that Luke invented the notion that Jesus and John the Baptist were related. However, their critics have pointed out such a claim is impossible to prove and that it would be ludicrous to dismiss a character like Elizabeth solely on the basis that she is mentioned in only one of the four Biblical gospels. There are several female characters who are mentioned in only one of the gospels - including Mary, the wife of Cleopas, Saint Joanna and the female apostle, Susanna. Some theologians have suggested that Elizabeth is included in Luke's nativity account because his version of events deliberately focuses more upon the personal experience of the Virgin Mary during her pregnancy than Matthew's account (the two other gospels, Mark and John, do not include an account of Jesus's birth and instead start their narratives at the beginning of his ministry.) Elizabeth is also mentioned in several books of the Apocrypha, most prominently in the Protevangelion of James, in which the birth of her son and the subsequent murder of her husband are chronicled.