<p>1:28 <i>And he came in to her and said: Greetings, you that are highly favoured, the Lord is with you</i>- See on :38. Mary is set up as the representative and epitome of all Israel / the people of God should have been. She was the seed of David, the daughter of Zion from whom Messiah came. The &ldquo;highly favoured&hellip; blessed&rdquo; woman is the daughter of Zion of Joel 2:21-27; Zeph. 3:14-17; Zech. 2:14,15; 9:9. She &ldquo;rejoiced&rdquo; as the daughter of Zion was to rejoice at the coming of her king. She was the &ldquo;servant Israel&rdquo;, the &ldquo;handmaiden&rdquo; (the female form of &ldquo;servant&rdquo;) who was now &ldquo;holpen&rdquo; by God (Lk. 1:54). &ldquo;Blessed be the fruit (LXX offspring) of your womb&rdquo; (Dt. 28:1,4) was the promise made to Israel- and these words are applied to Mary in Lk. 1:42. See on Rev. 12:5; Mt. 5:6.</p><p>Mary was &ldquo;highly favoured&rdquo;; yet the only other place the word occurs is in Eph. 1:6, where we are told that &ldquo;He has made <i>us</i> accepted highly favoured in Christ&rdquo;. Thus in the thinking of Paul and the Spirit, Mary is to represent all of us. &nbsp;</p><p>Hannah&rsquo;s song was clearly a major influence in the mind of Mary. But there are some background similarities as well as the verbal ones. The LXX of 1 Sam. 1:18 not the Hebrew text speaks of Elkanah and Hannah staying in a <i>katalyma</i> on their journey to Shiloh- the very word used of the &ldquo;inn&rdquo; in whose stable Mary had to stay. If we ask <i>why</i> Mary based her song so heavily on that of Hannah, we find a clue in considering how she was greeted by the Angel as &ldquo;favoured&rdquo; (Lk. 1:28). The Greek <i>kecharitomene</i> virtually translates the Hebrew name &lsquo;Hannah&rsquo;. The record is written in Greek, but Mary was a Jewess and spoke Aramaic and Hebrew; and probably the Angel spoke to her in those languages. So the link would have been all the stronger- &lsquo;Hail, Hannah-like one&rsquo;. And this set the mind of Mary thinking about Hannah, and in the days between hearing these words and meeting Elisabeth, Mary had perceived the similarities between her position and that of Hannah. She allowed the spirit of Hannah to genuinely become hers, in perceptive obedience to the Angel&rsquo;s bidding. She came to share God&rsquo;s perception of her as a woman like Hannah. &lsquo;Hannah&rsquo; comes from the Hebrew root <i>hnn </i>&ndash; favour. Mary is told that she has been favoured / &lsquo;Hannah-ed&rsquo; by God (Lk. 1:30)- as if to lead her to see the similarities between her and Hannah. And she responds magnificently, by alluding to Hannah&rsquo;s song so closely. Tragically as we shall see, she later came to be more influenced by the world&rsquo;s perception of both herself and her Son. The theme of joy is very great in her song- again, because she was obedient to the greeting &ldquo;Hail&rdquo;, literally, &lsquo;rejoice&rsquo;. The points of connection between the songs of Hannah and Mary's Magnificat are really quite detailed:&nbsp; <br />1 Samuel&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Luke / Magnificat<br />1:3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1:7<br />1:18&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :38, 30<br />2:1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :46<br />1:11&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :48<br />2:2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :49<br />2:4&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :51<br />:3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :51<br />:4&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :52<br />:8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :52<br />:5&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :53<br />:10&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; :69<br />:26&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2:52<br />:10 anointed LXX &ldquo;His Christ&rdquo;- the first occurrence of &lsquo;Messiah&rsquo; in the O.T.&nbsp; <br />And there are plenty of allusions in the Magnificat to other parts of Scripture and well known Apocryphal writings, especially the Psalms, which Mary evidently had committed to memory:&nbsp; <br /><i>My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit has found gladness in God my Saviour;</i> Ps 35:9 Then my soul will find gladness in the Lord; It will take pleasure in His salvation. I Sam 2:1,2 (Hannah&rsquo;s hymn): My heart is strengthened in the Lord; My horn is exalted in my God&hellip;I delight in your salvation.&nbsp; <br />Hab. 3: 18 (Habakkuk&rsquo;s hymn): I shall find gladness in the Lord; I shall rejoice in God my Saviour.<br /><i>Because He has regarded the low estate of His handmaid-</i> <br />I Sam 1:11 (Hannah praying for a child): O Lord of Hosts, if you will look on the low estate of your handmaid,<br />Gen 29:32 (Leah after childbirth): Because the Lord has regarded my low estate.<br />4 Ezra 9:45 (Zion speaking as a barren woman): God heard you&rsquo;re your handmaid and regarded my low estate, And considered my distress and gave me a son.<br /><i>For behold, henceforth all generation will call me fortunate-</i> <br />Gen 30:13 (Leah after childbirth): Fortunate am I, for all women call me fortunate.<br /><i>Because He who is mighty has done great things for me.</i> <br />Deut. 10:21 (Moses to Israel): He is your God who has done great things in you.<br />Zeph. 3:17: The Lord your God is in you, A Mighty One will save you.<br /><i>And holy is His Name,</i> <br />Ps. 111:9: Holy and awesome is His name.<br /><i>And His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear Him.</i> <br />Ps 103:17:<br />But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him.<br />Psalms of Solomon 13:11: His mercy upon those who fear Him.<br /><i>He has shown His strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones</i> <br /><i>and has exalted those of low degree. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.</i> <br />I Sam 2:7-8 (Hannah&rsquo;s hymn): The Lord makes poor and makes rich: He reduces to lowliness and he lifts up. He lifts the needy from the earth, and from the dung heap He raises up the poor to seat them with the mighty, making them inherit a throne of glory.<br />Ps. 89:11(10- a hymn praising God&rsquo;s action for the Davidic king): You have reduced the proud to lowliness like a wounded thing: And by your powerful arm you have scattered your enemies.<br />Sirach 10:14: He has put down the thrones of princes and has seated the humble before them.<br />Job 12:19: He has overthrown the mighty.<br />1QM xiv 10-11: You have raised the fallen by your strength, and have cut down the high and mighty.<br />Ezek 21:31 LXX (26 Heb.): Having reduced the proud to lowliness, and having exalted the man of low degree.<br />Ps 107:9: He has filled the soul of the hungry with good things.<br /><i>He has helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke unto our fathers, to Abraham and his posterity forever.</i> <br />Isa. 41:8-9: You, O Israel, My servant Jacob whom I chose, seed of Abraham whom I loved, whom I have helped from the ends of the earth.<br />Ps. 98:3: He has remembered His mercy to Jacob and His goodness to the House of Israel.<br />Psalms of Solomon 10:4: And the Lord will remember His servants in mercy.<br />Micah 7:20: You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Israel, as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.<br />2 Sam. 22:51 (David&rsquo;s hymn at the end of his life) Showing mercy to His anointed one, to David and his posterity forever.<br />And a few more:&nbsp; &nbsp; <br />Luke<br />1:47 = Gen. 21:6<br />1:48 = Ps. 138:6 LXX; Gen. 30:13<br />1:49 = Ps. 126:2,3; 111:9<br />1:50 = Gen. 17:7<br />1:51 = Ps. 118:14,15.</p>