<p>1:52 <i>He has put down princes from their thrones and has exalted them of low station in life</i>- See on :38 for the allusions to Hannah's song. Despite all the undoubted spiritual perception in the Magnificat, she didn&rsquo;t have totally pure understanding. It seems from her allusion here to Ez. 21:26 the mighty being put down from their thrones and the humble one exalted that she thought that Ezekiel&rsquo;s prophesy about Messiah&rsquo;s restoration of the Kingdom had already been fulfilled in her conception of Jesus. It could be that she was so sure that her child would one day do this that she saw the time of the coming of &ldquo;Him whose right it is&rdquo; as being right there and then; and yet we know that it is in fact still future. Likewise &ldquo;How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?&rdquo; <i>may</i> imply although not necessarily that she hadn&rsquo;t grasped the implications that Messiah must be the result of a virgin birth, as per Is. 7:14. Yet for all this, she still had acceptability before God, and the required spiritual ambition to be Messiah&rsquo;s mother.&nbsp;</p><p>Mary perceived the importance of humility. Her song of rejoicing is a consciously arranged poem by her. It is in two strophes, each climaxing with the themes of lowliness / exaltation. She saw humility as the true exaltation, and the structure of her little song reflects this. She perhaps prepared the song in her mind as she walked down from Nazareth to the Judean hills to meet Elisabeth; there is a rhyme established by the last&nbsp;words of the four lines in Lk. 1:52,53: <i>thronon</i> with <i>agathon</i>, and <i>tapeinous</i> with <i>kenous</i>. In all this she reached a new paradigm for humility was a concept foreign to the first century mind. Strength, wealth and ability were to be demonstrated; to show strength by being humble was just unheard of. Only those who were forced into humble submission by the stronger were &lsquo;humble&rsquo;. To clean the toilets when nobody else notices, and the host of other such opportunities for service in ecclesial life... this is the true humility, the real strength and exaltation before God.&nbsp;</p>