Elisabeth was a wife of priestly descent from the daughters of Aaron, living in a town of Judah. In her old age she was graciously granted a son, John the Baptist, and under the Spirit she blessed Mary as the mother of the Lord while still in her own womb.
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Elisabeth first appears in the opening of Luke's Gospel, introduced alongside her husband Zacharias in the days when Herod ruled as king of Judea. She was descended from the daughters of Aaron, placing her firmly within the priestly lineage of Israel, while her husband served in the priestly division of Abijah. The evangelist carefully notes this dual priestly heritage, anchoring the couple's piety and purity in Israel's sacred history. Yet both Elisabeth and Zacharias were advanced in years and childless; in the Israelite tradition this carried deep shame, though Luke emphasises that they were righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord (Luke 1:5-7). When the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias in the temple to announce the birth of a son who would be called the prophet of the Most High and prepare the way of the Lord, Elisabeth moved from being mentioned through her husband to becoming an active participant in the narrative. According to Luke, she conceived as the angel had foretold, and for five months she remained in seclusion, declaring that the Lord had looked favourably upon her to take away her reproach among people (Luke 1:24-25). When Mary rose from Nazareth and hurried into the hill country of Judah to visit her, Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the child in her womb leaped for joy. She cried out with a loud voice, blessed Mary among women, called her 'the mother of my Lord', and pronounced blessed the woman who had believed (Luke 1:39-45). In this moment Elisabeth functions as a prophetess, placing the unborn Christ and her own son into the unfolding drama of God's salvation. Elisabeth's significance lies in her role as a bridge between the old covenant temple-and-priesthood order and the new covenant act of redemption. A daughter of Aaron, she bore a prophetic son; a kinswoman and fellow believer of Mary, she witnessed the extraordinary dawn of the incarnation. Her words, saturated with themes of 'the Lord', 'faith', and 'blessedness', anticipate Mary's Magnificat. In her person the long Old Testament waiting and the New Testament fulfilment meet under one roof.