Zacharias names his son John (Luke 1:62-63)

Apparently, it was the Jewish custom to name the child at the time he was circumcised (Luke 2:21). So a group of friends and maybe relatives had gathered for “The Circumcision Party” of Liz’s baby. Just imagine a circumcision party! So they are all gathered together and someone probably said, “Call him Zach” and then others agreed. The Greek word implies that Liz responded with a very strong “No!” She wanted him to be called John and then confusion followed. It is obvious by their response that not only was this unexpected, but it had never been done before. No one had ever been named John in their family before. Liz was probably feeling some stress about now when someone had the bright idea of appealing to her husband Zach.

And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, "His name is John." And they were all astonished. (NASB) Luke 1:62 -63

So they started making signs at Zach. The Greek word translated as “signs” actually means “to nod, to wave, to make signs.” Just imagine a group of people eagerly trying to communicate by waving their hands and arms. It would have been fun to see.

Now why were they making signs to Zach? Had Zach heard the discussion? If he had heard the discussion, he could have easily helped by pointing to Liz and indicating that she gave the right answer; but he did not do that. Why all the signs? The answer is found in Luke 1:22 where we were told that Zacharias was “mute.” The Greek word for mute - one who cannot speak - is KOPHOS. This word also occurs in Luke 7:22 where it is used of a deaf man. That is, KOPHOS can refer to a man who cannot speak and cannot hear. This means that Zach could not hear and could not speak. So he asks for a writing tablet. Aristotle and the papyri reveal that the ancients used writing tablets that were wood covered with wax. The writer used a stylus to print a message. Once finished writing, the wax would be smoothed out to be ready to write on again. So Zach told them that the baby’s name would be John, and they were astonished. They were astonished because Zach had not heard Liz’s answer. When asked about the baby’s name, he gave them the same answer. Now that would be surprising! They were very surprised.