But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old — the but introduces the single shadow on the otherwise exemplary picture: childlessness. Elizabeth is barren (steira) — the same condition as Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah, all of whom received miraculous births. The very old communicates that the natural possibility of conception is past — making any pregnancy that follows clearly miraculous. The barrenness is not a judgment but a preparation for the pattern of divine provision that runs through Israel's history.

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