“According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.”
He was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense — the lot (lagchanō) is the way the priestly community discerned God's appointment for the incense offering. The incense offering was performed twice daily in the Holy Place, the room before the Holy of Holies. Being chosen for the incense offering was a high honor that came to each priest at most once in a lifetime. The lot that falls to Zechariah is the appointed moment for the angelic announcement.
Church Fathers on Luke 1:9
The Lord appointed by the hand of Moses one High Priest, at whose death another was to succeed in due order. This was observed until the time of David, who by the command of the Lord increased the number of the Priests; and so at this time Zacharias is said to have been performing his Priest’s office in the order of his course, as it follows: But it came to pass, when Zacharias was performing the Priest’s office in the order of his course before God, according to the custom…
Zacharias seems here to be designated High Priest, because into the second tabernacle went the High Priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and the sins of the people.
Read all 4 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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