Thy prayer is heard. What was the nature of this prayer? The Greek word ( δεήσις) used here implies that some special supplication had been offered, and which the angel tells had been listened to at the throne of grace.
The righteous old man had not, as some have thought, been praying for a son,—he had long resigned himself in this private sorrow to the will of his God; but we may well suppose that on that solemn occasion he prayed the unselfish patriotic prayer that the long looked for Messiah would hasten his coming.
His name John; the shortened form for Jehochanan, "the grace of Jehovah." Under various diminutives, such as Jonah, it was a favorite Hebrew name.