The Number 23

After serving at the Temple in Jerusalem for the Day of Atonement, offering up incense and prayers for the people of Israel, the righteous Zechariah remained there for the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles as well, continuing to execute the function of his priestly office before God on behalf of the people, and then, seven days later, on the twenty-second day of the seventh month, when the Feast was over, returned home to his wife, Elizabeth, and -by their bodily union- conceived Saint John the Baptist, the Holy Prophet and Forerunner of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.