126 GreGory r. LANIer it is Jesus himself who claims explicitly to send the du,namij from his exalted status in the heavenly realm, such that the “power” is not generically “from God” but rather is sent explicitly from heaven 17. contrast this with du,namij u`yi,stou in Luke 1,35, which could conceivably refer to power either from heaven or from God, as both options are possible for u[yistoj (though most translations take it as God/”Most High”). In sum, the lexical case is indisputable. While u[yistoj can be used to re- fer either to God or to the heavens — and is used in both ways in Luke’s Gospel — there is simply no clear evidence that u[yoj ever refers to God him- self. It seems that the close proximity of u[yistoj in Luke 1,76 (“of [God] Most High”) to 1,78 may unconsciously be leading some exegetes astray in asserting that evx u[youj indicates that the avnatolh, is likewise “from God”. but we should avoid such confusion and maintain the semantic distinction between these two words. In Luke 1,78, evx u[youj assuredly signifies “from upon high”/”from heaven” 18. What exegetical impact does this distinction imply? While on the surface these different interpretations of evx u[youj may seem innocuous enough, the practical difference in exegesis is not trivial. for most of those who argue that it means “from God”, the phrase simply refers to a “Messiah sent from God” or “God’s Messiah” 19. on this reading, God as u[yoj is sending a human, davidic messiah figure represented by the avnatolh,, which in turn is taken to be an elliptical allusion either to the “branch/Sprout” (xmc) figure of Jer 23,5 and zech 3,8 and 6,12 — which is rendered in Codex Vaticanus as avnatolh, 20 — or the “star” figure of Num 24,17 LXX (e.g., avnatelei/ a;stron evx Iakwb). Scholars in this camp are roughly evenly divided between these two options, and some support the possibility of wordplay. Luke 1,78, in other words, simply has in view “God’s branch” or “God’s Star” or something along those lines 21. However, if one takes seriously the lexical case that evx u[youj cannot on semantic grounds refer to “from God”, this would change the interpretive equation. examining the syntax of the full sentence more closely, God has al- ready been named as the agent in 1,78a, for the avnatolh, “will visit” (evpiske,yetai) out of, or as a result of, the compassionate mercies of God, given that evn oi-j modifies spla,gcna evle,ouj qeou/. Put differently, Luke has already indicated the relationship between the avnatolh, figure and God using 17 J.A. fitzmyer argues for an allusion to Isa 32,15: “until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high” (avf v u`yhlou/), J.A. fItzMyer The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV (Ab 28A; New york 21985) 1585. cf. Wis 9,17: e;pemyaj to. a[gio,n sou pneu/ma avpo. u`yi,stwn. 18 vulgate: oriens ex alto. 19 brown is representative here: though he translates it “from on high”, he argues that the phrase actually means “Messiah from [God] Most High” (broWN, Birth, 373). 20 Aquila reads avnafu,hn for zech 3,8; 6,12 and bla,sthma dikai,ou for Jer 23,5. Symmachus reads bla,sthma for zech 6,12 and bla,sthma di,kaion for Jer 23,5. 21 Jacoby’s case that avnatolh. evx u[youj is an “unabhängige Übertragungen des hwhy xmc” (“Aνατολη”, 213) has been widely influential.