Luke 1:11

“And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord, etc.] Gabriel, as seem's manifest from (<420119>Luke 1:19,26,36) the same angel that had appeared to Daniel, about the time of the evening oblation, near five hundred years before, and gave him an account of the time of the Messiah's coming, (<270921>Daniel 9:21). The Jews sometimes speak of divine and wonderful appearances to their priests, at such times, and in such places: “it is a tradition that R. Ishmael ben Elishah should say, one time I went in, trjq ryjqhl, “to burn incense”: and I saw Actariel (one of the names of God with them) the Lord, the Lord of hosts, who was sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. f36” And so they say of…”

“right side--the south side, between the altar and the candlestick, Zacharias being on the north side, in front of the altar, while offering incense [WEBSTER and WILKINSON]. But why there? The right was the favorable side (Mat 25:33) [SCHOTTGEN and WESTEIN in MEYER]; compare Mar 16:5.”

“An angel - An “angel” is a messenger sent from God. See the notes at Matthew 1:20. It had now been about 400 years since the time of “Malachi,” and since there had been any divine revelation. During that time the nation was looking for the Messiah, but still with nothing more than the ancient prophecies to direct them. Now that he was about to appear, God sent his messenger to announce his coming, to encourage the hearts of his people, and to prepare them to receive him. On the right side ... - The altar of incense stood close by the veil which divided the holy place from the most holy. On the north stood the table of showbread; on the south the golden candlestick. As Zechariah entered,…”

“appeared: Luk 1:19, Luk 1:28, Luk 2:10; Jdg 13:3, Jdg 13:9; Act 10:3, Act 10:4; Heb 1:14 the altar: Exo 30:1-6, Exo 37:25-29, Exo 40:26, Exo 40:27; Lev 16:13; Rev 8:3, Rev 8:4, Rev 9:13 Luke 1:12”