Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.
Luke stressed the widespread effect this incident had in the whole area. Everyone concluded that John would be an unusual child because God’s hand was with him. It was also Luke’s purpose in emphasizing the naming of John to elicit the same reaction in his readers. When John began his public ministry, there must have been some Jews who submitted to his baptism because they had noted God’s hand on him from this event onward (cf. Luke 2:19; Luke 2:51).