“And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.’
We meet Anna in Luke 2 when, forty days after his birth, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (Luke 2:22-23) and to offer a sacrifice to make Mary’s purification from childbirth complete (Luke 2:24). While they were in the temple they had two important encounters, one with a devout man named Simeon and another with Anna, a prophetess.
Anna was a woman of “great age” who “departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day”. Luke tells us that she was “a widow of about fourscore and four years” (vs. 37). Fourscore and four is a fancy way of saying 84 years, meaning that Anna was either a widow who was 84 years old (which would have been a remarkably long life span for that time period) or that she had been a widow for 84 years (which means she could have been over 100 years old!).
While we don’t know for sure how old Anna was, we do know that she had been a widow for a long time. Luke specified that she had only been married to her husband for seven years before he died, and that she had remained a widow ever since. That is a long time to be alone. Yet she seems to have found purpose in her life by dedicating her life to serving God in the temple.
The day that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple Simeon, who had been promised by the Holy Ghost that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah, was prompted to go to the temple. Simeon, like most of the Jews, probably assumed that the Messiah was going to be a great military hero who would free them from the oppression of Roman rule. Yet, when Simeon saw Mary and Joseph the spirit bore testimony to him that the little baby Jesus was the promised Messiah. Simeon was overcome by the spirit and prophesied that Jesus would be “A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel “(Luke 2: 32). He also prophesied of Mary, telling her that “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35).
At the “very instant’ Simeon was giving this prophecy, Anna came in and heard his words. The Holy Ghost bore testimony to her as well and she believed everything that Simeon had said. She gave thanks to the Lord for sending the Messiah and prophesied of Jesus to all “…them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).In fact, Luke calls Anna “a prophetess” because she prophesied of Jesus Christ and His divine mission, from the time he was a babe in his mother’s arms.
Further Reading:
Luke 2: 36- 38 Background: Forty days after the birth of Jesus, and at the end of her time of purification under the Mosaic law, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (Luke 2:22-23) and to offer a sacrifice to make her purification complete (Luke 2:24).…
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