Luke 2:36 Commentary and Bible Study

Luke tells us about another notable servant of God who was there at that time. Anna was a prophetess. She had spoken by inspiration enough times before this for it to be known that she was a prophetess, God extending this wonderful gift to a woman though it was more unusual. There would be, as Ryle says, two witnesses to the incarnation, a man and a woman. She was not of the tribe of Levi but of the tribe of Asher, but she was constantly in the temple. The words ‘which departed not from the temple’ could as Hendriksen suggests be hyperbole, and could mean that she spent her waking hours there, desiring to be close to the Lord. Evidently she loved the Lord greatly, and his interests and the advancement of his cause were uppermost in her mind. She had been married, but her husband had died seven years after their marriage, and the way this is put – she ‘had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity’ – stresses her piety throughout her whole life. Widowed after seven years of married life, she had not remarried but had chosen to live wholly for the Lord. Now she was an elderly lady eighty-four years of age, and she was totally dedicated to God and her whole life consisted of service to him. We are reminded of Paul’s words to Timothy: ‘Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day’ (1 Timothy 5:5). Such women Timothy was to take onto the register of those who were supported by the church, but not others. Anna would have qualified for this position. Her mind had moved on from the duties of married life, and though it was no doubt a great sadness to her to lose her husband, she had turned the situation into an opportunity to give herself entirely to the Lord and his service. She had seen his service as preferable to finding another husband.How did she serve God? By fastings and prayers. God received that from her as true service. Would she not have prayed for God to fulfil his promises and send the Messiah into the world? No doubt she was praying for the Messiah to come, through whom all God’s promises would be fulfilled. Her prayers were accompanied by longing that God would be exalted in a world that had turned its back on him. She was not discouraged by the prevailing situation in Judah, but she too believed the Lord’s plan was still on track. There had been no king on the throne of Israel for 400 years. The clergy were largely corrupt; the Pharisees had turned religion into a matter of self-righteousness; the common people were not taught from the word; the Romans occupied the land as a foreign power. But when Messiah came he would put all things right and he would come for the salvation of his people. Now her prayers were answered, and surely, among other prayers, God took them into account in sending Christ into the world at this time.