Women of the Bible
Anna in the Bible
A widow of great age who did not leave the temple, and who spoke about the child when Joseph and Mary brought him in.
Read the passages first
Loading Luke 2:36-38…
Luke gives her three verses, Luke 2:36-38, and they are dense. Her name, her father, her tribe, her marriage, her widowhood, her age, her practice and her words are all there.
She arrives immediately after Simeon, at the same visit to , Luke 2:22-35. Luke pairs an old man and an old woman as the two who recognise the child.
Where Scripture speaks of her
Every passage in view
- Luke 2:36
Named as a prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser, of great age, widowed after seven years of marriage.
- Luke 2:37
She did not depart from , serving God with fastings and prayers night and day.
- Luke 2:38
Coming in at that instant she gave thanks and spoke of him to those looking for in Jerusalem.
Kept apart on purpose
What the text says, what it allows, what it withholds
What Scripture says outright
- She is called a prophetess, Luke 2:36, one of the few women in Scripture given that description.
- She was of the tribe of Aser, Luke 2:36, one of the northern tribes.
- She had lived with a husband seven years and was a widow long after, Luke 2:36-37.
- She served God with fastings and prayers night and day, Luke 2:37.
- She gave thanks to the Lord when she saw the child, Luke 2:38.
- She spoke of him to those who looked for in Jerusalem, Luke 2:38.
What we are drawing from it
- Language
Luke 2:37 can be read either as her being eighty four years old or as her having been a widow eighty four years, and translations differ. The Greek allows both.
Where this comes from
- History
Aser, or Asher, was one of the northern tribes taken into Assyrian exile, 2 Kings 17:6. That a woman of that tribe is in Jerusalem is worth noticing, though Luke offers no comment on it.
Where this comes from
- Scholarship
The phrase about not departing from is generally understood as constant presence at the hours of worship rather than residence inside the temple buildings.
What Scripture does not tell us
- Scripture does not record her words, only their subject: she spoke of him.
- It does not say whether she had children, or how she lived.
- It does not tell us how she came to be called a prophetess, or what else she prophesied.
- It never mentions her again after Luke 2:38.
Her place in the biblical story
Luke 2 is about recognition. and scribes were in that daily. The two people who identify the child are an old man waiting for the consolation of Israel, Luke 2:25, and an old widow who had been fasting and praying there for years.
Luke 2:38 says she spoke to those who looked for in Jerusalem, which tells us there was a group waiting, and that she knew who they were.
A life measured differently
Seven years of marriage and then decades of widowhood, Luke 2:36-37. By most reckonings that is a life of loss and obscurity.
Luke records it as a life of service, night and day. The one moment we see her act, she is exactly where she needs to be, and she knows what she is looking at.
What she does when she sees him
Two things, in order. She gives thanks to the Lord, Luke 2:38, and then she speaks of the child to others.
That order is worth keeping. Worship first, then witness, and the witness is to people already waiting for rather than to a crowd she gathered.
What this reveals about God
He brings a woman in at that instant, Luke 2:38. Luke's wording places the timing outside her arranging.
And he lets the first testimony about his Son in come from a widow of no standing. Luke 2:24 has already noted that Joseph and Mary brought the of the poor, Leviticus 12:8. Nothing about this visit is prominent, and everything about it is right.
Trace the story
Waiting for the consolation of Israel
The Luke nodes are direct. The earlier nodes are the promises the waiting in Luke 2 depends on, and they are labelled as canonical connections rather than quotations in this passage.
Not smoothed over
The hard parts of this account
How old was she?
Luke 2:37 is genuinely ambiguous in Greek, and translations divide between an age of eighty four and a widowhood of eighty four years.
Audela does not pick a number and present it as fact. What is certain is that Luke calls her of great age and describes a long widowhood.
What did she prophesy?
Luke calls her a prophetess and records the subject of her speech, not its content: she spoke of him, Luke 2:38.
Any reconstruction of her words is invention. The title and the subject are what we have.
Questions the text can answer
Take these back to Scripture
What does Luke tell us she did with her years, and in what order does she act when the child comes?
Look at Luke 2:38. Read Luke 2:37-38 and note the two verbs in verse 38.
Who recognises the child in this chapter, and who does not?
Look at Luke 2:25. Read Luke 2:22-38 and list everyone named.
Whom does she speak to, and what were they doing already?
Look at Luke 2:38. Read the final clause of Luke 2:38 carefully.
Pray it back
A prayer from this account
Lord, you gave a widow years of fasting and prayer in your house, and then one moment she had waited her whole life for.
Teach us to serve you in the long stretch where nothing appears to be happening.
When you show us something of your Son, let us give thanks before we speak, and then speak to those who are waiting.
You bring your people in at the right instant. We trust you with our years. Amen.
Sources consulted
Themes in this account
- Prayer. Speaking to God plainly, including out of grief.
- Witness. Telling others what God has done.
- Faith. Taking God at his word before the outcome is visible.
- Exile and restoration. Living under foreign rule, and being brought back.
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