Tuesday, January 26, 2021
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.[d] She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
There is not a lot of scripture to discover much about Anna and her life, so I had to do a little digging.
Anna was the daughter of Phanuel - the name Phanuel means “face of God”. Anna’s name means “Grace of Gracious One”.
Asher is one of the 12 tribes of Israel that we don’t hear much about. It was one of the ten tribes of the northern part of Israel. Remember, the northern 10 tribes were taken into captivity hundreds of years earlier. Those tribes had been dispersed and most of those people had been assimilated into other cultures. And, they never returned to the Promised Land as the southern tribes did. The southern tribes went into exile for 70 years, and God brought them back to the land. The northern tribes never returned except a few people did - a remnant out of the north God preserved. When the southern portion, Judah, returned from exile, there were apparently a few from the northern tribes that came back as well.
Anna was “very old”. We know that girls between the ages of 12-16 were betrothed to be married. So we will assume that she was married by the time she was 16 and was married for seven years. A widow at such a young age!
Some of my research explains that she was 84 when Luke wrote this and others indicate she was 104. It all depends on when they began counting. Some assumed she was 20 when she was a widow and then began counting being a widow for 84 years. Regardless, Anna spent the majority of her life as a widow. We are not told that there was a child, a son to fulfill the requirements to provide for his mother financially, nor are we told that she ever remarried. So Anna had to provide for herself.
I’m not going to get into a long discussion about how scripture tells us to care for widows, but 1 Timothy 5 tells us that the church doesn’t have to care for a widow unless she is truly a widow - someone who is “left all alone” - no family to care for her. Paul also tells Timothy that a widow has to, “set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day”. Anna is truly all alone and has set her hope on the Lord.
In the very first sentence, we are told that Anna is a prophetess. According to John MacArthur’s study Bible, “this refers to a woman who spoke God’s Word. She was a teacher of the Old Testament.” We can assume that Anna had a good spiritual insight and understanding of the Scripture. And we know from what I’ve learned during these first three weeks of our study, that culturally, the Israelites were communal; valued their community and especially their elders. In fact, I find it interesting that in these short weeks, we’ve seen the importance of our older generation- Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon and Anna. These four older people were not only receptive, but they were perceptive - they recognized Christ. Both Elizabeth and Anna are amazing role models for us as women.
We are also told that Anna never left the temple. She loved being in the presence of the Lord. We know from studying the Gospels, that Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, so we can assume that Anna was a witness to this as well. And our culture is just as full of hypocrisy today as it was back then, so Anna’s heart must have been truly seeking to see God’s redemption. So she fasted and prayed, night and day.
The Holy Spirit prompts Anna to get up from her position - ‘coming up at that very hour’. Anna was a woman whose heart was fixed on God - she was longing for Christ, that Anna recognized Jesus.
If you’ve ever truly had an encounter with the Lord, you will want to share that experience with those around you. And if you’ve been waiting on the Lord for as long as Anna had been waiting, I bet you’d be running around sharing your story. Ladies, our journey with God reminds me of getting across the monkey bars. We are strengthened in the journey. We have to remain strong to get across and we press on to seek the Lord.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.[d]
7
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
It’s my task to share with you each Tuesday, the life and culture of the time for each of these women, and I have to share with you what I’ve discovered in these three short weeks - there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. If you choose to trust your life to God or not, life will be hard. But… if you do trust your life to God, life may be hard, but it will be blessed.
Lastly, I want to point out just how long Anna waited. I share this because I believe we are all waiting - we have a deep desire for God to touch the life of someone we love. After 400 years of silence, God visited this earth. This remnant of people God left behind with a deep desire for Him to redeem them, came down from heaven. There were people who kept on believing - praying and fasting and trusting and obeying the Lord, even though the culture around them was shifting and changing - they kept hold of the promises of the Lord.
Keep on sharing - be a witness of your encounters with the Lord.
Keep that fire burning - don’t be isolated from your sister’s in Christ
Keep worshiping and witnessing.
