"I'm Still Here"
36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years.
37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer.
38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.
Anna, who prophesied that God would bring deliverance through Jesus to the Jewish people
What a prophetess from a tribe like Asher would be doing in the Jerusalem Temple is a bit puzzling
‘her husband had died seven years after they were married’
This refers to a woman who proclaims inspired utterances on behalf of God [LN]. She had the gift of prophecy and was known for that gift
she was a widow of eighty-four years of age.
spent her time there in religious devotions
the account of her staying in the temple should not be taken with prosaic literalness
Anna includes in her praise proclamation about him (sc. Jesus) to those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem
denote here Anna’s participation in the prayers of the people attending the daily sacrifices
she spoke. Lit. “she kept speaking,”
she spread abroad the word about the child.
“the consolation of Israel.” The noun lytrōsis, “deliverance, redemption,”