ἄνθρωπος … ᾧ ὄνομα Συμεών. This cannot be Rabban Shimeon the son of Hillel (whom the Talmud is on this account supposed to pass over almost unnoticed), because he would hardly have been spoken of so slightly as ἄνθρωπος, ‘a person.’ The Apocryphal Gospels call him “the great teacher” (James xxvi., Nicod. xvi.).

εὐλαβής used only by St Luke. Acts 2:5; Acts 8:2; Acts 22:12 (properly “holding well.”)

προσδεχόμενος παράκλησιν τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. See Genesis 49:18. “They shall not be ashamed that wait for me,” Isaiah 49:23. “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God,” Isaiah 40:1. Joseph of Arimathea is also described as one who “waited for the Kingdom of God,” Mark 15:43. “May I see the consolation of Israel!” was a common Jewish formula, and a prayer for the Advent of the Messiah was daily used; and Menachem ‘the Consoler’ was recognised as one of the names of the Messiah. παράκλησιν is anarthrous, because the word had become technical.

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Old Testament