Luke 2:36-40

Anna the Prophetess. The Return to Nazareth

36. Anna The same name as Hannah (1 Samuel 1:20), from the root Chânan, -he was gracious."

a prophetess like Miriam, Deborah, Huldah (2 Chronicles 34:22).

Phanuel -The Face of God;" the same word as Peniel, Genesis 32:30.

Aser Though the Ten Tribes were lost, individual Jews who belonged to them had preserved their genealogies. Thus Tobit was of the tribe of Naphthali (Tob 1:1). Comp. "our twelve tribes," Acts 26:7; James 1:1.

from her virginity I.e. she had been married only seven years, and was now 84 years old. א, A, B, L read ἔως (for ὡς) which is best taken with "of great age," the intervening words being parenthetic, a widow even unto fourscore years.