Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Luke 2:21-40, Two birds, Simeon and Anna
Jesus is circumcised and named on the eighth day. At the temple his parents make the offering the law allowed the poor, and two old people waiting for God's comfort, Simeon and the widow Anna, speak about the child.
Luke 2:21-40, in every translation this tool compares.
On the eighth day the child is circumcised and named Jesus. When the days of purification are over, Mary and Joseph bring him to the temple and offer two birds, as the law required. Simeon, a righteous man on whom the Holy Spirit rests, takes the child in his arms and blesses God for letting him see the salvation promised for Israel and the nations. Anna, a prophetess and widow of great age who never leaves the temple, speaks about the child to everyone waiting for Jerusalem's redemption.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/birth-and-naming\/","n":"Birth, naming and the shame of childlessness","s":"A child, above all a son, was a family's future and its support in old age. A childless couple met suspicion and shame; a birth brought the neighbors in, and a Jewish boy was circumcised on the eighth day.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/temple-and-courts\/","n":"The temple and its courts","s":"Herod's huge rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, believed to be God's dwelling, laid out in courts that kept Gentiles, women and Jewish men at set distances.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/spirit-of-prophecy\/","n":"The Spirit of prophecy","s":"Jews of Jesus' day linked God's Spirit above all with prophecy. Many believed the prophets had fallen silent long ago, and they looked for the day God would pour out his Spirit again.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/widows\/","n":"Widows","s":"A woman whose husband died usually lost her income with him and depended on a son, relatives or charity. A widow who stayed faithful to her husband's memory and did not remarry was honored.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/messiah\/","n":"The Messiah, son of David","s":"The anointed king most Jews expected from David's line, who would free Israel from its enemies. Nobody expected him to be killed.","r":""}
Two doves or pigeons were the offering Leviticus 12:8 allowed to those who could not afford a lamb, so the family was poor or of modest means (Keener's notes; the ESV Study Bible). The meeting with Simeon would take place in the Court of Women (Keener). The consolation of Israel was the comfort God had promised in Isaiah (Isaiah 40:1; 49:13), his coming to rescue his people (Keener; the ESV Study Bible). Anna's name is the Hebrew Hannah (Keener). The forty days were seven before the circumcision and thirty-three after (Leviticus 12), and firstborn sons were redeemed for five shekels; since Luke never mentions the payment, some scholars think Jesus, like Samuel, was wholly given to God (Strauss). Anna's tribe, Asher, was a northern one, which shows that members of the northern tribes kept their identity through the exile (Strauss). The Greek leaves open whether she was eighty-four or had been a widow eighty-four years, and Strauss notes that the pious widow who stayed single for God was a familiar figure, from Judith to Antonia, the widow of Drusus, whom Josephus praises.
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Luke 2:24
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Luke 2:22-24, 2:25-26 and 2:36
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Luke 2:22, 2:24 and 2:25-26
- Mark L. Strauss, Luke, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Luke 2:22, 2:22-23, 2:36 and 2:36-37
