Anna was unique in many ways. She was a prophetess, the first human messenger of God in the Bible since the time of Malachi. She was of the lost tribe of Asher, not Judea. She was a woman who had dedicated herself to the Lord. She was eighty-four (or widowed eighty-four years), an age uncommon in those days. Widows were often poor and socially marginalized.
The prophetess Anna never left the temple. The temple gates were closed at night, and only the priests would remain inside. She worshiped God day and night, and was thankful despite losing her husband after only seven years of marriage. Many very old people I have known are either bitter or senile. She witnessed and encouraged others by sharing Jesus with them. She looked forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. She exhibited the Holy Spirit’s joy.
Anna was one of the few who recognized the Messiah, the redemption of Jerusalem, when they saw baby Jesus. No priest, no rabbi, no layman, and no social leader recognized the Messiah when they saw him. Those who did see he was the Christ were told so by an angel, including Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Elizabeth (John’s mother), and the shepherds. Anna, was unique because she was blessed.
The younger generation usually sees the previous generation as silly and thus disregards them. Oh, if only they had listened to prophetess Anna, Jerusalem would have been redeemed that very year. “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” (Titus 2:3-5)
