Luke 2:37

Fourscore and four years. It is somewhat uncertain from the Greek whether the expression translated “of about fourscore and four years” is to be understood as applying to Anna’s age or to the duration of her widowhood. Commentators are about evenly divided on the question. Some translations apply the period to her age (as the RSV), and others, to her widowhood (as Moffatt). The KJV rendering, “a widow of about fourscore and four years,” reflects somewhat the ambiguous phraseology of the original. The details given and the wording used seem to indicate that the 84 years most likely refers to the period of Anna’s widowhood. If Anna had been married at the early age of 15, had been married for 7 years, and then remained a widow for 84 years, she would then be 106 years of age. This would by no means be impossible, though the age of 84 would also make her “of a great age.”

Departed not. Some have understood this to mean that Anna, as a pensioner of the Temple, had been assigned a room adjacent to the precincts of the Temple, perhaps with other widows, and that in return she devoted her time to teaching the young women who came to the Temple for religious instruction. Whether there was provision for this in the days of Christ is not known. Others think that she “departed not from the temple” in the same sense that the disciples, after the ascension, “were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God” (see Luke 24:53; Acts 2:46). It is obvious that in this latter instance Luke does not mean Temple residence, but rather regular attendance at religious services in the Temple, plus witnessing before the people who assembled there (see Acts 3:1; Acts 5:12, 20, 21, 25, 42; etc.).

Night and day. Probably a reference to the morning and evening hours of worship. Whatever the case may have been with regard to her residence (see foregoing), it is evident Anna faithfully attended the hours of morning and evening worship. Her life was absorbed in the service of God; she had no other interests to distract her attention. Such a life Paul eulogizes as most appropriate to one who is “a widow indeed” (see 1 Tim. 5:5).