Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 2:29-35
29-35. The utterances of Elisabeth, Mary, and Simeon are consecutive. Each begins where the other ends. Mary sings her own born Messiah; Zacharias celebrates the triumph of Israel; and Simeon announces the hopes of the Gentiles. But besides this holding forth the Messiah as a saviour for Gentile as well as Jew, what is remarkable is, that he announces in Jesus a suffering Messiah as well as a glorious. Nay, he announces that the blessed mother should also be a sorrowing mother. Though she... read more
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 2:25-35
25-35. The Nunc Dimittis; or Prophecy of Simeon. As in the body of the Jewish population we have abundant evidence that the expectation in regard to the Messiah was, that he would be a warlike deliverer of the nation from the Roman yoke, so in the shepherds we have the representatives of the general class of the more spiritual. But in Simeon and Anna we seem to have representatives of the higher order of saints, whose views were fully enlightened by a study of the prophets and the... read more