Expository Thoughts (continued)
all his approaches to the throne of grace in prayer. Let him remember in all his prayers that his mighty Mediator in heaven is accustomed to poverty, and knows by experience the heart of a poor man. Well would it be for the world if working men could only see that Christ is the true poor man's friend!
Notes on 2:21-24
21. Circumcise him. "He who was above the law, would come under the law, to free us from the law" (Bishop Hall).
Named . . . before he had been conceived. "We read of four people in the Old Testament to whom God gave names before they were born: Isaac (Genesis 17:19); Josiah (1 Kings 13:2); Ishmael (Genesis 16:11); Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28); and in the New Testament we read of two: John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. This tells us how certain God was about future contingencies" (Poole).
24. Two young pigeons. "The offering of the poor, which if a rich man offered he did not do his duty" (Lightfoot). Simeon's praise and prophecy (2:25-35)
LUKE 2:25-35
THE PROPHECY OF SIMEON
We have in these verses the history of one whose name is nowhere else mentioned in the New Testament, "a just and devout man" named Simeon. We know nothing of his life before or after the time when Christ was born. We are only told that he came by the Spirit into the temple, when the child Jesus was brought there by His