And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Well is he called righteous who sought not his own good, but the good of his nation, as it follows, Waiting for the consolation of Israel.
He desired indeed to be loosed from the chains of bodily infirmity, but he wails to see the promise, for he knew, Happy are those eyes which shall see it.
The just Simeon saw him with his heart, because he recognized the infant. He saw him with his eyes, because he took the infant in his arms. Seeing him in both ways, recognizing the Son of God, and cuddling the one begotten of the Virgin, he said, “Now, Lord, you are letting your servant go in peace, since my eyes have seen your salvation.” Notice what he said. You see, he was being kept until he should see with his eyes what he already perceived with faith. He took the baby body, he cradled the body in his arms. On seeing the body, that is, on perceiving the Lord in the flesh, he said, “My eyes have seen your salvation.” How do you know this is not the way in which all flesh is going to see the salvation of God? Sermon
Simeon and Anna, a man and a woman of advanced age, greeted the Lord with the devoted services of their professions of faith. As they saw him, he was small in body, but they understood him to be great in his divinity. Figuratively speaking, this denotes the synagogue, the Jewish people, who, wearied by the long awaiting of his incarnation, were ready with both their arms (their pious actions) and their voices (their unfeigned faith) to exalt and magnify him as soon as he came. They were ready to acclaim him and say, “Direct me in your truth and teach me, for you are my saving God, and for you I have waited all the day.” What needs to be mentioned, too, is that deservedly both sexes hurried to meet him, offering congratulations, since he appeared as the Redeemer of both.
To see death means to undergo it, and happy will he be to see the death of the flesh who has first been enabled to see with the eyes of his heart the Lord Christ, having his conversation in the heavenly Jerusalem, and frequently entering the doors of God's temple, that is, following the examples of the saints in whom God dwells as in His temple. Bythe same grace of the Spirit whereby he foreknew Christ would come, he now acknowledges Him come, as it follows, And he came by the Spirit into the temple.
Now the righteous man, according to the law, received the Child Jesus in his arms, that he might signify that the legal righteousness of works under the figure of the hands and arms was to be changed for the lowly indeed but saving grace of Gospel faith The old man received the infant Christ, to convey thereby that this world, now worn out as it werewith old age, should return to the childlike innocence of the Christian life.
Now the righteous man, according to the law, received the Child ...
And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the holy Ghost was upon him. Calvin would have it that Simeon was of obscure birth and unknown; but that he was venerable by his age and his sanctity appears from what follows here. Many hold that he was a priest, and that it was in this capacity that he blessed Mary and Joseph. So say Lyranus, Dionysius, Cajetan, Francis Lucas, Toletus, S. Athanasius (in "The Common Essence of the Father and the Son"), S. Cyril ( Deuteronomy 0ccursu Dom.), S. Epiphanius ("Treatise on the Fathers of the Old Testament"), and Canisius (de Deipara, bk. iv. ch10). But Theophylact, Euthymius, Jansenius, and Barradius are of opinion that he was a layman, and gave his blessing not as a priest but as an old man.
And the same was just. From this Galatinus (De Arcanis Fidei, 1. I, cap3) gathers that Simeon was the disciple and son of Hille1who, a little before the bi...
The prophet Isaiah says, "Beautiful are the feet of them that bring good tidings of good:" and what could there be so sweet to learn as that God has saved the world by the mediation of the Son, in that He was made like unto us? For it is written, "that there is one God, and one Mediator of God and men, the Man Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself a ransom for us." For of His own accord He descended to our poverty, that He might make us rich by our gaining what is His. Behold Him therefore as one in our estate presented unto the Father, and obedient to the shadows of the law, offering sacrifice moreover according to what was customary, true though it be that these things were done by the instrumentality of His mother according to the flesh. Was He then unrecognised by all at Jerusalem, and known to none dwelling there? How could this be the case? For God the Father had before proclaimed by the holy prophets, that in due season the Son would be manifested to save them that were lost, and to gi...
A man . named Simeon, whom some conjecture to have been one of the Jewish priests.
Waiting for the consolation of Israel, for the happy coming of the Messias.
And the Holy Spirit was in him, by the spirit of grace and of prophecy. (Witham)
The consolation here expected by Holy Simeon, was the coming of the Messias, and the consequent redemption of mankind from sin and the devil; not a redemption only, as some carnal Jews thought, from the power of temporal enemies. These supposed the Messias was to come in order to raise them in power above all nations, to whom before his coming they had been subject. (St. Gregory of Nyssa in Dionysius)
Many have pretended that Simeon was a priest; the best and oldest interpreters say he was a laic. (Bible de Vence)
How blessed was that holy entrance to holy things through which he hastened on to the end of life, blessed those hands which handled the word of life, and the arms which were held out to receive Him!
It was not surely worldly happiness that the prudent Simeon was waiting foras the consolation of Israel, but a real happiness, that is, a passing over to the beauty of truth from the shadow of the law. For he had learnt from the sacred oracles that he would see the Lord's Christ before he should depart out of this present life. Hence it follows, And the Holy Spirit was in him, (by which indeed he was justified,) and he received an answer from the Holy Spirit.
For Simeon did not obtain an inheritance like the other tribes, for he dwelt in the midst of Judah. Yet his tribe was preserved, although it was small in numbers.
And if these blessings accrue through Christ, they will not have been prophesied of another than Him through whom we consider them to have been accomplished.
Nor let him be handed to Simeon, lest the old man be saddened at the point of death.
