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Bible Dictionaries
Simeon (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or SIMEON (Συμεών) is a transliteration into Greek of the common Heb. name שִׁמְעוֹן, which is first met with as that of the second son of Jacob and Leah in Genesis 29:33, where a derivation from שִׁמַע, ‘hear,’ is suggested.
1. An aged saint (Luke 2:25 ff.), who took the infant Jesus in his arms at the Presentation in the Temple on the completion of the mother’s period of purification, and broke out into an exultant song of praise. Afterwards he foretold to Mary the varied results that would attend the mission of her son.
He has been identified with a Rabbi of the same name, who is described as the son of Hillel and father of Gamaliel i.; but the original author (Shabbath, 15a) merely mentions him as intermediate between Hillel and Gamaliel as Nasi of the Sanhedrin. Beyond that statement, which is not in the Mishna, nothing is known of him; and the Lukan phrase, ‘a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon,’ is too modest to allow of identification with one who was at once the son of Hillel and the leading authority on jurisprudence in the nation. Another legend is preserved in the Gospel of Nicodemus, to the effect that Charinus and Leucius, two sons of Simeon, had been raised from the dead, and had been summoned to describe before the Sanhedrin the occurrences they had witnessed in the underworld at the death of Jesus. Their narrative is said to have been afterwards reported to Pilate, who ordered its Incorporation in the official Acts of his procuratorship. This Apocryphal Gospel is not only of a late date (4th or even 5th cent.), but was evidently composed in the interest of apologetics, with a view particularly to represent the resurrection of Jesus as attested by evidence which even His enemies regarded as irrefutable. Until the period of uncritical search for legends in the 13th cent., little historical value was ascribed to the story, which may be confidently regarded as destitute of any.
Of the lineage or descendants of Simeon no contemporary evidence has survived; and for the man himself St. Luke is our only authority.
Simeon is described as (1) ‘righteous and devout,’ or conscientious in regard to God and His law (cf. Acts 22:12); (2) as looking for the Messiah; and (3) as moved by the Holy Spirit (not merely the spirit of prophecy) to believe that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah. Guided by the Spirit to the courts of the Temple, he no sooner saw Jesus there than the words of the famous Nunc Dimittis (wh. see) rose to his lips. Whilst Mary was wondering at the meaning of such words, Simeon turned to her and foretold the diverse results of the mission of Jesus. A stumbling-block and an offence to some, it would be the inspiration of a new life to others; and with her own blessedness would mingle anguish unspeakable. In the issue the deepest needs of many souls would be excited and met, and men’s hearts would be probed, enriched, and satisfied. After this brief appearance in history, Simeon passes again into obscurity, leaving only a few imperishable words behind him.
2. An ancestor, otherwise unknown, of Joseph, the husband of Mary (Luke 3:30). In this case, with some inconsistency, Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 turns the name into ‘Symeon’ (as in Acts 13:1; Acts 15:14), which is the more normal vocalization of the Greek, though not of the Hebrew.
R. W. Moss.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Simeon (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/simeon-2.html. 1906-1918.
