‘And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she had been a widow even unto fourscore and four years), who departed not from the temple, worshipping with fastings and supplications night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and continually spoke of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.'
This woman Anna was a prophetess, but was also one who genuinely loved God. She was very old and spent her time in the Temple. Her husband had died seven years after their marriage, and since then she had been a widow, and she was now either eighty four, or, if it (less likely) means that she had been married eighty four years, over a hundred. She had no priestly connections but came from the tribe of Asher (her tribe was thus not lost after all!). The naming of her tribe indicates that she is a true born Israelite. But she never left the Temple, worshipping God with fasting and supplications night and day. She was one of a small band of especially choice souls in Israel. Never leaving the Temple may be a slight exaggeration, but conveys the right impression. She was dedicated to worshipping God in the Temple. However it could be that accommodation was given in buildings in the Temple courtyards for such as her, and that she did in fact never leave the Temple, receiving alms from the people. As a prophetess she was probably a focus of attention for women coming to the Temple for guidance in spiritual matters.
‘Fourscore and four years' is twelve time seven. The idea is probably of the perfection of her dedication. She had been married to a husband for seven years, but her ‘marriage' to the Lord had been for twelve times longer. No one could be more worthy of welcoming His Son.
And coming up to where they were at that very hour (we may presume guided by the Spirit) she gave thanks to God, and then immediately she went away, her heart thrilled, in order to ‘continue to proclaim' the news of His coming to all the faithful, those who were especially looking for redemption in Israel. By this we are reminded that beneath all the pageantry and formal ritual and machinations of the Temple, and all the stultifying regulations of the Pharisees, there was still a righteous and godly remnant in Israel whose worship was true and pure and spiritual, and who had not bowed the knee to Mammon or religious bigotry or formalism.
‘The redemption of Jerusalem.' Compare here Isaiah 52:9 which speaking of the future deliverance declares, ‘YHWH has comforted (consoled) His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem.' Note how here it ties in with Simeon's ‘consolation of Israel'. Both have in mind the activity of the Messiah. Redemption in the Old Testament regularly meant deliverance by the exertion of power, but Isaiah 52:9 is immediately followed by the description of the Suffering Servant Who will suffer for the sins of many (Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12). Thus it includes the deeper significance of deliverance by the payment of a price.
So are described God's two witnesses to the coming of the One Who will bring consolation and redemption to Israel, the two witnesses necessary for the acceptance of their testimony. And from those two witnesses the word goes out to all whose hearts were especially right towards God in Jerusalem.