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Monday, December 15, 2008

The Bible tells us about Simeon which have become the words used in the Daily Office--namely during Vespers. "Lord, let your servant depart in peace..." from Luke 2:29ff. We assume by the context that Simeon's death is very near, but we do not hear any more about Elizabeth from the scriptures. We do hear much later about their son, John the Baptist. We probably do not hear about Elizabeth any more because she is a female and females are not as valued in the society of the time. Some have speculated that she died also and possibly left John as an orphan and that might explain why he is dressed the way he is and following the diet he is said to follow. Despite all that, people did hear what he had to say and followed him anyway. Hooray for John that he pointed away from himself to Jesus and gave Jesus his rightful place of honor.