Biblion Bible Commentary
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Presented to the Lord
Luke 2:21-24
21 When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. · WEB
Four verses of ordinary obedience to the law — and the offering they bring is the one for people who cannot afford a lamb.
When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb Luke 2:21.
The pattern of chapter one repeats: the eighth day, the naming, and a name settled in advance by someone other than the parents. What was contested for John is uncontested here, and the note that it was given before he was conceived quietly makes the point that this child's identity did not begin with his birth.
When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord Luke 2:22.
Two separate requirements of the law are being met at once. A mother was unclean for a set period after childbirth and then brought an offering Leviticus 12:2–8; and every firstborn male belonged to God and had to be redeemed, because of the night in Egypt when Israel's firstborn were spared Exodus 13:2 Numbers 18:15–16.
Luke quotes the law twice in three verses and names it four times. The family is observant, and the account wants that on the record. This is a household that keeps the commandments, exactly like Zechariah and Elizabeth Luke 1:6 — and it will matter later that the man accused of breaking the law was carried into the temple as an infant to satisfy it.
And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons" Luke 2:24.
That is the concession clause. The offering prescribed was a lamb and a bird; the birds alone are what the law allows if she cannot afford a lamb Leviticus 12:8. Luke does not comment on it and does not need to. The Savior born in a house where the animals were fed is brought to the temple by parents making the poor person's offering.
It is the second time in one chapter that his family's poverty has been recorded as plain fact rather than as pathos. And it is the last quiet moment before an old man crosses the court and takes the child out of their hands.
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