(Gospel of the Birth of Mary 3:1 - 3:11)
Afterwards the emissary from Jehovah appeared to his wife Anna and told her, "Don't be afraid. Don't think that what you're seeing is a ghost: I am the intermediary that conveys your prayers and sacrificial offerings to Jehovah. I have now been sent here to inform you that you will give birth to a daughter named Mary, who will blessed above all women.
"She will be, from the moment of her birth, under the protection of Jehovah and will continue to be so during her three years of weaning in the house of her father. During her service to Jehovah she will not leave the Temple until she reaches her maturity. She will thus serve Jehovah day and night with fasting and prayer, avoiding exposure to anything ritually impure, and never having carnal knowledge of a man. And being so uniquely unspoiled and unprofaned, a virgin unacquainted with men, she will bear a son. She will be the maiden who will produce the master who, through his character, reputation, and achievements, will be the savior of the world.
"Depart then and travel to Jerusalem, and when you arrive at the Golden Gate (so called because it is gilded) you will, as I have foretold, meet your husband, whose safety and well-being you have been worrying about. When you see that what I have told you has come to pass then you will realize that the rest of what I have told you will also doubtlessly come to pass."
Following the instructions of Jehovah's emissary, both of them left where they were and traveled to the place determined by the emissary's prophecy. There they met. They were delighted to see each other! They then had faith in the promise that they would have a child. Thus they gave thanks to the God who exalts the humble. After giving praise to Jehovah, they returned home and lived contentedly in the assurance that God's promise would be fulfilled.
And so Anna became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. Following the command of Jehovah's emissary, the parents named the girl "Mary."
Notes
1. The emissary from Jehovah further identifies himself as an intermediary between worshipers and God, conveying prayers and sacrifices. He also explains that he is not a ghost, the apparition of a deceased person -- which I think is the correct translation and not "spirit," since he is obviously is of the spirit, even if he is presently manifested in corporeal form.
2. The emissary employs what can only seem a classic confidence strategy. He predicts that some commonplace event will occur and when it does he claims that they must now believe him when he predicts some extraordinary event. He tells both Joachim and Anna to go the Golden Gate of Jerusalem and then when they happen to meet there, he proclaims it a miracle that they have done so. All he has done was to arrange a rendezvous! Of course, as the story goes, the emissary was correct in his prophecy that a daughter would be born, but he seems to have purchased Joachim and Anna's faith on the cheap. Why didn't he perform a genuine miracle, perhaps just dematerializing?
Showing posts with label Anna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anna. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Joachim and Anna
(Gospel of the Birth of Mary 1:1-1:12)
The Virgin Mary, glorious and blessed, was born in Nazareth of royal lineage and descended from the tribe of King David. She was educated in Jerusalem at the Temple of Jehovah. Her father's name was Joachim, whose family was from the city of Nazareth in Galilee, while her mother's name was Anna, who was from Bethlehem.
Her parents lived simply, righteous in the eyes of God and unfailingly pious in the eyes of men. Their income they divided into three parts: one third they contributed to the Temple and its priests, one third they donated to the poor and to needy strangers, and the last third they kept for their personal needs and that of their family. In this way, chastely and without children, they lived for about 20 years with the favor of God and the respect of men. However, they resolved that if God should grant them any children, they would devote themselves to serve the divine. Because of this, they celebrated every feast in the religious calendar at the Temple.
At a time when the feast of dedication was near, Joachim and others of his tribe traveled to Jerusalem. Isachar, who his high priest at that time, noticed Joachim and his neighbors and the offerings they were bringing. But Isachar looked down on Joachim and rejected his offerings. He challenged him, "Why do you, who have no children, have the gall to appear here with those that do? Your offerings will never be accepted by Jehovah, who has judged you unworthy to have children. For the Scripture says, 'Cursed will be any of Israel who does not father a male child.'" (He added that Joachim could remove the curse by having children and that then he would be welcome to come with offerings for Jehovah.)
Overwhelmed by the shame of this rebuke, Joachim spent some time among the cowherds tending their herds in the pasture, for he was loathed to return home in case his neighbors, who were present when the high priest scolded him, might publicly rebuke him in the same way.
Notes
1. The parents of Mary, Joachim and Mary are presented here as moral exemplars, a dutiful, righteous, godly couple. One wonders, though, to what extend the gospel writer might have had knowledge of them and their characters. Mary, of course, was still alive at the time of the Crucifixion and could have furnished information, but all the gospels were written a generation or so after the Crucifixion (and this particular gospel, perhaps centuries after.) We, though, have no way of knowing the date of written source material upon which the gospels were based.
2. If Joachim was from Nazareth in Galilee and his wife Anna was from Bethlehem in Judea, how did they happen to meet and marry? One would have thought it would be unusual for a man, except one of high station, to wed someone living outside his home locality.
3. The high priest Isachar, in rebuking Joachim for being childless, voices the long-standing Jewish emphasis on procreation as a social and religious virtue. Having children is valued and honored in most societies, save those that are threatened by too much population growth. Also, the preference for a male child is made clear. Only a male can perpetuate the family, continue the paternal line. It is a view held by many societies that not to have a son is to allow the family to die. A man without a son dishonors his people, his tribe, his nation. So it is that Isachar comes down hard on Joachim. (It is interesting that Joachim's grandson Jesus would not marry or have children -- if the accepted gospels are accurate.)
4. Joachim is not only humiliated and shamed by the dressing down he got from the high priest, but he is afraid that the people in his own community, who formerly held him in such high regard, will turn against him because. One can imagine there was probably a loss of self-esteem as well, and he may have started believing his condition of childlessness was due to divine disapproval, as Isachar had suggested.
The Virgin Mary, glorious and blessed, was born in Nazareth of royal lineage and descended from the tribe of King David. She was educated in Jerusalem at the Temple of Jehovah. Her father's name was Joachim, whose family was from the city of Nazareth in Galilee, while her mother's name was Anna, who was from Bethlehem.
Her parents lived simply, righteous in the eyes of God and unfailingly pious in the eyes of men. Their income they divided into three parts: one third they contributed to the Temple and its priests, one third they donated to the poor and to needy strangers, and the last third they kept for their personal needs and that of their family. In this way, chastely and without children, they lived for about 20 years with the favor of God and the respect of men. However, they resolved that if God should grant them any children, they would devote themselves to serve the divine. Because of this, they celebrated every feast in the religious calendar at the Temple.
At a time when the feast of dedication was near, Joachim and others of his tribe traveled to Jerusalem. Isachar, who his high priest at that time, noticed Joachim and his neighbors and the offerings they were bringing. But Isachar looked down on Joachim and rejected his offerings. He challenged him, "Why do you, who have no children, have the gall to appear here with those that do? Your offerings will never be accepted by Jehovah, who has judged you unworthy to have children. For the Scripture says, 'Cursed will be any of Israel who does not father a male child.'" (He added that Joachim could remove the curse by having children and that then he would be welcome to come with offerings for Jehovah.)
Overwhelmed by the shame of this rebuke, Joachim spent some time among the cowherds tending their herds in the pasture, for he was loathed to return home in case his neighbors, who were present when the high priest scolded him, might publicly rebuke him in the same way.
Notes
1. The parents of Mary, Joachim and Mary are presented here as moral exemplars, a dutiful, righteous, godly couple. One wonders, though, to what extend the gospel writer might have had knowledge of them and their characters. Mary, of course, was still alive at the time of the Crucifixion and could have furnished information, but all the gospels were written a generation or so after the Crucifixion (and this particular gospel, perhaps centuries after.) We, though, have no way of knowing the date of written source material upon which the gospels were based.
2. If Joachim was from Nazareth in Galilee and his wife Anna was from Bethlehem in Judea, how did they happen to meet and marry? One would have thought it would be unusual for a man, except one of high station, to wed someone living outside his home locality.
3. The high priest Isachar, in rebuking Joachim for being childless, voices the long-standing Jewish emphasis on procreation as a social and religious virtue. Having children is valued and honored in most societies, save those that are threatened by too much population growth. Also, the preference for a male child is made clear. Only a male can perpetuate the family, continue the paternal line. It is a view held by many societies that not to have a son is to allow the family to die. A man without a son dishonors his people, his tribe, his nation. So it is that Isachar comes down hard on Joachim. (It is interesting that Joachim's grandson Jesus would not marry or have children -- if the accepted gospels are accurate.)
4. Joachim is not only humiliated and shamed by the dressing down he got from the high priest, but he is afraid that the people in his own community, who formerly held him in such high regard, will turn against him because. One can imagine there was probably a loss of self-esteem as well, and he may have started believing his condition of childlessness was due to divine disapproval, as Isachar had suggested.
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