(Gospel of the Birth of Mary 8:1 - 8:15)
Three months after his betrothal to Mary, Joseph made the trip from Judea to Galilee with the intention of marrying her. By this time Mary’s pregnancy had become so advanced that it could not be concealed. Joseph, calling upon her informally and chatting with her as a man would his betrothed, could not help noticing her condition. This made him very uncomfortable and uncertain; he knew not what course of action to take. Being a just man, he did not want to expose her, and being a pious man, he did not want to publicly defame her as a promiscuous woman. Therefore, he decided that he would privately retract his offer of marriage and, as discreetly, send her away.
While he was mulling over these things, a messenger of Jehovah appeared to him in a dream. He told him, "Joseph, descendant of David, don't be afraid. You mustn't have any suspicions that the Virgin has been guilt of fornication or think ill of her. Have no reluctance to take her as your wife. For what is growing within her, that so distresses you, is not the product of a man, but of the Spirit Divine. She, of all women, is the only virgin who will give birth to the Son of God, whom you will call Jesus the Savior -- for he will save his people from their sins.”
Following the commands of Jehovah's messenger, Joseph wed Mary, but refrained from having sexual relations with her, preserving her chastity. As the ninth month of her pregnancy neared, Joseph took his wife and whatever things they needed and journeyed to his home town of Bethlehem. While they were there, Mary's time came. And she did indeed give birth to her first-born son, the Master Jesus, the Christ of whom the evangelists teach us, the Son who, with the Father and the Spirit Divine, lives and will reign in the ages to come.
Notes
1. Jehovah's messengers are busy paying calls upon the characters in this narrative. Mary is quite used to their visits. However, since Joseph is not, they avoid freaking him out by coming to him only in a dream. This seems to be a recurring practice. Those who are in communion with the divine, or the supposed divine, are witness to physical manifestations and communications that occur when the subject is conscious. Conversations and interactions occur. However, with those who cannot aspire to be a Moses or a Mary, Jehovah's agents are more aloof, and perhaps more circumspect in conveying their messages. Even Joseph does not seem worthy of a personal visit.
2. It might have been more considerate, one would think, if Jehovah had arranged to warn Joseph about Mary's virginal pregnancy before, rather than after his visit to Mary. Joseph was naturally perturbed and distressed when he found his fiancee was going to have a baby. Was he expected to react otherwise? Why was he needlessly subjected to such mental anguish? Why didn't they let him know beforehand?
3. Joseph takes his wife to his hometown of Bethlehem so that Jesus can be born there, and the Old Testament prophecy can be conveniently fulfilled. It is never explained why Joseph, probably long established as a carpenter there, would eventually move his business to his wife's home in Nazareth, where Jesus would grow up. Nazareth and Bethlehem were at that time located in what could be regarded as separate countries, Galilee and Judea.
4. Why Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem for the birth seems to be solely because Joseph lives in Bethlehem. There is no reference to a Roman census or, for that matter, any difficulties in finding a place to stay -- there would be none, since, one assumes, they would be staying in Joseph’s home. The birth simply occurs, with no reference to the familiar Nativity lore promulgated in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Interesting that this later Gospel would not at least allude to events that one would regard as being already well established in Christian tradition.
Showing posts with label Joseph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joseph. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Betrothal of Mary
(Gospel of the Birth of Mary 5:1 - 6:7)
As the Virgin of Jehovah grew older, she developed in character and virtue. She was, as the author of the Psalms wrote, abandoned by her mother and father, but taken care of by Jehovah -- for every day she communed with the divine and was visited by emissaries from God who protected her from a variety of evil influences and filled her with goodness.
By the time she had reached her 14th year no evil-minded person could find anything to say against her and every good person who was acquainted with her spoke highly of her character and her company. The high priest of the temple publicly declared that all young women who were wards of the temple and who had arrived at this age should return to their homes and since they were now sufficiently mature, they should seek to marry, in accordance with the custom of the country. All the maidens residing the temple expressed a willingness to obey the order, but, alone among them, Mary, the Virgin of Jehovah, responded that she would not comply with such an command. She presented these two arguments, that she and her parents had dedicated her to the service of Jehovah and, furthermore, she herself had sworn to Jehovah that she would remain a virgin, a vow she was determined never to break by having sexual relations with a man.
The high priest was thus placed in a quandary. He could not have her break a vow to Jehovah, a transgression of scriptural law that demands one must keep a vow. On the other hand, he was loathed to introduce a custom that was alien to his people. To help him handle such a difficult case, he decided that at an upcoming feast he would seek the council of several prominent religious leaders who were coming from Jerusalem and the surrounding area.
When these leaders were assembled, they unanimously decided to seek an oracle from Jehovah. While they were all absorbed in prayer, the high priest, in the accepted manner, consulted Jehovah. From the Judgment Seat, the cover of the Chest of Sacred Records, there immediately sounded a voice that was heard by all. It told them that they should refer to the Prophet Isaiah to determine to whom the Virgin should be betrothed. (Isaiah had declared, "there will appear from the stock of Jesse a staff, and a flower will bloom from its root. The spirit of Jehovah will reside within him and he will be filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, judgment and authority, knowledge and piety, and reverence for the divine.")
Following the prophecy, the high priest decreed that all men of the tribe of David who were marriageable but not yet betrothed should each bring their staffs to the altar. If, after their staffs were presented, any of them should bud with a flower and on top of it should sit, manifested as a dove, the spirit of Jehovah, then the one to whom that staff belonged would be the man to whom the Virgin should be given and betrothed.
Among those that appeared from the tribe of David there was of his family a man named Joseph. Because he was of advanced years he held on to his staff when everyone else presented theirs.
When nothing drew a favorable response from the divine oracle, the high priest deemed it proper to consult Jehovah again. The reply was that the Virgin was to be betrothed to the one man of those assembled who had not presented his staff.
Joseph was thus found out. And so when he presented his staff a dove flew down from the sky and perched upon the top of it. As this was witnessed by all there, it was evident that he was the one to whom the Virgin should be betrothed.
After the customary betrothal ceremonies were over, Joseph returned to his hometown of Bethlehem to ready his house and make all the necessary arrangements for the wedding.
Mary, the Virgin of Jehovah, returned to her parent's home in Galilee along with seven other virgins appointed by the priest to attend her. These were all maidens her own age who had been weaned at the same time as she had.
Notes
1. Mary, during her childhood and youth, had regular if not constant communication with Jehovah's emissaries. One wonders what the nature of these contacts might have been. Did these supposedly divine representatives manifest themselves as normal looking men, as luminous beings, as disembodied voices, or as presences with whom she communed telepathically?
2. The divine emissaries guarded and protected her, but from what, in the cloistered environment of the temple? They enlightened her and nurtured in her proper, pious values. She became a good girl. But while goodness itself may flower in a desert, it is hard to see how the character can be developed without life experiences. Goodness may rightly eschew the evils one has never been exposed to, but character can only be formed by an acquaintance with evil and a rejection of it, by making correct choices, resisting temptation, even by making mistakes and learning from them. Mary seemed to have been sheltered entirely from real life, with an innocence derived from ignorance.
3. In Exodus the Judgment Seat, the cover to the Chest of Sacred Records (often called the Ark of the Covenant) is described as being the place upon which Jehovah sits to make pronouncements, pass judgments, and perform as an oracle. It was never made clear if Jehovah physically assumed his seat as a man would, if he materialized upon the seat, hovered in a cloud above it, or merely used it as a speaker for his disembodied voice. More than a thousand years later, we read of the Jehovan priests consulting their god in this traditional manner, here at what would have been the Temple built (or, more accurately, remodeled) by King Herod. The procedure of consultation is different from the Greek oracles such as that of Delphi, but the idea behind it is the same. At Delphi the entranced priestess was possessed by the god Apollo and made utterances that required interpretation. Jehovah, a very straight forward sort of god, answers directly in a voice everyone can hear with words that are unambiguous. There is no record of anyone seeing anything, so one assumes the voice of Jehovah is disembodied.
4. One would think that the number of marriageable men, even restricted to those of the tribe of David, would comprise a huge assembly, many thousands at least, but the impression given is that we are talking about several dozen or a few score men that bring their staffs to the Temple.
5. One assumes the staffs were much like shepherds crooks, but used as walking sticks and customarily carried by most men, that is, most men would have one that they could present. The word “rod” is often used here, but would be misleading. Rods were carried by shepherds along with their crooks to be used as clubs. It’s unlikely that that is what is referred to here. Obviously reference in the prophecy of Isaiah to budding flowers, roots, and rods (branches or stems) is symbolic, but the priests seem to take it as being literal. We find that all through history biblical passages meant to be metaphoric are interpreted literally (and vice versa).
6. Joseph is described as being a man of advanced years. It seems odd the old codger, who pointedly did not want to be considered as a potential husband, was regarded as an eligible bachelor and obliged to attend the ceremony of the staffs. He himself felt he shouldn't be there and refused to present his staff for consideration. But, for some reason, he was the chosen one of Jehovah. This incident conforms to the recurring biblical theme of the unlikely/unwilling/aged parent. The birth of every significant person must seem miraculous, or at least unusual. This is true of many ancient and medieval personages who are not necessarily connected with religion.
7. A dove lights atop of Joseph's staff, but the prophecy also stipulates that a flower should bud from the end of it. This is not reported to have happened. But apparently the dove was sufficiently convincing. Jehovah was not unlike the Greek gods in his habit of turning himself into an animal once in a while, although he seemed to have preferred manifesting himself as a dove. The whiteness of the dove has always suggested purity and its docility, benevolence, but it would certainly not convey the power one associates with a god. A hawk or an eagle would seem a better choice, but, in the present instance, one cannot quarrel with the suitability of a dove.
8. It is established that Mary is from Galilee and that Joseph is a Judean from Bethlehem. It is important for the story to have Jesus born in Bethlehem in order to conform to Old Testament prophecy assumed to refer to the Messiah.
As the Virgin of Jehovah grew older, she developed in character and virtue. She was, as the author of the Psalms wrote, abandoned by her mother and father, but taken care of by Jehovah -- for every day she communed with the divine and was visited by emissaries from God who protected her from a variety of evil influences and filled her with goodness.
By the time she had reached her 14th year no evil-minded person could find anything to say against her and every good person who was acquainted with her spoke highly of her character and her company. The high priest of the temple publicly declared that all young women who were wards of the temple and who had arrived at this age should return to their homes and since they were now sufficiently mature, they should seek to marry, in accordance with the custom of the country. All the maidens residing the temple expressed a willingness to obey the order, but, alone among them, Mary, the Virgin of Jehovah, responded that she would not comply with such an command. She presented these two arguments, that she and her parents had dedicated her to the service of Jehovah and, furthermore, she herself had sworn to Jehovah that she would remain a virgin, a vow she was determined never to break by having sexual relations with a man.
The high priest was thus placed in a quandary. He could not have her break a vow to Jehovah, a transgression of scriptural law that demands one must keep a vow. On the other hand, he was loathed to introduce a custom that was alien to his people. To help him handle such a difficult case, he decided that at an upcoming feast he would seek the council of several prominent religious leaders who were coming from Jerusalem and the surrounding area.
When these leaders were assembled, they unanimously decided to seek an oracle from Jehovah. While they were all absorbed in prayer, the high priest, in the accepted manner, consulted Jehovah. From the Judgment Seat, the cover of the Chest of Sacred Records, there immediately sounded a voice that was heard by all. It told them that they should refer to the Prophet Isaiah to determine to whom the Virgin should be betrothed. (Isaiah had declared, "there will appear from the stock of Jesse a staff, and a flower will bloom from its root. The spirit of Jehovah will reside within him and he will be filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, judgment and authority, knowledge and piety, and reverence for the divine.")
Following the prophecy, the high priest decreed that all men of the tribe of David who were marriageable but not yet betrothed should each bring their staffs to the altar. If, after their staffs were presented, any of them should bud with a flower and on top of it should sit, manifested as a dove, the spirit of Jehovah, then the one to whom that staff belonged would be the man to whom the Virgin should be given and betrothed.
Among those that appeared from the tribe of David there was of his family a man named Joseph. Because he was of advanced years he held on to his staff when everyone else presented theirs.
When nothing drew a favorable response from the divine oracle, the high priest deemed it proper to consult Jehovah again. The reply was that the Virgin was to be betrothed to the one man of those assembled who had not presented his staff.
Joseph was thus found out. And so when he presented his staff a dove flew down from the sky and perched upon the top of it. As this was witnessed by all there, it was evident that he was the one to whom the Virgin should be betrothed.
After the customary betrothal ceremonies were over, Joseph returned to his hometown of Bethlehem to ready his house and make all the necessary arrangements for the wedding.
Mary, the Virgin of Jehovah, returned to her parent's home in Galilee along with seven other virgins appointed by the priest to attend her. These were all maidens her own age who had been weaned at the same time as she had.
Notes
1. Mary, during her childhood and youth, had regular if not constant communication with Jehovah's emissaries. One wonders what the nature of these contacts might have been. Did these supposedly divine representatives manifest themselves as normal looking men, as luminous beings, as disembodied voices, or as presences with whom she communed telepathically?
2. The divine emissaries guarded and protected her, but from what, in the cloistered environment of the temple? They enlightened her and nurtured in her proper, pious values. She became a good girl. But while goodness itself may flower in a desert, it is hard to see how the character can be developed without life experiences. Goodness may rightly eschew the evils one has never been exposed to, but character can only be formed by an acquaintance with evil and a rejection of it, by making correct choices, resisting temptation, even by making mistakes and learning from them. Mary seemed to have been sheltered entirely from real life, with an innocence derived from ignorance.
3. In Exodus the Judgment Seat, the cover to the Chest of Sacred Records (often called the Ark of the Covenant) is described as being the place upon which Jehovah sits to make pronouncements, pass judgments, and perform as an oracle. It was never made clear if Jehovah physically assumed his seat as a man would, if he materialized upon the seat, hovered in a cloud above it, or merely used it as a speaker for his disembodied voice. More than a thousand years later, we read of the Jehovan priests consulting their god in this traditional manner, here at what would have been the Temple built (or, more accurately, remodeled) by King Herod. The procedure of consultation is different from the Greek oracles such as that of Delphi, but the idea behind it is the same. At Delphi the entranced priestess was possessed by the god Apollo and made utterances that required interpretation. Jehovah, a very straight forward sort of god, answers directly in a voice everyone can hear with words that are unambiguous. There is no record of anyone seeing anything, so one assumes the voice of Jehovah is disembodied.
4. One would think that the number of marriageable men, even restricted to those of the tribe of David, would comprise a huge assembly, many thousands at least, but the impression given is that we are talking about several dozen or a few score men that bring their staffs to the Temple.
5. One assumes the staffs were much like shepherds crooks, but used as walking sticks and customarily carried by most men, that is, most men would have one that they could present. The word “rod” is often used here, but would be misleading. Rods were carried by shepherds along with their crooks to be used as clubs. It’s unlikely that that is what is referred to here. Obviously reference in the prophecy of Isaiah to budding flowers, roots, and rods (branches or stems) is symbolic, but the priests seem to take it as being literal. We find that all through history biblical passages meant to be metaphoric are interpreted literally (and vice versa).
6. Joseph is described as being a man of advanced years. It seems odd the old codger, who pointedly did not want to be considered as a potential husband, was regarded as an eligible bachelor and obliged to attend the ceremony of the staffs. He himself felt he shouldn't be there and refused to present his staff for consideration. But, for some reason, he was the chosen one of Jehovah. This incident conforms to the recurring biblical theme of the unlikely/unwilling/aged parent. The birth of every significant person must seem miraculous, or at least unusual. This is true of many ancient and medieval personages who are not necessarily connected with religion.
7. A dove lights atop of Joseph's staff, but the prophecy also stipulates that a flower should bud from the end of it. This is not reported to have happened. But apparently the dove was sufficiently convincing. Jehovah was not unlike the Greek gods in his habit of turning himself into an animal once in a while, although he seemed to have preferred manifesting himself as a dove. The whiteness of the dove has always suggested purity and its docility, benevolence, but it would certainly not convey the power one associates with a god. A hawk or an eagle would seem a better choice, but, in the present instance, one cannot quarrel with the suitability of a dove.
8. It is established that Mary is from Galilee and that Joseph is a Judean from Bethlehem. It is important for the story to have Jesus born in Bethlehem in order to conform to Old Testament prophecy assumed to refer to the Messiah.
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