Chapter
3.
At the same time there appeared a young man on the
mountains to Joachim while he was feeding his flocks, and said to
him: Why dost thou not return to thy wife? And Joachim
said: I have had her for twenty years, and it has not been the
will of God to give me children by her. I have been driven with
shame and reproach from the temple of the Lord: why should I go
back to her, when I have been once cast off and utterly despised?
Here then will I remain with my sheep; and so long as in this life God
is willing to grant me light, I shall willingly, by the hands of my
servants, bestow their portions upon the poor, and the orphans, and
those that fear God. And when he had thus spoken, the young man
said to him: I am an angel of the Lord, and I have to-day
appeared to thy wife when she was weeping and praying, and have
consoled her; and know that she has conceived a daughter from thy seed,
and thou in thy ignorance of this hast left her. She will be in
the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit shall abide in her; and her
blessedness shall be greater than that of all the holy women, so that
no one can say that any before her has been like her, or that any after
her in this world will be so. Therefore go down from the
mountains, and return to thy wife, whom thou wilt find with
child. For God hath raised up seed in her, and for this thou wilt
give God thanks; and her seed shall be blessed, and she herself shall
be blessed, and shall be made the mother of eternal blessing.
Then Joachim adored the angel, and said to him: If I have found
favour in thy sight, sit for a little in my tent, and bless thy
servant.1621
And the
angel said to him: Do not say
servant, but fellow-
servant; for we
are the
servants of one Master.
1622
But
my
food is
invisible, and my drink cannot be seen by a
mortal.
Therefore thou oughtest not to ask me to enter thy tent; but if thou
wast about to give me anything,
1623
offer it
as a
burnt-offering to the
Lord. Then Joachim took a
lamb without
spot, and said to the
angel: I should not have
dared to offer a
burnt-offering to the
Lord, unless thy command had given me the
priest’s right of offering.
1624
| 1624 Faustus the
Manichæan said that Joachim was of the tribe of Levi (August.
xxiii. 4, Contra Faustum). As belonging to the tribe of
Judah, he had not the right of sacrifice. |
And
the
angel said to him: I should not have invited thee to offer
unless I had known the will of the
Lord. And when Joachim was
offering the
sacrifice to
God, the
angel and the odour of the
sacrifice
went together straight up to
heaven with the
smoke.
1625
Then Joachim, throwing himself on his face, lay in
prayer from the sixth hour of the day even until evening. And his
lads and hired servants who were with him saw him, and not knowing why
he was lying down, thought that he was dead; and they came to him, and
with difficulty raised him from the ground. And when he recounted
to them the vision of the angel, they were struck with great fear and
wonder, and advised him to accomplish the vision of the angel without
delay, and to go back with all haste to his wife. And when
Joachim was turning over in his mind whether he should go back or not,
it happened that he was overpowered by a deep sleep; and, behold, the
angel who had already appeared to him when awake, appeared to him in
his sleep, saying: I am the angel appointed by God as thy
guardian: go down with confidence, and return to Anna, because
the deeds of mercy which thou and thy wife Anna have done have been
told in the presence of the Most High; and to you will God give such
fruit as no prophet or saint has ever had from the beginning, or ever
will have. And when Joachim awoke out of his sleep, he called all
his herdsmen to him, and told them his dream. And they worshipped
the Lord, and said to him: See that thou no further despise the
words of the angel. But rise and let us go hence, and return at a
quiet pace, feeding our flocks.
And when, after thirty days occupied in going
back, they were now near at hand, behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared to Anna, who was standing and praying, and said:1626
Go to the
gate which is called
Golden,
1627
and meet thy
husband in the way, for to-day he will come to thee. She
therefore went towards him in
haste with her maidens, and, praying to
the
Lord, she stood a long time in the
gate waiting for him. And
when she was wearied with long waiting, she lifted up her
eyes and saw
Joachim
afar off coming with his
flocks; and she
ran to him and hung on
his
neck, giving thanks to
God, and saying: I was a
widow, and
behold now I am not so: I was
barren, and behold I have now
conceived. And so they worshipped the
Lord, and went into their
own house. And when this was heard of, there was great joy among
all their neighbours and acquaintances, so that the whole land of
Israel congratulated them.
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