Chapter 2.
And it came to pass that the festival of the
dedication1691
| 1691 1 Macc. iv. 52–59; 2 Macc. x.
1–8; John x. 22;
Josephus, Antiq. xii. 7. |
was at
hand;
wherefore also Joachim went up to
Jerusalem with some men of his own
tribe. Now at that time
Issachar1692
| 1692 The spelling in the
text is that in the Hebrew, the Samaritan Codex, the Targums, and the
Textus Receptus. There is no Issachar in the list of high
priests. |
was high
priest there. And when he saw Joachim with his offering
among his other fellow-
citizens, he
despised him, and spurned his
gifts, asking why he, who had no
offspring, presumed to stand among
those who had; saying that his
gifts could not by any means be
acceptable to
God, since He had deemed him unworthy of
off-spring: for the Scripture said,
Cursed is every one who has
not begot a male or a
female in
Israel.
1693
| 1693 This statement
does not occur in Scripture in so many words; but sterility was looked
upon as a punishment from God. |
He said, therefore, that he ought
first to be freed from this
curse by the begetting of
children; and
then, and then only, that he should come into the presence of the
Lord
with his offerings. And Joachim, covered with
shame from this
reproach that was thrown in his teeth, retired to the
shepherds, who
were in their
pastures with their
flocks; nor would he return
home,
lest perchance he might be branded with the same reproach by those of
his own tribe, who were there at the time, and had heard this from the
priest.
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