Chapter 7.
But the virgin of the Lord advanced in age and in
virtues; and though, in the words of the Psalmist, her father and
mother had forsaken her, the Lord took her up.1697
For
daily was she visited by
angels,
daily did she
enjoy a
divine vision, which
preserved her from
all
evil, and made her to abound in all good. And so she reached
her fourteenth year; and not only were the
wicked unable to charge her
with anything worthy of
reproach, but all the good, who knew her
life
and conversation, judged her to be worthy of admiration. Then the
high
priest publicly
announced that the
virgins who were publicly
settled in the
temple, and had reached this time of
life, should return
home and get
married, according to the
custom of the
nation and the
ripeness of their years. The others readily obeyed this command;
but
Mary alone, the
virgin of the
Lord, answered that she could not do
this, saying both that her
parents had
devoted her to the service of
the
Lord, and that,
moreover, she herself had made to the
Lord a
vow of
virginity, which
she would never violate by any intercourse with man. And the high
priest, being placed in great perplexity of
mind, seeing that neither
did he think that the
vow should be broken contrary to the Scripture,
which says,
Vow and pay,
1698
nor did he
dare to introduce a
custom unknown to the
nation, gave order that at
the festival, which was at
hand, all the
chief persons from
Jerusalem
and the neighbourhood should be present, in order that from their
advice he might know what was to be done in so doubtful a case.
And when this took place, they
resolved unanimously that the
Lord
should be
consulted upon this matter. And when they all bowed
themselves in prayer, the high
priest went to
consult God in the usual
way. Nor had they long to wait: in the hearing of all a
voice issued from the
oracle and from the
mercy-seat, that, according
to the
prophecy of Isaiah, a man should be sought out to whom the
virgin ought to be entrusted and
espoused. For it is clear that
Isaiah says: A
rod shall come forth from the root of
Jesse, and a
flower shall ascend from his root; and the Spirit of the
Lord shall
rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and
strength, the spirit of
wisdom and
piety; and he shall be
filled with the spirit of the
fear of the
Lord.
1699
According to this
prophecy,
therefore, he predicted that all of the
house and
family of
David that
were
unmarried and fit for
marriage should bring there
rods to the
altar; and that he whose
rod after it was brought should produce a
flower, and upon the end of whose
rod the Spirit of the Lord should
settle in the form of a dove, was the man to whom the virgin ought to
be entrusted and espoused.
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