CHAPTER 2


1. An angel appears to Joachim 9. and informs him that Anna shall conceive and bring forth a daughter, who shall be called Mary, 11. be brought up in the temple, 12. and while yet a virgin, in a way unparalleled, bring forth the Son of God: 13. gives him a sign, 14. and departs.

1. But when he had been there for some time, on a certain day when he was alone, the angel of the Lord stood by him in a prodigious light.

2. To whom, being troubled at the appearance, the angel who had appeared to him endeavored to compose him by saying:

3. Be not afraid, Joachim, nor troubled at the sight of me, for I am an angel of the Lord sent by him to you, that I might inform you that your prayers are heard and your alms have ascended to the sight of God.

The existence and nature of angels, their appearances, missions, and works will be discussed at appropriate places in this study, but this single verse summarizes numerous others throughout canonical and non-canonical Jewish and Christian documents. The person seeing the angel is usually frightened initially before being reassured.

The experience of Josachim has an exact parallel to Cornelius the centurion in Acts 10:3,4: "he saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming into him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." (Revelation 8:3 depicts an angel in heaven holding a golden censor with incense "that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.")

4. For he hath surely seen your shame and heard you unjustly reproached for not having children: for God is the avenger of sin and not of nature;
"God is the avenger of sin and not of nature: primarily applies here to miraculous births recorded in Scripture, but secondarily removes shame from those with natural afflictions.

5. And so when he shuts the womb of any person, he does it for this reason, that he may in a more wonderful manner again open it, and that which is born appear to be not the product of lust, but the gift of God.

6. For the first mother of your nation Sarah, was she not barren even till her eightieth year? Yet even in the end of her old age she brought forth Isaac, in whom the promise was made a blessing to all nations.
Sarah's story is found in Genesis 16:2ff., and Genesis 18:10.

7. Rachael also, so much in favor with God, and beloved so much by holy Jacob, continued barren for a long time, yet afterwards was the mother of Joseph, who was not only governor of Egypt, but delivered many nations from perishing with hunger.
Rachael's story is found in Genesis 30:1-23 and Genesis 41.

8. Who among the judges was more valiant than Samson, or more holy than Samuel? And yet both their mothers were barren.
Samson's birth is found in Judges 13:2, and Samuel's in 1 Samuel 6.

9. But if reason will not convince you of the truth of my words that there are frequent conceptions in advanced years, and that those who were barren have brought forth to their great surprise, therefore Anna your wife shall bring you a daughter, and you shall call her name Mary;
10. She shall, according to your vow, be devoted to the Lord from her infancy, and she will be filled with the Holy Spirit from her mother's womb.
Compare the statement to Joachim about Mary with that to Zachariah about his son John the Baptist: "For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb" (Luke 1:15).

11. She shall neither eat nor drink anything unclean, nor shall her conversation be outside among the common people, but in the temple of the Lord, so that she may not fall under any slander or suspicion of what is bad.

12. So in the process of her years, as she shall be in a miraculous manner born of one that was barren, so she shall, while yet a virgin, in a way unparalleled, bring forth the Son of the most High God, who shall be called Jesus, and according to the significance of his name, be the Savior of all nations.
Compare "who shall be called Jesus, and according to the significance of his name, be the Savior of all nations" with "thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).

13. And this shall be a sign to you of the things which I declare, namely, when you come to the golden gate of Jerusalem, you will there meet your wife Anna, who being very much troubled that you returned no sooner, will then rejoice to see you.

14. When the angel had said this, he departed from him.