2. Mary ministered to by angels. 4. The high-priest orders all virgins of fourteen yers old to leave the temple and endeavor to be married. 5. Mary refuses, 6. having vowed her virginit to the Lord. 7. Thehigh-priest commands a meeting of the chief persons of Jerusalem, 11. who sought the counsel of the Lord in the matter. 13. A voice from the mercy-seat. 15. The high-priest obeys it by ordering all the unmarried men of the house of David to bring their rods to the altar, 17. that his rod which should flower, and on which the Spirit of God should sit, should betroth the virgin.
1. But the Virgin of the Lord, as she advanced in years, increased also in perfections, and according to the saying of the Psalmist, her father and mother forsook her, but the Lord took care of her.
"When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up" (Psalm 27:10); the Septuagint reads: "For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord has taken me to himself."
2. For she every day had the conversation of angels, and every day received visitors from God, which preserved her from all sorts of evil and caused her to abound with all good things;
The word "conversation" in the Bible sometimes means "manner of life," but here is meant in the ordinary sense.
3. So that when at length she arrived to her fourteenth year, as the wicked could not lay anything to her charge worthy of reproof, so all good persons acquainted with her admired her life and conversation.
4. At that time the high-priest made a public order that all the virgins who had public settlements in the temple and were come to this age should return home, and as they were now of a proper maturity, should endeavor to be married according to the custom of their country,
5. Though all the other virgins readily yielded obedience to the command, Mary the Virgin of the Lord alone answered that she cold not comply with it.
6. Assigning these reasons, that both she and her parents had devoted her to the service of the Lord; and besides, that she had vowed virginity to the Lord, which vow she was resolved never to break by lying with a man.
7. The high priest hereby being brought into a difficulty,
8. Seeing he dared neither on the one hand dissolve the vow and disobey the Scripture, which says, Vow and pay.
The reference is to Psalm 76:11 and Ecclesiastes 5:4-6. The latter reads: Better it is that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay."
9. Nor on the other hand introduce a custom to which the people were strangers, commanded,
10. That at the approaching feast all the principal persons both of Jerusalem and the neighboring places should meet together that he might have their advice, how he had best proceed in so difficult a case.
11. When they were accordingly met, they unanimously agreed to seek the lord and ask counsel from him on this matter.
12. And when they were all engaged in prayer, the high-priest, according to the usual way, went to consult God.
"According to the usual way" refers to a bizarre Old Testament practice instituted by Moses. The Urim and Thummim were two objects in the high priest's breastplate that gave an oracular response. (In Hebrew, Urim means lights and Thummim means perfection.) "And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord: And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of
13. And immediately there was a voice from the ark and the mercy-seat, which all present heard, that it must be inquired or sought out by a prophecy of Isaiah to whom the Virgin should be given and be betrothed;
The "ark and the mercy-seat" were two items of furniture in the inner sanctum of the temple, the Holy of Holies, and are described in Exodus 25:10-22.
14. For Isaiah says, there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a flower shall spring out of its root,
15. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and Piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him.
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:1,2). The Septuagint reads "a blossom shall come up from his root."
16. Then, according to this prophecy, he appointed that all the men of the house and family of David who were marriageable and not married, should each bring their rods to the altar,
17. And out of whatsoever person's rod after it was brought, a flower should bud forth and on the top of it the Spirit of the Lord should sit in the appearance of a dove, he should be the man to whom the Virgin should be given and be betrothed.
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