Gospels (Uncanonical)
Gospels (Uncanonical) [1]
The baby is not allowed to walk on the common earth till her parents take her, at the age of three, to Jerusalem, where she is welcomed by the priest and left in the temple, ‘like a dove nestling there.’ Her parents, in a transport of wonder at her, depart. They vanish from the story,*[Note: The Armenian version (3) kills them both off ‘in one year’ at this point.]which at once (8) hurries on to describe the action taken by the priests when this wonder-child reached the age of puberty (twelve or fourteen years-the Manuscriptsvary). An angel bids Zechariah, the high priest, summon the widowers (‘bachelors,’ in the Armenian version) of Israel: ‘let each bring his rod, and whoever has a sign shown him by the Lord, his shall the woman be.’ Joseph is then suddenly introduced (9:1, ‘And Joseph, throwing aside his axe’-It is assumed that the readers know he was a carpenter or joiner-went out to meet the heralds (or, the widowers). A dove emerges from his rod, and he is reluctantly assigned the charge of Mary. He protests, ‘I have sons, and I am an old man,†[Note: In his vehement attack on Helvidius, Jerome insists that Joseph as well as Mary was a virgin. The Protevangelium is content to show how he could not have been the real father of Jesus.]
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Bibliography Information Hastings, James. Entry for 'Gospels (Uncanonical)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/g/gospels-uncanonical.html. 1906-1918.
