Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/54

l come especially from Judg. xiii. and 1 Sam. i. The nourishment of Mary in the temple is rather based upon a known custom in Egypt; but not without a reference to the history of Samuel (i.-iii.). The congealing of the blood of Zacharias (chap. xxiv.) is a Jewish tradition.

The book abounds in mistakes and inconsistencies. The twelve tribes of Israel are spoken of as though still united. Reuben, the high priest, and his successors, Zacharias and Samuel, are fictitious; Joachim's fasting forty days and forty nights in the wilderness is a parody of the fasting of Christ; the oracular plate on the forehead of the high priest had long been unknown; the allotment of Mary to Joseph is a fiction, based on Num. xvii.; the account of the angelic annunciation to Mary is contradicted by her subsequent swearing that she knew not the cause of her pregnancy; Joseph and Mary both prevaricate before the priest; the water of jealousy was not administered to men; Joseph is looking for a midwife, and sees one approaching at the very time when he sees the catalepsy of all things; the Magi were warned not to go into Judea when they were already there; the escape of John the Baptist is a mere fable, a counterpart to which