INFANCY GOSPEL OF JAMES CHAPTER 7 - 13

JAMES 7

1 And to the child her months were added:
And the child was two years engladded.
And Joachim said “Let’s bring her up
To the Lord’s temple where to sup
That we may pay the vow of which
We vowed, lest the Lord send us stitch,
And our gift be a vain oblation.
And Anna said “Let’s wait a ration
Until the third year, that the child
May not long after father styled
Or mother.” And Joachim said
“Let’s wait.” 2 And the child as was led
Turned three years old, and Joachim said
“Call for the Hebrew daughters that
Are undefiled in what they’re at,
And let them take each one a lamp,
And let them be burning for damp,
That the child turn not backward and
Her heart be taken captive and
Away from the Lord’s temple house.
And they did so, the man and spouse,
Until they went to the Lord’s house.
And the priest received her and kissed
Her and blessed her and said to list,
“The Lord has magnified your name
Among all generations’ fame:
In you in the latter days shall
The Lord make appear general
His redemption unto the folk
Of Israel down to the last bloke.
And he made her to sit upon
The third step of the altar drawn.
And the Lord put grace on her too
And she danced on her feet to do,
And all Israel’s house loved her too.

Attributing the vestal virgin state
To Jewish temple seems unlawful rate.
The mix of Hellenistic thought that’s found
In this gospel upon the fertile ground
Of Hebrew is amazing, I am bound.
And yet as long ago as Maccabee
The hopeless mix has never been set free.
Beloved, my heart too is a morass of
The many nations that fit in my glove.
But sanctify me, too, as You did then
When Joachim and Anna came again
To bring their own like Samuel to the den
Of holiness in hope, in pride and joy.
A girl is just as holy as a boy.

JAMES 8

1 And marvelling her parents went
Down praising the Lord God who sent
The child to follow the right way.
Mary was in the temple’s sway
Of the Lord as a dove that’s fed:
And she had nourishment and bread
From the hand of an angel led.

No doubt it’s true an angel fed the mite.
There is no trusting in established wight
Of any faith or temple to give care
And nourishment to helpless ones found there.
The first role of a public thing should be
Assuring bread and water to the wee.
But church and government today I find
Spend more on gross aggression than the kind.
Beloved, feed me too where I sit and wait
Beneath the walls of synagogue and state,
A forest bird, a beast of field, to win
A grain and drop to nourish me from sin.
And I shall praise sweet Mary’s while a way
And hope to see her visions on a day.

2 And when she was twelve years old, there
Was a council of priests to share,
Saying “Behold Mary’s become
Twelve years old in Lord’s temple hum.
What then shall we do with her now?
Lest she pollute the holy how
Of YHWH.” And they told the high priest,
You stand over YHWH’s altar feast.
Go in and pray concerning her:
And what the Lord shall show and stir,
Let us do so. 3 And the high priest
Took the vestment twelve bells increased
And then he went into Holy
Of Holies and prayed about her.
Behold the Lord’s angel to stir
Saying to him: O Zacharias,
Go out and summon the pariahs
Who are the widowers of all
The folk, and let them each in thrall
Bring a rod and the one to whom
The Lord shows a sign not in doom
He shall take her for wife in room.
And the heralds went out to all
The country of Judea tall,
And sounded the Lord’s trumpet call,
And everyone came back to stall.

Unless it was the Day of Atonement
The priest could not go in that place unsent.
Either the text is wrong in what it meant
Or means the great day came in to prevent.
No worry touched the priesthood, as I said,
For Mary in her drink and in her bread,
But soon as she threatened her monthly rate,
The priesthood took note of uncleanly state.
Solution to the problem she might soil
The holy precincts by her bloody foil
Was simply to marry her off as soon
As Aaron’s rod might bud and bloom aboon.
What would the folk do if no trickery
Showed miracle among Jewish gentry?

JAMES 9

1 And Joseph threw down adze and ran
To meet them, and when they in span
Were gathered, they went to high priest
And took their rods with them at least.
And he took the rods of them all
And went into the temple stall
And prayed. And when he’d finished prayer
He took the rods and gave their share.
And there was no sign anywhere.
But Joseph received the last rod,
And see, a dove came from the pod
And flew around Joseph’s fair head.
And to Joseph the high priest said
“The lot has fallen on your spread
To take the virgin of the Lord
And keep her for yourself adored.”
2 And Joseph refused, as he said
“I have sons, and I’m old and led,
But she is just a girl: lest I
Became a laughing-stock in sty
To the children of Israel by.”
And the priest said to Joseph, “Hear
The Lord your God, and keep in ear
What God did to Dathan and yet
To Abiram and Korah set,
How the earth opened up and took
Them because of what they would brook.
And so have care, Joseph, lest it
Be so in the house where you sit.”
And Joseph was afraid, and took
Her to keep for himself in nook.
And Joseph said to Mary, “See,
I have received you from the fee
Of YHWH’s temple, and now I leave
You in my house and for reprieve
Go to my building, and I’ll come
Again to you, God keep your sum.”

Instead of almond flowers and fruit the rod
Of Joseph blossomed dove above the sod.
The dove that flew about Joseph’s bald head
May have been the same that was later led
To light upon the Saviour at the stream
Of Jordan in baptisms of his dream.
But here we find how Mary could remain
A virgin and Jesus still have for pain
Some brothers. They were Joseph’s from the time
Before even Mary was born to climb.
Apocrypha’s tie up the many ends
Of loose strings in the canons of our friends.
Beloved, though I’m a doubter in my way,
I do not doubt You and Your love astray.

JAMES 10

1 Now there was a meeting of priests,
And they said “Let’s make before feasts
A veil for temple of the Lord.”
And the high priest said “Call me pure
Virgins of David’s tribe and sure.”
The officers went out and sought
And found seven virgins as thought.
And the priests called to mind the child
Mary, that she was undefiled
Before God and of the tribe styled.
And the chiefs went and fetched her too.
And they brought them into the view
Of the temple of the Lord YHWH,
And the high priest said “Cast me lots,
Which of you shall weave gold in slots
And the pure white and linen fine
And the silk and hyacinthine,
And the scarlet and purple true.”
And the lot of the purple due
And the scarlet then fell unto
Mary, and she took them and went
Back to her house as she was sent.
And at that season Zacharias
Became dumb, and Samuel was pious
In his place till when Zacharias
Spoke again. But Mary took thread
Of scarlet and spun it instead.

Today the great and well-read wish the fray
Gave them the podium and right to say.
Give me the right or weakness and the bill
Of feminine to fit the lowly hill.
Instead of pulpit and the higher church,
To show abroad, the countried pine and birch.
Instead of light and sound, the woven shroud,
The veil to cover Your sight from the crowd.
Give me like Mary what to do at home,
Ignoring creeds and liturgies of Rome.
Like Mary I shall humbly take my task
And never think to question or to ask
Why I am chosen by the treasured lot
To be a silent drone in divine spot.

JAMES 11

1 And she took the pitcher and went
Out to fill it with water lent:
And hear a voice said “Hail, you are
Greatly favoured, the Lord in star
Is with you, blessèd are you here
Among all women with their gear.”
And she looked all around her on
The right and left to see what’s drawn
Of this voice, and with trembling filled
She went back to her house and spilled
Naught from her pitcher, and took out
The purple and sat down no doubt
To pull the thread both in and out.
2 And see an angel of the Lord
Stood by her saying “Fear no sword,
Mary, for you have found grace in
The sight of the Lord without sin,
And you shall conceive His word.” And
She heard it and would understand,
Saying “Shall I truly conceive
From the living God in reprieve,
And bear a child as women do?”
And then said the angel of YHWH
“Not so, Mary, for a power due
Of the Lord shall descend on you,
Which is why that holy one born
Of you shall be called not forlorn
But Son of the Highest in view.
And you shall call his name Jesus:
For he shall save in omnibus
His people from their sins. And Mary
Said “Behold the handmaid and chary
Of the Lord is before Him: be
It to me by your word’s decree.”

No doubt the Christian failure to take this
Fair Gospel word as one divine in bliss
Is simply that the child of Mary born
Is Your word spoken without heathen scorn,
The power of Your creative speech abroad
Upon the blooming earth and budding sod.
No doubt the Christian who would only dress
In the four Gospels’ canon and confess
The pagan trinities of low and less
Sees these words as of no account. But I,
Beloved, enter ecstasies to the sky
To hear the golden Gospel words go by.
Beloved, I too stand here beneath my tree
Submitted to Your word’s divine decree.

JAMES 12

1 She made the purple and the scarlet
And brought them to the priest like starlet.
The high priest blessed her and he said
“Mary, YHWH Ælohim of dread
Has magnified your name, and you
Shall be blessed among all the crew
Of earth.” 2 And Mary rejoiced and
Went up to Elizabeth’s strand
Her relative, and so she called
At the door. 3 And Elizabeth
When she had heard it out of breath
Threw down her sewing where it lolled
And ran to open up the door,
4 And when she saw Mary in store
She blessed her and said “How is this
The mother of my Lord in bliss
Should honour me with coming kiss?
5 See, he who is in me leaped up
And blessed you like a jumping tup.
6 Mary forgot the mysteries
That Gabriel the archangel’s pleas
Revealed to her, 7 and she looked up
To heaven and said “Who am I, Lord,
To be of all the earth adored?”
8 And she stayed with Elisabeth
For three months and with each day’s breath
Her womb increased, and Mary feared
And went to her own house areared
And hid herself from Israel’s folk.
She was sixteen years old at stroke
Of all these mysteries under cloak.

The awe and holy fear that marked the meeting
Of Mary and Elizabeth in greeting
Does little here to camouflage the rate
Of simple joy and expectation’s state
That comes to every pair of girlish mate
Comparing notes at such a time of life.
The way is known to every budding wife.
Beloved, the words of angel’s soon forgot
In light of ordinary days and plot
Resound again when mind is brought up sharp
Before the vision of the cloud and harp.
The three months that I wait between the fast
And the Ashura coming in at last
Are also fraught with awe and common blast.

JAMES 13

I Now it was the sixth month with her,
And see Joseph came from his burr
Of building, and came in his house
And found her great with child like spouse.
He struck his face, and threw him down
Upon the ground on sackcloth brown
And bitterly he wept and said
“How shall I meet Lord God instead?
What prayer in excuse for the head
Of this maid? For I had her out
Of YHWH my Ælohim’s house stout
A virgin and have not saved her.
What man has made this thing occur?
Who did this evil in my house
Defiling a virgin like spouse?
Is not Adam’s fate come on me?
For while he gave thanks on the lee,
The serpent came and found Eve lone
And deceived her from off her throne.
So it’s happened to me to groan.”

Let me break in to point out how tradition
Has carelessly read Genesis’ position.
All think that Eve had wandered from the side
Of Adam to where evil serpent cried.
The truth is that she gave the fruit to him
Who was with her through all her spick and vim.
The primitive society that set
The matriarch above the male to get
A clearer and more handsome way of life
Taught serpent too how to address the wife.
Joseph fails to appreciate the rate
Of truth revealed in old matriarchate
Perhaps because he lives in the icon
Of Virgin Mary without a veil drawn.

2 And Joseph got up from sackcloth
And called Mary as he were wroth
And said to her “O you who were
Cared for by God, now by what stir
Have you done this? You did forget
The Lord your God. Why have you set
Yourself in such debasement when
You were fed by angels, not men
Within the sanctuary then?”
3 But she wept bitterly and said
“I am pure and by no man led.”
And Joseph said to her, “Then how
Did you get pregnant like a cow?”
And she said “As YHWH my God lives,
I really do not know what gives.”

The answer of the Virgin Mary stated
Is just exactly what a man awaited
From any girl that got herself in sway
Of trouble round about the family way.
Her answer is that she has no idea
How such a thing could happen or appear.
Beloved, see how the word of angel spoken
Has so soon left the mind without a token.
The waking hours of weaving and preparing
The harvest soup distract from bold and daring
Visions of angel wings and voices kept
Within the laura where she laughed and wept.
I too lose all virginity to find
The tasks about the house mount up and mind.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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