The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 163 -
The Arrival Of The Children From Tyre
THUS EVERYTHING in Joseph's house was back in its good old order again.
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Joseph and his sons made all sorts of little wooden utensils and sold these to the inhabitants of the city at very reasonable prices.
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This of course they did after first attending to their usual household duties.
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Mary and Eudokia looked after matters of the household, made garments and sometimes also embroidered for wealthy families in the city.
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For Mary was greatly skilled in all manner of artistic spinning and knitted whole garments;
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and Eudokia was a good seamstress and knew how to handle a needle deftly.
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Thus the family constantly earned for itself what was needed and also had enough to assist the poor in time of need.
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It was three months before the eight children arrived from Tyre, led by trusted friends of Cyrenius,
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who brought along an enormous allowance consisting of eight hundred pounds of gold.
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Hereupon Joseph stated, 'The children I will indeed take, but the money I will not take, for on it lies the Lord's curse!
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So just take it back again and give it to Cyrenius who will surely know why I can and may not accept it.
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Deliver my blessing and my greeting to him,
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and tell him that I accompanied him in the spirit on his journey homeward and was a witness of all that happened to him,
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and have blessed him at all times where any danger threatened him.
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He shall not be concerned over the loss of the three animals on the island of Crete, for thus has the Lord, whom he knows, willed it!'
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Joseph then blessed the friends of Cyrenius and took over the eight children with great joy, who immediately felt very much at home in Joseph's house.
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Thereupon the friends of Cyrenius again took the gold and quickly went back to Tyre.
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Joseph praised God for the addition of these children to his care, blessed them and turned them over to Mary's guidance. For Mary was an extremely well versed school mistress, since she had been instructed in all manner of things in the temple.
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And the children learned to read and write in Greek, Hebrew and also Latin.
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For almost everyone had to be able to speak these three languages in that era and also write them on occasion, since the Roman language in that day was what the Gallic is today, and had to be included as part of a better education.