The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 59 -
A Prophecy Of Joseph Is Fulfilled
JOSPEH NOW asked Maronius, 'Since I have discerned by the great grace of my Lord and God that no ill will remain in you,
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I would like to hear what you think of Herod, since you must have noticed how his heart is disposed toward the children that he murdered because of the new King of the Jews.
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Was it not softened by the most innocent blood of the children, by the anguished wailing of the mothers?
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What would he do if he should find out by a new report that among the many murdered children he nevertheless did not murder the right One?
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What if he should find out that the right Child were still alive quite safe and sound somewhere in Judea or Palestine?'
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At this Maronius looked at Joseph in a greatly puzzled manner and replied after a while,
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'Truly wise man, all I can tell you there is this -
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If you were to make the worst possible use of your wisdom and would demand of Herod ten thousand pounds of gold in return for which you would for certain betray the right Child to him,
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truly, you would receive this enormous sum in advance!
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For gold is nothing to that blood-thirsty villain compared to his lust for power.
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Since he has so much gold that he could build houses from pure gold, he hardly looks at it, and if he could secure the throne for himself, he would slay a world full of people for it and throw all his gold into the sea.
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See, at first he also wanted to bribe me heavily with gold, diamonds, rubies and the largest pearls,
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but my genuinely Roman patrician code of ethics strictly rebuked the old bloodhound in this.
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That inflamed his anger all the more, and he threatened to expose me to Rome on the basis of his seeming patriotism.
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Only then was I forced to do what he wanted and no way out was possible for me, for he gave me a document by his own hand which stated that he took the responsibility for the whole matter with Rome upon himself.
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Therefore I was forced to act as is surely known to you.
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That accordingly nothing good is to be expected from his heart to this hour you can be fully assured of!
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I believe that I hardly need to tell you who are such a very wise man any more about this veritable king of all furies, about this living Medusa-head!'
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And Joseph said, 'May the eternal One, true God bless you for these faithful words!
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Believe me, you will become convinced of it: this scourge of mankind will have a crown, for which he is so bloodthirsty, set upon his head while still in the flesh by the eternally just God that will cause all the world to wonder!'
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Here the Baby raised up Its hand and again said very plainly: 'Herod, Herod, I have no curse for you - but you shall carry a crown in this world which will become a great torment to you and will pain you more than the gold which you had to pay to Rome!'
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At the time the Baby spoke this in Egypt, Herod was covered with lice, and his household servants had their hands full throughout the remainder of Herod's life to cleanse him from lice, which constantly increased in numbers and finally caused his death.