Joachim’s Offering:
The first woodcut in the series illustrates the scene where the high priest, Reuben, rejects Joachim's offering of a sheep which, Joachim intended to offer in the temple. He is attempting to make the offering is because he and his wife Anna, after twenty years of childless marriage and having prayed to God for child, were still childless. They had decided that if they should have a child they would dedicate that child to the service of God. In this scene the sacrifice is rejected on the grounds that the couple were childless and, therefore, did not have the standing necessary to offer acceptable sacrifice. To Joachim this was a sign that a curse rested on the couple and that they must have been rejected by God.
The Woodcut:
The original woodcut was produced in 1504 and has been considered one of Dürer’s masterpieces It depicts a very ironic moment in which the wisdom of man is shortly to become shown to be false.
The Story according to James:
This story does not exist in any of the four canonical gospels and only appears in the apocryphal Gospel, The Gospel of James, also known as the Protoevangeliumof James thought to be written in AD145. The Protoevangeliumgives the following account: In Nazareth there lived a rich and pious couple, Joachimand Hannah. They were childless. When on a feast day Joachimpresented himself to offersacrificein the temple, he was repulsed by a certain Ruben, under the pretext that men without offspring were unworthy to be admitted.
The actual text of the story as James tells us:
I. In the histories of the twelve tribes of Israel it is written that there was one Ioacim,
exceeding rich: and he offered his gifts twofold, saying: That which is of my superfluity shall be for the whole people, and that which is for my forgiveness shall be for the Lord, for a propitiation unto me. 2. Now the great day of the Lord drew nigh and the children of Israel offered their gifts. And Reuben stood over against him saying: It is not lawful for thee to offer thy gifts first,- forasmuch as thou hast gotten no seed in Israel.
The Story in the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary:
This story is also recalled in another of the non-canonical Gospels, the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary. / At the end of chapter 1 we read: ‘…Thus, dear to God, kind to men, for about twenty years they lived in their own house, a chaste married life, without having any children. Nevertheless they vowed that, should the Lord happen to give them offspring, they would deliver it to the service of the Lord; on which account also they used to visit the templeof the Lord at each of the feastsduring the year.’
In Chapter 2 the story continues:
‘And it came to pass that the festival of the dedication was at hand; wherefore also Joachim went up to Jerusalem with some menof his own tribe. Now at that time Issachar was high priest there. And when he saw Joachim with his offering among his other fellow citizens, he despised him, and spurned his gifts, asking why he, who had no offspring, presumed to stand among those who had; saying that his gifts could not by any means be acceptable to God, since He had deemed him unworthy of off-spring: for the Scripture said, Cursed is every one who has not begot a male or a femalein Israel. He said, therefore, that he ought first to be freed from this curse by the begetting of children; and then, and then only, that he should come into the presence of the Lord with his offerings.’
References:
- H Knackfuss Dürer (London, 1900)
- Douglas M. Parrott “Gospel of Mary". In Nag Hammadi Studies Vol XI (Leiden1979)
- Ronald F. Hock, The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas: With Introduction,Notes, and Original Text Featuring the New Scholars VersionTranslation (Polebridge Press, 1996)
Anthony Hart - I am a retired Management Consultant, Management Trainer and University lecturer. Born in the UK, I now live in Malta. As a member of ...
