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Joachim (Ioachim) a wealthy farmer of Nazareth, and his wife Hannah (Anna) lamented over the fact that they had no children. Joachim was told to his chagrin by Reuben, a Jewish father who could boast of a numerous family, that his childlessness disqualified him from presenting his offerings to God. Reuben looked Joachim in the face contemptuously and addressed him as a man 'who had not given any offspring to Israel.' With an aggrieved heart Joachim went to the Temple, remained there till late at night and prayed to the Lord to bless him with a child. In the meantime Hannah, his wife, was also reminded of her childlessness as she saw, through a window of her house, a sparrow's nest in a laurel bush. She had also been driven with jeers from the Lord's Temple; and she also lamented:
Woe is me! Who begot me and what womb produced me,
for I am reproached, and they have driven me with jeers from the Lord's Temple,
Woe is me! What am I like? I am not like the birds in Heaven,
for the birds of Heaven are fruitful before Thee, O Lord.
Woe is me! What am I like? I am not like this earth,
for even this earth bears its fruit in season and blesses Thee, O Lord.
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By these lamentations Hannah profaned the Lord's Day. Judith her maid turned to her and said:
Why should I wish you any evil for not listening to my words,
since the Lord Himself has closed thy womb, and not given
thee any offspring for Israel?
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Hannah dressed herself, out of respect for the Lord's Day, and, as her husband had not yet returned, she bewailed again:
Bewail must I my sorrows, And bewail must I my childlessness.
O God of Israel! bless me and harken unto my prayer, as Thou
didst bless the womb of Sarah and gave her a son, even Isaac.
At this time an angel appeared and assured her, just as he did to Joachim in the Temple, that the Lord would bless her with a child. Hannah answered with a promise:
As the Lord my God liveth, if I bring forth a child,
I will bring it for a gift unto Thee, my God.
Eventually, Mary was born to Hannah on the 15th of Hathor; and although according to the Jewish ideas she had to be sorrowful for the child was not a son, still she thankfully praised the Lord for His gift and sang a song:
I will sing a song unto the Lord my God, for He hath visited me,
and taken from me the reproach of my enemies;
The Lord hath given me fruit of righteousness, a single fruit,
but manifold in His sight.
Who will tell the sons of Reuben - that Hannah giveth suck.
Harken! Harken! Ye twelve tribes of Israel:
Hannah giveth suck.
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