multitude of angels came; and I commanded two of them to spread out a bright vestment, and wrap in it the body of the blessed old man Joseph.[1]
CHAPTER XXVI.
And addressing Joseph, I said. The odour or stink of death shall not prevail in thee, nor shall worm ever proceed from thy body. Not a single limb of it shall be broken, nor shall any hair in thy head be changed, nor shall any of thy body perish, O, my father Joseph; but it shall remain entire and uncorrupted, until the banquet of a thousand years.[2] And whatever mortal is mindful of the oblation on the day of thy memorial, him will I bless and reward in the congregation of virgins. And whoever giveth food to the wretched, and poor, and widows, and orphans, of the work of his hands on the day when thy memory is celebrated, and in thy name, he shall not be without good all the days of his life. Whoever, also, shall offer to drink a cup of water or of wine to the widow or orphan in thy name, I will give him to thee, that thou mayest go in with him to the banquet of a thousand years. And every man that shall
- ↑ See the preceding note, p. 118.
- ↑ This millenarian idea does not of necessity imply a very early date for the book, but may be due to certain texts in the Apocalypse, as Rev. xx. 4, or to Jewish notions. What follows about the annual commemoration of Joseph, can certainly lay no claim to high antiquity.
