論文122		Paper 122
イエス誕生と幼少期		Birth and Infancy of Jesus
122:0.1 (1344.1) マイケルの贈与のための地としてパレスチナを選択に導いた多くの理由、特にこの神の息子のユランチア出現のための直接の場として、ヨセフとマリヤの家族が選ばれた正確な理由を完全に説明することは、およそ不可能であろう。		122:0.1 (1344.1) IT WILL hardly be possible fully to explain the many reasons which led to the selection of Palestine as the land for Michael’s bestowal, and especially as to just why the family of Joseph and Mary should have been chosen as the immediate setting for the appearance of this Son of God on Urantia.
122:0.2 (1344.2) ガブリエルとの協議において、メルキズィデクにより用意された隔離された世界の状態についての特別報告の研究の後、マイケルは、かれの最終贈与を実施する惑星としてようやくユランチアを選んだ。この決定の後にガブリエルは、ユランチアを私的に訪れ、人間の集団についての研究とその世界とその民族の精神的、知性的、人種的、地理的特徴の調査の結果、ヘブライ人が贈与民族として選択を正当化したそれらの相対的な利点を備えていると決定した。この決定へのマイケルの同意を受けて、ガブリエルは、ユダヤの家庭生活調査の任務を依託される宇宙の人格の高序列の中から選ばれた12名の家庭委員を任命し、ユランチアへ急派した。この委員会がその役務を終えた時、ガブリエルは、ユラアンチアにおり、マイケルの予定されている具現のための贈与家族として、３組の可能な夫婦、委員会の意見で、等しく好ましいとの推薦報告をうけた。		122:0.2 (1344.2) After a study of the special report on the status of segregated worlds prepared by the Melchizedeks, in counsel with Gabriel, Michael finally chose Urantia as the planet whereon to enact his final bestowal. Subsequent to this decision Gabriel made a personal visit to Urantia, and, as a result of his study of human groups and his survey of the spiritual, intellectual, racial, and geographic features of the world and its peoples, he decided that the Hebrews possessed those relative advantages which warranted their selection as the bestowal race. Upon Michael’s approval of this decision, Gabriel appointed and dispatched to Urantia the Family Commission of Twelve—selected from among the higher orders of universe personalities—which was intrusted with the task of making an investigation of Jewish family life. When this commission ended its labors, Gabriel was present on Urantia and received the report nominating three prospective unions as being, in the opinion of the commission, equally favorable as bestowal families for Michael’s projected incarnation.
122:0.3 (1344.3) ガブリエルは、候補にあげられた３組の夫婦からヨセフとマリヤを選んだ。続いてマリヤの前に自ら現れ、贈与する子の地上の母に選ばれたという喜ばしい知らせをその際彼女に伝えた。		122:0.3 (1344.3) From the three couples nominated, Gabriel made the personal choice of Joseph and Mary, subsequently making his personal appearance to Mary, at which time he imparted to her the glad tidings that she had been selected to become the earth mother of the bestowal child.
1. ヨセフとマリヤ ^top		1. Joseph and Mary ^top
122:1.1 (1344.4) イエス(ヨセフの息子ヨシュア)の人間の父ヨセフは、その祖先の女系から時々家系図に加えられた多くの非ユダヤの民族的な血筋をもたらしたが、純粋なヘブライ人であった。イエスの父方の祖先は、アブラハムの時代へ、そしてこの敬うべき家長からシュメール人やノド人へ繋がる継承の初期の家系ノウダイツ族へ、また古代青色人種の南の種族からアンドンとフォンタへと遡った。ダヴィデとソロモンは、ヨセフの家系の直系でもなく、アダムまで直接遡るヨセフの家系でもない。ヨセフの直接の祖先は建築業者、大工、石工、鍛冶屋などの職人であった。ヨセフ自身は、大工で後には請負人であった。その家族は、庶民の高潔で長く続いた傑出した家系に属しており、ユランチアの宗教進化に関連して際だち、非凡な人物達の出現により時おり目立っていた。		122:1.1 (1344.4) Joseph, the human father of Jesus (Joshua ben Joseph), was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, albeit he carried many non-Jewish racial strains which had been added to his ancestral tree from time to time by the female lines of his progenitors. The ancestry of the father of Jesus went back to the days of Abraham and through this venerable patriarch to the earlier lines of inheritance leading to the Sumerians and Nodites and, through the southern tribes of the ancient blue man, to Andon and Fonta. David and Solomon were not in the direct line of Joseph’s ancestry, neither did Joseph’s lineage go directly back to Adam. Joseph’s immediate ancestors were mechanics—builders, carpenters, masons, and smiths. Joseph himself was a carpenter and later a contractor. His family belonged to a long and illustrious line of the nobility of the common people, accentuated ever and anon by the appearance of unusual individuals who had distinguished themselves in connection with the evolution of religion on Urantia.
122:1.2 (1345.1) イエスの人間の母マリヤは、ユランチアの人種的な歴史における最も注目に値する女性の多くを有する類希な祖先の長く続いた子孫であった 。マリヤは、かなり通常の気質をもつ当事の世代の平均的な女性ではあったが、 祖先の中には、アノン、タマラ、ルツ、バテシバ、アンシエ、クロア、エバ、 エンタ、ラッタのようなよく知られた女性がいた。共通の、あるいは１祖先のより幸運な血筋の始まりまで遡っても、当時のユダヤ人の女性の誰一人として、より歴々たる血筋を持っている者はいなかった。マリヤの家系は、ヨセフの家系と同様、強いが平均的な個人の優性により特徴づけられており、文明の行進と宗教の漸進的進化において数多くの傑人達が時おり際だっていた。人種的に考えて、マリヤをユダヤ人とみなすのはまず妥当ではない。文化と信仰面において、彼女は、ユダヤ人であったが、遺伝的付与においては、シリヤ、ヒッタイト、フェニキア、ギリシア、エジプトよりであり、人種的遺産は、ヨセフのそれよりさらに一般的であった。		122:1.2 (1345.1) Mary, the earth mother of Jesus, was a descendant of a long line of unique ancestors embracing many of the most remarkable women in the racial history of Urantia. Although Mary was an average woman of her day and generation, possessing a fairly normal temperament, she reckoned among her ancestors such well-known women as Annon, Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, Ansie, Cloa, Eve, Enta, and Ratta. No Jewish woman of that day had a more illustrious lineage of common progenitors or one extending back to more auspicious beginnings. Mary’s ancestry, like Joseph’s, was characterized by the predominance of strong but average individuals, relieved now and then by numerous outstanding personalities in the march of civilization and the progressive evolution of religion. Racially considered, it is hardly proper to regard Mary as a Jewess. In culture and belief she was a Jew, but in hereditary endowment she was more a composite of Syrian, Hittite, Phoenician, Greek, and Egyptian stocks, her racial inheritance being more general than that of Joseph.
122:1.3 (1345.2) マイケルの計画された贈与の時代、ヨセフとマリヤは、パレスチナに住む全ての夫婦の中で、広範にわたる人種的な関係と平均をはるかに越える人格付与の最も理想的な組み合わせを有していた。一般人が、彼を理解し受け入れることができる普通の人間として地上に現れるのがマイケルの計画であった。それ故に、ガブリエルは、ちょうどヨセフとマリヤのような人が贈与の両親となることを選んだ。		122:1.3 (1345.2) Of all couples living in Palestine at about the time of Michael’s projected bestowal, Joseph and Mary possessed the most ideal combination of widespread racial connections and superior average of personality endowments. It was the plan of Michael to appear on earth as an average man, that the common people might understand him and receive him; wherefore Gabriel selected just such persons as Joseph and Mary to become the bestowal parents.
2. ガブリエル、エリザベスに現われる ^top		2. Gabriel Appears to Elizabeth ^top
122:2.1 (1345.3) ユラチアでのイエスの一生の仕事は、事実上は洗礼者ヨハネによって始められた。ヨハネの父ザカリヤは、ユダヤ人の僧職にあり、一方母のエリザベスは、イエスの母マリヤも属する同じ大家族集団の最も盛んな分家の一員であった。ザカリヤとエリザベスは、長年連れ添っていたが子なしであった。		122:2.1 (1345.3) Jesus’ lifework on Urantia was really begun by John the Baptist. Zacharias, John’s father, belonged to the Jewish priesthood, while his mother, Elizabeth, was a member of the more prosperous branch of the same large family group to which Mary the mother of Jesus also belonged. Zacharias and Elizabeth, though they had been married many years, were childless.
122:2.2 (1345.4) 後にマリヤに知らせに立ったように、ある日の正午ガブリエルがエリザベスの前に現れたのは、ヨセフとマリヤの結婚からおよそ３ヶ月後の紀元前８年、６月下旬であった。ガブリエルは言った。		122:2.2 (1345.4) It was late in the month of June, 8 b.c., about three months after the marriage of Joseph and Mary, that Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth at noontide one day, just as he later made his presence known to Mary. Said Gabriel:
122:2.3 (1345.5) 「 そなたの夫ザカリヤが、エルサレムの祭壇の前に立ち、集った人々が救出者の到来を祈る傍ら、私ガブリエルは、程なくこの神性の師の先触れ人となるべく息子をそなたが産むことを知らせに来た、そなたは、その息子をヨハネと呼ぶように。その子は、そなたの神である主に生涯を献じて成長するであろうし、また機が熟した時には多くの魂を神へ向けさせるので、そなたの心を喜ばせるであろうし、そなたの民族の魂を癒す者、全人類の精霊解放者の到来をも布告するであろう。そなたの親類のマリヤは、この約束の子の母になるはずだし、私はその者にも現れる。」		122:2.3 (1345.5) “While your husband, Zacharias, stands before the altar in Jerusalem, and while the assembled people pray for the coming of a deliverer, I, Gabriel, have come to announce that you will shortly bear a son who shall be the forerunner of this divine teacher, and you shall call your son John. He will grow up dedicated to the Lord your God, and when he has come to full years, he will gladden your heart because he will turn many souls to God, and he will also proclaim the coming of the soul-healer of your people and the spirit-liberator of all mankind. Your kinswoman Mary shall be the mother of this child of promise, and I will also appear to her.”
122:2.4 (1345.6) エリザベスは、この光景に大いに恐れた。ガブリエルが去った後、この経験を心の中で熟考し、威厳のある訪問者の言葉について長らく考え込んだが、翌年の２月初旬に、マリヤを次に訪れるまで夫のほかには誰にも天啓について話さなかった。		122:2.4 (1345.6) This vision greatly frightened Elizabeth. After Gabriel’s departure she turned this experience over in her mind, long pondering the sayings of the majestic visitor, but did not speak of the revelation to anyone save her husband until her subsequent visit with Mary in early February of the following year.
122:2.5 (1345.7) しかしながら、エリザベスは、夫にさえも５ヶ月のあいだ秘密を漏らさなかった。ザカリヤは、ガブリエルの訪問について明かすことに対して非常に懐疑的で、何週間も経験全体を疑った。ただ子を待ち設けている妻をもはや見咎めることが出来なくなってから、あまり気乗りのしないままガブリエルの訪問を信じると納得した。ザカリヤは、エリザベスが将来の母であることに関して大変に惑わされたが、自身の高齢にもかかわらず妻の清廉さを疑わなかった。ザカリヤが、エリザベスが来たるべきメシアのための道を開くはずの宿命の息子の母となることを、印象的な夢の結果として、完全に納得するには、ヨハネ誕生の６週間前までかかったのであった。		122:2.5 (1345.7) For five months, however, Elizabeth withheld her secret even from her husband. Upon her disclosure of the story of Gabriel’s visit, Zacharias was very skeptical and for weeks doubted the entire experience, only consenting halfheartedly to believe in Gabriel’s visit to his wife when he could no longer question that she was expectant with child. Zacharias was very much perplexed regarding the prospective motherhood of Elizabeth, but he did not doubt the integrity of his wife, notwithstanding his own advanced age. It was not until about six weeks before John’s birth that Zacharias, as the result of an impressive dream, became fully convinced that Elizabeth was to become the mother of a son of destiny, one who was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.
122:2.6 (1346.1) ガブリエルは、紀元前８年11月中旬、ナザレの家で働いているマリヤに現れた。マリヤは、自分が母になるところだということを疑いなく知って後、エリザベスを訪ねるためエルサレムの6.4キロメートル西の丘にあるユダの町へ旅させるようにヨセフを説得した。ガブリエルは、妊婦の各々に自分の出現を知らせておいた。当然ながら二人は、会合を念じ、経験を照らし合わせ、また息子達のあり得べき未来について語った。マリヤは、この遠戚の元に３週間留まった。エリザベスは、ガブリエルの出現に関するマリヤの信念を多いに強め、その結果、マリヤは、この世界の平均的で普通の幼児、いたいけな幼子としてもうすぐ世に提示する運命の子の母の招請に応じて充分専念するために帰宅した。		122:2.6 (1346.1) Gabriel appeared to Mary about the middle of November, 8 b.c., while she was at work in her Nazareth home. Later on, after Mary knew without doubt that she was to become a mother, she persuaded Joseph to let her journey to the City of Judah, four miles west of Jerusalem, in the hills, to visit Elizabeth. Gabriel had informed each of these mothers-to-be of his appearance to the other. Naturally they were anxious to get together, compare experiences, and talk over the probable futures of their sons. Mary remained with her distant cousin for three weeks. Elizabeth did much to strengthen Mary’s faith in the vision of Gabriel, so that she returned home more fully dedicated to the call to mother the child of destiny whom she was so soon to present to the world as a helpless babe, an average and normal infant of the realm.
122:2.7 (1346.2) ヨハネは、紀元前７年３月25日、ユダの町で生まれた。ザカリヤとエリザベスは、ガブリエルの予言通りに息子が誕生したことを大いに喜び、８日目にその子を割礼に出した際、事前に指示されていた通り正式にヨハネと命名した。ザカリヤの甥は、ヨハネと名付けられるはずの息子が生まれたとエリザベスからマリヤへの伝言をたずさえてすでにナザレへ出発していた。		122:2.7 (1346.2) John was born in the City of Judah, March 25, 7 b.c. Zacharias and Elizabeth rejoiced greatly in the realization that a son had come to them as Gabriel had promised, and when on the eighth day they presented the child for circumcision, they formally christened him John, as they had been directed aforetime. Already had a nephew of Zacharias departed for Nazareth, carrying the message of Elizabeth to Mary proclaiming that a son had been born to her and that his name was to be John.
122:2.8 (1346.3) ヨハネは、最も初期の幼少から、精神的な指導者であり宗教の師となるように成長するという考えを両親から巧みに刻みつけられていた。ヨハネの心の土壌は、そのような暗示的な種を撒くことにずっと応えたのであった。子供の時でさえ父の礼拝期間中、かれは、寺院でしばしば見掛けられたし、自分が目にしたもの全ての重大さにとてつもなく感動した。		122:2.8 (1346.3) From his earliest infancy John was judiciously impressed by his parents with the idea that he was to grow up to become a spiritual leader and religious teacher. And the soil of John’s heart was ever responsive to the sowing of such suggestive seeds. Even as a child he was found frequently at the temple during the seasons of his father’s service, and he was tremendously impressed with the significance of all that he saw.
3. マリヤへのガブリエルの告知 ^top		3. Gabriel’s Announcement to Mary ^top
122:3.1 (1346.4) ある日没時、ヨセフの帰宅前、ガブリエルは、低い石台の側のマリヤに現れ、彼女が落ち着きを取り戻すと、「私のあるじであり、そなたが愛し育てるはずの方の使いで私はきた。マリヤよ、天において定められてそなたが受胎すると、そしてそのうち時がきて息子の母になるであろうとそなたに嬉しい知らせを持ってきた。その子をヨシュアと呼びなさい。その子は、地上と人々の間に天の王国を開始するはずである。そなたの親類のエリザベスとヨセフの外には、この一件について語るでない。私はエリザベスにもすでに姿を見せて、彼女もまた、ヨハネと名付けられ、そなたの息子が、偉大な力と深い信念で人々に宣するはずの救済の知らせのための道を構える息子を間もなく産むであろう。マリヤよ、私の言葉を疑うでない。このために運命の子が命を持つ者の住いとしてこの家が選ばれた。私の祝福をそなたに申し渡す。いと高きものの力がそなたを強くするであろう。 そして全ての地上の主がお前を見守るであろう。」と言った。		122:3.1 (1346.4) One evening about sundown, before Joseph had returned home, Gabriel appeared to Mary by the side of a low stone table and, after she had recovered her composure, said: “I come at the bidding of one who is my Master and whom you shall love and nurture. To you, Mary, I bring glad tidings when I announce that the conception within you is ordained by heaven, and that in due time you will become the mother of a son; you shall call him Joshua, and he shall inaugurate the kingdom of heaven on earth and among men. Speak not of this matter save to Joseph and to Elizabeth, your kinswoman, to whom I have also appeared, and who shall presently also bear a son, whose name shall be John, and who will prepare the way for the message of deliverance which your son shall proclaim to men with great power and deep conviction. And doubt not my word, Mary, for this home has been chosen as the mortal habitat of the child of destiny. My benediction rests upon you, the power of the Most Highs will strengthen you, and the Lord of all the earth shall overshadow you.”
122:3.2 (1346.5) マリヤは、身ごもっていると確信するまで、夫にこれらの尋常でない出来事をあえて明かす前に、何週間も秘かにこの訪問について考えを思い巡らせた。ヨセフはこの全てを聞いた時大いに悩み、マリヤに大きく信頼を置きつつも幾夜も眠れなかった。ヨセフは、最初ガブリエルの訪問を疑った。それからマリヤが、本当に神の使者の声を聞き、その姿を見たということをほぼ納得した時、そのような事がどうしてありうるかと考え込んでしまい、心は千千に乱れた。何で人の子が神の運命の子でありうるのか。来たるべき救済者には、神の資質があるということはユダヤの概念にはまず無かったものの、ヨセフは、数週間の考えの後、自分達二人とも、メシヤの両親に選ばれたのだという結論に至るまで、決してこれらの相反する考えを受け入れることが出来なかった。この重大な結論に到達し、マリヤは、エリザベスを訪れるべく出発を急いだ。		122:3.2 (1346.5) Mary pondered this visitation secretly in her heart for many weeks until of a certainty she knew she was with child, before she dared to disclose these unusual events to her husband. When Joseph heard all about this, although he had great confidence in Mary, he was much troubled and could not sleep for many nights. At first Joseph had doubts about the Gabriel visitation. Then when he became well-nigh persuaded that Mary had really heard the voice and beheld the form of the divine messenger, he was torn in mind as he pondered how such things could be. How could the offspring of human beings be a child of divine destiny? Never could Joseph reconcile these conflicting ideas until, after several weeks of thought, both he and Mary reached the conclusion that they had been chosen to become the parents of the Messiah, though it had hardly been the Jewish concept that the expected deliverer was to be of divine nature. Upon arriving at this momentous conclusion, Mary hastened to depart for a visit with Elizabeth.
122:3.3 (1347.1) マリヤは、帰宅すると両親のヨアヒムとハナを訪ねた。勿論この時点でガブリエルの訪問について誰も何も知らなかったが、2人の兄弟と2人の姉妹達も両親同様に、常にイエスの神性の任務について非常に懐疑的であった。しかしマリヤは、サロメには自分の息子は偉大な師になると思うと打ち明けた。		122:3.3 (1347.1) Upon her return, Mary went to visit her parents, Joachim and Hannah. Her two brothers and two sisters, as well as her parents, were always very skeptical about the divine mission of Jesus, though, of course, at this time they knew nothing of the Gabriel visitation. But Mary did confide to her sister Salome that she thought her son was destined to become a great teacher.
122:3.4 (1347.2) マリヤへのガブリエルの告知は、イエスの受胎の翌日になされ、約束の子の妊娠と分娩という全経験に関する超自然の唯一つの出来事であった。		122:3.4 (1347.2) Gabriel’s announcement to Mary was made the day following the conception of Jesus and was the only event of supernatural occurrence connected with her entire experience of carrying and bearing the child of promise.
4. ヨセフの夢 ^top		4. Joseph’s Dream ^top
122:4.1 (1347.3) 自分が非常に印象的な夢を経験をするまでヨセフは、マリヤが人並外れた子の母になるという観念を受け入れることができなかった。この夢で燦々たる天界の使者が、ヨセフに現れ、あれこれ言ったうえに、「ヨセフよ、私は、今天に君臨する神の命令で現れ、 またマリヤが産み偉大な世の光となる子についてお前に教えるよう申しつけられた。その子は命を得て、その生涯は人類の光となる。かれは、まず自身の人々の元にやってくるが、かれらは、それをまず受入れないであろうが、受け入れる者達には神の子等であるということを明かすであろう。」と言った。この経験の後、ヨセフは、ガブリエルの訪問とまだ生まれていない子が、地上への神の使者になるという約束のマリヤの話を決して二度と疑わなかった。		122:4.1 (1347.3) Joseph did not become reconciled to the idea that Mary was to become the mother of an extraordinary child until after he had experienced a very impressive dream. In this dream a brilliant celestial messenger appeared to him and, among other things, said: “Joseph, I appear by command of Him who now reigns on high, and I am directed to instruct you concerning the son whom Mary shall bear, and who shall become a great light in the world. In him will be life, and his life shall become the light of mankind. He shall first come to his own people, but they will hardly receive him; but to as many as shall receive him to them will he reveal that they are the children of God.” After this experience Joseph never again wholly doubted Mary’s story of Gabriel’s visit and of the promise that the unborn child was to become a divine messenger to the world.
122:4.2 (1347.4) これらの訪問の中でダヴィデの家については、何も言及されなかった。イエスが、「ユダヤ人の救済者」になる、長く待望まれたメシアになるということさえ、何の暗示もされなかった。イエスは、ユダヤ人が予期していたそのようなメシアではなく、地上の救済者であった。その使命は、全ての人種、民族へであって、何か特定の集団へではなかった。		122:4.2 (1347.4) In all these visitations nothing was said about the house of David. Nothing was ever intimated about Jesus’ becoming a “deliverer of the Jews,” not even that he was to be the long-expected Messiah. Jesus was not such a Messiah as the Jews had anticipated, but he was the world’s deliverer. His mission was to all races and peoples, not to any one group.
122:4.3 (1347.5) ヨセフは、ダヴィデ王の血統ではなかった。マリヤには、ダヴィデ側からの先祖がヨセフよりもいた。ヨセフは、ローマの国勢調査の登録のために確かにダヴィデの町のベツレヘムへ行ったが、ヨセフの父側の先祖６世代前は孤児であったので、ダヴィデの直結の子孫であったサドクという者に養子にもらわれた。そのゆえに、ヨセフもまた、「ダヴィデ家」として報告されていた。		122:4.3 (1347.5) Joseph was not of the line of King David. Mary had more of the Davidic ancestry than Joseph. True, Joseph did go to the City of David, Bethlehem, to be registered for the Roman census, but that was because, six generations previously, Joseph’s paternal ancestor of that generation, being an orphan, was adopted by one Zadoc, who was a direct descendant of David; hence was Joseph also accounted as of the “house of David.”
122:4.4 (1347.6) 旧約聖書のいわゆるメシヤに関する予言は、その地上生活のずっと後、イエスに当てはまるように作られた。何世紀もの間、ヘブライの予言者達は、救済者の到来を公言し、歴代を通してこれらの約束は、ダヴィデの王座に座る、モーゼの奇跡的だといわれる手段によって、全ての外国支配からの自由、力強い国家としてパレスチナにユダヤの設立を始めるであろう新任のユダヤ人の支配者に言及し、解釈されてきた。また、ヘブライ教典に見られる多くの比喩的文章は、イエスの生涯の任務に、後に誤用された。多くの旧約聖書の引用は、あるじの地上での生涯の幾つかの挿話に当て嵌まるように歪められた。イエス自身、ダビデの王室へのいかなる関係もかつて公的に否定した。 「乙女が、息子を産むであろう。」というこの件さえ、「処女が、息子を産むであろう。」と作られた。これも、マイケルの地上での経歴の後に作り上げられたヨセフとマリヤの双方の多くの系図についても同様に事実であった。これらの血統の多くは、あるじの家系の多くを含むが、概して本当ではなく、事実に基づいていないかもしれない。イエスの初期の追随者のすべてが、主君で、あるじの生涯において全ての昔の予言的な語調の誘惑に余りにもしばしば屈した。		122:4.4 (1347.6) Most of the so-called Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament were made to apply to Jesus long after his life had been lived on earth. For centuries the Hebrew prophets had proclaimed the coming of a deliverer, and these promises had been construed by successive generations as referring to a new Jewish ruler who would sit upon the throne of David and, by the reputed miraculous methods of Moses, proceed to establish the Jews in Palestine as a powerful nation, free from all foreign domination. Again, many figurative passages found throughout the Hebrew scriptures were subsequently misapplied to the life mission of Jesus. Many Old Testament sayings were so distorted as to appear to fit some episode of the Master’s earth life. Jesus himself onetime publicly denied any connection with the royal house of David. Even the passage, “a maiden shall bear a son,” was made to read, “a virgin shall bear a son.” This was also true of the many genealogies of both Joseph and Mary which were constructed subsequent to Michael’s career on earth. Many of these lineages contain much of the Master’s ancestry, but on the whole they are not genuine and may not be depended upon as factual. The early followers of Jesus all too often succumbed to the temptation to make all the olden prophetic utterances appear to find fulfillment in the life of their Lord and Master.
5. イエスの地上の両親 ^top		5. Jesus’ Earth Parents ^top
122:5.1 (1348.1) ヨセフは、物柔らかな男で頗る誠実で、かつ宗教的慣習や民族習慣のあらゆる点において忠実であった。無口で黙考であった。ユダヤ民族のひどい窮境は、ヨセフを深く悲しませた。８人の兄弟姉妹の中の若者として、かれは、陽気な方であったが、結婚生活の初期(イエスの幼児期)は、軽度の落胆期にあった。これらの気質の表れは、自身の早世の直前、それと家族の経済状態が、大工から順調な請負人への自己の栄進により強化された後、改善された。		122:5.1 (1348.1) Joseph was a mild-mannered man, extremely conscientious, and in every way faithful to the religious conventions and practices of his people. He talked little but thought much. The sorry plight of the Jewish people caused Joseph much sadness. As a youth, among his eight brothers and sisters, he had been more cheerful, but in the earlier years of married life (during Jesus’ childhood) he was subject to periods of mild spiritual discouragement. These temperamental manifestations were greatly improved just before his untimely death and after the economic condition of his family had been enhanced by his advancement from the rank of carpenter to the role of a prosperous contractor.
122:5.2 (1348.2) マリヤの気質は、夫のそれとは正反対であった。彼女は、常に陽気で滅多に鬱に落ち入らず、常に明るい気性であった。マリヤは、自己感情の自由で頻繁な表現を思いのままにし、ヨセフの突然の死後まで悲嘆に暮れているところは決して見られなかった。そして、この衝撃から立ち直るやいなや、彼女には、驚嘆している目前で実に急速に繰り広げられていく長男の途方もない使命によって起こされる懸念や疑問が押し寄せた。しかしマリヤは、このようなすべての変わった経験の間、風変わりでよく理解されていない長男とその生き残りの弟妹達との関係において落ち着き、勇ましく、かなり賢明であった。		122:5.2 (1348.2) Mary’s temperament was quite opposite to that of her husband. She was usually cheerful, was very rarely downcast, and possessed an ever-sunny disposition. Mary indulged in free and frequent expression of her emotional feelings and was never observed to be sorrowful until after the sudden death of Joseph. And she had hardly recovered from this shock when she had thrust upon her the anxieties and questionings aroused by the extraordinary career of her eldest son, which was so rapidly unfolding before her astonished gaze. But throughout all this unusual experience Mary was composed, courageous, and fairly wise in her relationship with her strange and little-understood first-born son and his surviving brothers and sisters.
122:5.3 (1348.3) イエスは、自己の人間資質の中の希な穏やかさと信じられないほどの思いやりのある理解を父から受けた。かれは、偉大な師として、そして義憤への途方もなく大きな度量の贈り物を母から受け継いでいた。イエスは、成人期の生活環境に対する感情的な反応において、ひところは父のようであり、黙想的で敬虔的で、時にはあきらかな悲しみにより特徴づけられた。だが、しばしば母の楽観的で断固たる気性にならって突き進んだ。全般的に見て、成長し、成人期の重要な段階へ突入するにつれてマリヤの気質が、神の子の経歴を支配し勝ちであった。ある点においては、イエスは、両親の特徴の混合であった。他の点においては、一方の親の特質をみせた。		122:5.3 (1348.3) Jesus derived much of his unusual gentleness and marvelous sympathetic understanding of human nature from his father; he inherited his gift as a great teacher and his tremendous capacity for righteous indignation from his mother. In emotional reactions to his adult-life environment, Jesus was at one time like his father, meditative and worshipful, sometimes characterized by apparent sadness; but more often he drove forward in the manner of his mother’s optimistic and determined disposition. All in all, Mary’s temperament tended to dominate the career of the divine Son as he grew up and swung into the momentous strides of his adult life. In some particulars Jesus was a blending of his parents’ traits; in other respects he exhibited the traits of one in contrast with those of the other.
122:5.4 (1348.4) イエスは、ヨセフからはユダヤ人の儀式の習わしにおける厳しい教育とヘブライ経典の並外れの知識を、マリヤからは信仰生活のより幅広い視点と個人の精霊的な自由のより進歩主義の概念を得た。		122:5.4 (1348.4) From Joseph Jesus secured his strict training in the usages of the Jewish ceremonials and his unusual acquaintance with the Hebrew scriptures; from Mary he derived a broader viewpoint of religious life and a more liberal concept of personal spiritual freedom.
122:5.5 (1349.1) ヨセフとマリヤの双方の家族は、その時代としては立派な教育を受けた。ヨセフとマリヤは、時代と身分のわりには、はるかに平均以上の教育を受けていた。前者は思考家であった。後者は計画家であり、適合性に優れており、即時の実行において実践的であった。ヨセフは黒目で褐色肌、マリヤは茶目のほとんど白肌であった。		122:5.5 (1349.1) The families of both Joseph and Mary were well educated for their time. Joseph and Mary were educated far above the average for their day and station in life. He was a thinker; she was a planner, expert in adaptation and practical in immediate execution. Joseph was a black-eyed brunet; Mary, a brown-eyed well-nigh blond type.
122:5.6 (1349.2) ヨセフが生きていたならば、疑いなく天命の任務の長男の断固たる信者となっていたであろう。マリヤは、他の子供、友達、親戚の取る立場に大いに影響され、信じることと疑うことを繰返したが、常に、その子を宿した直後のガブリエルの出現の記憶に最終的には落ち着くのであった。		122:5.6 (1349.2) Had Joseph lived, he undoubtedly would have become a firm believer in the divine mission of his eldest son. Mary alternated between believing and doubting, being greatly influenced by the position taken by her other children and by her friends and relatives, but always was she steadied in her final attitude by the memory of Gabriel’s appearance to her immediately after the child was conceived.
122:5.7 (1349.3) マリヤは、機織りの名手で、その当時の家事全般にわたって平均以上の手腕をもち、誠に良い家政婦であり、最高の主婦であった。ヨセフとマリアは、共に良い先生であり、子供等が、その時代に学習可能な事柄を熟知するように配慮した。		122:5.7 (1349.3) Mary was an expert weaver and more than averagely skilled in most of the household arts of that day; she was a good housekeeper and a superior homemaker. Both Joseph and Mary were good teachers, and they saw to it that their children were well versed in the learning of that day.
122:5.8 (1349.4) ヨセフは若い時、マリヤの父が家の増築工事をする際に雇われていた。そしてイエスの両親になるべきこの二人の求愛関係が実際に始まったのは、マリヤが中食時にヨセフに１杯の水をもたらした時であった。		122:5.8 (1349.4) When Joseph was a young man, he was employed by Mary’s father in the work of building an addition to his house, and it was when Mary brought Joseph a cup of water, during a noontime meal, that the courtship of the pair who were destined to become the parents of Jesus really began.
122:5.9 (1349.5) ヨセフが21歳の時、二人は、ナザレ近郊のマリアの家でユダヤの習慣に則って結婚した。この結婚は、およそ２年間にわたる通常の求愛関係を締めくくった。程なく二人は、ヨセフが二人の兄弟の助力を得て建てたナザレの新しい家に引っ越した。その家は、近郷を魅惑的に見渡す高地の麓近くに位置していた。特別に用意されたこの家で、待ち望んでいる若い両親は、ユダヤのベツレヘムの家を留守にしている間、宇宙のこの重大な出来事が起ころうとしているとは気づかず、約束の子を歓迎しようと考えた。		122:5.9 (1349.5) Joseph and Mary were married, in accordance with Jewish custom, at Mary’s home in the environs of Nazareth when Joseph was twenty-one years old. This marriage concluded a normal courtship of almost two years’ duration. Shortly thereafter they moved into their new home in Nazareth, which had been built by Joseph with the assistance of two of his brothers. The house was located near the foot of the near-by elevated land which so charmingly overlooked the surrounding countryside. In this home, especially prepared, these young and expectant parents had thought to welcome the child of promise, little realizing that this momentous event of a universe was to transpire while they would be absent from home in Bethlehem of Judea.
122:5.10 (1349.6) ヨセフの家族の大部分は、イエスの教えの信奉者となったが、マリヤの身内は、イエスがこの世を去るまで信じる者は極めて少なかった。ヨセフは、待ち臨まれるメシアの信仰理念の方により傾いていたが、マリヤとその家族、特に父親は、現世の救済者であり、政治的統治者であるメシアの考えにしがみついていた。		122:5.10 (1349.6) The larger part of Joseph’s family became believers in the teachings of Jesus, but very few of Mary’s people ever believed in him until after he departed from this world. Joseph leaned more toward the spiritual concept of the expected Messiah, but Mary and her family, especially her father, held to the idea of the Messiah as a temporal deliverer and political ruler. Mary’s ancestors had been prominently identified with the Maccabean activities of the then but recent times.
122:5.11 (1349.7) ヨセフは、東方またはバビロニヤよりのユダヤ宗教を強烈に信じていた。マリヤは、より自由の、幅広い西方の、またはギリシアの律法と予言者の解釈の方に強く傾倒していた。		122:5.11 (1349.7) Joseph held vigorously to the Eastern, or Babylonian, views of the Jewish religion; Mary leaned strongly toward the more liberal and broader Western, or Hellenistic, interpretation of the law and the prophets.
6. ナザレの家 ^top		6. The Home at Nazareth ^top
122:6.1 (1349.8) イエスの自宅は、町の東の地域に位置する村の泉から少し離れ、ナザレの北寄りにある高い丘からそう遠くない所にあった。イエスの家族は、市の郊外に住み、これが後に、彼が、郊外での頻繁な散策を楽しんだり、東方へ続くタボル山脈とほぼ同じ高度のネイン丘陵を除くガリラヤ南方の全丘陵の中で最も高いこの近くの台地の頂への旅を容易にした。家は、この丘の南の岬の少し南東寄りに、そしてこの高台のふもととナザレを経てカナに続く道のおよそ中間に位置していた。この丘に上る以外のイエスの好んだ散策は、セフォリスへの道路へ繋がる地点へむかう北東方向の丘の麓をくねる狭い小道を辿ることであった。		122:6.1 (1349.8) The home of Jesus was not far from the high hill in the northerly part of Nazareth, some distance from the village spring, which was in the eastern section of the town. Jesus’ family dwelt in the outskirts of the city, and this made it all the easier for him subsequently to enjoy frequent strolls in the country and to make trips up to the top of this near-by highland, the highest of all the hills of southern Galilee save the Mount Tabor range to the east and the hill of Nain, which was about the same height. Their home was located a little to the south and east of the southern promontory of this hill and about midway between the base of this elevation and the road leading out of Nazareth toward Cana. Aside from climbing the hill, Jesus’ favorite stroll was to follow a narrow trail winding about the base of the hill in a northeasterly direction to a point where it joined the road to Sepphoris.
122:6.2 (1350.1) ヨセフとマリヤの家は、平屋と動物を収容する建物と隣合わせの１部屋の石造りであった。家具の内訳は、低い石の食台、陶器、石皿、壷、織機、灯火台、幾つかの少さな腰掛け、それに石の床で眠るため敷物であった。動物小屋近くの裏庭には、かまどと穀物を挽く臼を被った小屋があった。この型の臼を扱うには、１人が臼を回しもう１人が穀物を入れる操作で２人の人間を要した。少年だったイエスは、母が引く側でしばしば穀物をこの臼に注ぎ足した。		122:6.2 (1350.1) The home of Joseph and Mary was a one-room stone structure with a flat roof and an adjoining building for housing the animals. The furniture consisted of a low stone table, earthenware and stone dishes and pots, a loom, a lampstand, several small stools, and mats for sleeping on the stone floor. In the back yard, near the animal annex, was the shelter which covered the oven and the mill for grinding grain. It required two persons to operate this type of mill, one to grind and another to feed the grain. As a small boy Jesus often fed grain to this mill while his mother turned the grinder.
122:6.3 (1350.2) 後年家族が増えるに従い、かれらは、同じ皿や壺からの食べ物を取って食事を楽しむために拡大された食台の周りに皆が据わったものだった。冬期、夕食の食台にはオリーブ油を満たした少さくて平らな陶磁の明かりが、灯されたものだった。マルタの誕生後ヨセフは、昼間は大工仕事、夜間は睡眠用の大きな部屋の増築をした。		122:6.3 (1350.2) In later years, as the family grew in size, they would all squat about the enlarged stone table to enjoy their meals, helping themselves from a common dish, or pot, of food. During the winter, at the evening meal the table would be lighted by a small, flat clay lamp, which was filled with olive oil. After the birth of Martha, Joseph built an addition to this house, a large room, which was used as a carpenter shop during the day and as a sleeping room at night.
7. ベツレヘムへの旅 ^top		7. The Trip to Bethlehem ^top
122:7.1 (1350.3) 紀元前８年３月 (ヨセフとマリヤが結婚した月) に、アウグストゥス皇帝は、国勢調査が有利な課税をもたらすように、ローマ帝国の全住民は、番号を付されなければならないと布告した。ユダヤ人は、「人民番号制度」のいかなる形にもつねに大いに偏見をもっていた。ユダヤの王ヘロデは、これと深刻な国内問題とも関系して、１年間ユダヤ王国におけるこの国勢調査実施の延期を企んだ。紀元前７年に行われたヘロデのパレスチナ王国を除き、この人口調査は、１年後の紀元前８年に全ローマ帝国でなされた。		122:7.1 (1350.3) In the month of March, 8 b.c. (the month Joseph and Mary were married), Caesar Augustus decreed that all inhabitants of the Roman Empire should be numbered, that a census should be made which could be used for effecting better taxation. The Jews had always been greatly prejudiced against any attempt to “number the people,” and this, in connection with the serious domestic difficulties of Herod, King of Judea, had conspired to cause the postponement of the taking of this census in the Jewish kingdom for one year. Throughout all the Roman Empire this census was registered in the year 8 b.c., except in the Palestinian kingdom of Herod, where it was taken in 7 b.c., one year later.
122:7.2 (1350.4) マリヤは、登録のためにベツレヘムに行く必要はなく—ヨセフが、家族の登録を許可された—だが、冒険的で積極的であるマリヤは、同行をすると言って譲らなかった。彼女は、ヨセフの留守中に子が生まれはしないかと一人残されるのを怖れ、その上ベツレヘムはユダの町からそう遠くないこともあり、縁戚のエリザベスとのありうる楽しい会話を期待した。		122:7.2 (1350.4) It was not necessary that Mary should go to Bethlehem for enrollment—Joseph was authorized to register for his family—but Mary, being an adventurous and aggressive person, insisted on accompanying him. She feared being left alone lest the child be born while Joseph was away, and again, Bethlehem being not far from the City of Judah, Mary foresaw a possible pleasurable visit with her kinswoman Elizabeth.
122:7.3 (1350.5) ヨセフは、実際にマリヤの同行を禁じたが、無駄であった。3、4日分の旅用の食料が用意され詰め込まれた時、彼女は、２倍の食べ物を用意し、旅仕度はすでにできていた。しかし現実には出立前、ヨセフは、マリヤの同伴は仕方がないと考え、二人は、夜明けにナザレを陽気に出発した。		122:7.3 (1350.5) Joseph virtually forbade Mary to accompany him, but it was of no avail; when the food was packed for the trip of three or four days, she prepared double rations and made ready for the journey. But before they actually set forth, Joseph was reconciled to Mary’s going along, and they cheerfully departed from Nazareth at the break of day.
122:7.4 (1350.6) ヨセフとマリヤは、貧乏で、たった一頭の役畜しか持っておらず、ヨセフが、動物を曳いて歩き、身重であったマリヤは食料を載せたこれに乗った。父が最近身体障害者になったので、両親への援助もあり、家の建築と調度は、ヨセフにとり大変な経済負担であった。こうしてこのユダヤの夫婦は、紀元前７年８月18日早朝、ベツレヘムへの旅へと質素な家を発った。		122:7.4 (1350.6) Joseph and Mary were poor, and since they had only one beast of burden, Mary, being large with child, rode on the animal with the provisions while Joseph walked, leading the beast. The building and furnishing of a home had been a great drain on Joseph since he had also to contribute to the support of his parents, as his father had been recently disabled. And so this Jewish couple went forth from their humble home early on the morning of August 18, 7 b.c., on their journey to Bethlehem.
122:7.5 (1351.1) 旅の初日は、ギルボア山麓の丘あたりまで行き、ヨルダンの川岸で夜を過ごすべくそこで野宿をし、ヨセフは、宗教の師の考えに固執し、マリヤは、ユダヤ人のメシア、ヘブライ国家の救世主の考えを持続し、二人にどのような子が生まれてくるのかあれこれと億測に耽けった。		122:7.5 (1351.1) Their first day of travel carried them around the foothills of Mount Gilboa, where they camped for the night by the river Jordan and engaged in many speculations as to what sort of a son would be born to them, Joseph adhering to the concept of a spiritual teacher and Mary holding to the idea of a Jewish Messiah, a deliverer of the Hebrew nation.
122:7.6 (1351.2) ８月19日の明るい早朝、ヨセフとマリヤは、再び旅路にあった。二人は、ヨルダン渓谷を見下ろすサータバ山の麓で昼食をとり、夜までにエリコに辿り着くよう旅を続け、そこで町の郊外の街道沿いの宿をとった。夕食後、ナザレの旅人は、ローマ支配の圧政、ヘロデ、国勢登録、それとユダヤ人の学問と文化の中心地としてのエルサレムとアレクサンドリアの相対的影響を多いに討論した後、その夜の眠りに就いた。８月20日早暁、かれらは、旅を再開し、昼前にエルサレムに到着し、寺院を訪問して目的地に向けて進み、午後の半ばにベツレヘムに着いた。		122:7.6 (1351.2) Bright and early the morning of August 19, Joseph and Mary were again on their way. They partook of their noontide meal at the foot of Mount Sartaba, overlooking the Jordan valley, and journeyed on, making Jericho for the night, where they stopped at an inn on the highway in the outskirts of the city. Following the evening meal and after much discussion concerning the oppressiveness of Roman rule, Herod, the census enrollment, and the comparative influence of Jerusalem and Alexandria as centers of Jewish learning and culture, the Nazareth travelers retired for the night’s rest. Early in the morning of August 20 they resumed their journey, reaching Jerusalem before noon, visiting the temple, and going on to their destination, arriving at Bethlehem in midafternoon.
122:7.7 (1351.3) 宿は込み合っていた。そこでヨセフは、遠戚との同宿を求めたが、ベツレヘムのどの部屋も超満員であった。その宿の中庭に戻る途中、かれは、岩石の横腹を削りとって造った丁度宿の下に位置する隊商用の厩が、宿泊人受け入れのために動物が追い出され、掃除されていると知らされた。ヨセフは、驢馬を中庭に放置し、衣類と食料の入った二人の袋を担いでマリヤと宿舎へと石段を下りた。二人は、厩舎と飼葉小屋の前に通じるかつては穀物倉庫であった場所にいた。天幕は吊るされており、そのような心地良い休息場所を得て幸だと考えた。		122:7.7 (1351.3) The inn was overcrowded, and Joseph accordingly sought lodgings with distant relatives, but every room in Bethlehem was filled to overflowing. On returning to the courtyard of the inn, he was informed that the caravan stables, hewn out of the side of the rock and situated just below the inn, had been cleared of animals and cleaned up for the reception of lodgers. Leaving the donkey in the courtyard, Joseph shouldered their bags of clothing and provisions and with Mary descended the stone steps to their lodgings below. They found themselves located in what had been a grain storage room to the front of the stalls and mangers. Tent curtains had been hung, and they counted themselves fortunate to have such comfortable quarters.
122:7.8 (1351.4) ヨセフは、すぐ外に出掛けて登録することを考えたが、マリヤは、疲労し、かなり苦しんで側にいるように嘆願したので、ヨセフは、そうした		122:7.8 (1351.4) Joseph had thought to go out at once and enroll, but Mary was weary; she was considerably distressed and besought him to remain by her side, which he did.
8. イエスの誕生 ^top		8. The Birth of Jesus ^top
122:8.1 (1351.5) その夜マリヤは、一晩中落ち着けず、二人ともよく眠れなかった。夜明けまでには出産の激痛は明らかで、紀元前７年８月21日、正午、マリヤは、女性の旅の道連れの援助と懇切な介添えで男児を出産した。ナザレのイエスが世に生まれ、マリヤがそのような非常事態に備えて携えてきた布に包まれて近くの飼い葉桶に横たえられた。		122:8.1 (1351.5) All that night Mary was restless so that neither of them slept much. By the break of day the pangs of childbirth were well in evidence, and at noon, August 21, 7 b.c., with the help and kind ministrations of women fellow travelers, Mary was delivered of a male child. Jesus of Nazareth was born into the world, was wrapped in the clothes which Mary had brought along for such a possible contingency, and laid in a near-by manger.
122:8.2 (1351.6) その前後の全ての稚児が、この世に生まれてきたのと同じ様に、約束された子は、生まれた。八日目、ユダヤの習慣に則り、かれは、割礼をうけ、正式にヨシュア(イエス)と名付けられた。		122:8.2 (1351.6) In just the same manner as all babies before that day and since have come into the world, the promised child was born; and on the eighth day, according to the Jewish practice, he was circumcised and formally named Joshua (Jesus).
122:8.3 (1351.7) イエス誕生の翌日、ヨセフは登録をした。以前エリコで二晩語った男に出会い、ヨセフは、その宿に部屋を取っていた裕福な友のところへ連れていかれると、この者は、ナザレの夫婦と快く部屋を交換すると言った。その日の午後夫婦は、宿に上がって行き、ヨセフの遠戚の家に宿泊先を得るまでの約３週間ここに住んだ。		122:8.3 (1351.7) The next day after the birth of Jesus, Joseph made his enrollment. Meeting a man they had talked with two nights previously at Jericho, Joseph was taken by him to a well-to-do friend who had a room at the inn, and who said he would gladly exchange quarters with the Nazareth couple. That afternoon they moved up to the inn, where they lived for almost three weeks until they found lodgings in the home of a distant relative of Joseph.
122:8.4 (1351.8) イエス出生後の二日目、マリヤは、子が生まれたとエリザベスに伝言をすると、エルサレムまで来てザカリヤとこの問題全般について話そうというヨセフへの誘いの返事をもらった。ヨセフは、翌週ザカリヤに相談するためにエルサレムに行った。ザカリヤとエリザベスの双方共に、イエスは、誠にユダヤ人の救済者メシヤになり、自分達の息子ヨハネは、側近の長、運命の右腕の男となるはずだという真摯な確信の虜となった。そしてマリヤは、同様の考えを持っていたので、イエスが、全イスラエルの王座のダヴィデの後継者になるように成長していけるように、ダヴィデの町のベツレヘムに留まるようヨセフを説き伏せるのに苦労はなかった。そいう訳で、ヨセフが大工業に携わり、１年以上ベツレヘムに留まった。		122:8.4 (1351.8) The second day after the birth of Jesus, Mary sent word to Elizabeth that her child had come and received word in return inviting Joseph up to Jerusalem to talk over all their affairs with Zacharias. The following week Joseph went to Jerusalem to confer with Zacharias. Both Zacharias and Elizabeth had become possessed with the sincere conviction that Jesus was indeed to become the Jewish deliverer, the Messiah, and that their son John was to be his chief of aides, his right-hand man of destiny. And since Mary held these same ideas, it was not difficult to prevail upon Joseph to remain in Bethlehem, the City of David, so that Jesus might grow up to become the successor of David on the throne of all Israel. Accordingly, they remained in Bethlehem more than a year, Joseph meantime working some at his carpenter’s trade.
122:8.5 (1352.1) 監督者達のもとに集合したユランチアの熾天使は、イエスの正午の誕生に、ベツレヘムの厩舎の上方で栄光を讃え聖歌を歌ったが、これらの讃賞の発声は、人間の耳には聞こえなかった。ザカリヤに遣わされたウルからのある僧達が到着する日まで、羊飼いも他の人間も誰としてベツレヘムの稚児に敬意を払いにきた者はいなかった。		122:8.5 (1352.1) At the noontide birth of Jesus the seraphim of Urantia, assembled under their directors, did sing anthems of glory over the Bethlehem manger, but these utterances of praise were not heard by human ears. No shepherds nor any other mortal creatures came to pay homage to the babe of Bethlehem until the day of the arrival of certain priests from Ur, who were sent down from Jerusalem by Zacharias.
122:8.6 (1352.2) メソポタアミアからのこれらの僧は、「命の光」が赤ん坊として地上に、そしてユダヤ人の間に出現しようとしていると、夢の中で知らされたのだと、以前その国の見知らぬ宗教の師に言い聞かされていた。そこでこれらの３人の師は、その方角へこの「命の光」を探しに出た。エルサレムでの何週間もの空しい探索の後、ウルに戻ろうとしているところで、ザカリヤは、その者達に出会い、イエスこそが探し求めているものであると明かし、ベツレヘムヘ彼らを向かわせたのであった。そこで３人は、赤ん坊を見つけ、地上の母マリヤに自分達からの贈物を残していった。彼らの訪問の際、その赤ん坊は、生後ほぼ３週間であった。		122:8.6 (1352.2) These priests from Mesopotamia had been told sometime before by a strange religious teacher of their country that he had had a dream in which he was informed that “the light of life” was about to appear on earth as a babe and among the Jews. And thither went these three teachers looking for this “light of life.” After many weeks of futile search in Jerusalem, they were about to return to Ur when Zacharias met them and disclosed his belief that Jesus was the object of their quest and sent them on to Bethlehem, where they found the babe and left their gifts with Mary, his earth mother. The babe was almost three weeks old at the time of their visit.
122:8.7 (1352.3) これらの賢者は、ベツレヘムに案内する星見なかった。ベツレヘムの星の美しい伝説は、このようにして始まった。イエスは、紀元前７年８月21日、正午に生まれた。紀元前７年５月29日、魚座の配列の中で木星と土星の並みはずれた連結が起きた。そして同年９月29日と12月５日に類似の結合が発生したということは、注目に値する天文事実である。これらの驚異的であるが、全く自然の出来事の基盤に、それ以降の善意の熱狂者達が、ベツレヘムの星の魅力的な伝説を作り、敬慕する東方の三博士は、それにより飼葉小屋へと導かれ、そこで稚児を見て、崇拝した。東方や近東の心は、お伽話を楽しみ、かれらは、宗教指導者や政治上の英雄の生涯についてのそのような美しい作り話を絶えず紡ぎ出しているのである。印刷物がなく、一世代から別世代へとほとんどの人間の知識が口伝えされる時、作り話が伝統となり、伝統が、次第に容認された事実となることは、誠に容易いであった。		122:8.7 (1352.3) These wise men saw no star to guide them to Bethlehem. The beautiful legend of the star of Bethlehem originated in this way: Jesus was born August 21 at noon, 7 b.c. On May 29, 7 b.c., there occurred an extraordinary conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces. And it is a remarkable astronomic fact that similar conjunctions occurred on September 29 and December 5 of the same year. Upon the basis of these extraordinary but wholly natural events the well-meaning zealots of the succeeding generation constructed the appealing legend of the star of Bethlehem and the adoring Magi led thereby to the manger, where they beheld and worshiped the newborn babe. Oriental and near-Oriental minds delight in fairy stories, and they are continually spinning such beautiful myths about the lives of their religious leaders and political heroes. In the absence of printing, when most human knowledge was passed by word of mouth from one generation to another, it was very easy for myths to become traditions and for traditions eventually to become accepted as facts.
9. 寺院いおける献上 ^top		9. The Presentation in the Temple ^top
122:9.1 (1352.4) モーゼは、どの長男も主に属すると、そして異教徒の習慣であった犠牲の代わりに、もし親が公認の僧に５シケルを支払い、その子を買い戻せば、そのような息子は生きることが許されると、ユダヤ人に教えた。また一定の期間を過ごした後、清めのために母自身(あるいは代わって適当な捧げものをする誰か)が、寺院に参ることを指導したモーゼの条例もあった。同時にこの双方を行なうのが慣例であった。依ってヨセフとマリヤは、イエスを僧達に渡し、その買い戻しの実行とマリヤのいわゆる分娩の汚れからの浄めのための適切な犠牲を払うためにエルサレムの寺院へ参った。		122:9.1 (1352.4) Moses had taught the Jews that every first-born son belonged to the Lord, and that, in lieu of his sacrifice as was the custom among the heathen nations, such a son might live provided his parents would redeem him by the payment of five shekels to any authorized priest. There was also a Mosaic ordinance which directed that a mother, after the passing of a certain period of time, should present herself (or have someone make the proper sacrifice for her) at the temple for purification. It was customary to perform both of these ceremonies at the same time. Accordingly, Joseph and Mary went up to the temple at Jerusalem in person to present Jesus to the priests and effect his redemption and also to make the proper sacrifice to insure Mary’s ceremonial purification from the alleged uncleanness of childbirth.
122:9.2 (1353.1) 寺院の中庭あたりを絶えず俳廻する唄い手シメオンと詩人アナの注目に値する二人の人物がいた。シメオンは、ユダヤ人であったが、アナは、ガリレア人であった。この一組は、しばしば一緒にいて、そして両者とも、僧ザカリヤの親友であり、この僧は、二人にヨハネとイエスの秘密を打ち明けた。シメオンとアナの両者は、メシアの到来を待望み、ザカリヤに対する信頼は、イエスが期待されるユダヤ民族の救済者だと二人に思わせた。		122:9.2 (1353.1) There lingered constantly about the courts of the temple two remarkable characters, Simeon a singer and Anna a poetess. Simeon was a Judean, but Anna was a Galilean. This couple were frequently in each other’s company, and both were intimates of the priest Zacharias, who had confided the secret of John and Jesus to them. Both Simeon and Anna longed for the coming of the Messiah, and their confidence in Zacharias led them to believe that Jesus was the expected deliverer of the Jewish people.
122:9.3 (1353.2) ザカリヤは、ヨセフとマリヤが、イエスと寺院にみえる予定の日を知っており、真っ直に挙げた手で、長子の行列の中のイエス指し示すことをシメオンとアナとに事前の手はずを整えた。		122:9.3 (1353.2) Zacharias knew the day Joseph and Mary were expected to appear at the temple with Jesus, and he had prearranged with Simeon and Anna to indicate, by the salute of his upraised hand, which one in the procession of first-born children was Jesus.
122:9.4 (1353.3) アナは、この機会のために詩を書き、シメオンが歌うと、ヨセフ、マリヤ、そして寺院の中庭に集った者全員が、大いに驚いた。またこれは、長男買い戻しの讃美歌であった。		122:9.4 (1353.3) For this occasion Anna had written a poem which Simeon proceeded to sing, much to the astonishment of Joseph, Mary, and all who were assembled in the temple courts. And this was their hymn of the redemption of the first-born son:
122:9.5 (1353.4) 主なるイスラエルの神は讃むべきかな		122:9.5 (1353.4) Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
122:9.6 (1353.5) 神はその民を顧みてこれをあがなわれたのだから。		122:9.6 (1353.5) For he has visited us and wrought redemption for his people;
122:9.7 (1353.6) 私達全員のために救いの角を		122:9.7 (1353.6) He has raised up a horn of salvation for all of us
122:9.8 (1353.7) 下僕ダヴィデの家にお立てになった。		122:9.8 (1353.7) In the house of his servant David.
122:9.9 (1353.8) 聖なる予言者達の口によってお語りにもなったように―		122:9.9 (1353.8) Even as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets—
122:9.10 (1353.9) 敵から、また私達を憎む全ての者の手からの救済を。		122:9.10 (1353.9) Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
122:9.11 (1353.10) 私達の父祖達に慈悲を示され、その聖なる盟約を覚えていられて―		122:9.11 (1353.10) To show mercy to our fathers, and remember his holy covenant—
122:9.12 (1353.11) 父祖アブラハムにお立てになった誓い		122:9.12 (1353.11) The oath which he swore to Abraham our father,
122:9.13 (1353.12) 私達を敵から救い出し		122:9.13 (1353.12) To grant us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
122:9.14 (1353.13) 恐れなく仕えさせてくださるのである		122:9.14 (1353.13) Should serve him without fear,
122:9.15 (1353.14) 生きている限り清く正しく。		122:9.15 (1353.14) In holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
122:9.16 (1353.15) おお、幼子よ、約束の子よ、いと高きものの予言者と呼ばれるであろう。		122:9.16 (1353.15) Yes, and you, child of promise, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
122:9.17 (1353.16) その王国を築くため主のみ前に先立って行き、		122:9.17 (1353.16) For you shall go before the face of the Lord to establish his kingdom;
122:9.18 (1353.17) 罪の許しによる救いを		122:9.18 (1353.17) To give knowledge of salvation to his people
122:9.19 (1353.18) その民に知らせるのであるから。		122:9.19 (1353.18) In the remission of their sins.
122:9.20 (1353.19) 神の優しい慈悲を喜べ		122:9.20 (1353.19) Rejoice in the tender mercy of our God because the dayspring from on high has now visited us
122:9.21 (1353.20) 今、啓示の光が上から私達を望んだのであるから。		122:9.21 (1353.20) To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death;
122:9.22 (1353.21) 暗黒と死の陰とに住む者を照らし		122:9.22 (1353.21) To guide our feet into ways of peace.
122:9.23 (1353.22) 私達の足を平和の道へ導くであろう。		122:9.23 (1353.22) And now let your servant depart in peace, O Lord, according to your word,
122:9.24 (1353.23) 主よ、今こそあなたはみ言葉通りにこの下僕を安らかに去らせてくれますように		122:9.24 (1353.23) For my eyes have seen your salvation,
122:9.25 (1353.24) この救いはあなたが万民の前にお備えになったもので		122:9.25 (1353.24) Which you have prepared before the face of all peoples;
122:9.26 (1353.25) 異邦人をも照らす啓示の光		122:9.26 (1353.25) A light for even the unveiling of the gentiles
122:9.27 (1353.26) み民イスラエルの栄光であります。		122:9.27 (1353.26) And the glory of your people Israel.
122:9.28 (1353.27) ベツレヘムへの帰途、ヨセフとマリヤは、混乱し威圧され、沈黙していた。マリヤは、年老いた詩人アナの別れの挨拶に大変当惑し、ヨセフは、イエスが待ち臨まれているユダヤ民族のメシヤだと印象づけるこの時期尚早の努力に調和していなかった。		122:9.28 (1353.27) On the way back to Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary were silent—confused and overawed. Mary was much disturbed by the farewell salutation of Anna, the aged poetess, and Joseph was not in harmony with this premature effort to make Jesus out to be the expected Messiah of the Jewish people.
10. ヘロデ行動す ^top		10. Herod Acts ^top
122:10.1 (1353.28) しかしヘロデの監視人達は、行動をとらずにはいなかった。監視人達が、ウルからの僧達のベツレヘム訪問を通報すると、ヘロデは、これらのカルデア人に出頭するよう命令を出した。ヘロデは、これらの賢者にしきりと「ユダヤの王」について尋ねたが、かれらは、赤ん坊を産んだ母は、夫と共に国勢調査登録にベツレヘムに下りてきたものだと説明したが、彼に些さかの満足も与えるものではなかった。ヘロデは、この返事に満足せず、賢者達が、その子の王国は宗教的であって現世のものではないと宣言したのであるから、自分もその子に会って崇めることができるよう探し出すようにと彼らに財布を与え、指示をして送り出した。だが賢者たちが戻らないので、ヘロデは疑い始めた。これらを心に思い起こしていると、通報者達が、戻ってきて、イエスの買い戻しの儀でシメオンが歌った部分の写しを持参し、寺院での最近の出来事の全てを報告をした。だが彼らは、ヨセフとマリヤを追うことができず、夫婦が、稚児をどこへ連れていったのか応答できずにいると、ヘロデは、非常に怒った。そこでヨセフとマリヤの居場所を突き止める捜索隊を派遣した。ナザレ家族のヘロデの探策を知り、ザカリヤとエリザベスは、ベツレヘムから遠のいたままでいた。男の稚児は、ヨセフの親戚に隠された。		122:10.1 (1353.28) But the watchers for Herod were not inactive. When they reported to him the visit of the priests of Ur to Bethlehem, Herod summoned these Chaldeans to appear before him. He inquired diligently of these wise men about the new “king of the Jews,” but they gave him little satisfaction, explaining that the babe had been born of a woman who had come down to Bethlehem with her husband for the census enrollment. Herod, not being satisfied with this answer, sent them forth with a purse and directed that they should find the child so that he too might come and worship him, since they had declared that his kingdom was to be spiritual, not temporal. But when the wise men did not return, Herod grew suspicious. As he turned these things over in his mind, his informers returned and made full report of the recent occurrences in the temple, bringing him a copy of parts of the Simeon song which had been sung at the redemption ceremonies of Jesus. But they had failed to follow Joseph and Mary, and Herod was very angry with them when they could not tell him whither the pair had taken the babe. He then dispatched searchers to locate Joseph and Mary. Knowing Herod pursued the Nazareth family, Zacharias and Elizabeth remained away from Bethlehem. The boy baby was secreted with Joseph’s relatives.
122:10.2 (1354.1) ヨセフは、仕事を探すことを怖れたし、僅かな貯えは急激に消えていった。寺院での浄めの儀式の際でさえ、ヨセフは、モーゼが窮民の母達の清めの儀式に指示したように、マリヤのために２羽の小鳩の供え物を正当化するほどに自分は貧乏であると考えた。		122:10.2 (1354.1) Joseph was afraid to seek work, and their small savings were rapidly disappearing. Even at the time of the purification ceremonies at the temple, Joseph deemed himself sufficiently poor to warrant his offering for Mary two young pigeons as Moses had directed for the purification of mothers among the poor.
122:10.3 (1354.2) １年以上の探索の後、へロデの密偵は、まだイエスの居所が掴めずにいた時、その上幼児は、まだベツレヘムに隠されているという疑惑から、組織的なベツレヘムの各家の捜索がなされ、２歳以下の全ての男の幼児は殺すようにとの命令を準備し、そしてこの方法により「ユダヤ人の王」にならんとするこの子供が滅ぼされることを確実にしたかった。こうしてユダのベツレヘムでは１日に16人の男の幼児が殺された。しかし、陰謀と殺人は、当の彼自身の家族内でさえ、ヘロデの宮廷においては当り前であった。		122:10.3 (1354.2) When, after more than a year of searching, Herod’s spies had not located Jesus, and because of the suspicion that the babe was still concealed in Bethlehem, he prepared an order directing that a systematic search be made of every house in Bethlehem, and that all boy babies under two years of age should be killed. In this manner Herod hoped to make sure that this child who was to become “king of the Jews” would be destroyed. And thus perished in one day sixteen boy babies in Bethlehem of Judea. But intrigue and murder, even in his own immediate family, were common occurrences at the court of Herod.
122:10.4 (1354.3) これらの幼児の大殺戮は、イエスが１歳を少し過ぎた紀元前６年の10月の半ばに起きた。しかしヘロデの宮廷の随行員の中にさえメシヤの到来を信じる者がおり、そのうちの一人は、ベツレヘムの男の幼児虐殺命令を知ると、ザカリヤに伝え、続いてザカリヤは、ヨセフに使いを送り、ヨセフとマリヤは、幼児と共に殺戮前夜エジプトのアレクサンドリアに向けて出発した。注意を逸らすために、かれらは、イエスと単独でエジプトへの旅をした。かれらは、ザカリヤが与えてくれた資金でアレクサンドリアへ行き、そこでマリヤとイエスが、ヨセフの裕福な家族に身を寄せている間、ヨセフは、自分の仕事をした。かれらは、アレキサンドリアにまる2年逗留し、ヘロデの死後までベツレヘムには戻らなかった。		122:10.4 (1354.3) The massacre of these infants took place about the middle of October, 6 b.c., when Jesus was a little over one year of age. But there were believers in the coming Messiah even among Herod’s court attachés, and one of these, learning of the order to slaughter the Bethlehem boy babies, communicated with Zacharias, who in turn dispatched a messenger to Joseph; and the night before the massacre Joseph and Mary departed from Bethlehem with the babe for Alexandria in Egypt. In order to avoid attracting attention, they journeyed alone to Egypt with Jesus. They went to Alexandria on funds provided by Zacharias, and there Joseph worked at his trade while Mary and Jesus lodged with well-to-do relatives of Joseph’s family. They sojourned in Alexandria two full years, not returning to Bethlehem until after the death of Herod.