The next ancestress named after the mother of Solomon is the mother of Jesus, Mary, in whom Bathsheba finds transfiguration. The exaltation of the adulterous mother of Solomon has already been referred to (ante II.), and the traditional ascription to her of the authorship of the last chapter of Proverbs. She was also supposed to be the original or model of "the Virtuous Woman" therein portrayed! Now, in that same chapter she is pronounced "blessed," and excelling all the daughters who have done virtuously (Cf. Luke i. 28, 42). In the "Wisdom of Solomon" (ix. 5) a phrase is used by Solomon which is also used by his mother (Bathsheba) when she conjured from David the decree for his succession,--"thine handmaiden" (1 Kings i.). Solomon says, "For I, thy servant, and son of thy handmaiden," etc. This was written in a popular work about the time of the birth of Jesus. We find the "blessed" of Proverbs xxxi. 28, and the "handmaiden" of the "Wisdom of Solomon" both in Mary's magnificat: "For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." In Ecclesiasticus (xv. 2) we find the enigmatic clause concerning Solomonic "Sophia," personified Wisdom: kai hypantêsetai autô hôs mêtêr, kai hôs gynê parthenias prosdexetai auoton. The Vulgate translates: "Et obviabit illi quasi mater honorificata, et quasi mulier a virginitate suscipiet illum." Wycliffe translates the Vulgate: "And it as a modir onourid schal meete hym, and as a womman fro virgynyte schal take him." The Authorised Version has: "And as a mother shall she meet him, and receive him as a wife married of a virgin." In the Variorum Teacher's Bible the reading "maiden wife" is suggested, and reference is made to Leviticus xxi. 13, "And he shall take a wife in her virginity." But the Septuagint, which Jesus Ben Sira would follow were he quoting, uses simple words there: hautos gynaika parthenon [ek tou genous autou] lêpsetai. (The words in crochets are added by the LXX.) The clause in Ecclus. xv. 2, taken with the chapter it continues, conveys to me an impression of rhapsodical paradox, as when Dante apostrophises Mary: "O Virgin Mother, daughter of thy son!" The Semitic goddess is born, Wisdom, sister of virginal Athena of the Parthenon, yet fulfilling the Solomonic exaltation of the Virtuous Woman, who is also a wife. She is therefore the Virgin Bride. But whether this interpretation is correct or not, it cannot be doubted that this strange phrase in a household book might easily convey that impression, and that to believers in the resurrection of Jesus the feeling that he must also have entered the world in a supernatural way might naturally have associated Miriam his mother with the virgin bride, Wisdom. The evolution of Wisdom into the Holy Spirit has been traced (ante XII.), and it is sufficient to mention here that in the "Gospel according to the Hebrews," Jesus uses the phrase "My mother the Holy Spirit."