That the Mother of My Lord should Come to Me?
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And David was afraid of the Lord that day,
saying: How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?
2 Samuel 6, 9
And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come
to me?
For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Luke 1, 43-44
The word type is derived
from the Greek word tupos (τύπος) which means an impression. The
Biblical term anti-type originates from the Greek word antitupos (ἀντίτυπος).
This word is defined as meaning being typical of, representing by type or
pattern, and corresponding to an image. An anti-type corresponds to or fulfills
a type: a predictive symbol. Overall, the word tupos is thought of as an image,
pattern, model, figure, or example. Throughout sacred Scripture, we find what
are called theological types.
For instance, although the Old Testament does not explicitly mention Christ, he is spoken of figuratively and allegorically. Abraham’s son Isaac and King David are fulfilled in our Lord. The former represents Jesus who is the propitiation for our sins, while the latter prefigures our Lord’s victorious Davidic kingship and rule over all nations in the new and everlasting Kingdom of God. The Suffering Servant who is spoken of by the prophet Isaiah also foreshadows Christ in his passion and death. Moreover, the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, after God has miraculously parted it, is perceived to represent Baptism; the Holy Eucharist is seen to have been foreshadowed in the manna which comes down from heaven daily during the Israelites’ forty-year sojourn in the desert after they have been liberated from slavery in Egypt. Noah’s ark prefigures the Church, and so on.
Biblical typology is a
literary device in which the authors of the sacred texts were inspired by the
Holy Spirit to use for communicating the fullness of God’s revelation and His
plan of salvation in human history. Typology is a means by which God reveals
Himself and His thoughts to us so that we come to better understand what it is
He desires we should know to fully relate to Him. By means of types, God
intentionally captures our attention so that we focus on what they point
towards. This way, we can come to see the consistency and continuation of the
manner of His salvific plan: (oikonomia): "how God manages His household (Israel
and the Church), the distribution of His property, the arrangement of the
family members, all for their inheritance of eternal life" (Scott Hahn, Consuming
the Word: Image).
Of course, Biblical typology also
includes reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary to draw our attention to her
place and role in the Divine order of redemption. There is something about Mary
in the economy of salvation that God desires to draw our complete attention to
since it is an integral part of His plan to redeem the world. In the OT, we
have Marian types in the figures of Sarah, Judith, and Esther among the other
Hebrew Matriarchs who prefigure the mother of our Lord in some significant way.
And even more remarkably, we find the Ark of the Covenant reaching its
fulfillment in the person of Mary. Let us see how the Blessed Virgin and the
Ark correspond to each other.
But Josue rent his garments and fell flat on the ground before
the ark
of the Lord until the evening, both he and all the ancients of Israel:
and they put dust upon their heads.
Joshua 7, 6
In ancient Judaism, the Ark of the
Covenant was the only religious relic (along with the Bread of the Presence
that was kept in the tabernacle of the Temple) that was venerated and even
prostrated before, since it was regarded to be intrinsically holy, being the
medium by which Yahweh physically manifested Himself in the glory cloud. The
Ark was God’s personal dwelling place in the world, as was the Temple in
Jerusalem, having no relation to anything that was regarded to be profane. The
purpose for which the Ark was constructed rendered it sacred.
This holy object which was sanctified
by God was made of the purest natural materials; incorruptible acacia wood
(shittim) and the cleanest gold (tahor) that covered the Ark without and laced
it within. The golden wreath which decorated the Ark added the final touch. The
Ark was so holy, in fact, that if anyone were to touch it without having first
been ritually purified, they would be struck dead, albeit with any good
intentions (2 Sam 6:6-7). The Ark was first kept in the Tent of Meeting (a
portable temple or tabernacle) in the time of Moses and eventually housed in
the Holy of Holies (inner sanctuary) in the Temple which was built by King
Solomon: a perfectly clean place where the Jewish high priests could enter only
once a year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) according to their sacred law
(Lev 16:2-4). The Ark was so sacred that even a high priest would be struck
dead if he dared to enter the inner sanctuary on any other day of the year.
Further, the Ark held the two stone tablets on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments, the budded rod of the high priest Aaron, and a golden jar of the manna that came down from heaven during the Israelites’ sojourn in the desert. When the Ark was carried in procession, it was accompanied by joyous singing, the playing of several musical instruments, and the wearing of religious vestments. The procession was an occasion for celebrating being blessed by God and receiving the grace of His faithful covenant (2 Sam 6:3).
The Ark was also associated with God’s
providential care. For instance, in the Battle of Jericho, the Ark was carried
around the city’s walls seven times (figuratively the number of days God
created the world) until they came tumbling down (Josh 6:11-17). And as the
Levitical priests carried the Ark in procession, God caused the water of the
Jordan to recede and provide a path for His chosen people, so they could cross
into the Promised Land (Josh 3:2-4, 17). It was here where Joshua set up the
Twelve Stones which the Israelites had to pass by to enter their new homeland.
These stones themselves prefigure the twelve Apostles who were Christ’s first
ministers of the sacrament of Baptism and initiation into the Church. Thus,
when the Israelites venerated the Ark, they were, in fact, worshiping and
praising God, for it was associated with the Divine Presence and the
dispensation of His grace. The same can be said for Catholics who venerate the
Blessed Virgin Mary and implore her mediation for the providential dispensation
of God’s grace.
And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his
testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices,
and an earthquake, and great hail. And a great sign appeared in heaven:
A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head
a crown of twelve stars.
Revelation 11, 19... 12, 1
Since the earliest time, the Catholic
Church has venerated the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant.
The first converts to the Christian faith were Jews, as were most of them in
the first century during the Apostolic age. Because of their Judaic heritage,
they naturally perceived Mary to be the anti-type of the Ark of the Covenant
and saw its culmination in her. The parallel was so clear to them that it
became a sacred tradition of the Church, one that has lasted in the Church to
this present day. Just as the Israelites venerated the Ark until its
disappearance prior to the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century B.C., so did
the first Christian Ecclesia revere the mother of the Lord because of her
personal association with the physical manifestation of God’s presence on earth
in the hypostatic order of Christ’s incarnation.
Moreover, the faithful acknowledged
Mary’s exceptional holiness and separation from all that was profane and even
sinful, for it was she who was chosen to conceive the Divine Word made flesh in
her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35; Jn 1:14). Her body could be
compared to not only the incorruptible acacia wood that framed the Ark, but
also to the holy Temple where the Ark was eventually kept, and her womb to the
sacred sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, where the Ark was particularly concealed
within the holy place. The stainless gold of the Ark drew their attention to
the purity of Mary’s soul (Lk 1:46).
The connection became clear. As the
mother of our Lord, Mary held not only the Divine Word, but also in his person
the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek (Heb 5:8-10), and the “true manna
come down from heaven” – the “Bread of Life” (Jn 6:35, 51). Mary held within
her the anti-typical embodiment of the sacred relics in the Ark. Since they find
their ultimate fulfillment in the holy person of the Divine Son, so too the Ark
that held them must culminate in the holy person of the Blessed Virgin Mary who
conceived and bore him in her sacred womb which was his personal dwelling
place.
That this nascent Marian tradition of
the Church did in fact exist is undeniably certain. In his Gospel, St. Luke
draws a parallel between Mary and the Ark by alluding to persons and events
found in the Book of Exodus, the Second Book of Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 1 Kings,
and Zephaniah. All that the evangelist has written by Divine inspiration is
drawn from what has been handed on through the Apostolic Tradition of the
Church. Everything recorded in his Gospel comes from the first witnesses and
servants of the spoken word or oral tradition (Lk 1:1-4).
Keeping this in mind, let us now
examine what Luke has penned, as we continue to critically examine this nascent
Marian tradition of the Church. Let’s see how he draws a comparison between
Mary and the Ark of the Covenant in many ways by referring to persons and
events in the Old Testament. We cannot help but remark on the parallelism in
the evangelist’s Gospel. What we are about to see is by no means just a
coincidence. Rather, what we have is a fine example of Biblical typology. There
is something very significant about Mary that God wants us to pay close
attention to in His written word, only it isn’t mentioned explicitly or in a
purely literal sense (sensus plenior). To make sense of Mary, we must read the
Scriptures in more than one sense. This includes the spiritual sense
(allegorical, analogical, anagogical, or moral).
To begin, Mary arises and goes to the
hill country of Judea to stay with her kinswoman Elizabeth for three months.
David arises and goes to the same hill country to stay with the Ark for three
months. It is in Ein Kerem where Elizabeth lives. Abu Ghosh, where the ark
resides, is only a short walk apart. Mary and the Ark are both on a journey to
the same hill country of Judea.
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country,
to a city of Judah,
and she entered the house of Zechari′ah and greeted Elizabeth.
Luke 1, 39
And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from
Ba′ale-judah, to bring up
from there the ark of God, which is called
by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on
the cherubim. And they
carried the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of
Abin′adab which was on the hill.
2 Samuel 6, 2-3
John the Baptist leaps for joy in his
mother’s womb at the sound of Mary’s greeting. King David leaps for joy as he
dances before the Ark.
And it came to pass,
that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary,
the infant leaped in her
womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.
– Luke 1, 41
And when the ark of
the Lord was come into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul,
looking
out through a window, saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord: and
she
despised him in her heart.
- 2 Samuel 6, 16
Elizabeth deferentially asks her much
younger cousin Mary how it is that the mother of her Lord (Adonai)
should come to her. Being reverential to the Lord (Adonai), David asks
how it is that the Ark should come to him.
“And whence is this
to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
– Luke 1, 43
And David was afraid
of the Lord that day, saying:
How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?
– 2 Samuel 6, 9
Mary stays in the house of Elizabeth
for three months to look after her. The Ark is kept in the house of Obededom
for three months. The Lord blesses his house and all his possessions because of
the Ark’s presence. Elizabeth’s house is blessed the first instant her infant
leaps in her womb at the sound of Mary’s voice. Both Mary (the new Ark of the
Covenant) and the Ark of the Covenant respectively serve as moral and physical
channels of divine grace.
And Mary abode with
her about three months;
and she returned to her own house.
– Luke 1, 56
And the ark of the
Lord abode in the house of Obededom the Gethite three months:
and the Lord blessed Obededom, and all
his household.
– 2 Samuel 6, 11
Finally, Mary returns home from
visiting Elizabeth and eventually goes to Jerusalem to present her infant Jesus
to God in the Temple. The Ark leaves the house of Obededom and is taken to
Jerusalem, where eventually the presence and glory of God is manifested in the
newly built Temple. There the Ark is resting in the sacred sanctuary of the
Holy of Holies.
And the ark of God
remained in the house of Obededom three months:
and the Lord blessed his house,
and all that he had.
- 1Chronicles 13, 14
And after eight days
were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called
JESUS, which was called by the angel, before he was conceived in the womb. And
after the days of
her purification, according to the law of Moses, were
accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem,
to present him to the Lord.
– Luke 2, 21-22
And it was told king
David, that the Lord had blessed Obededom, and all that he had, because of
the
ark of God. So David went, and brought away the ark of God out of the house of
Obededo
into the city of David with joy. And there were with David seven
choirs, and calves for victims.
- 2 Samuel 6, 14
In the Greek translation of the Hebrew
Old Testament, the Septuagint has the salutation chairo (χαρῆτε) for
“sing aloud”. The word can mean “to be full of cheer” or “rejoice” as we have
it in St. Luke’s Gospel. The reason for Mary to rejoice and be full of cheer is
that God is in her midst, just as He was for Israel in the figure of Daughter
Zion. But Mary’s cause for rejoicing is the fact that God has favored her to
conceive and bear His Only-begotten Son. God is personally in her midst much
more by being physically present in her womb. The Hebrew word for God in
Israel’s midst is qereb (keh’-rev) which literally translated means “in
the womb”. Further, the same word is used elsewhere in the Hebrew OT to
describe how God dwells amid His people through the Ark in a physical sense.
And coming to her the angel said,
“Rejoice, O, favoured by grace! The Lord is with you.”
– Luke 1, 28 14
καὶ εἰσελθὼν ὁ ἄγγελος πρὸς αὐτὴν εἶπεν Χαῖρε κεχαριτωμένη
ὁ κύριος μετὰ σοῦ εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξίν
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult
with all your heart, O daughter
of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the
judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies.
The King of Israel, the
Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more.
- Zephaniah 3, 14-16
Χαῖρε σφόδρα, θύγατερ Σιών, κήρυσσε, θύγατερ ῾Ιερουσαλήμ· εὐφραίνου καὶ κατατέρπου ἐξ
ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου, θύγατερ ῾Ιερουσαλήμ. 15 περιεῖλε Κύριος τὰ ἀδικήματά σου, λελύτρωταί
σε ἐκ χειρὸς ἐχθρῶν σου· βασιλεὺς ᾿Ισραὴλ Κύριος ἐν μέσῳ σου, οὐκ ὄψῃ κακὰ οὐκέτι. 16 ἐν τῷ
καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ ἐρεῖ Κύριος τῇ ῾Ιερουσαλήμ· θάρσει, Σιών, μὴ παρείσθωσαν αἱ χεῖρές σου
Further, we read in the Septuagint Version
of the Book of Exodus that the Lord covered the tabernacle where the Ark was
kept and filled it with His glory. This refers to the bright glory cloud (Shekinah)
which the Jews believed to be a physical manifestation of God’s overshadowing
spiritual presence and His word. Luke tells us in his Gospel that the power of
the Most High shall “overshadow” Mary. He uses the same original Greek word episkiazo
(ἐπισκιάζω) for the word ‘overshadow’ in the future tense: episkiasei (ἐπισκιάσει).
It was the Holy Spirit who came upon Mary and “covered” her with His shadow, by
whose power she conceived the Divine Word in the flesh. The sanctuary of her
womb was filled with the glory of God, as He enveloped the temple of her body
by His physical incarnation.
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the Son of God.
- Luke 1, 35
καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ ἄγγελος εἶπεν αὐτῇ Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ δύναμις Ὑψίστου
ἐπισκιάσει σοι· διὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον κληθήσεται Υἱὸς Θεοῦ.
And Moses was not able to enter into the tabernacle of testimony,
because the cloud
overshadowed it, and the tabernacle was filled with the glory
of the Lord.
– Exodus 40, 35
καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνάσθη Μωυσῆς εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου,
ὅτι ἐπεσκίαζεν ἐπ᾿ αὐτὴν ἡ νεφέλη καὶ δόξης Κυρίοs ἐνεπλήσθη ἡ σκηνή.
Gary G. Michuta (Making Sense of
Mary: Grotto Press) cites Zechariah 2:10 to connect the verse with John
1:14. In the prophecy, God says, “I am coming to dwell among you.” The author
informs us that the Greek word for “dwell” is kataskenoso, whose root
word for “tent” or “tabernacle” is skene, viz., the portable tent or
tabernacle that housed the Ark of the Covenant before Solomon built the Temple.
In the Gospel of John (1:14), the Greek word for “dwelt” is eskenosen
which is derived from the same root word skene. So, the evangelist is
literally saying, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” This
occurred when Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and conceived our Lord.
God’s incarnated presence filled the temple of her body and the sanctuary of
her womb in which He personally dwelled and filled with His glory as He had the
Ark of the Covenant.
Last but not least, the Greek word anephōnēsen
or ‘ἀνεφώνησεν’ (“lift up the voice” / “cry out with a loud voice”) rarely
appears in sacred Scripture. In the New Testament, it appears only once and
with respect to Mary, that is in Luke 1, 42:
And she cried out with a loud voice, and said:
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
- Luke 1, 42
καὶ ἀνεφώνησεν κραυγῇ μεγάλῃ καὶ εἶπεν Εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξίν,
καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου.
There are only five instances in which
this word is employed in the Septuagint, and on these occasions, it is in
association with the Ark and Temple worship (1 Chron. 15:28; 16:4,5, 42; 2
Chron. 5:13). For instance:
So, they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the
tabernacle which David pitched
for it…
And he appointed before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, Levites to
minister [and] lift
up the voice, and to give thanks and praise the Lord God of
Israel.
- 1 Chronicles 16, 1-4
καὶ ἔταξε κατὰ πρόσωπον τῆς κιβωτοῦ διαθήκης Κυρίου ἐκ τῶν Λευιτῶν λειτουργοῦντας
ἀναφωνοῦντας καὶ ἐξομολογεῖσθαι καὶ αἰνεῖν Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν ᾿Ισραήλ·
Hence, the parallelism that we have in
the Gospel of Luke clearly confirms this nascent Marian tradition of the Church
which was an offshoot of Judaic belief among the first Christian faithful who
received the oral word of God from the Apostles themselves. The designation of
Mary being the Ark of the New Covenant is another instance of the Old Testament
being fulfilled in the New Testament. Only those who are ill-acquainted with the
OT and ancient Judaic tradition can easily fail to see the connection.
As we have seen, the Ark of the
Covenant was specifically created by God to carry His overshadowing presence in
this world. Similarly, God created Mary to carry the Divine Word in the flesh
through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. For the same reason, both the Ark
of the Old Covenant and Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant, were made
intrinsically holy by Divine mediation. As the Ark was made of the purest gold
within and without and of incorruptible acacia wood (which cannot be consumed
by worms and insects) because it was designed to serve as God’s personal
dwelling place on earth, so too God sanctified Mary’s soul when he fashioned it
upon her conception and preserved her flesh free from every stain of original
sin and ensuing bodily corruption.
Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place:
thou and the ark, which thou hast sanctified.
Psalm 132, 8
Besides the Perpetual Virginity of
Mary, the Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception and its corollary the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul into Heaven, find their
integrity in Mary’s designation of being the Ark of the New Covenant. We read
in Luke 1:28, that Mary was called completely and perfectly sanctified or
justified by divine grace with a permanent result (kecharitomene). She
had no cause to fear the Divine Justice, for she had found favor with God (Lk
1:30). Not unlike a restored Daughter Zion, Mary was “clothed with a robe of
salvation” and “wrapped in a mantle of justice” (Isa 61:10). God had looked
upon the lowliness of His handmaid and did great things to her because she was
chosen to be God’s personal dwelling place in His physical manifestation, her
body being His holy Temple and her womb His sacred sanctuary. Thus, all
generations shall call the Virgin Mary “blessed,” for God has done “great
things” to her, and holy is His name (Lk 1:48-49).
As with all Catholic Marian doctrines
and dogmas, our fuller understanding of Mary’s role in the economy of salvation
serves to better illuminate our understanding and deepen our appreciation for
her divine Son. Mary’s role as the Ark of the New Covenant underscores the
divine truth of who Jesus Christ is: one divine Person in the flesh with both a
divine and a human nature hypostatically united, but nonetheless distinct from
each other.
In the words of St. Hippolytus (200
A.D.): “For whereas the Word of God was without flesh, He took upon Himself the
holy flesh (the true manna come down from Heaven) by the holy Virgin.” Mary was
made holy by the grace of God, for she was predestined to be overshadowed by
the Holy Spirit and carry the Divine Presence in the sanctuary of her womb. She
truly is the new Ark who was “overlaid with pure gold with the Word within and
the Holy Spirit without.” St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. A.D. 260) concurs: The
Ark of the Covenant is truly fulfilled in the holy Virgin Mother, “gilded
within and without,” having “received the treasure of sanctification.” St.
Dionysius of Alexandria (c. A.D. 248) testifies in accordance with this sacred
Tradition of the Church: “As Christ, our Priest was not chosen by the hand of
man, so neither was His tabernacle framed by men, but was established by the
Holy Spirit; and by the power of God is that tabernacle protected” from all
putridity and corruption, “to be had in everlasting remembrance, Mary, God’s
Virgin Mother.”
And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant
and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant
and went before the people.
Joshua 3, 6
Early Sacred Tradition
world from that Ark, which was gilded with pure gold within by the Word, and without by the
Holy Ghost; so that the truth was shown forth, and the Ark was manifested…. And the Savior
came into the world bearing the incorruptible Ark, that is to say His own body.”
St. Hippolytus, In Daniel Vl
(c. A.D.205)
Mary? The Ark bore within it the tables of the Testament, but Mary bore the Heir of the same
Testament itself. The former contained in it the Law, the latter the Gospel. The one had the voice
of God, the other His Word. The Ark, indeed, was radiant within and without with the glitter of
gold, but holy Mary shone within and without with the splendor of virginity. The one was
adorned with earthly gold, the other with heavenly.”
St. Ambrose, Serm. xlii. 6, Int. Opp., S. Ambrosiiz
(ante. A.D. 397)
The spouse of Christ is the ark of the covenant, within and without overlaid with gold, a keeper of
the law of the Lord. As in the ark there was nothing but the tables of the Testament, so too in thee
no one from outside should be thought of. Over this propitiatory, as though upon the Cherubim,
the Lord is pleased to sit...The Apostle thus defines a virgin, that she should be holy in body and in
spirit.”
St. Jerome, Epist. Xxii.
(ante A.D. 420)
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Salve Regina!