The Book of the Holy Rosary: Part I, Chapter V. Scripture Types of the Second Joyful Mystery: The Ark in the House of Obededom; The Burning Bush
1. The Ark of the Covenant a visitor in the house of Obededom in the reign of King David.
“Hail, thou Ark of the Covenant!” says the Patriarch of Constantinople, Germanus, addressing himself to Mary, “of whom David prophesied, saying, Arise, O Lord, to Thy rest, Thou, and the Ark of Thy Sanctification” (Ps. cxxxi. 8). Ark of the Covenant, pray for us, is a petition of the popular litany of Loretto; and, perhaps, there is no one of the Old Testament types of Mary on which the Fathers of the Church are so fond of dwelling as this.
“Of a truth, the Ark of Israel,” writes Leo, an Emperor of Constantinople, “was an image of thy glory, O Mary, as having been a refuge and a protection for the conquered. Yet the things which were brought about through it were but a shadow of the things that have come to pass through thee; and far inferior to them. The Ark to the Israel of old was a source of help, only when they walked in the path of God’s commandments; and so far from proving a help to the guilty, and to those who deserted the ways of God, the very Ark itself was brought into peril through their sin. Nothing of the kind can be said of thee. It is no mere defence of the kind that thou bringest to the Christian people, for not only at the time when all were lost didst thou make haste to come to their aid, but even now thou offerest thyself as a guide, not only to those who keep the straight path of the Divine commandments, but also to those who turn aside, and render themselves liable to most just punishments. For God, in thee, has respect to His own most sacred Ark, and reverences the stretched-out hands that were once His own support” (Leo, Emperor, on the death of the Blessed Virgin).
So dear to the Christian people, indeed, has this particular image of Mary always appeared to be, that we shall find our account, in taking a brief preliminary glance at some of the striking points of the resemblance, on which the Church writers delight to expatiate; which, taken together, certainly present a beautiful proof of the Divine forethought in preparing the way for the Christian mysteries.
(1.) The form and design of the Ark of the Mosaic Covenant, had been preconceived in the Divine mind, for God said to Moses, “See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the Mount” (Exod. xxv. 40); and the Church delights to understand of the Ark of the New Covenant the inspired words, “I was pre-ordained from all eternity; of old, and before the earth was made, and while the depths were not, was I conceived” (Prov. viii. 23).‸
(2.) The Ark of Israel was to be constructed entirely from materials which were freely offered—“From every man that shall offer of his own free will, thou shalt receive them” (Exod. xxv. 2); and Mary, in the same manner, was not asked to offer herself otherwise than entirely of her own free will to become the Ark of the New Covenant, her consent being given in the words—“Behold the Handmaiden of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word.”
(3.) “Thou shalt make it of setim wood.” The setim-tree furnished an imperishable material, the shadow of the inviolable purity and virginity of the Ark of the New Covenant.
(4.) “Thou shalt line it with the purest gold within and without, and thou shalt make a golden crown round about it”—a figure of the care bestowed on the formation of the Ark of the New Covenant. “Almighty and everlasting God,” says the Church in her prayer, “who by the power of the Holy Ghost didst prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mother Mary, to be a fit dwelling-place for Thy Son.”
(5.) “Thou shalt place in the Ark the testimony which I will give thee.” He who came to dwell in the Ark of the New Covenant, says of Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John xiv. 6).
(6.) “Thou shalt make a mercy seat of the purest gold with which the Ark is to be covered.” The Church loves to call Mary the “Mother of Mercy,” of whom St Bernard says, “Why should frail humanity fear to approach Mary. In her there is nothing that is austere, nothing that is terrible. She is all sweetness, offering milk and wool to all who are of her household. Turn over all that is written in the entire of the Gospel history of Mary, and if but the very smallest symptom of anything harsh and censorious, or so much as the least sign of any disposition to be stern and severe is found in her, then you may suspect and hesitate to approach her” (Twelve Prerogatives of Mary).
(7.) “From thence I will give laws, says God, and I will speak to thee from above the mercy seat, all the things which I will command to the children of Israel” (Exod. xxv. 22). “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive,” says the prophet, “and shall bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel, or God with us” (Isa. vii. 14). It is the Emmanuel who is Mary’s Son, who has sent His apostles into the whole world, to teach all its nations and people to observe all that He has commanded them.
“And Mary,” says St Luke—to resume the subject of the particular parallel to the visit Mary paid to Elizabeth—“abode with Elizabeth about three months, and she returned to her own house” (Luke i. 56). It happened to the Ark of the Covenant of Israel to be, in like manner, also a visitor in the house of a sojourner in Israel, for the exactly similar space of time of three months, and this came to pass in the ensuing remarkable way. When all the people of Israel had received, with acclamations, David’s proposal to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Mount Sion, and had answered “that so it should be, for the word pleased all the people” (1 Par. xiii. 4), David’s pious design suffered a temporary interruption from the following cause:—“David and all Israel played before God with all their might with hymns, and with harps, and with psalteries, and timbrels, and cymbals, and trumpets. And when they came to the floor of Chidon, Oza put forth his hand, to hold up the Ark; for the ox being wanton had made it lean a little on one side. And the Lord was angry with Oza, and struck him, because he had touched the Ark; and he died there before the Lord. And David was troubled because the Lord had struck Oza; and he called that place the Breach of Oza to this day. And he feared God at that time, saying, How can I bring in the Ark of God to me? And, therefore, he brought it not home to himself, that is, into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gethite. And the Ark of God remained in the house of Obededom three months; and the Lord blessed his house, and all that he had” (1 Par. xiii. 7–14).
Thus, by the design of God, it was brought to pass, that both the Ark of the Old and the Ark of the New Covenant, were each respectively visitors for the space of three months; each bringing moreover the blessing of God to the houses where they respectively sojourned. But the beauty of the parallel by no means terminates here. When the marvel that had been accomplished in Mary began to be apparent, “Joseph, her husband,” as St Matthew relates, “being a just man, and not willing to expose her publicly, was minded to put her away privately; but while he thought on these things, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost; and she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His Name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.’ And Joseph, arising from his sleep, did as the angel had commanded him, and took his wife” (Matt. i. 19, &c.)
And it was told to 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 into the city of David with great joy. Such is the remarkable parallel which the wisdom of God has preordained should be found between the Ark of the Old and the Ark of the New Covenant.
2. The Bush which burned with fire and was not consumed.
In the Vespers for the feast of the Circumcision the Church sings: “In the bush which Moses saw burning with fire, which yet was not consumed, we confess the preservation of thine admirable Virginity. Mother of God, intercede for us.” The particular event to which these words refer is thus related in the Book of Exodus:—“Moses fed the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Madian, and when he had led his flock into the further part of the desert, he came to Horeb, the mount of God. And the Lord appeared to him in the flame of fire from the midst of the bush, and he saw that the bush was on fire and yet was not consumed. Moses therefore said: I will go and see this great vision why the bush is not burned. But the Lord seeing that he approached to behold, called him from the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. But he answered, Here I am. And the Lord said, Draw not nigh hither; loose thy shoes from off thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was not able to look upon God” (Exodus iii. 1–6).
Some few of the particular details of this striking parallel will well repay the labour of a little careful study. Moses, for example, full of wonder and amazement, says: “I will go and see this great vision why the bush is not burned;” and Elizabeth, full of awe and wonder at the mystery, the accomplishment of which in Mary has been revealed to her, goes forth to behold and greet her with the words—“Whence is this that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Moses, approaching the Burning Bush of the Old Law, receives the favour of being permitted to hear the Voice of God speaking from the midst of the bush, revealing to him circumstantially the nature of the salvation He is about to accomplish in behalf of the oppressed people of Israel; and Elizabeth, in a transport of joy, hears the sweet voice proceeding from the Burning Bush of the New Law, in which the Holy Ghost, by the lips of Mary, reveals the nature of the salvation which is about to be accomplished in behalf of all the lost and oppressed tribes and kindreds of the whole earth.
Since St James, then, assures us that with God there is neither change nor shadow of turning (James i. 17), if it be granted that we have the remarkable parallel of the Divine Voice uttering its revelations respectively from the Burning Bush both of the Old and the New Covenants, we shall naturally expect, that whatever truly proceeds from the mouth of God will possess such traces of harmony and consonance that will bear ample internal testimony to the identity of the one Divine source from which they come. It is of course true that the circumstances in the two cases will very greatly differ. Mary as the mouthpiece of the Holy Ghost, uttering her inspired testimony in the hearing of the aged Elizabeth, speaks under quite other circumstances than the Divine Voice which condescends to engage in a colloquy with Moses on the subject of his mission to the people of Israel; and the salvation God promises to Israel by the hand of Moses is but a remote figure and shadow of the Divine salvation intended for all the tribes and nations of the earth to the end of time, to which Mary is bearing her testimony. Yet, taking all this into consideration, we may still look for traces of the identity of the one Divine source manifesting themselves in the words that proceed from both respectively; and thus we proceed to seek our edification in discovering some of the leading features of the parallel.
“I have seen,” says the Divine Voice which speaks to Moses, “the affliction of My people in Egypt, and, knowing their misery, I am come down to relieve them.” And the Church says, in the Nicene Creed, Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, the Burning Bush of the New Law.
For He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His name, says the Voice that spoke to Elizabeth; and the Voice that spoke to Moses says: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, He who is hath sent me to you. This is My name and My memorial to all generations.
“He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble,” says the Divine Voice that spoke through Mary; and the Voice on Mount Sinai endowed the rod of Moses with the power to put down the mighty from their seat; for it was with the same rod that Moses called forth the waters of the Red Sea upon the hosts of Pharaoh, drowning him and his army in its waves.
“He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away,” says the Voice from the Burning Bush of the Christian Covenant. There is nothing which the hungry soul so eagerly desires as to be cleansed from its sin. “Wash me,” says the holy psalmist, “from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin; restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, and strengthen me with Thy princely spirit” (Ps. 1.) And the Voice which spoke to Moses gave him for a sign the sudden restoration of his hand, which had been smitten with leprosy, a figure of the cleansing from the leprosy of sin; and also the power of turning the water of the river into blood, at one and the same time a token of their redemption to the faithful Israelites, and of death to the proud Egyptians.
The Divine Voice which spoke in the Burning Bush of the New Law, concludes with the words—“He hath taken up the cause of Israel His servant, as He promised to our fathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.” And the same Divine Voice which spoke to Moses, said—“Go, therefore, and I will be in thy mouth, and I will teach thee what thou mayest speak.” And again, “I will be in thy mouth and in his mouth (Aaron’s), and I will show you what you ought to do.” “He that keepeth watch over Israel,” says holy David, “neither slumbereth nor sleepeth.” And He of whom Mary bears witness that He hath taken up the cause of Israel His servant, afterwards pledged His word to His apostles: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world.” The Voice from the Burning Bush of both the Old and the New Law perfectly agree with each other in promising that God will for ever continue to be with His people, defending, protecting, and watching over them.