The Book of the Holy Rosary: Part I, Chapter IX. Scripture Types of the Fourth Joyful Mystery: Samuel Presented to the High Priest; Moses Allowed to See the Promised Land
1. Anna presents her son Samuel to the High Priest Heli for the service of the tabernacle for the whole of his life.
We have already become familiar, in the First Joyful Mystery, with the peculiar circumstances attending the birth of Samuel, and with the beautiful character of his mother Anna, as prefiguring the Mother of Jesus, in respect of her spirit of piety and earnest supplication, through which she obtained the precious gift of her son Samuel. We have now to make the further acquaintance of Anna, in the new and still more affecting character of the mother who presented her son, in the presence of the altar of God, to be henceforward entirely devoted to the service of God and of His people: she, as his mother, formally renouncing all her maternal right in her son, and giving him up entirely to the work to which it might please God to call him.
The Scripture relates the history as follows:—“And after she had weaned him, she carried him with her, with three calves, and three bushels of flour, and a bottle of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord in Silo. Now the child was yet very young, and they immolated a calf, and offered the child to Heli. And Anna said, ‘I beseech thee, my lord, as my soul liveth, I am that woman who stood before thee praying to the Lord. For this child did I pray, and the Lord hath granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore, I also have lent him to the Lord; all the days of his life he shall be lent to the Lord.’ And they adored the Lord there. And Anna prayed and said—CANTICLE OF ANNA.
“My heart hath exulted in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God. My mouth is enlarged above my enemies, for I have rejoiced in Thy salvation. There is none holy like unto the Lord, for there is none other beside Thee, and there is none mighty like unto our God. Forbear to speak high things and multiply boastings. Let the old things depart from thy mouth; for the Lord He is the God of knowledge, to Him shall all thoughts be turned. The bow of the strong is broken, and the feeble are clothed with strength. For they that were full before have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry are filled. Until she that was barren hath brought forth many children, and she that had many sons hath become weak. The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth back again. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth down and raiseth up. He lifted up the needy from the dust, and raiseth the poor man from the dunghill, that he may sit with the princes, and hold the throne of glory. For in the hands of the Lord are the hinges of the earth, and He hath set the world upon them. He shall preserve the feet of His saints, and the ungodly shall be silenced in the darkness, for no man shall prevail by his own strength. All His enemies shall fear the Lord. He shall cast down lightning upon them from heaven. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and He shall give dominion unto His King, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ” (1 Kings ii. 1–10).
Anna presents Samuel, the son whom she had obtained from God by her earnest prayer, to be made over for the whole of his life to the service of the tabernacle, in fulfilment of her vow. And Mary presents her Son Jesus in the temple, to do honour to the law of Moses, notwithstanding that she did not come under its obligation, and to signify that, as His Mother, she gave Him up to God to the work of saving His people from their sins. “When,” writes St Athanasius, “was the Lord hid from the eye of His Father, or what place is exempted from His dominion, that by remaining in it, He should be separate from the Father, except He were brought to Jerusalem and presented in the temple? for, as He was made man and circumcised, not to obtain grace for Himself, but that we might obtain grace and be circumcised in spirit, so it is entirely for our sakes that Mary presents Him in the temple to the Father, that we may learn from thence to give ourselves to God.”
Again, Anna having presented her son for the service of God to be henceforward a servant of the tabernacle, rejoices in spirit, and says, “For I have rejoiced in Thy salvation;” and Mary rejoices to hear the words of holy Simeon: “Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.”
Again, Anna’s son, even before his conception and birth, is irrevocably pledged by his mother to the service of God in His sanctuary, and Mary is the Mother of a Son who also previous to His birth was irrevocably pledged to save His people from their sins, which involved His becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
Anna, again, was blessed of God in an especial manner for thus surrendering up her son to the service of the sanctuary, and she was afterwards rewarded with numerous children, so that her name has even become celebrated in prophecy: “Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; sing praise, and cry out for joy, thou that didst not bring forth, for more are the children of the forsaken than of her that hath a husband” (Isa. liv. 1). Mary also freely surrendered up her Son Jesus to save His people from their sins, and now all generations make it their glory to vie with each other for the right to call themselves her children, and to place themselves under her maternal love and protection. Of a truth He that is mighty hath done great things for Mary.
2. Moses is allowed to see the promised land before his death.
Simeon was a just and devout man waiting for the consolation of Israel, to whom it had been revealed by the Holy Ghost that he should not taste death before He had seen the “Christ of the Lord.”
He was not to live to hear the words spoken on the cross, “It is finished;” he was not to benefit by the cleansing bath or to hear the words of regeneration, “I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;” it was only reserved to him to see with his bodily eyes the Christ of the Lord, and after he had seen Him to die in peace: “Lord, now dost Thou let Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.”
So it was with Moses, of whom St Paul says, that he was faithful as a servant in all his house; he waited patiently for the consolation of Israel. He bore with the iniquities and transgressions of his people, and the last act of his long life was to assemble the whole people of Israel together, and to recapitulate to them all that the Lord their God had done for them.
For this faithful service, like holy Simeon, Moses receives the reward of being permitted to see with his bodily eyes the salvation which he is not personally to enjoy, and to behold the promised land which he is not himself to enter.
“The Lord,” says the sacred Scripture, “spoke to Moses the same day, saying, Go up to this mountain, Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, over against Jericho, and see the land of Canaan which I will give to the children of Israel to possess, and die thou in the mountain” (Deut. xxxii. 48).
“Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab, upon Mount Nebo, to the top of Phasga, over against Jericho, and the Lord showed him the land of Galaad as far as Dan, and all Nephthali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasses, and the land of Juda to the furthermost sea, and the south part, and the breadth of the plain of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, as far as Segor.
“And the Lord said to him, This is the land which I sware to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to thy seed: thou hast seen it with thy eyes, and shalt not pass over to it.
“And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, by the commandment of the Lord.
“And He buried him in the valley of the land of Moab over against Phogor, and no man hath known of his sepulchre until this present day” (Deut. xxxiv. 1–6).
Abraham saw the day of Jesus Christ afar off; he saw it and was glad. Moses saw with his eyes the land which God had promised to give to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he saw it and died in peace. Simeon saw with his eyes the Christ of the Lord, and he blessed God that he was thus enabled to depart in peace. And yet, dear fellow-Christians, is not our Christian blessedness far greater than this. Let us hear St John telling us what it is that we possess: “That which our ears have heard, our eyes have seen, and our hands have handled of the Word of life” (1 John i. 1). Of a truth, “Many prophets and kings have desired to see the things which we see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that we hear, and have not heard them” (Luke x. 24). Where then, dear Christians, is our gratitude?