Mary in the Old Testament - part 2

The Burning Bush and Noah’s Ark

 

This is the second in a series of posts exploring Marian typology in the Old Testament.

In this post you’ll read about two more examples from early in the Old Testament that prefigured Our Lady: Noah’s Ark and the Burning Bush. 
 

Noah’s Ark and Mary

 

 

How exactly is Mary prefigured in the story of Noah? 

 

Noah was saved by the effects of sin in the ark. In the ark, he was shielded from the certain death caused by the Flood. 

 

In the same manner, Mary protects all those who take shelter in her from sin and its effects.


St. Alphonsus de Liguori makes this comparison in his wonderful book The Glories of Mary, and he uses the image of the ark in particular because even though it was gigantic in scale, the capacity for Mary to shield all sinners is even greater. 

 

The ark would have undoubtedly been the largest structure ever built at the time of the Flood, large enough to hold seven pairs of every clean animal and one pair of every unclean animal, not to mention enough space for Noah and his family too.


But Mary has even more “space” in this analogy- enough to shield and protect every sinner that comes to her for protection. 

 

The good news is that God’s salvation is open to every person. Christ suffered the Passion for every one of us. And no one’s sin is too great for God’s forgiveness.


Regardless of where you are in your life, as long as you are still drawing breath, there is still time and opportunity for God’s mercy and forgiveness. 

 

And the same is true for Mary. She is ready to shield and comfort any sinner who comes to her for help and there is no sinner so far gone that he cannot be welcomed under Our Lady’s mantle. 

 

The Burning Bush

 

Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock beyond the wilderness, he came to the mountain of God, Horeb.

 

There the angel of the LORD appeared to him as fire flaming out of a bush. When he looked, although the bush was on fire, it was not being consumed.

 

So Moses decided, “I must turn aside to look at this remarkable sight. Why does the bush not burn up?”

 

When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called out to him from the bush: Moses! Moses! He answered, “Here I am.”

 

God said: Do not come near! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

 

I am the God of your father, he continued, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3: 1-6) 

 

Near the beginning of the book of Exodus, Moses encounters God in the Burning Bush. This is one of the most famous and visually striking events in all of Scripture. Moses had previously fled from Egypt after killing a man and was now living in the land of Midian. 

 

Then he meets God face to face (so to speak). God calls out to him from the Burning Bush and commands him to return to Egypt to free his people.


This episode is famous as well because God identifies himself as “I AM” when Moses asks for his name. 

 

“But,” said Moses to God, “if I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what do I tell them?”

 

God replied to Moses: I am who I am. Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you. (Exodus 3: 13-14)

 

Unconsumed by Fire

 

So how is Mary like the Burning Bush? 

 

The early Church Fathers almost all thought this passage prefigured the Incarnation of the Lord. In fact, many icons of the Burning Bush show an image of Christ in the flames as the one who addresses Moses.


Not only that but Christ is shown in the Theotokos image, which is the name we give for icons of Mary with the Child Jesus. 

 

 

Saint John of Damascus said that the Burning Bush was clearly a sign of the Virgin Birth. Just as the bush burned and yet was not consumed, Mary was overtaken by the divine presence at the Annunciation and yet was not destroyed. 

 

Throughout the rest of the Scriptures, whenever God’s favored ones want to see God, they have to do so in an indirect way, lest they be destroyed. Moses only sees God from behind. Elijah only sees a glimpse of God from the cleft of a rock 

 

The fact is that God is so perfect and above our own sinful condition, that it would completely overwhelm us to even see God. But in the Incarnation, Mary conceives and carries God in her womb and yet is not destroyed. 

 

The virgin bore Fire within her, yet was not consumed, when she gave birth to the Benefactor Who brings us light - St. John Damascus 

 

Gregory of Nyssa and countless Church Fathers agree, “What was prefigured at that time in the flame of the bush was openly manifested in the mystery of the Virgin.”

 

What does it mean?

 

What’s the significance though? The Bible is the story of God revealing himself to us. God acted in human history so that we might know him. So what is it here that God wants us to know about him? 

 

One thing this affirms is Mary’s title, Theotokos, or “God-bearer.” That means it’s theologically correct for us to call Mary, the “Mother of God.” 

 

In the early centuries of the Church, Christians argued over what it actually meant to say that Jesus was fully God and fully human. The term Theotokos was related to this. 

 

There were some Christians who said that this title should not be used, saying that it was only appropriate to refer to Mary as the “Mother of Christ.” They believed that Mary simply couldn’t be considered as the Mother of God and that it was maybe even blasphemous to say so. 

 

But the Church thought otherwise, and after much prayer and consideration, she affirmed that the title “Mother of God” was both an appropriate title for Marian veneration and theologically true. 

 

The reason is that Mary is the mother of the person, Jesus Christ, and Jesus possesses both a full human nature and a fully divine nature in his person.


To separate either of these natures from the person of Jesus during his time in Mary's womb would effectively deny that he was both fully human and fully diving.  

 

Mary leads us to Jesus

 

When considering the Church’s teaching on Mary, it’s often good to remember that Marian doctrines are directly tied to the Church's teaching on Christ.


The Marian title, “Mother of God” was affirmed as dogma precisely because it taught something about the person of Jesus Christ, and that’s why it’s still one of the Church’s main feast days today. 

 

Jesus took on our human nature so it could be redeemed. 

 

This is one of the most important Christian beliefs as it relates to our salvation, for as many Church fathers emphasized, “what is not assumed cannot be redeemed.”


Jesus had to join our fallen human nature to his perfect divine nature in his person, and while his human nature was perfect and without sin, he suffered the effects of sin in order to redeem us.

 

We should see it as nothing short of amazing to see this prefigured even as early as the story of Moses and the Burning Bush.


Immediately after the Fall, we see in the protoevangelium that God already had a plan to save us, and we see this played out in almost every part of the Old Testament story: God's long plan to enter into the muck and mire of human suffering in order to save us and make a relationship with him possible again. 

 

Our end goal

 

Finally, the Burning Bush that is not consumed by the fire of God's presence is a powerful message that our end goal is union with God in heaven.


Even though we struggle with sin on earth, if we are in a state of grace we will be cleansed of sin and all attachment to sin so that we may experience the Beatific Vision and friendship with God. 

 

It is possible to say no to sin. It has to be. Because that's what we are created for and if we are blessed with heaven then we will be free of sin and all attachment to sin. The choice is ours whether that begins now in this life or after this life in purgatory. 

 

With Mary's prayer and help, any Christian - any sinner - can begin saying no to sin and yes to God right now - today. The Brown Scapular is a powerful devotion that reminds us that, as servants of Mary, we are called to grow closer to Christ through Mary daily. 

 

Let's pray for the grace and strength to start the path of conversion today. 

 

And recommit tomorrow. 


(Check out part 1 here and part 3 here and read part 4 here)
 

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