Saint Mary, Abraham and Sarah, Bride of God
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4.4. SAINT MARY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT4.4.2 THE FREE WOMANHagar and SarahNot only Eve announces Mary though. There is also the mother of Israel, Sarah, for St. Paul also makes another comparison, the one between the ancient and the new alliance, which is prefigured by the two women of Abraham and his two sons. He considers this as an "allegory" (Gal 4:21-31): St. Paul thinks that the Jerusalem of his time and the Mosaic law is represented by the slavery suffered by Hagar (Sarah’s servant and Abraham's second wife), who gave birth to Ishmael (Gen 16:1-2+15). The other Jerusalem, that "from above" (who we are trying to identify), is represented by Sarah, who, sterile for a long time, finally bore Isaac by a promise and a divine intervention (Gen 18:1-10; 21:1-7). The birth of the numerous children of faith in Christ was realized by a similar promise: "Rejoice, barren one who did not bear, break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in travail! For more numerous are the children of the abandoned than the children of the married" (Is 54:1; Gal 4:26-28). Israel, enslaved by the Mosaic law, therefore only announced the true descendants of Abraham born by the faith in Christ, who is the first true descendant according to the promise of Gen 12:7. By explaining this to the Galatians, St. Paul tries to dissuade them from submitting themselves under the Jewish law (Gal 3-4). However, it is not very clear what St. Paul tries to say. So let us clarify it: Israel prefigures the spiritual reality that has only come with Christ, which makes that in the past there are innumerable little prefigurations to this reality. As it happens, we want to restrict ourselves to those of the abandoned and the married. Thus, we will see that Saint Mary is the free Woman, who St. Paul considers to be the Mother of the disciples of Jesus: "So, brethren, we are not children of the slave but of the free Woman" (Gal 4:31). At first sight, one would say that this allegory only concerns Hagar, who was expelled (Gen 21:8-14), and Sarah, the real wife of Abraham, but it cannot be only that, for Hagar, as Sarah, bore only one boy each. A surplus of sons according to Is 54:1 does therefore not manifest itself on the part of Hagar, the abandoned. Also by taking into account the descent of the two women, the enigma does not get untied. As for Sarah, this descent is of course Israel. According to Gen 21:13, Hagar has one too, the Ishmaelites. Yet the biblical accounts nowhere indicate evidence that this people was bigger than the Israelites. This is why the figures of the abandoned and the married are not only restricted to Hagar and Sarah, but depend on a whole succession of types representing the same characteristics. That’s what is called a typology, which is based on the announcement of a superior reality. In our case, this reality concerns a person who in the past is prefigured by a group of other persons.
The typology of the abandonedConcerning the abandoned, this typology is the following: the first type is Hagar, who bore Ishmael (Gen 16:1-16). Then follows Rebekah, who bore Esau (Gen 26:19-25). She is the only woman of Isaac, son of Abraham, and also bore Jacob, son of the promise, which designates her as allegorical married too. So it’s difficult to find in her the figure of the abandoned. The characteristics of her two children, which we will detail further on, are more important yet, so that we have to suppose that the figure of the abandoned and the married are united at the same time in the person of Rebekah. Then comes Jacob’s first woman (Leah), the servant (Zilpah) of the latter and the servant (Bilhah) of Jacob’s second woman. Indeed, Leah was abandoned in the sentiments that Jacob granted her, for it is Rachel, his second woman, whom he liked most. Only by a swindle of her father, who wanted the eldest being wedded first, was Leah united with Jacob (Gen 29:15-30). This is one of the reasons why we also have to count Rachel among the abandoned. The other reason is that she not only bore Joseph (Gen 30:22-24), who is a son of the promise1, but also Benjamin (Gen 35:16-20), who is not. So in her too the figure of the abandoned and the married are united at the same time. Precisely because Leah was not the preferred of Jacob did God render her fertile to retrieve the love of her husband. Thus, she first bore four boys to Jacob (Gen 29:31-35) and later still two others (Gen 30:16-20). Rachel meanwhile remained sterile. This is why she took her servant Bilhah and gave her to Jacob in order to deliver children in her place. Bilhah bore Jacob two sons (Gen 30:1-8). Leah also gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob, who bore him two boys (Gen 30:9-13). The sons stemming from Leah, Zilpah and Bilhah are Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher (Gen 35:23-26). To this list of the children of the abandoned, Benjamin, the second son of Rachel, must also be added. By equally adding the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, and without counting the tribe of Levi, because he was vowed to the priesthood (Num 18:20-24), we obtain the complete list of the twelve tribes to which the Canaanite territory was distributed after its conquest (Jos 13-19). Thus, the Israelite people entirely stemmed from women representing the figure of the abandoned.
The typology of the marriedThe type of the married distinguishes by sterility at first that disappears however thereafter by giving birth to a child of promise. Thus the birth of Christ by Mary is prefigured. In the beginning of this typology, as St. Paul reminds, is found Sarah, who gave birth to Isaac. This birth was announced by the apparition of the three men (Gen 18:1-10), which prefigures the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38). Although Sarah doubted the word of these three men, because being too old she could no longer become pregnant, all arrived a year later as predicted (Gen 21:1-7). Isaac took Rebekah as his wife, who also remained sterile for a long time. Isaac however implored God to cease her sterility. Thus, she gave birth to the twins Esau and Jacob (Gen 25:21-26). And it is Jacob who announces Christ, because he received the right of primogeniture by a trick (Gen 27:1-29), although in reality Esau came out of the womb of Rebekah first (Gen 25:25)2. Jacob took Rachel as his wife (Gen 29:20-30), who was also sterile in the beginning (Gen 29:31). Finally, she bore nevertheless Joseph (Gen 30:22-24) and later Benjamin (Gen 35:16-20). From these two sons, it is Joseph who announces Christ. Up to here, it is Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel who prefigure the married. And Isaac, Jacob and Joseph announce Christ. The typology of the married does not stop there yet, for the real sterility of the figure of the married only begins now and lasts as long as the abandoned delivers her children, that is to say the Israelite people. This is why during the time of Israel three other women corresponding to the image of the married rise: at first Manoah’s not-named wife, who bore Samson (Jgs 13). This birth was equally announced, this time by an angel (Jgs 13:3). Similar circumstances also reign at the birth of Samuel born from Hannah (1 Sam 1:1-20) and finally at that of John the Baptist born from Elizabeth (Lk 1:5-25). Therefore the women corresponding to the abandoned are Hagar, Rebekah (as mother of Esau), Leah, Zilpah, Bilhah and Rachel (as mother of Benjamin). And the women corresponding to the married are Sarah, Rebekah (as mother of Jacob), Rachel (as mother of Joseph), Manoah’s wife, Hannah and Elizabeth. So there are six women in each camp.
The Bride becomes fertileThe moment when the Married, or the Bride, becomes fertile finally arrives when Mary bears Jesus, her First-born and the true descendant of Abraham according to St. Paul (Gal 3:15-16). Thus the promise is accomplished and the characteristic of the announcement ceases to be. The typology ends because it’s the type par excellence who begins to play his role. And this type is Mary and her son. This is why she is not sterile at first, as the other women, before she gives birth to Jesus3, for this sterility of the women preceding Saint Mary is only a prefiguration, which ceases at the moment when the announcements are realized. In our case, the sterility of the types of the married prefigure the belated descent of Abraham, which did not come with his physical descent but only with Christ. The sterility therefore reflects the time of Israel and ceases with the arrival of Christ. So there is no reason for Mary to be sterile too at first, since she has to give birth to Christ, so that at this moment there is no longer any sterility to be announced. Saint Mary thus clearly distinguishes herself from the other women, which proves that the Bride is not carried by the totality of the women, Mary included, as it is the case concerning the abandoned. There, this figure is effectively carried by all women and no one realizes prefigurations, in any event not concerning an Abandoned. How to explain that? Well, that’s simple: the abandoned also already announces the Bride at an inferior level, since her children typologically correspond to the Israelite people, who announces the spiritual kinship bore down by Mary. So there are two levels of announcements. The first is the typology of the abandoned and the second, closer to the realization, the typology of the married, which opens on the type par excellence, that is to say on Saint Mary. Prefiguration is based on resemblance. And where there is resemblance, there are at least two persons. So a person resembles another without being identical. Hence, the person resembling the other also has characteristics that diverge from the other one. Thus, the ancient Eve has points resembling Mary, as for example the maternity of all humanity, but she also has dissimilar points, like the disobedience. It is the same with Hagar: she is not a sort of Anti-Mary. She also has common points with Mary, like for example the fact that she was servant, for Mary was also servant according to her own speech: "I am the servant of the Lord..." (Lk 1:38), which expresses her obedience contrasting with Eve. Sarah is nevertheless closer to Mary, since she was the wife of Abraham. However, she also has dissimilar points, for she did not believe in the three mysterious men announcing the birth of Isaac (Gen 18:9-15), which also expresses disobedience. A similar incredulity also reigns at the birth of John the Baptist born of Elizabeth, who is the last woman in the typology of the married. Though, it is not Elizabeth herself but Zechariah, her husband, who did not give credence to Gabriel, who announced John's birth to him (Lk 1:11-22). This contrasts with the realization of the prefigurations. This realization began with the Annunciation, the encounter between Gabriel and Mary, who believed in his announcement that she shall give birth to Jesus by declaring: "...let it be with me as you say" (Lk 1:26-38), although this announcement was the most incredible of all others, for the point was not to believe in a birth contradicting with a sterility, but in one that should be made, not by a man, but by the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:34-35). By this trust in the word coming from Heaven, Saint Mary sets herself radically apart from all the other women who prefigure her. This is why St. Paul attributes to Saint Mary his praise of "the free Woman" (Gal 4:31) and of "the Jerusalem from above", who is our Mother (Gal 4:26). |
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NOTES
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