Was the Virgin Mary in the Old Testament?

Answer 1

Great question! :)

Yes.

As St. Augustine says, "The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New."

ProtoEvangelium

One of the first references that alludes, albeit indirectly, to Mary occurs immediately after the Fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis. It occurs in Genesis 3:15 and is referred to by scholars as the proto + evangelium, or first good news; i.e. despite the Fall, God immediately begins to reveal a plan for salvation. Speaking to the devil, God says: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel. Gn 3:15 NAB

Here scholars and theologians note that "...the passage can be understood as the first promise of a Redeemer for fallen mankind. The woman's offspring then is primarily Jesus Christ." (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine 1991, p.10)

Because Jesus was not the immediate offspring of Eve, we see, by way of implication, that another, later offspring of Eve would give birth to the One who would "strike at the head" of the serpent, this later offspring being the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Moreover, theologians have also frequently drawn attention to the parallelism indicated in Gn 3:15. Namely, that just as the offspring of the woman (i.e. Jesus) will have a definitive victory over the offspring of the devil, so to will the progenitor (i.e. Mary, the woman) of Jesus share in the definitive triumph over the progenitor of evil. (cf. Miravalle 2003, pp. 18-23)

Isaiah

Perhaps the best well-known prophecy of Mary occurs when Isaiah writes: Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14 NAB

This is often compared to the news Joseph received from the angel of the Lord in his dream to help him understand Mary's miraculous pregnancy:

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means "God is with us." Matthew 1:22-23 NAB

Scholars have frequently indicated that this prophecy may have found partial fulfillment "in the conception and birth of the future King Hezekiah, whose mother, at the time Isaiah spoke, would have been a young, unmarried woman." Not to the exclusion of King Hezekiah, this prophecy, however, would later find its complete fulfillment in the Blessed Virgin Mary who gave birth to Christ the King. (cf. Confraternity of Christian Doctrine 1991, p. 753)

Various Allegories - Sarah

Just as Abraham becomes the "father of nations" in Gn 17:15-17, Sarah by natural extension becomes the "mother of nations." Here it is important to note that Sarah became "mother of nations" through a miraculous intervention of God. Similarly, through a miraculous birth, Mary becomes "mother of all peoples" through her Son's words from the Cross: "Behold, your mother." Jn 19:27. (cf. Miravalle 2003, p. 24)

Various Allegories - Deborah, Jael & Judith

Other Old Testament stories of women physically defeating the opponents of Israel have, over the millenia, been understood by saints and theologians as foreshadowings or allegories for Mary's spiritual defeat of Satan through Christ Jesus. (cf. Revelation 12) These foreshadowings complement Mary's role as understood in the protoevangelium above.

One common parallel pointed out is in the canticle of Deborah, when she rejoiced over the role she was chosen to play in God's plan of salvation history. Mary also rejoiced in a canticle for her truly unique role she would play in salvation history as well. (cf. Judges 5 and Luke 1:46-56)

Other allegories may be found through characters such as Jael and her defeat of Sisera, as well as Judith and her defeat of Holofernes. In particular, Judith's decapitating Holofernes is frequently taken as an extended allegory for Mary's crushing the head of Satan. (cf. Protoevangelium Gn 3:15 above). Similarly, Jael's crushing of Sisera's head is also taken as a foreshadowing of Mary's crushing the head of the devil. In these cases, we have the following analogies of faith:

Deborah:Sisera :: Mary:Satan

Jael : Sisera :: Mary : Satan

Judith : Holofernes :: Mary : Satan

where, by analogy of faith is meant the unity of the truths of faith among themselves, and within the whole context of God's revelation. (cf. CCC 1994, 114)

Various Allegories - Mary as Queen of Heaven

In the ancient kingdoms of the Near East, it was very common for the king's mother to rule as queen. This, of course, is not to the exclusion of the other two ways queens rose to power: as lone matriarch or as the wife of the king. In these allegories, theologians point out that just as the mothers of the king's of Israel ruled over Israel, so too does this foreshadow Mary the Mother of Christ the King ruling over heaven with him.

One particularly striking example of the reverence kings had for the mothers is when Bathsheba, queen and mother of Solomon, then king, makes a request: So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king's mother; and she sat on his right. Then she said, 'I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.' And the king said to her, 'Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you.' 1 Kings 2:19-20

Here the allegory finds itself lived out in the prayer life of Christians. That is, just as king Solomon did not refuse his mother's request, neither will Christ the King refuse His Mother's requests made on our behalf (cf. Hail Mary - pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.)

Another striking example of a queen's intercession is in the Book of Esther. Here queen Esther intercedes with King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) not simply on behalf of one individual, as queen Bathsheba did, but on behalf of all the Jewish people in Persia. Through her intercession with King Xerxes, she saved all the children of Israel in Persia from Haman the Agagite's plan of genocide.

In a similar fashion, the Blessed Virgin Mary intercedes with Jesus Christ, the King of Kings (cf. Revelation 19:16), on behalf of all her children, "those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus," in order to preserve her children from Satan's plan of spiritual and eternal genocide against them. (cf. Revelation 12:17)

In these two cases, by the power of intercession, we again have the following analogies of faith (cf. CCC 1994, 114):

Queen Bathsheba's request : King Solomon's granting the request

::

Mary's request : King of Kings (Christ Jesus) granting the request

and

Queen Esther's request : King Xerxes' granting the request

::

Mary's request : King of Kings (Christ Jesus) granting the request

Finally, as St. Augustine might say, the story of Mary lies hidden in all these women of the Old Testament, and the stories of all these women are revealed in Mary's.

REFERENCES

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. The New American Bible, (Iowa Falls, IA: World Bible Publishers, Inc., 1991).

Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994).

Miravalle, M. "With Jesus" - The Story of Mary Co-Redemptrix, (Goleta, CA: Queenship Publishing, 2003).

Smith-Christopher, Daniel. The Old Testament - Our Call to Faith & Justice, (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2005).

Answer 2

At least six women are called Mary in the New Testament.

• Mary, mother of Jesus (Luke 1:27)
• Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2)
• Mary (sister to Martha and Lazarus) (John 11:1)
• Mary, wife of Clopas and sister of Jesus' mother (John 19:25)
• Mary, the mother of James the younger and of Joseph (Mark 15:40)
• Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark (Act 12:12)

Mary was such a common name that the one such person was described as "the other Mary"

in Matthew 2:761 and 28:1. It is easy to confuse Mary the sister of Martha in Bethany with Mary Magdalene. Mary was a common name at the time or more appropriately in the Hebrew form as Miryam or Miriam. In Arabic, the names Mary, Miryam, and Miriam are translated as Maryam. Miriam was the sister of Moses in the Old Testament so it can be inferred that Moses' sister would also be called Mary.,

Answer 3

The Virgin Mary is mentioned within the four Gospels.

Answer 4

Mary is mentioned throughout the gospels, however The Bible stands against the religious based worship of her and counts her as a sinner in need of repentance and in need of a Saviour. her Son