Mary as the Ultimate Jewish

Mary as the Ultimate Jewish Woman

For those whose familiarity with the Bible is substantial, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the story of Mary, and her role as the mother of Christ, is the ultimate in Jewish womanhood. Her devotion to God is unparalleled by any other woman described in the Bible, and she demonstrates her faith in her son and her supremacy as a mother, by being one of the few named people to attend him in his death and to witness his rebirth. However, Mary's appearance in the Bible is foreshadowed in the Old Testament; and, reading the stories of the women of the Old Testament, one finds it easy to draw comparisons between them and Mary. This dissertation will explore the connection between Mary and the Old Testament women.

First, the dissertation will explore how the story of Eve foreshadowed the story of Mary. As Eve was the mother of man, Mary became the mother of God. A significant part of this relationship is the fact that both women were famous virgins. Eve was a virgin prior to eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; it was only after doing so that she and Adam became sexual beings. It was this knowledge that enabled her to become the mother of man, but it also prefaced her fall from Grace and eviction from Eden. In contrast, Mary becomes the mother of God, and is a virgin when she does so, but her life is plagued by the knowledge of good and evil, which Eve helped introduce to humankind. Furthermore, Eve was the mother of Jews, and their lineage could be traced to her, as could the lineage of different and competing tribes. Likewise, by giving birth to Jesus, Mary was inadvertently the mother of competing religions, because, though Jesus was the King of the Jews, his life, death, and rebirth eventually led to the advent of Christianity and the splintering of Jews into Jews and Christians.

Next, the dissertation will explore the relationship between Mary and the lesser-known women in the Old Testament. One of the most interesting stories about loyalty in the Bible is the story of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite who married a Jewish man. Ruth's husband died, leaving her mother-in-law, Naomi, without anyone to care for her. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, because she heard that God was again blessing the area, and told Ruth to return to her own people, but Ruth was determined to stay with Naomi. One cannot help but see the foreshadowing of Jesus' birth in Ruth's determination to travel to Bethlehem, upon the conviction that it will be blessed by the Lord.

Like Ruth's tale, the story of Esther tells of a woman's strength, conviction, and loyalty to the Jews. Esther's husband Ahasuerus is tangentially involved in a plot to kill the Jews, mirroring the Roman persecution of Jews during Jesus' time. Ruth risks her own life to rescue the Jews, while Mary gives her son for the protection of the Jews. The paper will investigate the significant contrast between the story of Esther and the story of Mary; Esther's protection of the Jews results in the death of thousands of Gentiles, while Mary helps bring a message of peace. The stories also both involve rulers attempting to kill Jews.

The dissertation will also compare Mary to Rebecca. One of Rebecca's remarkable features is that she is the first Biblical woman to seek out God and ask him questions. The paper will draw on the parallels between Rebecca's consultation with God and Mary's conversations with God or his agents. Rebecca also engages in morally questionable activity to ensure that the Jews are ruled by a wise man, Jacob, rather than by a popular man, Esau. Mary's unwed pregnancy went against Jewish norms of the time, demonstrating the similarities in their actions. Furthermore, both women were mothers to strong Jewish leaders.