Exodus

Chapters

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7
8. 8
9. 9
10. 10
11. 11
12. 12
13. 13
14. 14
15. 15
16. 16
17. 17
18. 18
19. 19
20. 20
21. 21
22. 22
23. 23
24. 24
25. 25
26. 26
27. 27
28. 28
29. 29
30. 30
31. 31
32. 32
33. 33
34. 34
35. 35
36. 36
37. 37
38. 38
39. 39
40. 40

In the maps

• Exodus 19:15

  Before the LORD comes down on Sinai, Israel must abstain from marital relations. Pitre cites this with 1 Samuel 21:4 to answer why Joseph would accept a life of abstinence (p 103): if the earthly temple required even priests to abstain before entering, and the old Ark could not be touched and lived, how much more the body of Mary, overshadowed by the Most High and made the new dwelling place of God.

• Exodus 25:5

  The ark was to be built of acacia, which the Septuagint calls 'incorruptible wood.' Pitre singles this out as the third of the Ark's five features (p 46) and returns to it for the Assumption: Pius XII cited the Fathers who saw the Ark 'built of incorruptible wood' as a type of Mary's body, 'preserved and exempt from all the corruption of the tomb' (Munificentissimus Deus 26, p 63). If the old Ark was incorruptible, how much more the new.

• Exodus 25:8

  God commands a sanctuary so that he may dwell among his people, and at its heart is the ark, overlaid with pure gold inside and out. Pitre's argument from the lesser to the greater begins here: if the wooden box that held the tablets had to be pure through and through because God's presence rested on it, how much more the woman in whom God himself would dwell in the flesh. Mary's purity is the fitting holiness of the new dwelling place of God.

• Exodus 25:16

  The first thing placed in the ark is the testimony, the tablets of the law. Pitre lists this as the Ark's second feature: it is the chest that holds God's word, later joined by the manna and Aaron's rod (pp 45–46; Hebrews 9:4). The Word that Mary carries is not on stone but made flesh (John 1:14).

• Exodus 25:22

  God promises to meet Israel and speak to them from above the mercy seat, between the cherubim. Pitre puts this first among the Ark's five features: the Ark is the place where God dwells and speaks on earth (pp 44–46). He also notes, for readers who think all statues are unbiblical, that God here commands two golden statues of angels (p 46). Mary, the new Ark, is the place where God comes to meet his people in the flesh.

• Exodus 40:34

  When the tabernacle is finished, the cloud covers it and the glory of the LORD fills it, so that even Moses cannot enter. Pitre's key observation is that the Septuagint describes the cloud as 'overshadowing' the tent with the same verb Gabriel uses at the Annunciation. Luke is telling us that Mary is overshadowed as the sanctuary was: she becomes the new tabernacle, the dwelling place of God's glory.