'Incorruptible wood' — Exodus 25:5 in the Septuagint, Josephus, and Munificentissimus Deus 26 (Chapter 3 · 3.3 Assumed into Heaven)	God specifies acacia (shittim) for the Ark, a wood regarded as sacred in Egypt and extremely durable. The Septuagint translates it as 'incorruptible wood' (xyla asēpta), and Josephus confirms the Ark was made of wood 'naturally strong, and could not be corrupted.' This is the detail the Assumption argument rests on. Pius XII, defining the dogma in 1950, named Modestus of Jerusalem and John Damascene as ancient writers who 'looked upon the Ark of the Covenant, built of incorruptible wood and placed in the Lord's temple, as a type of the most pure body of the Virgin Mary, preserved and exempt from all the corruption of the tomb and raised up to such glory in heaven.' Pitre's a fortiori: if the old Ark's wood was holy and incorruptible, how much more the body of the new Ark.	catena::topic-assumption
How the Ark typology points to the Assumption. (Chapter 3 · 3.3 Assumed into Heaven)	John sees the heavenly temple opened and 'the ark of his covenant' — then immediately a woman in heaven. As David brought the Ark up to Jerusalem and set it inside the tent he had pitched for it (2 Samuel 6:17), Christ the new David brings the true Ark — his mother — into the heavenly temple. The Ark was built of what the Septuagint calls 'incorruptible wood' (Exodus 25:5 LXX), so the body of the new Ark is kept from the corruption of the grave; Pius XII quoted exactly that typology from Modestus of Jerusalem and John Damascene when he defined the dogma (Munificentissimus Deus 26, p 63). Pitre notes the order of the evidence: the earliest texts on Mary's being taken up argue from the Woman 'in heaven' of Revelation 12; later writers linked it to the Ark (pp 62–63).	catena::topic-assumption
Jesus the new Moses — three parallels, and an exodus that ends in heaven (Chapter 3 · 3.0 Opening)	Following the book's rule, the Ark chapter begins with Jesus. Moses fasted forty days on Sinai; Jesus fasts forty days in the desert. Moses fed Israel with bread from heaven; Jesus feeds the multitudes. Moses sealed the covenant with the twelve tribes; Jesus makes a new covenant with the twelve apostles. But there is a difference: 'the word exodus means journey,' and while Moses' exodus ran from Egypt to the promised land, Luke's runs from Jerusalem to heaven — Moses and Elijah speak of the 'exodus' Jesus will accomplish at Jerusalem, and the Gospel ends as he is 'carried up into heaven.' 'For Jesus the earthly promised land is just the point of departure — not the ultimate destination.'	catena::topic-assumption
The Ark will not be missed — Jeremiah 3:16, and the Assumption as a sign of our resurrection (Chapter 3 · 3.3 Assumed into Heaven)	The quest for the lost Ark ends with a prophecy: in the future age the Ark 'shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; it shall not be made again.' It will not be missed because the New Testament tells us where the true Ark is — in heaven. Then the chapter's application. Jesus died and rose 'so that the body of every person can be transformed by grace into a temple of the holy spirit.' Mary is 'just a human being,' given a unique share in her Son's glory; her assumption 'shows us that bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven aren't just for Jesus. They are for us too.'	catena::topic-assumption
The Assumption in three steps — and which came first, Revelation 12 or the Ark (Chapter 3 · 3.3 Assumed into Heaven)	Step one: the New Testament presents Jesus as the new David (Matthew 1:1). Step two: once David was king, one of his first acts was to bring the Ark up to Jerusalem and place it inside the tent he had pitched for it (2 Samuel 6:17), remembered in Psalm 132:8. Step three: 'if Jesus is the new David, who has ascended into the heavenly Jerusalem, then it makes sense that he would likewise bring the true Ark of the Covenant — his mother — into the heavenly Temple.' Pitre is careful about history: the earliest references to Mary being taken up argue from the Woman 'in heaven' of Revelation 12; later writers such as Modestus of Jerusalem and John Damascene linked it with the Ark — 'not carried like Moses' ark of old, drawn by oxen, but escorted by heaven's holy angels.' Benedict XVI adds the point of the body: the living Ark is not Mary's soul only but her body, in which the Word became flesh.	catena::topic-assumption
The crown of twelve stars, Revelation 12 built on Isaiah 7, and a heavenly king implies a heavenly queen (Chapter 4 · 4.2 Mary the New Queen)	A crown in antiquity was 'one of the symbols of royal identity and authority,' and this one is of twelve stars, 'which clearly symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel' (Genesis 37:9–10): the Woman is 'the queen of the people of God,' her crown 'a share in Christ's kingship.' Pitre's table sets Isaiah 7:13–14 against Revelation 12:1–2, 5 — a sign in the height / in heaven; the virgin with child / the woman with child; she will bear a son / she bore a son — 'even clearer in Greek.' Three consequences: the Woman is an individual (only one virgin conceived the Messiah); John of Patmos read Isaiah 7 messianically as Matthew did; and the mother of Immanuel is the royal queen mother. Finally, the Woman stands 'in heaven' as her Son is 'caught up' to the throne: 'Just as Jesus is a heavenly king… so Mary, Jesus' mother, is a heavenly queen' — 'the queen of the cosmos,' in a Protestant scholar's phrase.	catena::topic-assumption
Why the Ark of Revelation 11:19 is the Woman of 12:1 — one sentence, one temple, 'appeared' twice, John's dual symbols (Chapter 3 · 3.2 Mary the New Ark)	Four textual arguments. First, the chapter break is not original: 'the contemporary system of chapters and verses was not added to the Bible until the thirteenth century,' and experts agree the verse in which the Ark appears introduces the vision of the Woman. Second, both stand in the heavenly temple, in imagery drawn from Isaiah 66:6–7, where a voice from the temple precedes the birth. Third, the verb 'appeared' (ōphthē) is repeated — the Ark appears, the Woman appears — linking the two (Koester). Fourth, John habitually uses two symbols for one reality: dragon and serpent for the devil, male child and Lamb for Christ; so Ark and Woman for Mary. Paschasius Radbertus said it plainly: 'This certainly was not the Ark made by Moses, but is the Blessed Virgin.'	catena::topic-assumption