Mary and the Prophets of Israel

LUKY;


MARY OF NAZARETH AND ISAIAH
Mary of Nazareth's motherhood had been forecast by the prophet Isaiah (VII:14) when he predicted:
   ...the Lord himself shall give you this sign. Behold a
   virgin shall conceive and bear a son : and his name shall be
   called Emmanuel.


This prophecy, which could later be called to mind in Matthew's gospel (Mat I:23), was obviously not an obscure one to Hebrew scholars. It was unquestioningly recorded and faithfully accepted.


Graef 1963:4 points out that
   ... discussion centres in the Hebrew word almah, which
   is not the strictly technical term of 'virgin' but is
   roughly equivalent to our 'young girl'.


THE PROPHET MICAH
The prophet Micah (V;2), predicting the restoration of Israel through the Messiah, forecast that the "ruler in Israel would be born in "Bethlehem-Ephrathah ... a little one among the thousands of Judah", the town where Mary did in fact give birth to the Messiah.


Micah continues his prophecy by forecasting the conversion of the Gentiles after Mary has given birth to Christ:
   Therefore will he give them up even till the time wherein
   she that travaileth shall bring forth  :  and the remnant of 
   his brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel. 
                                                (Micah V:3)




THE EVANGELIST MATTHEW
In his gospel, the evangelist Matthew would later refer to the former of these texts when Herod's councillors relayed the prophecy to their king in the words:
   And thou Behlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least
   among the princes of Juda 
                                               (Matthew II:6)


FRANCIS THOMPSON
In Chapter Six of the Canticle of Canticles (VI: 9, 10), Solomon sings praises, echoes of which are to be found in some Marian poetry, notably Francis Thompson's Assumpta Maria.




MARY, A FIGURE OF STRENGTH
It is clear that the mother of the Messiah had been predicted from early times. Echoes of this promise of the Great One coming to earth to walk amongst us scatter their footprints across the Old Testament. Thompson, in his poem, draws on Biblical writing to speak of Mary as a figure of great strength.


The poem Assumpta Maria by Francis Thompson can be found in the following link;
http://www.inspirationalstories.com/poems/assumpta-maria-francis-thompson-poems/