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Mary's Prayer
by
T. J. Smith
This article appeared in the 2021 Summer issue of Fulfilled! Magazine
In March, as the Pope scrambled to assure everyone the mother of Yeshua is not a co-redemptor, I started thinking about Mary and her role in all this co-redemptor business. That led me to study her prayer and throw out some ideas that I found insightful. I believe she was speaking in terms of a future event. Though Scripture does not tell us her prayer was a prophecy, we can use internal evidence to determine that everything she said came to pass. I underlined the idioms and commented in parenthesis (Literal Standard Version; LSV).
“My soul doth magnify the
Lord,” (Luke 1:46)
“And my spirit was glad on God
my Savior.” (Luke 1:47)
“Because He looked
(anthropomorphism) on the lowliness (tapeinosis)
of His maid-servant, For, lo, henceforth call me happy shall
all the generations.” (Luke 1:48)
“For He who is mighty did to
me great things, And holy is His name.” (Luke 1:49).
“And His kindness is to
generations of generations, To those fearing Him.”
(Luke 1:50; the explanation of “those” to whom His kindness
is directed. Not the whole world.)
“He did powerfully with His
arm (poetic idiom and anthropomorphism), He
scattered abroad the proud in the thought of their
heart.” (Luke 1:51; the only proud to whom Mary is
referring were Jewish leaders: Pharisees and Sadducees and
certain high priests. Recall Jesus’ harsh words towards
them.)
“He brought down the
mighty from thrones, And He exalted the lowly.” (Luke
1:52; This would include not only Jewish leaders who opposed
him but possibly the entire Roman Empire, which would
eventually see an end within the next 140 years. The
lowly who were exalted included Gentiles and humble Jews who
kept the commandments and were faithful.)
“The hungry He did fill
with good,” (not food as the Greek word shows, but a
figure of speech to the humble in spirit and those seeking
after truth.) “And the rich He sent away empty.”
(Luke 1:53; not only as depicted in the rich young ruler,
but also the proud and rich in tradition.)
“He received again Israel His
servant, To remember kindness,” (Luke 1:54)
“As He spoke unto our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed—to the age.” (Luke 1:55; read
what Paul wrote about this: “Now to Abraham and his Seed
were the promises spoken. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’
as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed’, who is Christ”
[Gal 3:16 EMTV]. Mary was prophesying about Jesus
being the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Abraham’s
“seed” was not the natural born children of Israel, but
those who were, and are, in Christ.)
Mary’s song was a response to
what she just heard Elizabeth say. Here are the events:
1.
Elizabeth’s baby jumped in her womb
upon Mary’s presence
2.
Elizabeth recognizes, acknowledges,
and states out loud that Mary is the mother of her Lord
3.
Mary’s fruit was blessed
4.
Mary was blessed because she believed
what God told her would be fulfilled
Let’s look at that encounter to
learn more:
(v. 46) Mary enlarged (magnified)
her image of God, she saw God in a ‘big’ way (magnified),
and no doubt had been magnifying Him since Gabriel’s
pronouncement to her; she began praising and worshiping!
(v. 47) she then took to
rejoicing in Him and the knowledge of what He had done up to
this point.
(v. 48) she knew she was chosen
for a task, the most important task in the universe, in
spite of her low humble state (perhaps exactly for that
reason).
(v. 49) “For the Mighty One
has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
Interesting how this was worded,
as it reads: “has done great things for me.” I’m not
sure if she’s speaking of herself or in a prophetic manner
for mankind as a whole.
This brings us current with Mary
delivering her prayer. She takes on a knowledgeable tone as
she spoke the words the prophets had foretold (vv. 50-55).
Mary was reiterating all she knew as truth about God based
on these verses, which confirmed her knowledge of Tanakh:
“And I will establish my
covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in
their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God
unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” (Gen 17:7)
“And shewing mercy unto
thousands of them that love me, keeping my
commandments.” (Exod 20:6)
“Oh how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee,
which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee
among the sons of men!” (Ps 31:19)
“Surely his salvation is near
them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.”
(Ps 85:9)
“For as the heaven is high
above the earth, great is his mercy toward them that fear
him.” (Ps 103:11)
“But the Mercy of the LORD
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him,
and his righteousness unto children's children” (Ps
103:17)
“To such as keep his
covenant, and to those that remember his commandments
to do them.” (Ps 103:18)
“He will bless them that
fear the LORD, both small and great. (Ps 115:13)
“Let them now that fear the
LORD say, that his mercy endureth forever.” (Ps
118:4)
“He will fulfill the desire of
them that fear him: he also will hear their cry and
will save them.” (Ps 145:19)
“Yahweh takes pleasure in
them that fear him, in those that hope in his
mercy.” (Ps 147:11)
“Then they that feared the
Yahweh spoke often one to another: and Yahweh hearkened,
and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him
for them that feared Yahweh, and that thought upon
THE NAME.” (Mal 3:16)
“And they shall be mine, saith
Yahweh of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I
will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.”
(Mal 3:17)
How did Mary gain such a command
of the Tanakh, being a young girl? This would have been
highly unusual for a female. There is one possibility for
which I have zero evidence, so take that into consideration:
Since Zachariah, Mary’s brother-in-law, was a priest, could
it be that Mary was raised by Elizabeth and Zachariah? Or at
the least had spent a lot of time with them and learned from
Zachariah? Something to ponder.
Mary’s prayer was so much more
than just a young teenage girl thanking God for choosing her
to be the mother of Yeshua. This prayer resonated with the
knowledge of a young woman who had a deep grasp of the
Tanakh and could recite it at will. She was
prophesying over not only her Son and the people of her
generation, but to all generations . . . who fear Him.
Until next time, Blessings. TJ
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Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every
way into him who the head, into Christ . . . .
(Ephesians 4:15)
