The most interesting thing I found was the comparison of Mary to the Ark of the Covenant, which article also equates her with the woman in Revelation 12 that gives birth to the Man Child.
I'm very interested in types and foreshadowing in the Bible, but have never heard this comparison before. I see there is a correlation between the passage in 2 Samuel 6 and the one in Luke about Mary.
The woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12 I have been used to thinking of as Israel(which includes spiritual Israel, who is the Church, as well as physical Israel) and I believe that is what she represents.
The comparison of Mary with the Ark of the covenant has clarified something, put in a missing piece of a puzzle. Mary can represent both Israel (Israel is called the bride of Jehovah in the O.T.) and the church (The church is called the bride of Christ). Mary is not THE bride, but she as a believer is part of the church which is the bride. Mary is not Israel but she represents Israel because she is the member of the race that produced the Messiah. She is a connection to both, the very point where Christ entered the world and began to unite the two parts of his bride: Israel and the Church.
Here is a passage in Ephesians 2 which explains this:
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Abraham was the father of Israel, and he and Isaac were a foreshadowing of the Father offering up His Son. We honor him as a spiritual father as well as a fellow believer.
Joseph and Joshua are types of Christ and their stories foreshadow Him also. So do others.
Mary is to be honored as Christ's mother and as a fellow believer. She represents us all: Israel bringing forth her own savior (God With Us), and the Church becoming the part of the Body of Christ by faith. But Mary is not herself the Woman clothed with the sun or the Shining Bride coming down from heaven. All of those in Christ are that bride.
If we lift Mary up too high we are in essence lifting ourselves up too high, as she is one of us and represents us (represents us not in the sense of mediating for us, but as a symbol, picture, or type).
This may be why Mary is not mentioned again in scripture after the beginning of Acts. She has fulfilled her purpose and must 'become less that Christ may become more' as John the baptist also said.
To summarize and clarify, Mary is the Ark in the sense that she bore the Christ, but also she is representing something greater than herself: the united Church consisting of Israel and the Gentile church finally brought together at the end of time to be the united Bride of Christ.
The Iraelites did not worship the Ark itself, but God's presence in it. The Ark was made by human hands and so was able to be touched until God's presence came to it. God's presence departed from Israel when they were judged for rejecting the Messiah, and, comparatively God was not present in Mary's womb after Jesus was born, therefore I think Joseph had no qualms about taking her as his wife after the birth: Matt 1:24-25 24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son.
Another thought about Mary and Joseph is that it may have been a mercy and a blessing to Mary to be an ordinary wife and mother after being so honored to carry her God and Savior, to help her remain the humble and faithful person she was as a girl.
In a wider sense, I believe the Ark can represent all believers, who are filled with God's presence after being covered by the mercy of Christ (the Mercy Seat that covered the Ark).
Another thought is that, while Mary is the vessel where Israel and the Gentile church begin to become one, Christ is the one who is given the honor of uniting them by His blood, as the passage in Ephesians I quoted above states.
