Mary in the Midst of Israel's Waiting (XIII)

"This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened for the God of Israel has entered in by it" (Ezek 44:2) The prophecy of Isaiah foretold the marvelous coming of the Messiah from the womb of a virgin of Israel, but there were also other prophecies that mysteriously evoked the mother of the Savior, her virginity, and the Messiah's birth, as well as his birthplace. First, Isaiah prophesied on a miraculous, painless birth: "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?" (Is 66:7-8) The prophecies were also spoken about a perpetually closed gate, reserved for the Lord: "The man brought me back to the outer gate of the shrine, one that faces east; it was closed. The Lord said to me: 'This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for the God of Israel has entered in by it; therefore it shall remain closed'" (Ezek 44:1-2). "A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain" (Song 4:12). And the prophet Micah had also foretold of the Messiah coming from Bethlehem: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrata, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth" (Mic 5:2-3). `