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Eliezer.
Judaeus and the Talmudists. But only once does he lapse into that indelicacy of thought unfortunately so common in old religious writers. As might be expected, such undue pre-eminence is given to the Virgin that it might be conceived her glorification had been the chief object of the work. As Stella Maris, she is thought to have been prefigured in the star seen in vision by Balaam; as Cella Dei, in the closed door of the sanctuary seen by Ezekiel; and Jephtha’s daughter, Aaron’s rod, the sacred ark, the seven-branched candlestick, David’s tower, the sealed fountain in Canticles, Esther, the temple, and Solomon’s throne are all converted into types of Mary. Types of the Miraculous Conception are found in the burning bush, Gideon’s fleece, and in Rebecca, who drew water for both Eliezer and his camels, as the Virgin drew water from the well of life for both men and angels, Mary also having been sought by the angel as a spouse for God, as Rebecca was by the steward as a spouse for Isaac! Eight strange reasons are assigned for the marriage of the Virgin to Joseph, which event is supposed to have been prefigured by the virginity of Sara, who was married to seven husbands. A type of the nativity is found in the dream of Pharoah’s butler: the vine being Christ, its three branches His flesh, soul, and divinity, and the wine pressed from its grapes, the blood of His passion whereby the wrath of God was appeased. A passage in Jeremiah is assumed to prefigure the flight into Egypt, said to have been attended by the downfal of idols; which again was typified by the ancient Egyptian adoration of the Virgin and Child—an allusion to Isis, and the breaking of Pharoah’s crown by the boy Moses—a legendary incident. Types of the baptism of Christ are found in the Brazen Sea, the twelve oxen supporting which typified the Apostles; and in the Passage of Jordan, the ark being Christ and the twelve stones similarly the apostles. The Passion is conceived to have been prefigured by Nebuchadnezzar’s dream,—the felling of the boughs of the tree being the death of Christ and the dispersion of his followers, the root which was left the resurrection, and the bands of brass and iron, the fetters whereby He was bound; and likewise by the invention of music, which was suggested by the ringing of the hammer of Tubal Cain, as agony elicited from the Lord a melody of prayer. Yet despite these absurdities, the earnest piety of the writer and his luxuriant fancy render the work an agreeable study.
