Today’s first reading (Ex 40:16-21, 34-38) has Moses erecting the God’s sacred dwelling place/tabernacle. A cloud of glory comes upon it, and the arc of the covenant, which has a central place within it, has the Decalogue (literally, “ten words”) placed within it.

Typologically, what does this poignant Old Testament scene foreshadow? What reality greater than itself may it symbolically point to?

The New Testament scene that fulfills this Old Testament event 1200 years later: The Annunciation

• Mary is the new tabernacle/dwelling tent
• The cloud of glory is the Holy Spirit coming upon her
• The arc of the covenant is her womb
• The Decalogue or “ten words” (commandments) inside the arc prefigures the incarnate Word: “the fruit of her womb” (Lk 1:42).

Moses, being a type of Jesus as savior, meticulously creates the pristine tabernacle – as God the Son meticulously creates his immaculate mother – to be His tabernacle. As the cloud comes down upon the dwelling tabernacle, which houses the arc of the covenant, the Holy Spirit comes down upon the virgin Mary, and Jesus becomes incarnate in her womb (Lk 1:35).

Pretty amazing how God Reveals to us the sacred mysteries.