On a Veil for the Temple
Mary is called upon to work on a veil for the temple and this is the moment when we realize that Mary is not the only young girl in the temple who is of the ‘tribe of David’. The terminology is in accord with the prophecy of Jeremiah 22:18–19, 24, that no descendant of the king at that time would ever be king again. As a result, Jeremiah next refers to the Messiah as a ‘righteous Branch’. Similarly, Isaiah 11:1 in a great messianic psalm describes him ‘as a root shall come out from the stock of Jesse’. In the messianic Psalm 110, the Messiah is a descendant of David but is characterized by the phrase ‘the Lord sends out from Zion your mighty scepter’. In Protevangelium 6.2, the blessing of Mary by the high priests provides a messianic blessing for Mary and in Protevangelium 6.3, Anna’s song implies that female descendants of David are recognized through matrilineal descent.
In Protevangelium 7.3, Mary is clearly mentioned as the mother of the Messiah. Mary is also recognized as a young girl of the tribe of David (Protevangelium 10.1). All these incidents argue that ‘the tribe of David’ describes ‘the house of David reckoned through matrilineal descent’.
