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Bible Dictionaries
Mary
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Mary (mâ'ry). The name of several women in the New Testament. 1. The mother of our Lord. She was, like Joseph, of the tribe of Judah and of the lineage of David. Psalms 132:11; Luke 1:32; Romans 1:3. She was connected by marriage, Luke 1:36, with Elisabeth, who was of the tribe of Levi and of the lineage of Aaron. She was betrothed to Joseph of Nazareth; but before her marriage she became with child by the Holy Ghost, and became the mother of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. She was at Jerusalem with Joseph, at Cana and at Capernaum. ' John 2:12; Matthew 4:13; Matthew 13:54-55; Mark 6:1-4 Lastly she was at the cross, and was there commended to the care of the disciple whom Jesus loved: "Woman, behold thy son." And from that hour John assures us that he took her to his own abode. In the days succeeding the ascension of Christ Mary met with the disciples in the upper room, Acts 1:14, waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit with power. Such is all the authentic history we have of the "blessed among women," taught, as no other woman was, the hard lessons which were to guide her to her Son's eternal kingdom. Some of them were joyful; and some were very grievous; but she learned them thoroughly, fill she loved the Lord Jesus as her Saviour far more than as her Song of Solomon 2:1-17. The wife of Cleophas, was present at the crucifixion and burial of our Lord, Matthew 27:56; Matthew 27:61, was among those who went to embalm him, Mark 16:1-10, was among the earliest to whom the news of his resurrection was announced, Luke 24:6; Luke 24:10, and on her way to the disciples with the intelligence she met her risen Lord and worshipped him. Matthew 28:1; Matthew 9:3. The mother of John Mark, Acts 12:12, and aunt to Barnabas, Colossians 4:10, a godly woman residing at Jerusalem at whose house the disciples were convened the night Peter was miraculously delivered from prison. 4. The sister of Lazarus and Martha, and a devoted friend and disciple of our Saviour, from whom she received the testimony that she had chosen the good part which should not be taken from her. Luke 10:41-42. Compared with her sister she appears of a more contemplative turn of mind and more occupied with the "one thing" needful. John 11:1; John 12:2. 5. Mary Magdalene, or Mary of Magdala. Luke 8:2. The general impression that she was an unchaste woman is entirely without foundation. Having been cured of a demoniacal possession by our Saviour, she became his follower, Luke 8:2-3. and showed her attachment to him to the last. She was at his crucifixion, John 19:25, and burial, Mark 15:47, and was among those who had prepared the materials to embalm him, Mark 16:1, and who first went to the sepulchre after the resurrection; and she was the first to whom the risen Redeemer appeared, Mark 16:9, and his conversation with her has an interest and pathos unsurpassed in history. John 20:11 to John 18:6. A Christian woman in Rome to whom Paul sends his salutation. Romans 16:6.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Mary'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/m/mary.html. 1893.
