Concerning the theology of water baptism in Jacob of Serugh’s “Concerning the Veil on Moses’ Face,” James Puthuparampil noted that:
According to Mar Jacob, the veil on Moses’ face, was a sign that he was keeping “a secret,” which was to be realized in the Son of God, for “the words and actions of prophecy are veiled [. . .] so that the world might not become openly aware of the Son of God.” Over and above this, he says that the marriage instruction of Moses was a teaching about “the chaste and holy union of bride and bridegroom, united in spirit and baptism.”
Within the exalted eye of prophecy Moses saw Christ,
and how he and his Church would be one in the waters of Baptism;
he saw him putting on her in the virgin womb
and her putting on him in the baptismal water:
bridegroom and the bride are spiritually perfected as one,
and it was concerning them that Moses wrote 'the two shall be one.' (James Puthuparampil, Mariological Thought of Mar Jacob of Serugh (451-521) [MŌRĀN 'ETH'Ō Series 25; Kerala, India: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute, 2005], 33)
Elsewhere we read that:
Moses’ instructions on marriage in Genesis 2:24, are seen by mar Jacob as a prefigure of the union of the Son of God with the Church. St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians has written on the ideal spousal relationship to the Church, for “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her” (Eph 6:25). Mar Jacob develops this theme of Christ’s love for the Church using poetic imagery. It is a mystery, since what lay hidden in the writings of Moses becomes revealed in Christ’s being “born of a destitute girl” and in His giving Himself to the Church. And the Church absorbs this mystery thought a union that takes place in baptism and the Eucharist. Here Mar Jacob depicts the mystical union of the bride with her groom:
The betrothed made the daughter of day to enter a new womb,
and the testing waters of baptism were in labour and gave rebirth to her:
he rested in the water and invited her: she went down,
clothed herself in him and ascended;
in the Eucharist she received him, and so Moses' words, that the two shall be one, were established. (Ibid., 34-35)
