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From: 	 heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: 	 Wednesday, July 02, 1997 12:42 AM
To: 	 Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: Shavuot as Marriage

From:	 Larry Lenard
To:	 heb_roots_chr@geocities.com

Subject: shavuot

Eddie,

Several months ago I was able to obtain a copy of your book, "The Seven
Festivals of the Messiah".  I have been using this book in a Sunday School
class over the past several weeks and everything has been wonderful.  However,
I recently had trouble when trying to teach on Shavuot.  I the sections
pertaining to this feast representing a marriage contract, the Bible verses
that are mentioned seem to have little to do with the actual marriage contract.
is there something that I missed?

Thanks for your help.

Larry Lenard

From Eddie:
**************

When G-d gave the Torah to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, He entered into a marriage contract with them.

In Jeremiah 31:32 it is written:

"Not according to the COVENANT that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of 
Egypt: which COVENANT they broke, although I WAS A HUSBAND unto them, saith the Lord"

In Hosea 2:19-20 it is written:

"I will BETROTH thee unto me FOREVER: yea, I will BETROTH thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment and in lovingkindness and in 
mercies. I will even BETROTH thee unto me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord"

There are two stages in the Biblical wedding. The first stage is BETROTHAL. During bethrothal, you are LEGALLY married but 
do not physically dwell with your mate. The second stage is the consumation of the marriage and living with your mate.

At Mount Sinai, God BETHROTHED Himself to Israel. In Jeremiah 2:2 it is written:

"Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of your youth, the love of your ESPOUSALS 
(BETHROTHAL) when you went after me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown"

In Luke 1:27, Mary (Miriam) was BETROTHED to Joseph. This means that they were LEGALLY married but had not yet PHYSICALLY 
dwelt with each other and consummated the marriage.

Spiritually, we are BETHROTHED to G-d whenever we accept Messiah into our heart and lives. We are LEGALLY married to 
Him ( a member of the kingdom and family of G-d) but we do not yet physically dwell with Him.

When you have a Jewish wedding, you will have a marriage contract called a "Ketubah". The "Ketubah" states the terms 
and conditions of the marriage and the obligations of both the bride and bridegroom. 

When G-d betrothed Himself to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, the "marriage contract" that was given to the Bride (the 
nation of Israel) was the TORAH.  The TORAH stated the terms and the conditions of the marriage. FAITHFULNESS and OBEDIENCE to the Torah 
would bring about the CONSUMATION of the marriage. However, disobedience would bring judgment upon the people. The terms and 
conditions and the blessing for obedience and the curse for disobediance is given in Deuteronomy 28 and Levticus 26. 

Because the covenant was broken and Israel was an "unfaithful wife" because she "whored" after the nations around her 
and the ways of the people around her, G-d needed to make a (renewed) covenant with her as outlined in Jeremiah 31:31-33. 

The requirement for obediance is given in Exodus 19:5-6 as it is written:

"Now therefore, if you will OBEY (SHEMA  = hear and do) my voice indeed and KEEP my COVENANT then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto 
me above all people: for all the earth is mine. And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation ..."

The children of Israel accepted G-d's marriage proposal in Exodus 19:8 as it is written:

"And ALL the people answered together, and said, all that the Lord has spoken WE WILL DO"

In Exodus 19:10-11, the people needed to "prepare" for the wedding as it is written:

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow and let them wash their clothes (Rev 19:7-8).  And 
be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai"

In every wedding, you will have TWO witnesses. One is called the friends of the bride and the other the friend of the 
bridegroom.  The TWO witnesses are seen as being the TORAH and the PROPHETS.  In Revelation 11, we have TWO witnesses. Moses personifies 
the TORAH and Elijah personified the PROPHETS. The TORAH and the PROHETS witness that Yeshua/Jesus is Messiah (Luke 24:44).

Moses is seen as being a friend of the bride and "escorting the nation of Israel" to meet G-d.  Mount Sinai is seen as 
being a "Chuppah" or wedding canopy where the wedding will take place.  In Exodus 19:17, it is written:

"And Moses BROUGHT FORTH (symbolically escorted) the people out of the camp to mee with God, and they stood at the nether (underneath) 
part of the mount".

In order to have a marriage, you need to be ONE (ECHAD). In Exodus 19:2, it is written:

"For they were departed from Rephidim and were come to the desert of Sinai and had pitched in the wilderness there ISRAEL CAMPED before 
the mount"

The words "ISRAEL CAMPED" violated Hebrew grammar. The rabbi's discussed this that ISRAEL was PLURAL and CAMPED was 
singular meaning that the people became as ONE.

This ONENESS is repeated in Acts 2:1 as it is written:

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with ONE ACCORD in ONE PLACE"

So, G-d betrothed Himself to Israel at Mount Sinai. The marriage contract was the Torah.  Likewise, the NT marriage 
contract is the TORAH written upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-33). ONE reason why Yeshua/Jesus has not returned for His Bride is that 
she has been "unfaithful" to keeping the Torah and departed from the roots of her faith by following "other gods".  The church committed 
the SAME SIN as the children of Israel and mixed paganism with faith in the God of Israel and rejected following the Torah. Therefore, the 
consummation of the marriage needed to be delayed. But, in these days, G-d is restoring His people to have a love for the Torah, the 
Sabbath and the Biblical Holidays. The PURPOSE of this is to PREPARE the Bride for her Bridegroom. That is why the call of the Spirit of 
G-d is being made to G-d's people:

"Flee out of the midst of Babylon"

 Are you preparing yourself to be married to your Bridegroom ?? Are you "sanctifying" yourself (Exodus 19:10, Ephesians 5:26-27) by 
fleeing "Babylon" ??? May we all be preparing ourselves in Spirit an and in Truth.

 Eddie Chumney

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