From: Glen Davis
To:
"'heb_roots_chr@geocities.com'"
<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Subject: The Jewish Wedding
Shalom, family.
It is a great blessing for me to be in this family and to receive the
e-mail that keeps the Hebraic Roots of Christianity in my heart and on
my mind. I do very much enjoy the things shared through this ministry.
I pray Messiah richly blesses you all.
I read a story about the Jewish wedding ceremony.
I don't remember this exactly, but it seems the groom would go to the
house of the bride (usually at night) and take her to his father's home.
There she remained for seven days (I think) while preparations were made
for the wedding.
Do you have anything you could share with us,
Eddie, on the Jewish wedding ceremony?
Good shabbos!
Glen
***********************************************************************
From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: The Jewish Wedding
From
the Book
"THE
SEVEN FESTIVALS OF THE MESSIAH"
by
Eddie Chumney
Rosh
Hashanah: The Wedding of the Messiah
The Bible is a marriage covenant. Both the Tanach (Old
Testament) and the Brit Hadashah (New Testament) describe
how G-d through the Mashiach (Messiah), the Bridegroom, is in the
process of marrying His bride, the believers in Him who will
ultimately live and dwell with Him forever.
G-d ordained and established marriage and its divine
sanctity in
the Torah, the very first book of the Bible, Genesis
(Bereishit), when He brought Adam and Eve together to become one flesh
(Genesis 2:21-24). In doing so, we have a vivid foreshadowing of the
Messiah being married to those who would believe upon Him. Let's
examine this closer.
Adam is a type of the Messiah Yeshua. Adam was made after
the
likeness of Yeshua (Romans 5:14). Yeshua (Jesus) was
made in the likeness of Adam (Philippians 2:8). In fact, Yeshua is
called the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45-47). In Genesis 2:21, G-d
had a deep sleep fall upon Adam. Sleep is synonymous with death
(Daniel 12:2; John [Yochanan] 11:11-14; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54;
Ephesians 5:14). The deep sleep that G-d caused to fall upon Adam is a
picture of the crucifixion and death of Yeshua, as Messiah ben Joseph.
G-d brought a deep sleep upon Adam so He could take a rib from the
side of his flesh. This required the shedding of blood. This is a
picture of Yeshua who was pierced in the side of His flesh, shedding
His own blood when He hung on the tree (John [Yochanan] 19:34).
From the rib of Adam, G-d made Eve. Likewise, by the death
of
Yeshua and faith (emunah) in Him, G-d established the
assembly of believers known in Hebrew as the kehilat. The believers in
the Messiah, His bride, become wedded to Him by faith (emunah). This
marriage can be seen in the Tanach (Old Testament) as well as in
Jeremiah 23:5-6, as it is written, .... this is His name whereby He
shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jeremiah [Yermiyahu]
23:6). In Jeremiah 33:15-16, it is written, "...this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jeremiah
[Yermiyahu] 33:16). So from these passages in Jeremiah, we can see
that a wedding is taking place. Therefore, by accepting, trusting, and
believing in the Messiah, the bride of Messiah, His followers, become
one with Him. These people would include both Jew and non-Jews who
have lived since Adam and would include Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Moses, David, and Solomon as well as the prophets.
G-d gave the wedding customs, service, and ceremonies to
the
Jewish people (Romans 3:2; 9:4) to teach us about the
Messiah Yeshua (Colossians 2:16-17). With this in mind, let's examine
the biblical wedding ceremony that G-d gave to the Jewish people. The
ancient Jewish wedding ceremony G-d gave to the Jewish people to teach
us about the wedding of the Messiah consisted of 12 steps.
1. The selection of the bride.
The bride was usually chosen by the father of the
bridegroom. The father would send his trusted
servant,
known as the agent of the father, to search out the
bride. An
excellent example of this can be seen in Genesis 24.
In this chapter,
Abraham (a type of G-d the Father) wishes to secure a
bride for
Isaac (a type of Messiah) and sends his servant Eliezer (a
type
of the Holy Spirit [Ruach HaKodesh]) to do this task
(Genesis
[Bereishit 24:2-4; 15:2). It is the role of the Holy Spirit
(Ruach HaKodesh) to convict the world of sin and lead them
to G-d
(John [Yochanan] 16:7-8). Just as the bride was usually
chosen by
the father of the bridegroom, so the believers in the
Messiah are
chosen by G-d (John [Yochanan] 15:16). The bridegroom chose
the
bride and lavished his love upon her and she returned his
love.
This can be seen in Ephesians 5:25, as it is written,
"Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave
Himself of it." In Genesis (Bereishit) 24, Rebekah
(Rivkah)
consented to marry Isaac (Yitzchak) even before she ever
met him.
Today, the believers in the Messiah Yeshua consent to
become the
bride of Messiah even though we have never seen Him. First
Peter
(Kefa) 1:8 speaks of this, as it is written, "Whom
having not
seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet
believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."
2. A bride price was established.
A price would have to be paid for the bride. The
agreed
upon price was called a mohar in Hebrew. Yeshua,
being
our bridegroom, paid a very high price for His bride,
the body of
believers. The price He paid was His life. Yeshua
considered the
price He had to pay for His bride before His death as
He went
into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray in Matthew
(Mattityahu)
26:39, as it is written, "And He went a little
farther, and fell
on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it
be possible,
let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I
will, but as
Thou wilt." Yeshua was, in essence, saying,
"Father, You have
chosen this bride and I have agreed to the terms, but
do you
realize the price that is being asked for her?"
Our mohar, our
bride price, was His life. First Peter (Kefa) 1:18-19
says,
"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible
things, as silver and gold, from your vain
conversation received
by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious
blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot." In First
Corinthians 6:20 it is written, "For ye are
bought with a price:
therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are
God's."
3. The bride and groom are betrothed to each other.
This is the first stage of marriage known as
kiddushin. I
have spoken at length of betrothal in Chapter 6,
concerning
Shavuot. Remember, betrothal is the first of two
steps in the
marriage process. Betrothal in Hebrew is known as
erusin or
kiddushin. Betrothal legally binds the bride and the
groom
together in a marriage contract, except they do not
physically
live together. Historically, G-d betrothed Himself to
Israel at
Mount Sinai (Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:19-20). Whenever
you accept
the Messiah into your heart and life, you become
betrothed to Him
while living on the earth.
4. A written document is drawn up, known as a ketubah. This
betrothal contract is called, in Hebrew, a shitre
erusin.
The ketubah is the marriage contract that states the
bride
price, the promises of the groom, and the rights of
the
bride. The word ketubah means "that which is
written." The groom
promised to work for her, to honor, support, and
maintain her in
truth, to provide food, clothing, and necessities,
and to live
together with her as husband and wife. The ketubah
was the
unalienable right of the bride. The ketubah must be
executed and
signed prior to the wedding ceremony. The Bible is
the believer's
ketubah. All the promises that G-d provided for the
believers in
the Messiah are legally ours, as it is written in
Second
Corinthians 1:20, "For all the promises of God
in Him are yea,
and in Him Amen...."
5. The bride must give her consent.
As we saw in Chapter 6, which dealt with Shavuot
(Pentecost), G-d betrothed Himself to Israel at Mount Sinai
as stated in Jeremiah 2:2. Israel consented to the marriage
proposal from G-d and said, "I do," as it is
written in Exodus (Shemot)
24:3. Likewise, the personal application (halacha) to those
who
desire the Messiah to come into their hearts and lives is
to
accept His invitation to do so by faith (emunah), as it is
written in Romans 10:8-10:
What, then, does it say? The Word is near you in your mouth
and in your heart: that is the word about trust [emunah]
which we proclaim, namely, that if you acknowledge publicly
with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord and trust in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be delivered.
For with the heart one goes on trusting and thus continues
toward righteousness, while with the mouth one keeps on
making public acknowledgments and thus continues toward
deliverance (Romans 10:8-10 Jewish New Testament Version).
So, even today, to become the bride of Messiah you must still say
"I do" to Him.
6. Gifts were given to the bride and a cup called the cup of the
covenant was shared between the bride and the groom.
The rite of betrothal (erusin) is completed when the
groom
gives something of value to the bride and she accepts
it.
The gift most often given today is the ring. When the
groom
places the ring on the bride's finger, the rite
of betrothal is
completed. This completed rite is known in
Hebrew as kiddushin,
which means "sanctification."
The gifts to the bride are symbols of love,
commitment, and
loyalty. The gift G-d gives to those who accept
the
Messiah is the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh)
(John [Yochanan]
14:26; 15:26-27; Acts 2:38; 2 Corinthians
1:21-22). When Yeshua
ascended to Heaven, He gave gifts to men
(Ephesians 4:7-8). These
gifts included righteousness (Romans 5:17-18),
eternal life
(Romans 6:23), grace (Romans 5:12,14-15), faith
(Ephesians
2:8-9), and other spiritual gifts (1
Corinthians 12:1,4). These
included wisdom, knowledge, healing, the
working of miracles,
prophecy, the discerning of spirits, tongues,
and interpretation
of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:8-11), as well as
the gifts of helps
and administration (1 Corinthians 12:28).
In addition, at this time the cup of the
covenant was
shared and sealed between the bride and the
groom with the
drinking of wine. In doing so, the couple
drinks from a common
cup. The cup is first given to the groom to
sip, and then is
given to the bride. This cup, known as the cup
of the covenant,
is spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31-33, as it is
written:
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with
the house of
Judah: 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 My
covenant they brake,
although I was an husband unto them, saith the
Lord: but
this shall be the covenant that I will make
with the house
of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I
will put My
law in their inward parts, and write it in
their hearts; and
will be their God, and they shall be My people
(Jeremiah
[Yermiyahu] 31:31-33).
Yeshua spoke of the cup of the New Covenant (Brit
Hadashah) in
Luke 22:20.
7. The bride had a mikvah (water immersion), which is a ritual of
cleansing.
Mikvah is a Hebrew word that means "pool"
or "body of
water." Mikvah is a ceremonial act of
purification by the
immersion in water. It indicates a separation from a
former way
to a new way. In the case of marriage, it indicates
leaving an
old life for a new life with your spouse (Genesis
[Bereishit]
2:23-24; Ephesians 5:31). Immersing in the mikvah is
considered
spiritual rebirth. The reason is that a mikvah has
the power to
change a person completely. Concerning the marriage
to Israel at
Mount Sinai, G-d said in Ezekiel 16:8-9, as it is
written, "...I
sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with
thee... and
thou becamest Mine. Then washed I thee with
water...." The
washing, or immersion, here refers to that of Israel
before the
people received the Torah when G-d betrothed Himself
to Israel at
Mount Sinai (Exodus [Shemot] 19:14-15). Yeshua spoke
to the
Pharisee, Nicodemus (Nakdimon), that he must be born
anew
(immersed) to enter into the Kingdom of G-d (John
[Yochanan]
3:1-7). The believers in the Messiah are to be
immersed in the
name of Yeshua (Acts 19:4). The Holy Spirit (Ruach
HaKodesh) is
the immerser of G-d (Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5; 11:15-16).
8. The bridegroom departed, going back to his father's house to
prepare the bridal chamber.
At this point, the bridegroom leaves for his
father's house
to prepare the bridal chamber for his bride. It
was
understood to be the man's duty to go away to be with
his father,
build a house, and prepare for the eventual wedding.
Before he
goes, though, he will make a statement to the bride.
"I go to
prepare a place for you; if I go, I will return again
unto you."
This is the same statement Yeshua made in John
(Yochanan) 14:1-3
before He went to His father's house in Heaven, as it
is written:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe
also in Me. In My Fathers' house are many mansions: if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place