Our Traditional american wedding is opposite of the Ancient Jewish Wedding. The Ancient Jewish Wedding is a picture of the Messiah and His Bride!
The Bride of Messiah and Jewish wedding customs
The modern wedding is usually quite an event. It requires large
amounts of planning, time, energy and money. A date is set, a church
or hall is rented, a person is contracted to officiate, invitations
are printed, reception plans made, a guest list is prepared, flowers
and decorations are selected, tuxedos and dresses are ordered for the
attendants, and a wedding gown is chosen. It can be an extremely busy,
and sometimes frustrating, experience to say the least. Then there are
the various roles played by the parents of the couple. The chief
duties fall to the mother of the Bride. She is responsible for
assisting the Bride in all of the many plans and preparations. The
father of the Bride is also quite involved for he gives the Bride away
at the ceremony. Also, he is usually the one who provides the funds
needed for the wedding celebration. Meanwhile, the mother of the
Bridegroom may assist to some degree with the wedding plans, while the
father of the Bridegroom is expected to provide funds for a rehearsal
dinner, show up for the wedding, and not cause any trouble.
~ The Ancient Wedding ~
Ancient Hebrew weddings were quite different. First the couple
was matched. The parents of both the Bridegroom and Bride were
intimately involved in this process, which could take place long
before the couple were of marriageable age. Then, when the
prospective couple came of age, the Bridegroom would go to the father
of the prospective Bride to make the necessary arrangements. However,
these were not the kinds of arrangements common to a modern wedding.
Rather, they worked out a marriage contract or covenant, called a
Ketuvah (Keh-two-vah). Once the details were agreed upon, the father
of the prospective Bride called his daughter into the room. A cup of
wine was poured and the Bridegroom offered it to her. If she accepted
the cup, and drank from it, they were officially betrothed. In the
eyes of Hebrew law they were then considered married and only a legal
divorce could separate them.
However, they could not yet live together as husband and wife.
Instead, the Bridegroom went back to his father's house to prepare a
wedding chamber for his Bride. This chamber was
called a Chuppah (Who-pah). It was located on the property of the
father of the Bridegroom, usually within the father's house. It was
the responsibility of the Bridegroom to prepare the Chuppah in a way
that would be pleasing to his Bride, and it was the responsibility of
his father to examine it at regular intervals and make suggestions on
how it could be improved. Also, it had to be well stocked with
provisions, for once the couple entered the Chuppah they remained in
it for seven days.
The wedding was not announced ahead of time. In fact, only the
father of the Bridegroom knew the day or the hour in which the
wedding would take place because it was his responsibility to
determine when the Chuppah, his son, and the bride
were ready. When the father felt all was in order, he would say to his
son; "The hour has come, go and get your Bride."
The time span between the Betrothal and the final wedding
ceremony was usually about one year. It could be longer if
circumstances demanded, but it was usually not shorter
unless the Bride was a widow. During the betrothal time the couple
(although officially married) normally did not see one another. One
can only imagine the anticipation that must have existed in the hearts
of both the Bride and her Husband, as they awaited the final approval
of his father. When that day and hour finally came, the couple would
enter the Chuppah to consummate their marriage. Then they would truly
be able to say:
"I am my beloved's,
And my beloved is mine."
(Song of Songs 6:3)
~ The Bride's Preparation ~
During the time while the Bridegroom was preparing the Chuppah,
the Bride also had some important things to accomplish. She needed to
begin collecting those items she would need to run the household once
they were fully married and living together. This would be the
trousseau which she would bring to their permanent
home once the seven days in the Chuppah had been accomplished. The
Bride also had to prepare her wedding dress and other appropriate
articles of clothing. In addition it was an ancient custom for the
Bride to learn how to make herself physically beautiful for her
husband through the application of cosmetics and perfumes. So, it was
during this year of preparation that she learned these arts as well.
This practice is mentioned in the book of Esther, the beautiful young
Jewess who became the Queen of Persia.
"Each young woman's turn came to go in to King
Ahasuerus after she had
completed twelve months' preparation, according to the
regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their
preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and
six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying
women. Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king, and
she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the
women's quarters to the king's palace. In the evening she
went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of
the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch
who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king
again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by
name." (Est. 2:12)
It must be remembered that each of these women who came to King
Ahasuerus' chamber became his legal wife. They were called concubines
and were considered to be of lower status
than a full wife. Esther was not relegated to the status of concubine,
rather, she became the highest ranking wife, the Queen of Persia.
~ The Betrothed ~
~ Bride of Messiah ~
At this very moment in time, the Bride of Messiah (the Church of
called out ones) finds herself in the same situation
as the ancient betrothed Bride. She is in a state of full betrothal to
Yeshua, her legal Husband. However, instead of the normal one year
wait, the Bride of Messiah has now been waiting almost two thousand
physical years for her husband to return and take her to the Chuppah
for the consummation of their marriage. We can be assured that Yeshua
will come for us, for He promised to do so at the Last Supper when He
made His typically Jewish betrothal speech:
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God,
believe also in Me. In My
Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And
where 1 go you know, and the way you know." (John 14:1-4)
Right now Yeshua is at His Father's house in heaven, awaiting
word from His Father as to when He can come back to this earth for
his beloved Bride, the Church. Meanwhile the
Bride is on earth, waiting for Her Betrothed to return and take her to
the Chuppah. (For more complete information on the ancient Hebrew
wedding write for the tape series; The Wedding of the Messiah.)
~ Our Wedding Preparations ~
What should we (the Bride) be doing while we wait? Prepare
ourselves for our wedding, of course. Since the
wedding ceremony itself requires no preparation on our part; (i.e. we
need not worry about securing a minister, reserving a hall, ordering
flowers, etc.), we need only concern ourselves with becoming a
beautiful and acceptable vessel for our Husband, Yeshua.
All analogies begin to break down to some degree at some point.
he ancient wedding is no exception, for the
Bride of Messiah consists of a multitude of `called out ones.' Many
members of the Bride have already lived their lives and died in the
unwavering faith that their Savior--Husband Yeshua will resurrect them
from their graves when He returns. Also, the Bride of Messiah will not
require a physical wedding gown, or a trousseau of household items for
setting up housekeeping. Rather, the preparation for our wedding must
be of a spiritual nature.
As it is written:
"Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the
marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself
ready.'
"And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the
saints."
(Rev. 19:7-8)
Three important points, concerning the Bride, leap out from these
verses: 1.) "... His wife has made herself ready." 2.) She is; "...
arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright..." and
3.) "... the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."
The Bride of Messiah is to be doing a work while she awaits
Yeshua's return. That work is; 1.) to learn what
constitutes righteousness, and 2.) to perform righteous acts. In other
words, we must learn to live righteously, for it will be the righteous
acts of the Saints which will form the Bride's proper wedding gown.
Surely, none of us wishes to attend the greatest wedding of all time
without a suitable wedding garment, for that could be dangerous, as we
can see from the following parable:
"`The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who
arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call
those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to
come. "`Again, he sent out other servants, saying, "Tell
those who are invited, `See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and
fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.'"
"`But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm,
another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them
spitefully, and killed them. "`But when the king heard about it, he
was furious, and he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers,
and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, "The wedding
is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go
into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding."
"`So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together
all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was
filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the
guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding
garment. So he said to him, "Friend, how did you come in
here without a wedding garment?" And he was speechless.
"`Then the king said to the servants, "Bind him had and foot, take
him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." For many are called, but few are chosen.'"
(Matt. 22:2-14)
How we are dressed is very important, since we will not be
allowed to participate in the wedding if we do not
come wearing our gown of righteousness.
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