It’s amazing how, when placed against the light of Jewish practices, the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and even the Apostles as recorded in Scripture can oftentimes leap out and give us a new understanding. Case in point: remember when you first understood how the Passover (Pesach) is a foreshadow of how Christ Jesus will be the Passover Lamb whose blood will be shed so that God’s wrath will pass over those who believe on Him, it felt like a revelation, didn’t it?
I’ve been reading a few interesting articles on the Jewish betrothal, and it was amazing how I was seeing some teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ in a wonderful, new light!
Before a Jewish marriage is completed, there’s the betrothal which, in Jesus’ time, was essentially a marriage covenant where the bridegroom would take the initiative to travel from his father’s house to the home of the prospective bride and negotiate with the bride’s father a price that he’ll need to pay for his bride.
Once a price was agreed upon and when the bridegroom has fully paid the price, a marriage covenant was established. By this time, the man and woman were regarded as husband and wife, but had to live apart for yet a season. The woman would be declared to be set apart, or sanctified, for her groom from then on. The couple will also drink from a common cup of wine over which the betrothal benediction had been pronounced to signify the covenant.
Have you ever wondered who the most under-rated man in the Bible is? It certainly isn’t John, or Joshua, or James, but his name also begins with a “J” when anglicized.
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