Under the Chuppah

Keeping in mind the content of our last post, one cannot help but notice all of the blatant wedding imagery used to speak of the Israelites' time at Sinai.  As God calls them to the mountain, He invites them into a covenant relationship:

‘Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’  (Exodus 19:5–6)

Did you notice the phrase “my treasured possession”?  That is wedding language: it is what the groom says to his bride as they approach the ceremony.  In fact, five verses later, God tells Moses to go and “consecrate” the people — the very thing that a bride does in order to ready herself for the festivities.

And so we look at the Text and we realize that this image sets a powerful stage for the story of God.

We talked about how the groom would show up and invite the potential bride to leave her father's household and come to a new land, to be a part of his father's household.  “Abram, leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to a land that I will show you.”  (Genesis 12)

He then leaves the betrothed bride to go and prepare a place for her.  “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country … and they will come out with great possessions.”  (Genesis 15)

He then comes back as we've seen above and announces His plans to take her as His treasured possession and the bride goes to consecrate herself.  The ceremony begins: “On the morning of the third day there was … a very loud trumpet blast.”  (Exodus 19)

They gather under a chuppah.  “… a thick cloud over the mountain …”  (Exodus 19)

They receive a copy of the ketubah.  “And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten Commandments.”  (Exodus 34; given in Exodus 20)

The marriage is consummated.  “Have them make a sanctuary for me.”  (Exodus 25)

And the wedding gifts are exchanged — these would be all the laws of the covenant.  The Jews have, for ages, spoken of the mitzvoth as their “wedding gifts.”  Then the new couple usher in their honeymoon period — wandering in the desert — as the bride gets to intimately know her new Husband.

This imagery will run wild throughout the rest of the Old Testament.

“I remember the devotion of your youth,
    how as a bride you loved me
    and followed me through the desert
    through a land not sown.”
         (Jeremiah 2:2)

The entire book of Hosea.
    …or Song of Songs.

Or Ezekiel 16 and 23.

You will also notice this imagery running rampant in the teaching of Jesus.  He tells story after story about wedding banquets.  He tells stories about ten virgins, some of whom are prepared and ready for the arrival of the groom.  Stories about wedding clothes.  His words about Himself echo through the pages:

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” 
(John 14:2–3)

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
(Mark 13:32)

“This is the cup of a new covenant that I make with you today. I will not drink of it again until I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” 
(1 Corinthians 11 & Mark 14)

God is marrying His bride.

Hear the Ten Commandments as His ketubah.
1.  I am your husband.
2.  Have no other lovers — not even pictures of other lovers.
3.  Treat me with respect and do not sully My name.
4.  Keep a date night set aside for Me, your Husband.
5.  Trust that my provision for you is enough.
6.  Do not hurt yourself.
7.  Protect your sexuality.
8.  Don't take what is not yours.
9.  Tell the truth about yourself.
10.  Be satisfied with the life you/we have.

God is our Lover.  He wants to have a deep, meaningful, intimate relationship with us.  He has told us that obedience is His love language.

Every day, a Jew will recite a passage from the second chapter of Hosea.  It's God's betrothal to His people:

“I will betroth you to Myself forever.  I will betroth you to myself in righteousness and in justice and in love and in compassion.  I will betroth you to Myself in faithfulness.  And then you shall YADA the LORD.”

And every Jew responds by renewing their vows each day:

“Hear, O Israel.
        The LORD is our God; the LORD alone.
    Love the LORD your God
        with all your heart
        and with all your soul
        and with all your might.”