The bride must give her consent.
God 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 24:3.
Today, to become the bride of Messiah you must still say “I do” to Him. Rebecca’s consent was asked for, before she left her family to go to Isaac. (Gen. 24:58)
Love gifts and the cup of the covenant.
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.
The gifts to the bride are symbols of love, commitment, and loyalty. 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 bride had a water immersion (Mikvah)
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 2:23-24; Ephesians 5:31). Immersing in the mikvah is considered spiritual rebirth. Concerning the marriage to Israel at Mount Sinai, God said in Ezekiel 16:8-9, as it is written, “…I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee… and thou became Mine. Then washed I thee with water….” The immersion, here refers to that of Israel before the people received the Torah when God betrothed Himself to Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:14-15).
For the groom, the betrothal period was one of preparation. The groom would depart, returning to his father’s house to prepare the bridal chamber (the huppah). Sometimes this would require actually adding on a room to the father’s house. Families were tied to the family land in an agricultural economy and in Israel the land stayed in the family. The groom’s father was the one to decide when the bridal chamber was ready for 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 14:1-3 before He went to His father’s house in Heaven, as it is written: Meanwhile, the bride was to wait eagerly for the return of the bridegroom. The betrothal was, for the bride, a time of purification and anticipation. The time of the betrothal was typically one year, adequate time to demonstrate the purity of the bride by showing that she was not pregnant.
The Nuptials –Wedding Feast
Finally, there would be a marriage supper for all the guests invited by the father of the bride. The Bridegroom and party would come to retrieve the waiting bride. The bride and groom proceeded back to the groom’s house in a celebratory procession. One description of such a procession is found in the apocryphal book of First Maccabees: “They looked out and there they saw the bridegroom, in the middle of a bustling crowd and a train of baggage, coming to meet the bridal party, escorted by his friends and kinsmen fully armed to the sound of drums and instruments of music.” Matthew 25:5,6- Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout,
“Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.”
Having claimed the bride, the party would return to the bridal chamber where the nuptials themselves would begin. The bride and groom would return to the house of the groom’s father, where the huppah had been prepared. The huppah was originally the place to which the groom would take the bride to symbolize her coming under his authority and protection, and in order to have privacy for the consummation of their marriage:
“It is evident from the Bible itself that the huppah was a tent or a room belonging to the bridegroom. Psalms 19.6 speaks of `the bridegroom coming forth from his huppah,’ and so too in Joel 2.16: `Let the bridegroom come forth from his chamber and the bride from her huppah.’ The tradition of the huppah is one which has changed and evolved significantly over time, and is still in use in a modern form in contemporary Jewish weddings. Today, the huppah is a canopy under which the bride and groom stand during the wedding ceremony.
The bride and the groom would be in the wedding chamber for seven days. The bride and groom would enter the huppah, where they would spend a week in privacy together. It is to this practice that Laban probably referred when he instructed Jacob, with regard to Leah, to “complete her week” (Gen. 29:27). Meanwhile, the guests would be enjoying a sumptuous feast, while waiting for the bride and groom to rejoin them in public celebration. (Judg. 14:12)
When the bride and the groom initially went into the wedding chamber, the friend of the bridegroom stood outside the door. All the assembled guests of the wedding gathered outside, waiting for the friend of the bride-groom to announce the consummation of the marriage, which was relayed to him by the groom. John the Baptist referred to this in John 3:29. At this signal, great rejoicing broke forth (John 3:29).
The marriage was consummated on the first night (Genesis 9:23). The bloodstained linen from this night was preserved. It was proof of the bride’s virginity
Deut 22:13-21. On the wedding day, the bridegroom is seen as a king and the bride as a queen.
There are similarities between the wedding at Cana and the events at Sinai.
Exodus 19:10-11
10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their garments, 11 and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.”
- Voices
- Lightning
- Thick cloud
- Shofar sounding
- Mount Sinai smoked
- YHWH descended in fire
- Mount Sinai quaked greatly
- Shofar sounded louder & louder
- Elohim answered Moshe in a Voice
- ü YHWH came down on top of Mount Sinai
Notice the similarities in intent. Both events manifest Gods Glory to His people. On the third day was the revealing of God’s glory on Sinai. The covenant at Sinai is seen as a “betrothal ceremony” with Torah being the Ketubah. The thick clouds over Sinai made a Chuppah (canopy) under which the bride gathered.
At another wedding, also on the third day at Cana is the revealing of Yeshua’s glory to his disciples. John 2:11 This beginning of His signs did Yeshua in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.
There is future wedding coming prophetically on also on the third day – Hosea 6 v2 After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
The resurrection at the Last Trump is joined to a wedding again – this time not the betrothal at Sinai, but the Wedding Feast also accompanied and preceded
- Lightning
- Thick cloud
- Shofar sounding
- YHWH descended in fire
- Worldwide quakes
- Angels Voices and Trumpets
- God Himself will sound His Shofar
