<|endoftext|> and for the stranger. I am ��הוה your Elohim.���� Leviticus 23: 17,21,22
* Shavuot as a Betrothal
YHWH redeemed Israel and led them out of bondage through the blood of the lamb. They applied the blood because they believed Him and He saved them from slavery by favour. They have not done anything to deserve it. It was pure favour.
But that was not enough for YHWH. He wanted more. He wanted a closer relationship with His redeemed community. He wanted their hearts to be knitted to His: the closeness of a Bridegroom and a Bride.
YHWH is set-apart, pure, undefiled, separate and His people are in this world. They used to be slaved to Pharaoh (the devil) and they didn��t know Him. This sets the scene for YHWH��s next encounter.
In Exodus 19 we see how YHWH displays Himself as a very mighty and capable Bridegroom and how many elements of a Jewish Wedding are present.
* The Bride
��Go, and you shall cry in the hearing of Yerushalayim, saying, ��Thus said ��הוה, ��I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your bridehood, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.�� Jeremiah 2:2
My opinion is that believing Israel is the bride and we gentile believers who love Y��shua and are grafted into the olive tree, are also grafted into the bride.
* The Bridegroom
Who then is the Bridegroom? By this time Y��shua had not been revealed to Israel in person, but there are two passages in the Renewed Covenant or New Testament which point to Y��shua as the Bridegroom.
The first is in Ephesians 5:22-33 where Paul speaks about husbands and wives as an allegory of Messiah and the assembly.
The second is by John where he speaks of the wedding of the Lamb and His Bride who has made herself ready. (Revelation 19)
As the Israelites assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai, YHWH called Moses up and told him to say to Israel,
��You have seen what I did to the Mitsrites (Egyptians), and how I bore you on eagles�� wings and brought you to Myself.��(Ex 19:4)
That is the heart of the Bridegroom revealed. Now He is going to display His might and power to His Bride so that she may be fully confident that He is well able to look after her completely.
* The Betrothal (much like engagement)
According to the Israeli Wedding, marriage consisted of two stages. The first is the betrothal. You enter the first stage of marriage as soon as a betrothal contract is made between the two parties. The covenant or agreement was made by having bread and wine together.
Our Bridegroom, Y��shua, also cut covenant with us (and even the generations to follow) at the Passover meal, just before He died to pay the price for His Bride.
The written contract is called a ketubah. During betrothal, you are legally married, but do no physically dwell with your mate. Betrothal is so legally binding that you cannot get outof it without a divorce. We think of the betrothal of Yos��ph and Miryam, the parents of Y��shua. Betrothal is also mentioned in Ex 21:8 and Deut 20:7.
The second stage of marriage is the fullness or consummation of the marriage.
The consummation of our marriage with Y��shua will happen later and then we will physically dwell with Him during the Messianic age on earth.
* Endearing Name
With a betrothal the Bridegroom gives his bride a special endearing name. YHWH calls Israel His Special Treasure or Treasured Possession.
��And now, if you diligently obey My voice, and shall guard My covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples – for all the earth is Mine�� Ex 19:5
* The Bride has to say YES
So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words YHWH had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together,
��All that ��הוה has spoken we shall do��
* The Bridal Canopy or Chuppah
According to Jewish weddings