Exodus 19:1-Numbers 10:12

A Jewish Wedding: Betrothal to Marriage
A Jewish marriage begins with a betrothal. A sacred ceremony, the betrothal is considered binding, requiring a divorce to undo. After the betrothal, the bridegroom builds a house for his bride (often an extension of his family’s home). When the bride’s father approves of the house, he pays a dowry and the wedding ceremony begins. Seven glorious days of consummation and feasting conclude the marriage. This process takes about a year.

Mt. Sinai: Exodus 19:1 to Numbers 10:12
Can we see Exodus 16:1 to Numbers 10:12 from that perspective? Consider. The Israelites have spent almost a year at the base of Mt. Sinai. God, the Bridegroom, has built a “house,” the Tabernacle, so He can dwell with them. The gifts the people received from Egypt have been given to the Bridegroom and used to build the Tabernacle. Thus, they have become the Bride’s wedding present, her dowry, for her husband. The Bridegroom has given the Bride a Betrothal Present, the Ten Commandments. And, yes, their marriage is consummated and celebrated. How, you ask? Come along and imagine a love story with me. I will flesh out some of the details as we proceed.

The Betrothal:
In Exodus 19:1-6, God promises Israel that if she remains faithful, He will love her and treasure her above all other people. (19:1-6) Language fit for a bride, the woman He will love above all else! Israel accepts enthusiastically. She bathes, washes her clothing and sanctifies herself to meet her Bridegroom. (Ex 19:7-11)

God dresses spectacularly for the betrothal, dressing as only God can dress. Clothed in thunder, lightning, and a thick cloud, with a frightening blast of the trumpet, He announces His coming. The Bride goes to meet her Bridegroom, trembling. God approaches in fire. She approaches in awe. God’s mountain trembles violently. She shakes from fear. God’s trumpet grows louder and louder. (Ex 19:16-19) He proclaims the Wedding Vows (the Ten Commandments) and the rules of the marriage. (Ex 20-23) The Bride accepts the conditions fully. (Ex 20:3-7) Presenting Himself on a Sapphire Sea, God celebrates His betrothal with a glorious feast, inviting Moshe, Aharon, Nadab, Avihu and seventy of the elders to eat and drink with Him on His Holy Mountain. (Ex 24:9-11)

Preparing for Marriage:
The Bridegroom Provides
It is God’s job, as the Bridegroom, to provide a home for His Bride, a place where they can live together. He will bring them to the Promised Land, their home, where they can dwell together forever. But He will also oversee the construction of a personal Home for Himself, a Tabernacle, where they can meet in intimacy. God describes His future home to Moshe, and the glorious clothing His Bride (the priests) must wear to meet Him. He tells Moshe the names of the people who will construct the Tabernacle and how they will do it. Finally, God gives Moshe His Wedding Gift: the Ten Commandments, carved into stone by God Himself, written in God’s own Hand. A wonderful beginning for a future of marital bliss! But Moshe quickly descends God’s Mountain after a warning from God that all is not good. (Ex 24-31)

The Marriage is Almost Annulled
The Bride has proven unfaithful. Frightened by Moshe’s absence, she has disobeyed her Betrothed. The Bridegroom wants to annul the Marriage. Moshe intercedes on the Bride’s behalf, and the Bridegroom accepts the intercession: the Marriage will go forth. The people promise their fidelity. The Marriage Covenant is written once more in stone, but this time it is produced together by the Bridegroom and the Bride. (Ex 32-34)

The Dowry is Paid and the Home is Finished
The Bride provides her dowry from the wealth she received in Egypt. She dedicates those riches to God, her Bridegroom, to build the Tabernacle. When the Tabernacle is built exactly to His specifications, God’s Presence fills it. God will cohabit with His Bride, going before her as her protector and her provider. (Ex 35-40)

The Rules of Their Marriage
God describes, as the leader in the marriage, the practical, nitty-gritty terms of how they will live together: the meals (sacrifices) they will share, the way of life they will follow, the feasts they will celebrate, His blessings for obedience and His curses for disobedience, His rules for redemption. (Leviticus) He counts His people, and gives them their positions in the army. He gives the Levites their duties, and reminds everybody of the need for purity. (Num 1-4) Then, He sets a kind of fleece. If His Bride proves unfaithful, He will know it. She will be forced to drink the false vows she has made, mixed in water (the Word and the Spirit), sprinkled with the dust of the Tabernacle (sanctified flesh) and she will miscarry. She will not be allowed to bear unfaithful fruit. But if she proves faithful, when she drinks her vows, made in the Name of YHWH, mixed with water and dust, she will bear children. She will bear good fruit. (Num 5).

Discipline and Restoration
Throughout Torah, God disciplines His Bride. When He does, He follows the discipline with renewed intimacy: more sacrifices (more shared meals) and more laws (more opportunities for closeness), more requirements of the Bride’s faithfulness and more promises of His blessing. Thus, the test for marital unfaithfulness is followed by the Nazirite vow. With this vow, the Bride dedicates herself more deeply to God. She deepens her commitment to her Bridegroom. The Bridegroom responds by lavishing love upon the Bride. With the Aharonic Benediction, God extravagantly blesses her, piling up blessings like jewels in a many-tiered necklace. God, the Bridegroom, proclaims His desire to bless His Bride: to take care of her, to smile upon her, to be kind to her, to gaze upon her and to give her His Peace (Num 6)

The Wedding
Everything is ready. The house has been built. The dowry has been paid. The promises and vows have been made. A year has passed since the Betrothal. The Wedding Feast begins. Each tribe celebrates their marriage to God through a large communal feast. They bring so many animals to the sacrifice that multitudes of people share in the festivities. (Otherwise, all that meat could never be eaten!) Vast amounts of grain are offered as well. Each tribe has their own night to celebrate with their Bridegroom. Thus, a twelve-day celebration, an enormous party, ensues. The camp is alive, vibrant, pulsating with festivity. Then, the Menorah, the lamp-stand, is set up so the lights face outward, towards the people. The Levites are commissioned. Passover is remembered. And the Cloud envelopes the Tabernacle. The people see the Glory of God in the Cloud and the Fire, the Holiness of God. His Presence is always before their eyes. The heavenly Bridegroom resides with His earthly Bride. What does He want in return? That she be faithful to Him, trust Him and love Him.

In the next chapters of Numbers, as they journey towards their home together, the Promised Land, the Bride will learn how costly her vow to obey her Husband is. She will have to die to herself to become faithful to God, to trust Him and to love Him unconditionally. Through that death, she will get to experience the fruit of the wedding present He has offered her. Her children will enter the Promised Land. We too must die to ourselves to enter the Promised Land our Savior gives us. Welcome to the celebration! A wedding feast designed by the King of Kings! It’s a glorious feast, which means it’s an enormous sacrifice, a sacrifice well worth making. It’s our entrance into the Promised Land of our Bridegroom’s Eternal Presence. Shalom.