When the New Covenant was written, Jewish wedding customs included a betrothal period before the wedding ceremony. The bride gave her consent and the parties involved established the terms of the marriage contract (ketubah). When the covenant was sealed with the bride and groom drinking from a cup of wine, the couple was betrothed and legally bound to one another, usually for one year. It was forbidden to consumate the marriage until after the actual wedding ceremony. Both the bride and the groom had specific responsibilities to prepare for the marriage.

Throughout the year following his betrothal, the groom worked hard to prepare the bridal chamber, often by adding a room in his father’s house. The bridal chamber was where the couple would have their honeymoon for seven days following the wedding ceremony. The bridal chamber did not have to be a palace but it was no inferior work either. The groom’s father gave the final inspection and decided when the bride and groom could enter the chamber (chuppah). It was a lengthy and difficult procedure.

In addition, the groom or his father usually paid the bride’s father a handsome price (mohar) for the bride. (Refer to Genesis 34.) Often, the bride price was not tendered just with cash but by work or other means. Genesis 29 records that Jacob worked seven years for Rachel. 1 Samuel 17:25 records that King Saul promised one of his daughters to anyone who could slay Goliath. This gift was a requirement by law. It symbolized the exchange of the giver’s life for the bride, much like a blood covenant, creating a strong bond between the two families.

While the groom worked on the bridal chamber, the bride prepared by purification and anticipation.

In Jewish law, various circumstances required both men and women to immerse in a ritual bath to purify the body. Every adult woman took such a bath monthly which made her ceremonially clean. This bath also symbolically insured the betrothed woman’s virginity and prepared her for the groom’s arrival. In addition, the bride wore a veil in public to signify her betrothal.

The groom, best man, and other male escorts would leave the Jewish groom’s father’s house and conduct a torch light procession to the home of the bride. As a result of the bride not knowing the exact time the groom would come for her, the groom’s arrival would be preceded by a shout forewarning the bride to be prepared for the coming of the groom.

Each day, the bride waited in anticipation. Every night before bed, the bride prepared her oil lamp in case her groom returned for her after dark. Night after night she listened for the shofar, the ram’s horn, that signaled the arrival of the groom. At any hour, the young groom might return for his bride. The bride’s oil lamp would help light the way as she headed with her attendants through the dark streets of the village to meet him.

Yeshua had these marriage customs in mind when He told the parable of the 10 virgins. In this story, He spoke of the five wise virgins who were ready for the groom’s arrival and the five foolish ones who had failed to prepare. The wise virgins took their lamps and enough oil to light their way when the bridegroom arrived. The foolish virgins did not have enough oil for their lamps. (Matthew 25:12)

Every aspect of the Jewish wedding ceremony has a symbolic parallel in the wedding of Yeshua to his bride. G-d paid the bridal price by sending His Son. (Romans 8:3-4) Yeshua’s sacrifice on the cross paid for the sins of His bride. The New Covenant sealed and confirmed the agreement and conditions for marriage between Yeshua and his bride.

While we wait for His return, Yeshua is preparing a place for us as is written in John 14:1-3 and He will return for us, just as the Jewish groom comes for his bride. Yeshua has spared no expense in His preparations. We shall enjoy a week of days with the L-rd in the bridal chamber.

Yeshua waits for His Father’s word and the angels’ shofar blast that will announce His return for His bride. Like a thief in the night, the bridegroom will come for His bride. As we await His return, Yeshua reminds us to be prepared, like the five wise virgins.

It shall be a glorious time for those who have believe and accepted the Bridegroom, HaShem/The Lord, Yeshua Hamashiach/Jesus Christ. Will you be there?

By Sidharth Mohandas

According to God’s prophetic word that came through Balaam we realize that “a ruler would come out of Jacob” [Numbers 24:19]. We are also told that this King would come out of David’s line and that His reign would be eternal. We all know that this King and ruler is none other than Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah.

Now, David’s throne was promised to Solomon, but somewhere down along the line from Solomon something happens that makes it look as though there would be no more heirs to this throne. This judgment came to a King by the name Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim.

This is what the Lord says:“Record this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah” [Jeremiah 22:30]

What a strong judgment and an irreversible one! However, the Scripture records this man’s name in Jesus’ Genealogy: “and Josiah begets Jehoiachin…” [Matthew 1:11; Josiah was Jehoiachins grand father]. Then how is it possible that Jesus became an heir to the throne, if God said none of Jehoiachins offspring would sit on David’s throne?

Here’s the paradox: The throne has to come through David, but according to the word of the Lord it should not be through Jehoiachin, and yet we see Jehoiachins name in the Genealogy in the first chapter of Matthew.

I brought you till here to make you think… Before it dawns on you, have you ever compared the genealogies given in Matthew 1 and Luke 3? You’ll find that these genealogies are different and yet they are given as the genealogy of Joseph. I think I got you thinking again…For them that do not know, Luke 3 is not Joseph’s genealogy but is Mary’s genealogy. Now how is that? Well, you’ll have to be Jewish to understand that: according to their tradition they never mention the genealogies of women. And if they do, they are mentioned after their husband’s name. I’m sure the picture gets clear here. Jesus became the heir of the David’s throne through another of David’s son by the name Nathan, from whom Mary descended. And since Jesus was born to Mary and not to Joseph, he was rightfully an heir to the throne. God in His wisdom brought Jesus to the throne without having him go through Jehoiachin, but then being the first born to Joseph’s wife, he was also an heir to the promised throne that was passed down from David to Solomon.

By Shibu Abraham

[Scripture Reading Matt 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19]

It’s about Passover time in Jerusalem, and speculation is going on. Will Jesus really risk coming into Jerusalem? In Matthew 21 the crowds proclaim him as the “Son of David” which was enough to get quite a number of emotions flaring. Just see how they tried to make blind Bartimaeus shut up when he addressed Jesus by that title (Mark 10:48). Or look at what happens in Matthew 20:29-31 where Matthew says that there are two blind men shouting and not just one.

As we read about the triumphal entry in Mark the crowd proclaims the coming kingdom of their father David. In the book of John, there is a step further as the crowd shouts “Blessed is the King of Israel!” The high priests have had it with him; Jesus was actually accepting this adulation! They tell him to quiet his disciples but in Jesus fashion, the Lord says “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out!” (Luke 19:40).Whoa! The universe knew who was boss.

And what about the Romans? The Jews could be annihilated if loyalty to Caesar was challenged. And here you have a huge crowd shouting praises to the King.

It is surprising to see that this whole time there is no Roman involvement. I suspect Herod would not have been enjoying this either. Anyway, the Jews did not want to be once again thrown into exile. To the Pharisees and their followers, Jesus was blasphemous, making claims to be the son of the most high God. That’s like calling himself God. He was racking up followers in even bigger numbers especially after raising Lazarus from the dead. They tried even harder to have him arrested or stoned, they even wanted to kill Lazarus. Jesus was taking a big risk in coming to Jerusalem like this.

From the passage it’s clear that Jesus was in good standing with most of the people of Jerusalem, “..if anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them..”. He knew that the people who knew him would be more than willing to oblige and give them the donkey. But it’s more than just faith in a good man. They recognized Jesus as their King. There had been attempts to forcefully make him King before, since he fit their messianic character sketch, the one who would save them from the Romans. They still did not have quite the right idea about Jesus’ kingdom and what the messiah would be like. Yet, they herald Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem waving palm leaves and laying branches on the road which was a symbol of victory and was used customarily in rejoicing before God (Lev 23:40). They were now using it to rejoice for they had seen their salvation. And so they lay them down before Jesus singing “Hosanna”. The disciples must have been able to understand it all better once the temple was destroyed.

Imagine Jesus. His time was near. And there he was in the middle of all those people who looked at him with hope. They sang songs and danced around him. He looked at them and loved them. And then he began to weep when he saw the city, their future was bleak. He speaks of it in detail in Luke 21(and history tells of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70). Jesus would teach more often at the temple from here on.