Hosea 2:19, “And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.”
There is much talk among Christians today of being the bride of Christ and being married to Christ. This is, of course, a very Biblical picture of our relationship to Christ. Many Christians see the Song of Solomon as a picture of our relationship to Christ which is a story of the love relationship between King Solomon and the Schulemite woman. This is not only a Christian concept but a very Jewish concept. I read a story in Jewish literature about a rabbi who would literally dress up in a wedding outfit on the Sabbath in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah to receive him as his bride.
This is such a strong and beautiful image of our relationship with God that the enemy seeks to strike at the very heart and core of the marriage relationship and seeks to pervert it with the many sexual pornographic perversions that exist today. He seeks to fill the sacred marriage with adultery, unfaithfulness, selfishness and turn marriage into something that becomes almost a mockery to totally distort the very picture God has given us to understand our relationship to God.
Yet, marriage is still very popular. Stories about romance sell in novels, movies and tabloid magazines. As some famous movie star enters her fifth marriage we all grab the latest edition of People magazine to find out if she has now found her true romantic partner. We will fill a movie theater to capacity to watch a story of a man and woman who finds true love and enters a life of living happily ever after together. Our hearts are warmed as we watch an elderly couple celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary holding hands and giving each other a little kiss on the lips. Oh, how the enemy hates that because he knows we will logically look at that and begin to compare this tenderness, faithfulness, this caring to our relationship to God, for God did give us the marriage relationship this love relationship between a man and woman as a picture of our relationship to Him.
Yet the Bible seems to only speak of our betrothal to God as we find in Hosea and the Book of the Song of Solomon. The only time it references being married to God is when Jesus comes to take us to heaven. Apparently the picture or image that Scripture gives us is that while on earth we are merely in a betrothal period. Jesus even alludes to the fact that while on earth we are merely in a betrothal stage in John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many rooms: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” During the betrothal period a bridegroom while spend that time building a new room or addition to his father’s house where he would one day move in with his bride. Here Jesus is giving us a beautiful Semitic picture of being betrothed to us by saying He is building a room onto His father’s house and when it is finished he will come and take us, His bride, away from our present world to live in His world. This is the same picture of a bridegroom who will come to take his bride from the world of her family to live in the world of his family.
So what is a betrothal? The word in Hebrew is ‘aras. If you look it up in your lexicon it will simply say it means to betroth. We need to really look into Jewish literature and the Talmud to understand what a betrothal is if we are to make the proper comparison to our relationship with God. The word itself ‘aras comes from a Semitic root found in the Sumerian language which means to desire. Hence the whole idea behind a betrothal is to build a desire between a man and woman. There was the ancient teaching that when a male child is born his soul was split in two and the other half of his soul would be placed by God into a female child who would one day be born. God would anoint a shidduch or matchmaker who would have a prophetic gift to determine the young woman who had the other half of the soul of a male. Hence the term soul mates. Often this determination was made between two individuals who had never met each other. It was understood that there must be a period of time for these two to learn to love each other before the marriage was consummated. Thus, we have the time of a betrothal. This is where the idea of an engagement originated. This whole idea of an engagement and engagement ring has its roots in Judaism. I believe that is significant that this is a Jewish concept as God is giving us a picture of our relationship to Him.
When a young couple are betrothed, traditionaly the parents were to support the young man so he would not have to work during this period. The time period of betrothal would vary, generally it was one year, but it could be more or even less. Sometimes it could be one day, sometimes a number of years, although the family would quickly tire of having to support a young man for more than a year. The idea was that this time would be spent where the couple would begin to learn about each other, understand each other and learn to love each other, that is fall in love such that their desire and passion for each other would build to the point that the man would one day come to snatch his bride away and become intimate with her and make her his wife.
Although Eastern Oriental culture had great taboos on a man touching or looking at a woman, when a man was betrothed, much liberty was granted for him to touch his betrothed. They would be allowed to go off into the wilderness and share their intimate thoughts and dreams and they could hold hands and exchange a kiss or two, but they could go no further. If the man and woman did engage in sex then they were officially married. In fact the betrothal begins with a wedding ceremony where they are legally married but do not live together or engage in marital sex.
The betrothal period can be a very romantic time, a time of two lovers dreaming together, experiencing the joy of learning to commit to each other and experiencing the thrill of the touch and the nearness of one to whom they would one day become intimate in the deepest way. Usually after a year of this the bridegroom becomes so ‘aras (desire, betrothal) so desirous of being intimate with this woman he has shared his heart with that he will one night sneak out of his house and snatch his bride away from her father’s house and take her to his father’s house where he will consummate their relationship in the room he built onto his father’s house. At that time they will be married. No one, not even the bride knew when the bridegroom would reach this point of such desire that he would snatch his bride away. Everyone would anxiously await that day, watch for the signs that the bridegroom was getting ready, watch him breaking out in a cold sweat and word would get out, “its tonight.” Then everyone would light a lamp and follow the groom as he went to his bride’s house. Not even the bride knew the time but she knew the seasons and she had a good idea such that she would be dressed and ready when the secret was out and the bridegroom comes knocking at her door.
Is that not a picture of our lives here on earth? We accept Jesus as our Savior and we are then betrothed to Him. We live our remaining days in a betrothal with Jesus, learning to love Him, spending time alone with Him, letting Him hold our hand, loving stroke our cheeks and allowing him to gently kiss us while all the time our desire for Him grows deeper and deeper until one day He can stand it no longer, He can no longer stand to be separated from us such that one night He will come to snatch us away and to take us to live in His father’s house in heaven forever.
Are you dressed and ready?
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