Part I: Israel’s Marriage with God

Here begins a two part series on the illustration of Israel’s marriage with God and how the marriage with Israel is prophetic.

Exodus 19:5 “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.”  Possession (Strong’s 5459) is equivalent to peculiar.  Therefore, God is calling the assembly a peculiar possession.  God selected his bride and proposed to her.  She was special in God’s eyes.

Although the terms of the covenant were not established yet, Moses set before the elders (who would set before the assembly) the words that the Lord had commanded him to speak (Exodus 19:4-6) and Israel had accepted, responding in Exodus 19:8 “…We will do everything the Lord has said.”  The bride had accepted the groom’s proposal and God was betrothed with the church.

Next, God drew up the marriage contract – the bride price, the promises of the groom, and the rights of the bride.  In the wedding contract, the groom (God) promises to work for her, honor her, and support her in truth, and to provide food, clothing, and all other necessities, and to live with her.  However, before God brought the formal contract to his bride, God commanded his bride to immerse herself into a water cleansing and spiritual purification – symbolizing a separation from a former way of living into a new way (a spiritual rebirth).  In Exodus 19:10, God commands Moses to tell the people to wash their clothes, consecrate themselves, and abstain from sexual relations.  For on the third day, the ram’s horn will be blown – symbolizing the in-gathering of his bride.  While the bride purifies herself, traditionally the groom prepares a house.

On the third day, the groom blew the ram’s horn resulting in a very loud trumpet blast.  Moses led the assembly to the foot of Mt. Sinai to meet its new husband.  Mt. Sinai was a form of a wedding canopy and in Jewish tradition, the wedding canopy was open on all four sides so that a witness can testify to the couple’s consummation.  In Exodus chapters 20-23, God presents to his bride the marriage contract – the covenant.  In 24:5, the bride formally accepts the grooms offer; “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”

Symbolic of the consummation, In 24:8 the blood stained cloth was revealed as Moses took the blood from young bulls and “…sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’”

This is where the practice of a honeymoon came from (I think): After the covenant was confirmed, in 25:15-16 “Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai.  For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called Moses from within the cloud.”  This is why the full Hebrew wedding contains a week long period where the bride and groom retract from society.

So the assembly (church) is Israel.  What happened to the marriage contract?  It was broken.  The marriage contract – the Torah (meaning to teach) – was written on hearts of stone.  Jeremiah 3:8 says “I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. “  However, God never gave a certificate of divorce to Israel’s sister Judah.

Check out Part II!