Page 76 - Eschatology - Masters revised

2. The Betrothal – a type of Jesus’s preparation for His bride
Parents came together to sign a marriage contract of betrothal called a ketubah, in which the marriage
was initiated but not consummated physically for a term of one year. The couple lived apart during this
period of time while the boy constructed a home for his bride, and the young girl proved her chastity.

In John 14: 2-3, Jesus said, In my Father’s house are many mansions (dwelling places); if it were not so, I
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would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come
again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Just as the husband of the betrothed couple prepared for his wife a place to live, so Jesus is preparing a
place for His bride, the Church.

The Greek word translated in this verse for “prepare” is not the word which means “to make or
manufacture.” It means to get ready, or furnish, or equip, to make into a suitable habitation for the one
to be moved into this place. The Lord Jesus is pictured as not creating new dwelling places, but as taking
existing habitations and preparing, furnishing, and equipping them as suitable places for those whom He
will receive to Himself at His coming. In the same manner, the husband prepared a place for his bride
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and equipped it with everything his bride would need to live a fulfilling life with him. She did not enter
an empty house, but it was furnished with all the comforts of home!

The commitment of a betrothal was so legally binding that a divorce breaking that commitment was
required. If a man’s betrothed became pregnant, people would assume that she had regarded him as an
inadequate man, and this would publicly humiliate him. It also spoke of her lack of discretion and
unwillingness to keep herself pure for her husband. Worse yet, if he did not divorce her, people would
assume that he was the father of the child, and he would bear great shame in a culture that was
obsessed with shame and honor. He would bear this shame for multiple years to come.

Contrary to the practice of many other cultures, in which the bride’s father would pay the groom’s
family a dowry, in Jewish culture the groom’s father paid a bride price, or mohar, to the bride’s family in
order to negotiate the betrothal and, in essence, “purchase” the bride. The groom would also give a gift
to the bride called a mattan, which became a part of the property the bride would bring into the
marriage. These gifts were not always monetary; they may have been property or even services
provided to the bride’s family. A good father was expected to share the mohar with his daughter or give
it over to her entirely xxxi .

Jewish law required a man to divorce a wife who had been unfaithful. The man could divorce the
unfaithful wife publicly in a court of justice. The court would not only establish his innocence, but also,
he would get to keep his wife’s entire dowry. A man could also opt to divorce her privately without the
court’s involvement, but by doing so, the man forfeits any financial exchange in the betrothal.

It was a common custom for the bride to join the groom’s father’s household, rather than the groom
and the bride establishing their own household. So, if the bride and groom were of a marriageable age,
the groom would return to his father’s house after the betrothal to prepare a bridal chamber. This
process traditionally took a year or more (the length of time being dictated by the groom’s father).
When the place was fully furnished, and with the approval of the groom’s father, the groom would
return and fetch his bride. The bride would not know the day or hour of her husband-to-be’s return, so

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