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Jul 12·edited Jul 12Liked by Kevin Chilton

How encouraging to know that this is what awaits followers of Christ! I needed to read this today. In my own writing, I have had a bit of a heavy focus on sin. I think I have been swinging the pendulum a bit far in an over-correction effort. It's great to remember that someday there will be no more sin. What a great day will be this Marriage Supper of the Lamb!

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Amen and amen! Glad my random musings could encourage you a bit today! :-)

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Learning the history of Hebrew marriage makes so much fall into place.

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It does, doesn't it! I have always believed that it is very important to discover, wherever possible, what the text meant within the history and culture of the originally intended audience. Any time I've managed to do that, suddenly the text becomes so much richer!

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Jul 10Liked by Kevin Chilton

>>Some feel it was a kind of bride price, while others suggest that it was more of an insurance policy, held by the woman’s father to support her in case her new husband died before her.

Indeed, these aren't contradictory. The father stood by to take the bride back if her husband died... or divorced her. And he lost her productive work.

Thanks for the link :)

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>>But the significant thing is this: the bridegroom made the preparations but the bridegroom’s father decided when the preparations were complete. It wasn’t until the father said things were ready that the next step of the process could take place.

Do you have a specific reference for this?

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Do you mean a Biblical reference? Beyond "No one knows the day or the hour except My Father in Heaven," no. It comes from research I've done over the years about the traditions surrounding Hebrew weddings.

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No, I meant a secular source… hopefully one I can read online :) As you know I’ve done a bunch of research, altho mainly focused on Scripture, but I haven’t read this one.

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It originally came from a book I read about Hebrew traditions and how they shed light on Biblical stories/parables, but I borrowed it years ago and have no memory any more of the title or author. For this post, I did do some "refresher" research online, mostly at https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ancient-jewish-marriage/ though that web site did not include the idea of the father deciding when the "place" was finished, I don't think. I did find that idea mentioned again at another similar site, but I can't find that site again now. Sorry, I'm displaying poor scholarship!

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No problem. I was just interested.

It certainly isn’t something we see emphasised in Scripture, which is my focus. And it certainly doesn’t have any doctrinal problems, ditto.

There obviously is a lot more that we could go into on some of the details and how they were worked out in Scripture, but you can only do so much in one Stack Post :)

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"but you can only do so much in one Stack Post"

Especially on a topic as vast as this one! I was constantly having to force myself to skip over details as I worked on it. This post could easily have been three times longer than it is! Though probably not three times better, in that case... :-)

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Or perhaps three posts?

I think especially if one is willing to challenge modern Christian sensibilities, this kind of study is vitally important.

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