Advent: December 10th
In Israel, a betrothal lasted as long as it took for the groom to fulfill his financial obligations to the father of the bride and to fulfill all the stipulations of the contract which could be very detailed. Sometimes families even specified what kind of celebration they expected during the wedding celebration. Which is one reason why it was such a disgraceful thing for the family to run out of wine at the wedding party as they did in Cana when Jesus did his first miracle. Depending on the agreed terms, this could take years, as it did with Racheal and Jacob(Genesis 29), or might even have been paid by the groom’s parents. But for however long the engagement lasted, it was accepted as a necessary time to wait and test the character of the betrothed. The couple would be getting to know each other. A breach in one’s moral conduct at this stage would be seen as the proof of bad character and lack of self-control.
The second stage in marriage was the Chuppah. Here, the groom would come to the bride’s house to consummate the marriage, oftentimes with friends and family outside. Afterwards, he would lead his bride to a wedding feast that would last days or weeks(whatever had been stipulated.)
This was the final stage of marriage, the celebration! It was after this that a woman would go live with her husband and stay in his house, or often with him at his father’s house, where she became a contributing member of their family.
Some have speculated that cohabitation before the wedding ceremony was common practice in Israel at this time. While that may be true for specific times or places throughout their history(though I suspect it is not) my research showed that, particularly at the time of Mary and Joseph, Nazareth was known to be more devout and restrictive when it came to righteous behavior throughout all stages of marriage.
So just as Joseph is about to divorce Mary quietly, something astonishing happens!
An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him to go ahead and take Mary as his wife because what she has claimed is true! The Holy Spirit has placed the child in her womb-miraculously. Joseph is also told the child will be a boy and that he is to give him the name Jesus because, “He is going to save his people from their sins.” Jesus means “God saves.” Which speaks both to the identity of Jesus and his mission.
But the angel does not stop there. He also ties this news to a prophecy from Isaiah. Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Immanuel means, “God with us.” The angel referencing this specific prophecy would have led Joseph to understand that the child Mary would soon birth was the promised messiah.
What then does it mean that God is WITH us?
