The marriage followed after a longer or shorter interval, the limits of which, however, were fixed by law. The ceremony itself consisted in leading the bride into the house of the bridegroom, with certain formalities, mostly dating from very ancient times. Marriage with a maiden was commonly celebrated on a Wednesday afternoon, which allowed the first days of the week for preparation, and enabled the husband, if he had a charge to prefer against the previous chastity of his bride, to make immediate complaint before the local Sanhedrim, which sat every Thursday. On the other hand, the marriage of a widow was celebrated on Thursday afternoon, which left three days of the week for “rejoicing with her.” This circumstance enables us, with some certainty, to arrange the date of the events which preceded the marriage in Cana.
Inferring from the accompanying festivities that it was the marriage of a maiden, and therefore took place on a Wednesday, we have the following succession of events:—Thursday (beginning as every Jewish day with the previous evening), testimony of the Baptist to the Sanhedrim-deputation from Jerusalem. On Friday (John 1:29), “John seeth Jesus coming unto him,” and significantly preacheth the first sermon about “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” On Saturday (v. 35), John’s second sermon on the same text; the consequent conversion of St. John and St. Andrew, and the calling of St. Peter. On Sunday (v. 43), our Lord Himself preacheth His first Messianic sermon, and calls Philip and Nathanael. On “the third day” after it, that is, on Wednesday, was the marriage in Cana of Galilee. The significance of these dates, when compared with those in the week of our Lord’s Passion, will be sufficiently evident.
But this is not all that may be learned from the account of the marriage in Cana. Of course, there was a “marriage-feast,” as on all these occasions. For this reason, marriages were not celebrated either on the Sabbath, or on the day before or after it, lest the Sabbath-rest should be endangered. Nor was it lawful to wed on any of the three annual festivals, in order, as the Rabbis put it, “not to mingle one joy (that of the marriage) with another (that of the festival).” As it was deemed a religious duty to give pleasure to the newly-married couple, the merriment at times became greater than the more strict Rabbis approved. Accordingly, it is said of one, that to produce gravity he broke a vase worth about 25 pounds; of another, that at his son’s wedding he broke a costly glass; and of a third, that being asked to sin, he exclaimed, Woe to us, for we must all die! For, as it is added (Ber. 31 a): “It is forbidden to man, that his mouth be filled with laughter in this world (dispensation), as it is written, ‘Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.’ When is that to be? At the time when ‘they shall sing among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.’”
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Author: Alfred Edersheim
Keywords: Marriage, Betrothal, Bridegroom, Marriage ceremony, Bride, Wedding, Jewish weddings, Marriage feast
Bible reference(s): Exodus 22:17, Psalms 19:5, Isaiah 49:18, Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 62:5, Jeremiah 2:32, Jeremiah 33:11, Joel 2:16, Matthew 9:15, Matthew 22:2-4, Matthew 22:9, Matthew 24:38, Matthew 25:1, Matthew 25:5, Matthew 25:6, Matthew 25:10, Mark 2:19, Mark 2:20, Luke 5:34, Luke 12:36, Luke 14:8, Luke 17:27, Luke 20:34, John 2:1-2, John 2:9, John 3:29, 1 Corinthians 7:27, 1 Corinthians 7:38, 2 Corinthians 11:2, 1 Timothy 4:3, Hebrews 13:4, Revelation 19:7, Revelation 19:9, Revelation 21:2, Revelation 21:9, 1 Maccabees 9:37, 1 Maccabees 9:39, 1 Maccabees 10:58, 3 Maccabees 1:19, 3 Maccabees 4:8, Tobit 6:12, Tobit 11:19, 2 Esdras 9:47
Source: Sketches of Jewish Social Life, 1876.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.