Jeremiah 31:31-33<\/a>. \u00a0And, of course, the little prophetic book of Hosea is named after a man who, in order to illustrate the damaged relationship between the Lord and Israel, was required to take a flagrantly promiscuous woman, a prostitute named Gomer, as his wife \u2014 surely one of the most unpleasant church callings in history.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Jesus criticizes \u201can evil and adulterous generation\u201d or \u201ca wicked and adulterous generation\u201d that \u201cseeks for a sign\u201d (as in Matthew 12:39 and 16:4), that description should probably be understood in the light of the Old Testament imagery of God as husband and Israel as wife. \u00a0So should the Parable of the Ten Virgins (also known as The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, Matthew 25:1-13), in which the \u201cbridegroom\u201d for whose coming they (and we) are to be alert is clearly Christ.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s noticeable, however, that Jesus calls himself \u201cbridegroom\u201d (\u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03c6\u03af\u03bf\u03c2<\/span>) rather than \u201chusband.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whereas, in the Old Testament, the marital relationship has already been established between God and his people, presumably via the Abrahamic or Mosaic covenant (or both), in the New Testament, it\u2019s in the future rather than in the historic past. \u00a0This is, in other words, to be a new<\/em> covenant \u2014 perhaps the very \u201cnew covenant\u201d (Hebrew \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea \u05d7\u05b2\u05d3\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d4 [<\/span>b\u0259r\u00ee\u1e6f \u1e25\u0103\u1e0f\u0101\u0161\u00e2<\/i>];\u00a0<\/i>Greek Septuagint <\/span>\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u1f74 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03b8\u03ae\u03ba\u03b7 [<\/span>kain\u1e15 diath\u1e17k\u0113<\/i>]) that Jeremiah 31:31, already cited above, had suggested would come.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Greek phrase that\u2019s translated into English as \u201cThe New Testament\u201d is, precisely,\u00a0\u1f29 \u039a\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u1f74 \u0394\u03b9\u03b1\u03b8\u03ae\u03ba\u03b7 (\u201cThe New Covenant\u201d), just as the Septuagint version\u00a0of Jeremiah 31:31 has it.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Mark 2:18-22 Luke 5:33-39 Compare Matthew 9:14-17 and John 3:29-30 \u00a0 Jesus\u2019 identification of himself as the \u201cbridegroom\u201d in these passages is an interesting one. \u00a0 The relationship between God and his people is often portrayed in the Old Testament as analogous to a marriage in which God is the husband and Israel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>