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The Magic of Marriage: G-d’s Voice
We all know about the “big” Hollywood-worthy biblical events – the Flood, the splitting of the sea, the revelation at Sinai. These are the ways in which G-d intervenes in the physical world, with sounds and lights and fury.
But the Torah really only mentions those things by way of explaining how the Torah came into being in the first place: the Flood explains how G-d reacts to a world of pure violence and evil, just as the splitting of the sea was a national birth for the Jewish People, and Sinai represents the giving of the Torah itself. These events, though dramatic and exciting, were only a means to an end, a way of helping us understand how we each can have an ongoing and growing relationship with each other and with our Creator.
Or to put it another way: Sinai may have marked the wedding between man and G-d, but the rest of human existence is what matters the most, just as a married couple’s success is reflected by the joy they find in each other years and decades after they first met, not the deliciousness of the canapés at their wedding.
So where is G-d found in the world today? Or more precisely: where can we hear G-d in our daily lives? The Torah answers this question not by waxing poetic on the song of the skylark or the soothing rush of a waterfall. Instead, it tells us about something that is far more beautiful and, while theoretically within the reach of most people, remains elusive.
First, let’s set the scene. The “big” events have already happened – the Exodus from Egypt, the revelation at Sinai, the instructions and building of the Tabernacle.
The Tabernacle, which was created so that G-d could tangibly exist “among” the people, had just been finished, and all the final ceremonies were concluded.
And then what happens?
When Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he would hear the Voice addressing him from above the cover that was on top of the Ark of the Pact between the two cherubim; thus,He spoke to him. (Num. 8:89)
After all the buildup, G-d speaks – from open air. But not just any open air: G-d’s voice comes from between the two angels on top of the ark. The symbolism is far, far deeper than one might realize at first, and here is why:
The angels, the cherubim, are male and female. They represent both the love and desire between G-d and His people, and the love between man and wife. These male-and-female angels are reaching for each other, (according to some opinions, embracing each other).
Think about that for a second: after all the buildup to create the tabernacle, G-d does not appear in a lightning storm or on top of a mountain. Those “big” events were one-off spectacles. In day-to-day life, we come to understand that G-d is found in marital desire. It is the love between husband and wife that makes it possible for us to relate to – and listen to – G-d’s voice.
The Torah is chock full of similar references to the importance of marriage in being able to connect with G-d: to cite but one example, all the priests, when entering the tabernacle and preparing to serve, had first to wash at a laver that was constructed from the mirrors used by the Jewish women in Egypt to make themselves attractive to their husbands. Judaism makes no Hellenistic division between “kinds” of love; the Torah has no problem with physical desire within a holy context. The Ark itself was made from gold donated by married couples; their intimate body jewelry was used to create a home for G-d.
In Judaism, G-d is not found in nature. We do not find G-d by communing with a tree. Instead, G-d’s voice can be heard wherever and whenever a husband and wife love each other.
I think that is pretty wonderful.
[Another @iwe and @susanquinn production.]
Published in General
Many of the teachings of Jesus echo this point. At many points the 4 gospels have parables about the bridegroom coming to collect his bride. Some are quite overt, such as the parable of virgins (they all know that the bridegroom is coming, but some have brought extra oil for their lamps, while others have not and are thus unprepared), while others are more subtle (Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well: he stops at midday in the Samaritan village where Jacob’s well was, and he asks woman for a drink of water. During the ensuing conversation he tells her to go and fetch her husband, she says she’s without one, and he says “Right, you’ve had 5, and now you’re just living with a guy”), which is often interpreted as Jesus saying “I am the true bridegroom”. There are others besides. To this day, in Orthodox Christianity’s Holy Week, the Monday and Tuesday Matins services (morning / sunrise services) are called “The Bridegroom Matins,” and the hymns emphasize that GD is coming to meet His people as a bridegroom to his bride.
100 likes for this if I had them to give. I’ve been meditating on the importance of family, and this is a beautiful reminder how central the bond of marriage is to home and family. If I had one wish here on earth, it would probably be that every child had the wonderful gift of growing up knowing the happiness of having a mother and father who loved and served one another for life.
Copied and pasted this into an email to my wife. Thanks!
Is this known from tradition or from your translation of the Torah? In the American Catholic bishops’ preferred translation, I do not see the cherubim divided by sex in the book of Exodus, Kings, or Chronicles.
In any case, of course I agree that marriage is a wonderful lesson in the Lord’s love and, per Skipsul’s comment, employed throughout the testaments.
Dissolution of family bonds is the greatest tragedy of our era. If one does not learn love in family, one is likely to accept and seek poor substitutes.
It is the universal Jewish tradition, including the Talmud, accounts. This is a very interesting Gemara that goes into more detail.
The language suggests the cherubs were embracing or even in sexual union!
Nevertheless, Judaism, which is often influenced by other faiths, has tended to be pretty prurient on this topic – there is a theme of embarassment and avoidance (a sentiment that I reject).
My perspective is that nothing in the text should embarrass us. Sex and sexual desire can – and should – be holy, because the Torah says that they can be not just holy, but at the core of what holiness is.
Amen. Similar “phenomenon” in Christian faith. There is a Christian pastor from Texas, Tommy Nelson, who taught great series on Song of Solomon — very important Old Testament book IMO — that was (probably still is) very popular with young engaged/seriously dating couples.