The tenth passage of the Sefer Yeshua is based on Mk 2:18-20, Mt 9:14-15, Lk 5:33-35, and Th 104:3 (the primary source-passage in the NT gospels is that of Mark).
10. 1People were saying to Yeshua`, ‘The followers of Yochanan and the followers of the Pharisees are more virtuous than your followers, because they fast often, and yours don’t.’ 2So Yeshua` said to them, ‘Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, when their Bridegroom’s with them? 3But believe me I tell you, the days will come when the bridechamber is taken from them, and then the children will fast!’ 4In this, he was speaking of God as Israel’s bridegroom, and the Temple as our bridechamber; he prophesied that one day soon, the Temple will be taken from us, and then the wedding guests – the Jewish people – will fast.
Overview
The traditional Christian interpretation of this passage is that the children of the bridechamber are the followers of ‘Christ’, and the bridegroom is ‘Christ’. The point at which the bridegroom is taken from them is the crucifixion, and the fasting is the fast on Good Friday.
To re-Judaise this passage, just one single change was needed – the change from ‘the bridegroom is taken from them’ to ‘the bridechamber is taken from them’. I believe this would have been the original form of the passage, and it completely changes the meaning of the whole passage.
The children of the bridechamber (‘the wedding guests’) are the Jewish people, and the bridegroom is God. The point at which the bridechamber is taken from them is the destruction of the Temple, and the fasting is the biblical fast on the Ninth of the month of Av.
In Mark, the people asking about fasting are not the ones doing the fasting; they are simply people who have made an observation and come to a misleading conclusion, thinking that fasting is an automatic sign of piety and virtue; the implication is that the disciples of Yeshua are not as virtuous as those of John and of various Pharisaic teachers, because Yeshua’s followers do not engage in regular personal fasts.
Regular Fasting as a false virtue
In the pre-Exile Israelite tradition, fasting was seen as a practice of last resort, when all other forms of prayerful supplications had failed. God’s attitude to personal fasts was that it was allowed, but if it was not also accompanied by a change of heart and true repentance, then fasting was pointless.
Fasting takes the place of making sin-offerings. The point of fasting is to prepare one’s soul for the act of repentance, to cleanse one’s soul of sin, make amends and tread a new path back to God.
In ancient times, certain religious groups would fast as a matter of course – it was just something you did as part of your religious life, and as a result, it lost its impactful spiritual meaning for most people. It would seem, from the passage in Mark, that the Pharisees and the Nazorayyans (the followers of John the Baptist) fasted regularly. From ancient literature, it is known that some religious groups fasted twice a week (eg on Mondays and Thursdays, Megillat Ta’anit I. 4-5; cf Lk 18:12; see also Lk 2:37).
Yeshua seems to disagree with this practice of regular weekly fasting. However, he seems careful not to condemn the two groups mentioned to him because, in my humble opinion, he was once a disciple of Yochanan the Immerser himself, and he obviously still possessed a great respect for Yochanan. He simply states the view that fasting is not necessary as part of the regular regime of religious life. We later learn that Yeshua was of the opinion that we should also not make a big show of our fasting by deliberately looking miserable and dishevelled (Mt 6:16-18).
God’s View of True Fasting
In ancient times, especially pre-Babylonian Exile, personal fasts were often carried out as part of a personal vow (cf Num 30:2-17, as part of a promise that if God answered a particular prayer, then the supplicant would do something for God, like donate money to the Temple or to help the poor).
In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (58:3), the people questioned the effectiveness of their personal fasts, because the fasts did not produce any results from God:
“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen it? Why have we starved our bodies, and You have not noticed?”
In the Book of the Prophet Zechariah (7:5), it is recorded that God became displeased with these personal fasts, because the fasts had lost all their original meaning. God said:
“When you fasted in the Fifth and Seventh Months for the past seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?”
Why did these fasts so displease God? It is because those engaging in these fasts still carried on with their unjust ways – this is an important fact to note when fasting:
“On the days of your fasting, you do as you please, and exploit your workers. Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot go on fasting as you do today, and still expect your voices to be heard on high.” (Isaiah 58:3b-4)
The Prophets say that, when we fast for personal reasons, merely denying ourselves nourishment is not enough. What more must we do for our prayers to reach God when we practice personal fasts? This is what God desires of us: a change in our behaviour and a return to God. This means we must change our way of thinking – not think evil in our hearts, but rather, act justly towards one another.
In times of impending national danger, prophets sometimes called for national fasts. They emphasised that, as a society we must do justice, stand up for the downtrodden, feed those in abject poverty, and provide them with clothing and shelter. People who fasted a true fast were people who acted according to God’s ways – for these were the signs of a true fast:
“Is it not to unlock the fetters put there by the wicked,
to untie the straps of their yoke,
to set free the broken and downtrodden,
and shatter every yoke?
Is it not to share out your food with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into a place of shelter?
To cover those you see without adequate clothing,
and not to hide yourself from your flesh and blood
when they are in need? (Isaiah 58:6-7)
“Administer true justice;
show mercy and compassion to one another.
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.
In your hearts do not think evil of each other.” (Zech 7:9-10)
If this is what we do when we fast, then our prayer becomes powerful. It shines out, and has a tremendous effect on the world around us:
“Because then the radiance of all the help you give
will break forth like the dawn,
And the recovery you bring to others
will soon gather speed.
Your righteousness will go before you at your head,
and My Glory will be your rear guard.
Then if you call out in prayer, I will not fail to answer you;
You will cry out, and I will say, ‘Here I am.’
And if you get rid of the heavy burdens in your society,
the mocking fingers that accuse the innocent,
and the hearts that can only speak wickedness –
if you open your hearts to the needs of the hungry,
and satisfy the needs of the starving among you,
then your light will rise in times of darkness and despair,
and your days of gloom will become like the light of midday.
Then I will be an unceasing guidance to you –
I will satisfy your thirst in times of drought,
and invigorate your bodies in times of famine.
Then you will be like a permanently watered garden –
like a spring of water whose waters never run dry.” (Isa 58:9-11)
The Symbolism of Yeshua’s Saying: The Bridegroom
As I mentioned above, just one change is needed to turn this saying into a saying that a Jewish prophet would have said. In Jewish symbolism, the Bridegroom is always YHVH, and the bride is always the nation of Israel:
“For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your Builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” (Isa 62:5)
Compare also Isa 61:10, Hos 2:14-20.
The Wedding Guests
The Aramaic term for ‘wedding guests’ is literally, ‘the children of the bridechamber’ (b’nohī de-ganūnā). These are specifically the wedding guests on the bride’s side of the family i.e. the individual people of Israel.
In Jewish custom, there are two parts to a marriage ceremony – first the betrothal, when the couple officially and legally become husband and wife, and then the wedding ceremony, which in ancient times took place between 10 to 12 months after the betrothal ceremony. During this period, the bride and groom did not live together; they each lived in the homes of their respective fathers, and could not see each other, unless they were both chaperoned at all times. The purpose of this is thought to have been to determine the paternity of any child born during the betrothal period (any child born after nine months on from the day of betrothal, cannot possibly be the child of the bridegroom).
In Jewish folk belief, the Sinai Theophany was the betrothal date between YHVH and Israel, and the day when the Kingdom of God is fulfilled in the far future is the wedding date. On this last day, there was supposed to be a great wedding banquet in heaven, to which all the Nations were invited to attend the marriage between God and Israel. The bride’s side of the family are the people of Israel, along with all those who worship YHVH exclusively, such as Noachides and Godfearers. The guests who have been invited symbolically as God’s side of the family are the Righteous of all the Nations (because all nations belong to YHVH).
The Symbolism of the Bridal Chamber
The bridechamber (or sometimes ‘bridal chamber’) is the large hall where the betrothal and final wedding ceremonies would have taken place. In ancient Jewish literature, the Tabernacle and the Temple are both likened to a bridal chamber (ganūnā in Aramaic).
As a reminder by way of information, the Tabernacle and the Temple are places where the powerful, purifying Glory of YHVH could come through from heaven to earth at full strength, without harming us mortals. Because God’s Glory is at full strength, God’s power to bring blessing and good fortune is at full strength too, spreading out through Israel to reach all the nations of the earth. However, when there is no Temple, God’s Glory cannot come through to us at its fullest strength, because if it did, it is so powerful that it would destroy us; the ritual sanctity surrounding the Mishkan and the Temple was there to protect us from harm.
Even though, during times of genuine prayer and deep meditation, we are able to open up a place for God’s Presence to dwell within our souls, the spirit of God that dwells within us in this inner Temple is nowhere near the strength that it has the potential to be in the actual Temple (because again, if God’s Glory were to enter our human souls at full strength, we would be destroyed). Our mortal human souls only need a small portion of God’s Presence to sanctify us.
The bridechamber is the Temple, and if my reconstruction is correct, then Yeshua was predicting that one day, the Temple would be taken from us. Thereafter, as long as the Temple was gone, the Jewish people would fast. The exposition of this interpretation is the purpose of my explanatory midrash in verse 4.
The Fast of the Ninth of Av
The four fasts mentioned in Zech 8:19 were specifically in memory of events leading to the destruction of the First Temple. Once the Second Temple was built, these fasts were no longer observed. The Second Temple was destroyed on the Ninth of Av (an uncanny repetition date-wise, since the First Temple was destroyed over the course of 4 days, the 7th to the 10th of Av). Talmidis therefore observe the mourning-fast of the 9th of Av, in memory of the destruction of the Second Temple.
During this fast, we examine the sins that brought about the fall of the Temple (such as the corruption and wickedness of the chief priests, and the shedding of human blood within the courts of the Temple by Zealots – both these things defiled and desecrated the Temple, meaning it could no longer remain standing). By reminding ourselves of what led to the destruction of the Temple, we can avoid them happening again in the future, as well as reminding ourselves of the kinds of things that are completely unacceptable in the practice of religion.
The fast on the 9th of Av is only a daylight fast, in order to maintain the unique sanctity of the 25-hour fast on Yom ha-Kippurim.
I believe that Yeshua predicted not only the fall of the Temple – that it would be ‘taken from us’ – but also that we would be fasting in memory of the loss of the Temple.
Pastoral application
Ultra-Orthodox and Haredi communities tend to have a lot of fast and mourning days throughout the year. I personally do not believe this to be psychologically healthy – to be in mourning and in deliberately-induced states of sadness so often during the year, every year.
Our bridegroom – YHVH – is with us, and I believe we should show this in the joy with which we observe our faith. There are times for happiness, and there are indeed times for sadness, but our overwhelming emotion in the Presence of YHVH our Saviour should be happiness and contentment. After all, weddings are times for rejoicing, not for mourning!
Contemplating Yeshua’s words in this passage, I get the sense that, in opposition to the contemporary view prevalent in his time, he maintained the original Israelite view of fasting (that it should not be a regular thing – something done once or twice a week), because then it loses all meaning. In the Talmidi community, there is only one obligatory fast – the 25-hour one on the Day of Expiations. There are also two communal fasts, both voluntary – the one on the 9th of Av, and the one on the day of remembering the death of Yeshua as a Jewish martyr (fasting was also a sign of mourning in ancient times, especially on the anniversary of an important death or a significant tragedy). Personal fasts for any other occasion should only be observances of last resort, and also accompanied by repentance and a determination to become better human beings.