Now, within all this great commotion and uproar and deceits, there is a bright side, something truly beautiful in the making. We are given a point in time. We are told that they were two days away from the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. Why are we told of two days? If Yeshua was crucified on a Friday, as the 4 Gospels and the Talmud testify to, this brings us to a Wednesday. This is where we are here at the beginning of Mark 14.
But what was so special about Wednesdays?
It was the day for weddings, it was a joyful day when marriages took place (M. Ket. 1:1). It was on this same day when Yeshua gave the Parable of the Marriage Feast in Matthew 22 and the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25.
Why is this important to us? These weddings and times of rejoicing were also the backdrop of the events soon to occur as Yeshua was about to fulfill the role of a Husband by giving His life for His wife to be, the congregation of believers, which He calls His own Body. Our relationship with the Messiah is like that of a marriage covenant. In a short 3 steps, we see the following: The father pays the dowry price to secure a bride for his son. This is what Yeshua was about to do on the Tav, on the cross for the love of His wife, the Ecclesia.
Then, the groom goes and prepares a place for his bride as we read in John 14 “I go to prepare a place for you… that where I am, there you may be also”. After His resurrection, He did just that, something He is doing right now; preparing a place for each of us. Our Lord is still a Carpenter.
Then we have the third step, the fetching of the bride when the groom comes and takes her home. This for us is the next prophecy to occur at the Rapture. And so, these two days before the Passover was in preparation for this wedding which is still going on. And this is why the next verse speaks of the anointing of Yeshua, as they anointed grooms, kings and priests. These are roles He would fulfill very soon.
But there is something else these two days brings to mind, as it recalls one important prophecy in the Hebrew Scriptures. The 2-days and its leading to the resurrection brings us to Hosea 6 which describes the Passion Week from this moment in Mark to the resurrection.
We read in Hosea 6:2 He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.
He the LORD, will revive us. The Hebrew is here is the word haya, meaning He will give us life and this is what Yeshua did after those two days. He died as the Passover Lamb to give us eternal life. And He will raise us up on the third day. He Himself did rise on the third day, as we also rose with Him from our old life so that we may live before Him. It should be noted that this passage from Hosea was, in the first century, believed to be pointing to the redemption and the resurrection of the believer.
This is how the Targum, the Aramaic Bible used it at the time. This is how it reads: He will give us life in the days of consolations that will come; on the day of the resurrection of the dead he will raise us up and we shall live before him. In Aramaic, both words, haya and kum came to designate a resurrection. One is spiritual, haya (Jastrow) while the other kum, points to the physical aspect. This relates very much to the believer; first we have the spiritual resurrection unto eternal life, and then we will be taken physically to heaven but with a new body, as the Bible promises.
And this is what Yeshua came to do; the mention of two days not only recalls this great prophecy of redemption from Hosea but also anticipates the future great wedding between God and His bride, the believer in Yeshua. Some Jewish commentators even compared the passage of Hosea 6 with its death and resurrection with that of the Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37. In both cases, Israel appears dead in the Diaspora but is resurrected in the end (Freedman, Anchor/Hosea).
After this prophecy of redemption in Hosea, the prophet gives us a great advice. He says in vs.3 Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
Salvation begins with the knowledge of God, for there is healing and rest for our soul and eternal life. The early and latter rain are associated with this search of the divine. Like the seed which takes time to sprout and produce seed, so is our study and knowledge of God; it is progressive. The more we read of Him from His Word, the more we get to know Him.