Hi Cary, it is interesting to know about your Jewish connections also. I would not be surprused to discover that many Christians are from the tribes of Israel. I think that if people studied their own family trees they would find many Jewish surnames among their ancestors. I am not advocating spending a lot of money on this, but it is an intersting pasttime, and I believe it is a great blessing to know that one is descended from Abraham.

 

     The story of the princess and the pea was one of my favorites as a kid, and I was very interested in anything having to do with kings, queens and castles. One of my favorite subjects to draw in my childhood was castles, and I spent many happy hours drawing and playing with what my sisters and I called "princess paper dolls". My favorite movies were what we called "castle movies". My favorite books were fairy tales and I read the Blue, Red, Purple, Green and every other color of Fairy Tale book available.

 

     I was not aware until I read Wikipedia, but this story was a Danish tale written by Hans Christian Andersen, so maybe our own beloved Dane, Jan Mikael, can give us the inside scoop. Here is what I discovered from Wiki:

 

    The Princess and the Pea is a Danish fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1835 and also known as The Real Princess or How to tell a True Princess. Andersen said that he had heard this tale as a child, but no Danish oral variant has been recorded. Here is the synopsis:

 

Once upon a time there was a prince who lived in a wealthy kingdom. When he had reached the proper age his mother the queen decided the time was right to find a bride. The prince however was determined not to marry just any girl, and decided that his future wife should be a "real" princess. So he traveled the world and searched in all the kingdoms and met with all the princesses, but he still wasn't satisfied.

Then, one stormy night, a girl claiming to be a true princess came knocking at the castle door. Although no one believed her, she was invited in to stay for the night. The queen then planned to test the young girl's claim and went into the bedroom, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then she laid twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses. On this the princess had to sleep all night. The next morning when the girl woke up, the queen asked how she slept.

"Oh, very poorly!" she said. "I scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, and now I am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!"

The queen then immediately ordered a wedding. Only a true princess could have such delicate skin as to feel a pea through forty layers of bed sheets.

    I think the symbolism is pretty clear to us believers who aspire to be the Bride of Christ. Only those who are genuine will become part of the Bride. The wise  virgins will be separated from the foolish virgins.The Lord will know those who are His, just as the queen knew who was worthy to be a bride for her son. The pea was a means of testing for the genuine and worthy bride. Many of the Bride of Christ are going through a period of testing or chastening by the Lord Himself at this time in order to be presented as a chaste virgin.

     I believe the following verse has meaning to us:

    As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Rev 3:19.

    It is interesting that Daniel 10:12 also speaks of chastening:

   Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.

    Both verses are speaking to God's people in the end times, and in English the word chasten is connected with the word chaste. According to Strong, the Greek word #3811 for chasten, paideuo, is from #3816 paheece. The meanings are given as: to train up a child, by education and discipline, instruction;  and the second word mentions a child, specifically a servant or minister to a king, and by eminence to God.

    WOW!!! With all the recent letters regarding washing our garments, becoming chaste, spotless, clean, I think the message is clear. This dream is another confirmation that those who would be part of the Bride of Christ are to be occupied at this time with preparing the wedding garments in order to be found worthy to enter the wedding feast.