Nehemiah 12:27-13:31; 1
Corinthians 11:1-16; Psalms 35:1-16; Proverbs 21:17-18
Today is the 17th day of
August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is wonderful to be
here with you for another day and another step forward together. And in this
step, today’s step, we will conclude the book of Nehemiah. So, from the Holman
Christian Standard Bible this week. Nehemiah chapter 12 verse 27 to 13 verse 31.
Commentary:
Alright.
So, we concluded the book of Nehemiah just a few minutes ago. And Nehemiah is not
a super long book but it gives us a really, really good depiction and look at
leadership, especially in its first part. We saw that Nehemiah brought great
reforms and restoration to the traditions of Israel among exiles who did not
grow up with the temple in Jerusalem but came back and rebuilt it and were re-inaugurating
the customs and rituals of Judaism. And, so, Nehemiah and Ezra were both very
instrumental in this on the ground with the exiles rebuilding. But Nehemiah had
to return to the king. And then he was able to come back at a later time, only
to find out that it was starting to crumble again. Things that should not be
going on were going on and it was sort of the beginning of the slide backward
again. And it was horrifying to him. And there’s plenty that we can look at in
our own lives in the ways that we begin to slide in certain directions that aren’t
going to be healthy or helpful or we can see this going on in communities or in
other’s lives or in societies. And, so, Nehemiah has done and does all that he
can do and then he turns to God as we all should. And for Nehemiah, his prayer
is, remember what I’ve done of done my best, remember me with favor. Because he
knows, although he is very influential, he only has so much influence. And
although he would like to see certain things happen there’s only so much you
can do. And, so, his ultimate concern is that he’s done all that he can and
that he himself, in his own heart, has stayed true to his convictions. And
sometimes that’s how it works in leadership, since Nehemiah is so much about
that. Sometimes that’s all there is. People are going to do what people are
going to do. And once you’ve done everything that you can and have committed to
your own integrity, then you can only go to God and say, continue to make me
better, continue to make me stronger and truer, continue to grow my
understanding in what it is you’re calling me to do, remember me. And, so, it’s
fitting way to end the book of Nehemiah.
And
then we get to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and we run headlong into a fog.
We’ve got to talk about authority. We’ve got to talk about Angels. We’ve got to
talk about head coverings. We’ve got to talk about men and women in roles. And since
I happen to have the microphone I have to do one of three things - not talk
about it, talk about it as if I know what I’m talking about, or tell you the
truth. I don’t. And I don’t know why that’s so hard this day and age - for a
leader to say I don’t know. But I think it comes from a tradition of needing to
have all the answers in a nice linear fashion, so that everything makes
complete logical sense, so that an airtight dogma can be wrapped around a
subject that is universally true. And that’s mixed with the subtle pressure for
leader to have all the answers, to somehow have transcended all mystery. I just
don’t think that’s possible. And this passage, in First Corinthians, if nothing
else, brings that front and center. Because the interpretations for this
particular passage have been wrestled with for centuries coming to a wide array
of conclusions that are all over the map. And usually how that works is that a
scholar will look at previous scholarship and a pastor will look at scholarship
trying to find the path. And, so, you may have heard brilliant sermons or
teachings or read amazing things on this that make perfect sense. And that’s
awesome. But I know that in the course of my faith journey, I’ve spent hours
and hours on this - consulting old and new scholarship. So, rather than me
trying give you a teaching us something that I’m not hundred percent sure about,
I think I’ll just be honest and kind of show you how this works and share some
conclusions that I think are safe and true. So, one of the biggest issues, you
know, should a woman cover her head in church? And it looks like Paul is
answering a question that he hasn’t been asked. So, allot of this letter Paul’s
answering questions. But in this case, he’s just saying, I’m glad you are following
the tradition I gave you about this. And he begins to unpack why give the
tradition in the first place. So, Paul begins, I want you to know that Christ
is the head of every man and the man is the head of the woman and God is the
head of Christ. So, from a scholarship perspective, just that one verse, the
one thing you’ve got to know is, what are we talking about when we’re talking
about the head? What does that mean? Are we talking about authority or are we
talking about a person’s head? And the way that this gets complicated is taking
the paragraph as a whole. So, the way that it goes is, I want you to know that Christ
is the head of everyman, the man is the head of the woman, God is the head of
Christ. And then he immediately says every man who prays or prophesies with
something on his head dishonors his head, but every woman who prays or
prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head. So, it’s like, we’re
talking about authority, maybe or are we talking about the real head? Because
it’s all in the same paragraph, all in the same breath. What are we talking
about? And it gets even more complicated when cultural nuance language, where
there may be a play on words, doesn’t translate into another language well.
And, so, if there is a scholarly consensus, it would be that the first part of
that is using the term head as a reference to authority and the second part is
a person’s head. And, so we could say that Paul is revealing that there is an
order to things that is then outwardly expressed physically. And I think that’s
a safe enough reading of it. But even in that, embedded into that, is a
tradition that almost nobody practices. I mean, I’ve been to hundreds of
churches in many, many countries and if a woman has her head covered in church
it’s more a matter of style. It’s like the outfit that she’s wearing as opposed
to a spiritual discipline or expression. And I’ve been in lots of churches where
men are wearing hats and covering their heads. So, why are we so willing to
blatantly disregard this? And it gets even more complicated because in
different traditions around the world covering your head to show reverence for
God is part of the tradition. So, in the Jewish tradition, a man does cover his
head. That’s what the yamaka is about. So, if you’re in Israel and you want to
go pray at the Western Wall. Number one, men and women will be segregated from
each other, they don’t pray together. And if you’re a man…I mean…like I’ve
never been on the women’s side…because I’ve never been a woman…but I’ve been to
the men’s side of it many times. So, if you’re going to approach the wall to pray
and you’ve got a baseball hat on, you’re good. But if you have nothing on your
head then they’ve got these little throw away yamaka’s that you can throw on
your head because you need to cover your head to go approach God that way. Whereas
Paul’s saying, you shouldn’t have a hat on at all. And the Jews are just
following their traditional interpretation of the Torah. So, with Paul, we can
at least clearly say that he’s making gender distinctions and saying that
within those distinctions are different components that make up a whole. So,
let’ just read through this and I will stop at the places where there have been
differences of opinion and interpretation and you can pray into it yourself. I want
you to know that Christ is the head of every man. So again, what is the head? We
just talked about that. Of every man. What are we talking about? Males or
mankind? And the man is the head of the woman. Okay. Pause. Is Paul instituting
a patriarchal new way of looking at things or is Paul simply stating what is
obvious in the culture in which he lives? And God is the head of Christ. So, we
have this head thing again. Does that mean that God was actually Jesus physical
head or was God in Jesus physical mind or brain or is it that God has the authority
over Christ in some way, even though they are one in the same? What I think is
safe to say is that Paul is revealing that there is an order to things. And in
referring to the order, Paul then talks about covering or not covering your
head. Every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors
his head. So, is he dishonoring his head? Like, you know, where his eyes and
nose and mouth and ears and hair are or is he dishonoring the authority to
which he has submitted himself? But every woman who prays or prophesies with
her head uncovered dishonors her head, since that is one and the same as having
her head shaved. Before we get to that, the way that this passage kind of moves
around, some scholars have wondered if this whole portion of the letter isn’t a
part of, maybe of that earlier letter that Paul talked about, or some other
letter and these have been kind of consolidated. I don’t particularly think
that because there’s no evidence for it and most scholars don’t but some do. But
anyway, a woman should cover head because if she doesn’t she’s dishonoring her
head. So, maybe her head with her face or that which she has submitted to,
which would be God, which could also be an indicator of the fact that she’s in
the covenant of marriage and you see that allot of these can be both. And, well
Paul says if she doesn’t, she should have her head shaved, which, I mean,
that’s definitely a sign of shame. In Paul’s day and age and place in the world
and culture, a woman who had had her head shaved would be someone who had
committed a sin like adultery. And, so, her head would be shaved and then she
would, kind of, walk around with that shame. But it would grow back and she
would be restored, which is not unlike what happened in David’s time. Remember,
when David sent some emissaries to another country and they dishonored them by
shaving their beards? And, so, David to go to Jericho and let it all grow back
and then come back to Jerusalem. So, in that culture the beard was sort of the
sign of masculinity and cultural standing and even religious devotion. For that
to get shaved off would be quite a dishonor. Or it could be a sign of a vow.
Many people would shave their head as they took a vow to God and let it grow
back. Or Sampson could never cut his hair. And, so, as we move forward we begin
to get a clue that Paul is talking about authority when he is talking about
head even though he’s talking about covering a physical head. So, he’s kind of
talking about an order of things as he unpacks this. A man, in fact, should not
cover his head because he is God’s image and glory but woman is man’s glory for
man did not come from woman but woman came from man and man was not created for
woman but woman for man. This is why a woman should have a symbol of authority
on her head. And, so, well, allot of people would say this is kind of demeaning,
maybe, to a female then? While others would say no, this is actually kind of affirming
and elevating because man is God’s image and glory but woman is what gives man
glory and God glory. And, so, a woman being created for man by God simply
revealed man’s inadequacy without her. But anyway, Paul is saying, it’s a
symbol of authority. This is why a woman should cover her head. But then he
says something cryptic – ‘because of the Angels’. This is why a woman should
have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. So, what is that
about? And those interpretations are all over the map because it’s even cryptic
in the original language. And there are esoteric interpretations as well as
practical. So, like, on the esoteric side of things, I’ve seen interpretations
that this is referring to the sons of God and the daughters of Eve in the Old
Testament and that a woman’s uncovered head is so intoxicating that even spiritual
beings are seduced. And that this whole thing was about protection and
protecting the beauty of femininity. Other interpretations of these angels will
come from places like the book of Revelation, where there is an angel for a
church and this angel would report back to God the goings on. Others would say
that Angels means messengers and this is a messenger. So, it could be people
visiting from other churches and Paul wanted uniformity in certain traditions.
But then Paul turns the conversation again. In the Lord, however, woman is not
independent of man and man is not independent of woman for just as woman came
from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God. So, on the
one hand, part of this, people have seen this very patriarchal and then he says
that and it’s not. And in other letters, he says, in the Lord that there is no
male or female, like we’re all the same. But then we get to the end of what
Paul is saying in this passage. Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman
to pray with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if
a man has long hair it’s a disgrace to him but if a woman has long hair it’s
her glory for her hair is given to her as a covering. But if any anyone wants
to argue about this, we don’t have any other customs in the church. So, what
Paul is saying here is, it’s kind of obvious, which is clearly referencing his
time and place, because now all of those things are quite as obvious in this
time and place. Women cover their heads or they don’t. Men have long hair or
they don’t. I had long hair for a lot of my life and I might still if it were
falling out but it never felt like it was dishonoring…it was just never a
dishonor or honor thing. That’s not the culture I grew up in. So, you can see
why I can come before you as a brother and just say I’m not sure, because
linguistic scholars or theological scholars or cultural scholars have all
wrestled with this and have come to different conclusions. And as hard as I am
after God in my life, as deeply as I am aiming my heart toward knowing God, the
further that I go, the more I realize that I have barely begun to scratch the
surface. And the Bible continues to show me that I don’t know all I think I
know. And that posture has actually opened me wide, to simply sit with the fact
that I don’t know all that I think that I know. And there will always be more
and it’s going to take billions of years in eternity, with God, in
collaboration and in love with God to know what I want to know. And I think,
even then, there’ll be more.
So,
I bring this up today not to be disconcerting in any way. Although I don’t mind
being disruptive. But this passage does give us an opportunity to come
face-to-face with our dogmas and the ways in which we think everything, every
problem, has to have a logical answer when life rarely works like that. When
we’re able to hold in our hands the mystery and acknowledge that we don’t know
all that we think that we do, we are no longer relying on our own strength. And
if there’s one thing the metanarrative of the Bible teaches us is that we are hopelessly
powerless without God. But another thing that is undeniable in the scriptures
is that God is passionately desiring to be involved in our lives. Those things
are fundamental and foundational and it becomes more important to say, I don’t
know the answer but I do know God. And it is within that tension that we grow
and ironically that is woven into the fabric of the culture in which the Bible,
from which, the Bible came. Israel means one who wrestles with God. And, so,
from that tradition is a different way of absorbing the Scriptures. It’s less
about what you’re going to figure out and create a dogma around and more about
what is happening to you, what you are wrestling with. And we’ve seen that so
many times already this year in the Bible, where it becomes this mirror into
our souls and begins to speak about things much deeper inside of us. It becomes
less about reading words on a page and realizing those words are reading our
mail. They are reading us. A mirror has been put up in front of us and we have
to look squarely into our own hearts and it unlocks places in us that that we
didn’t know. And allot of times, if I’m wrestling through or trying to
understand something, I’ll go to Jesus first, I’ll go to the Gospels. But even
Jesus practiced this. There’s this beautiful story, where a scholar, someone
who had been trained came to Jesus and asked him about the great commandments
in relation to eternal life. And Jesus says, you’re an expert, how do you read
it? Which is so fascinating t me. We talk about it in the book, Sneezing Jesus.
Because I think it’s so compelling that God would invite a man to talk about
how he has wrestled with and understands the scriptures. That’s remarkably
fascinating to me. And even Paul, in this passage, says, judge for yourselves,
wrestle with this yourselves. At the end of the day, and Paul says this, at the
end of the day this is just what we do. This is the custom. We don’t have any
other custom. So, when I read a passage like the one we read today, I have to
say, there is an understanding or was an understanding in the Corinthian
culture that didn’t need to be explained that everyone knew. And we’ve lost
that. And here’s kind of how that works. If I were to say to any of you, hey, you
going to watch the game on Sunday? I don’t have to explain what I’m talking
about. We know, generally speaking. Like, if you’re if you’re a sports fan and
you, like, watch sports all year round. I could say, you going to watch the
game on Saturday, you going to watch the game on Sunday or whatever. Depending
on what season it is, you know exactly what game and what sport we’re likely
talking about depending on where we are. If I’m in Tennessee I might be
watching a specific game that is a professional team of our city. And for you
it might be different in a different city but we kind of know what we’re talking
about. But if we try to ask this question a couple hundred years ago, it would
mean something completely different if we understood it at all. And if we take
Paul’s writings in their totality, we know his heart. We know that all he
wanted was for people to know Jesus and to grow strong in their faith. We know
that he went through allot for that cause. We know that he was an outsider and
cast away from his own people in his own culture who wanted to do away with him
because of it. We know that this guy gave his life for the cause of Christ. And
when he wrote this letter to the Corinthians, he wasn’t trying to put people in
any kind of bondage. He had given his life to set people free from bondage. I
don’t know why covering our heads or uncovering our heads was so important at that
particular time but I do know that those traditions follow through. Why does a
woman walk down the aisle with the veil and her head covered to give herself to
her husband before God and to enter into a covenant with God and her husband? I’ve
been to lots of weddings. I’ve performed lots of weddings. I have yet to find a
bride that isn’t thrilled with the tradition. That she gets to walk down the
aisle and she’s covered and her heads covered and she looks like a radiant
daughter of God. And I have seen that image level the husband to be. I have
watched husbands lift the veil in tears. And, so, our traditions, when they
mean something, they mean something true. So, whatever was going on here is for
good.
Prayer:
Father,
we thank You for Your word and its ability to bring us to the end of ourselves
and to bring us into Your presence because we know You are good and kind and
merciful and loyal been beyond what we know how to articulate. And You love us
and we love You back. And we sit with mystery knowing that it unfolds day by
day by day by day and will continue to do this forever. And in Your kindness we
get to live inside that adventure. So, come, Holy Spirit, implant the words in
our lives and may it yield good fruit for your kingdom. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m
Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayers and Praise Reports:
Good morning from the UK,
Nottingham. It’s August the 14th. Hello and blessings from the UK. I
want to pray for us all. Lord, I thank You for community. I thank you that you brought
us together under Your name, the name above all names, Jesus. And I bless each
and every one of us that we can really find our purpose and goal in life and serve
you with all our heart and mind. Even in our wondering, we’ll just gravitate
back to You today. In Jesus’ name. Bless this community, I pray. Community, I’d
like for you to pray for a lady in my life, that has come into my life…for friends
really…in needing on our journey of faith to discovering Jesus. Her names Patsy
or Samantha. She’s had a difficult time in relationships with her health. But
the Lord has drawn her to my church. And she keeps wanting to come on Sundays
and she’s very, very interested and loves children, particularly, my daughter. I’m
a divorced dad and see my daughter weekends. And…you know…the Lords will be
done. I’ve been divorced for nearly three years now, separated for eight. And…you
know…I trust the Lord, that he has the right partner for me but who knows with
this lady…dear friend. Pray for her that she’ll find…her eyes will be open to
faith and discover more of Him and who He is and that distractions will disappear
and the enemy will keep his hands off her by sending wrong people towards her.
And I pray that she’ll have wisdom in all that she does. Thank you. family. God
bless. Bye-bye.
My name is Rachel. I’m phoning
from Scotland. I’ve just listened to the Daily Audio Bible podcast for the day
the 14th of August and I wanted to pray for Mary C. from Georgia. And
I wondered if she hears this if Mary, if you will contact me? My email is jemassage01@gmail.com. Father God, we
pray for Your servant Mary. You know that she banged her head Father, and You
know that she’s been suffering ever since. And her and her mother are going to
be moving shortly and you know she’s not going to be able to go to school and
we just pray that You will touch her today Lord, that You will heal her. That You
will restore her to full health. Lord, we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. God
bless everybody. Take care. Jesus loves you. Bye.
Good morning. I’m a new listener. I love this app. I love
what you’re doing. A friend of mind gave me your information and I started listening
just a few days ago. God bless you for being there. I do have a prayer request.
Number one is my son, Brice, who is Spirit filled, lost his job a couple months
ago and he only has enough money for another month. He is Christian and Spirit
filled but he’s getting very anxious and nervous. And my daughter in law is
having a very hard time. Her name is Kelly. Brice and Kelly. I know God has a
job for him and I know He has a job that when He opens the doors that no man
can close. I just ask for your prayers for them, for their peace and that they
would go in the right direction, the place that God wants them and that they
would draw closer to God and they both need to know the Father’s love. And in
this I’m praying and I want you to agree with me, that they know the Father’s
love and that they have a testimony of what God did and what He’s doing and
what He’s already done. And I thank you for praying. I also developed a rash on
my abdomen and I don’t know what it is but I just want prayer for complete
healing. And, again, God bless you for being there and I intend to keep
listening daily. Thank you. In Jesus’ name…
Good morning DAB family.
Deborah, Providence RI. Brain and family and all the other’s thanks for all
that you do. I listened to the podcast on the 14th of August and
this is for Valeri whose father is in hospice and mother who recently passed.
Valeri, my prayers are with you honey. I pray and agree with you for your
prayer for your dad’s peaceful and happy transition. I know it’s tough but just
hold on knowing that they are both going to be in a better place. I pray peace
in your heart. Also, for the young lady, the 16-year-old that got hurt and is
asking for prayers for her healing, her home, a better home when they move, and
for her sisters return to Christ. I stand in full agreement with You. God Bless
Byron. Thank you for the story about the track with your son. Very uplifting.
Tony, Blind Tony, I just pray for your healing brother and glorify God for you
for the gift that you share with us regularly. I know there are calls about you
not calling yourself Blind Tony. I tend to agree buddy. Honey, you are who you
are, free of healing. I pray you’ll continue to hold onto your healing. It will
come. No matter what you call yourself. You’re a child of God and you will be healed.
In Jesus’ name. Thank you everyone. God bless. Bye.
