patriarchy – Page 5 – 11:3 Restoration

Vision and Restoration…

Why are you alive? Fifty years after you die, what will have been the value of your life? How will people remember you? Will they remember you?

While ultimately, life is not so self centered as to be about my or your existence, few of us think deeply enough about our reason for being or living.

Recently, my wife and I, along with our eldest, attended a retreat focused on Biblical headship and patriarchy, our third such with this group. It was a refreshing gathering of believers from a number of different Christian/Hebraic backgrounds with the common passion for understanding marriage and headship from a decidedly Biblical perspective. Besides the interesting fact that is was fun to rub shoulders with Christians who don’t see or understand Torah as necessary while decidedly rejecting feminism and matriarchy based on the ‘old Testament Law,’ it was cathartic to hear from others who have experienced rejection from friends and family because they choose truth over tradition in this area. But, I digress.

Musings re: Headship and Numbers 30-31

Headship and the Biblical order in both family and nation has been a recurring theme in our fellowship. Over the last few months we have been intensely challenged by the Father to consider HIS model for how men/women/family/clan/tribe/nation are supposed to function and operate. Yesterday was no different. While we had a ‘double portion’ in Mattot and Massei, we never actually got out of the first two chapters.

I thought I’d share a few thoughts that came out of our discussion as it directly relates to the ongoing series on this blog regarding the restoration of kol Israel and the roles of men and women. Consider them food for thought or discussion as we did not fully develop them, nor am I attempting to share every detail of our conversation…

Numbers 30:

Restoring Kol Israel: Covering

As we continue our headship study we will continue with the writings of Paul. Previously, we looked at 1 Corinthians 11:3, 7-10. Here we will consider the verses in the middle, often ignored or minimized as simply being about a cloth head covering.

Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. [5] But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. [6] For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. [7] For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
1 Corinthians 11:4-7 NASB

As pointed out in the opening post of this series Paul upheld and taught the Torah. I believe we do ourselves and this passage a disservice when we only focus on the literal cloth head covering debate and ignore the deeper truths that Paul is teaching us in this passage. Remember, foundationally, a woman was always to be under the headship/authority/covering of a man. From the beginning, when Eve stepped out from under her covering, we see that she becomes vulnerable. The headship/covering is articulated over and over in Torah through numerous examples demonstrating that a girl was to be under the covering of her father until he released her into the protection of a husband.

Restoring Kol Israel: Creation Order

As explained in the introduction to this series, the most basic building block for the restoration of all Israel is the family. To begin understanding how this basic building block is supposed to work, we need to begin to understand the creation order, and for that, we begin in the writings of Paul.

But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. [7] For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. [8] For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; [9] for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. [10] Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
1 Corinthians 11:3,7-10 NASB

We know that Paul upheld Torah so have you ever wondered where Paul is getting this from? I think we do this passage and ourselves a disservice when we only focus on the literal head covering debate. Paul is using a physical example to teach some very important spiritual truths. He is clearly teaching headship and authority structure and he references creation so we should be able to pick up on what he is talking about if we go back to Genesis.

Regarding the restoration of Israel…

If we set our course out of consideration for what others may think or concern for how this group or that group will accept us, then we are guaranteed to fail. If, however, we base our course on the unassailable truths of Scripture, then our Guardian will overwatch and protect with a shield known only to those who enter complete submission to the will of the Almighty and His Word. May we be so bold, so daring, as to cast off the moors of western culture and tradition in favor of returning to the tribal lifestyle of a Biblically Hebraic people. No other course will return us to the Land.

Selah.

Restoring Kol Israel: The Family (Introduction)

The restoration of Israel, all Israel: it occupies my every thought and is prominent in every prayer. It is a factor in every major decision I make, and most minor decisions. I continually ask the Father, ‘What does it look like? How will it function? What is my part?’

Over the last couple years He has repeatedly brought me back to the basic building block for any society: Family. And, as I have studied. He has again and again taught me lessons regarding the many parts, but the most foundational, Biblical manhood and headship, keeps coming to the fore. He has also brought or connected me with other men who have various parts of the answers and together we have discussed and emailed/texted/phoned hundreds of hours. We have read and processed books and teachings as we’ve dug deeper into what a true Biblical family looks like, how it functions, the roles of each member, etc.

I count it a special blessing to share one of these resources over the next few weeks or months as together we assemble some lengthy posts covering aspects of this topic. Truly, many books, can and have been written on the topic, but so many, maybe most, have a significant amount of tradition and inherited falsehoods that do not lead us to correct conclusions or results. Our desire is to spark a conversation within the Messianic/Hebrew roots community about what Scripture really says about the family, headship, patriarchy, man’s role, woman’s role and marriage.

Where have all the good men gone?

²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”
Exodus 1:22 NASB

The Hebrews were multiplying and the new king in Egypt was getting nervous. He began with enslaving the Hebrews and making their lives miserable through forced labor, but when that did not stymie their obedience to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ the Pharaoh commanded that the boys be thrown into the Nile and the girls be left alive. Presumably, he thought to destroy the seed and future headship in one fell swoop.

While we do not know how many were thrown into the Nile or otherwise killed, but we can understand from the grave dangers facing Moses as a child that the dangers were exceedingly great and many sons of Israel died in this type of Shoah. Did it leave a generation of women wringing their hands and wondering how to fulfill God-given desires and Creation order? Did Israel simply allow their precious daughters to leave the fold and seek men elsewhere because of the shortage? Maybe they all just became old maids and spinstresses? Is this even relevant today?

I’ve heard the question quite a few times in recent years. “Where have all the good (Godly) men gone?”

Feminist lies we accept…

In recent months I have been studying the roles of men and women and their relative interaction as defined by Scripture. Maybe I’ll write a post or two on what I have learned, though I suspect the topic will chase my last two friends away. People just don’t seem to appreciate hearing the hard truths…

In the process, I found a few commonly repeated phrases that I used to laugh at. Now, I have come to recognize them as lies straight from the enemy of our souls that masquerade as ‘wisdom’ while undermining Biblical truth and structure. Here are three with some thoughts and scripture…

“The man might be the head, but the woman is the neck.”

The implied undertone is that she can steer him or make him look/go wherever she wants.

From a purely physiological examination, the statement proves utterly false. The neck can do nothing without the brain giving the command. Period. End of illustration. But for truth’s sake, what does Scripture say?

^{Eph. 5:22}Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Ephesians 5:22-24

Simple stuff here that flies in the face of western Christian egalitarianism. What is especially poignant is that Paul gives this corollary, ‘wives submit to your own husbands’ and then follows with the proof: Christ (Messiah) is the head of the church (properly, qahal, or congregation) and the church/congregation submits to Christ.

Imagine the audacity of a church or body that says, ‘Christ may be the head, but we are the neck’ implying some sort of power or authority to steer or move Him. The lunacy of the supposed ‘wisdom’ is immediately exposed when held next to the higher example.

“Happy wife, happy life.”

This is another phrase of ‘conventional wisdom’ that makes me cringe when I hear it. A related line that is often applied to a wife with reference to her husband’s happiness is,

“If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!”

Both of these statements carry the strong joking undertone that she can pitch a fit and thereby manipulate husband and house into doing whatever she wants. And, if you will begin to watch this, you will see that indeed, the game is manipulation.

Using the previous verses to set the stage, where is there room for the church to pitch a fit and manipulate Yeshua into doing whatever it is we want Him to do?

Crazy, right? Yet, I have heard these very phrases and watched the underlying actions played out before my eyes in countless ‘godly’ couples.

Submission is not very popular to talk about. It is even less popular to bring up real male headship in the home and *gasp* don’t even breathe ‘patriarchy!’ But where does the Bible teach anything else? From Creation, in Gan Eden, before sin, Adam was head of his house and Chava (Eve) belonged to him and was his first responsibility to love and protect. (Yes, he is not to lord it over her or abuse/misuse his position, but that is a different topic for another day. The commandment to love and the commandment to submit are related, but not dependent on each other. )

The bottom line is that we are to be seekers of truth, particularly if we long for restoration! We are to seek out what Scripture says and be conformed to it, not bend it to fit our desires and designs.

How are we doing? Are we truly seeking to conform our homes and relationships therein to the Scriptural paradigm, or are we pursuing a worldly mark set by the enemy of our souls?

Selah.