Feedback on 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 (Part 2)

(Male written)

Jesus [Yeshua] is not the model of patriarchy or a man’s superior power-over relationship with women. Neo-patriarchy and its related teachings are cultish, not Christian.

A major goal for us as believers, is to be like Yeshua. He did not act patriarchal at all, not one example. Instead people have to twist Paul’s teachings, who is hard to understand and the unlearned are destroyed because they don’t see the big picture but focus on individual letters to churches and make them pertain to all churches for all time.

It’s quite a challenge to try to show a patriarch the truth. From my experience, they have nothing to gain and everything to lose, according to the flesh. They cherry pick their favorite patriarchal verses and camp out there, ignoring verses that contradict their male chauvinist position.

Anyone who adopts gender discrimination, which should not exist in the church, grieves the Holy Spirit, cripples the effectiveness of the body, is ruled by their flesh, does not have Kingdom principles in view and is not being like Yeshua. They need to be challenged Scripturally, and if they refuse to see the light, they need to be put out. Unfortunately, sometimes they are the ones in leadership, so the response is that people should educate themselves on the topic, as you are doing, challenge and rebuke the error and don’t involve yourself in such circles. Patriarchal people don’t have kingdom goals. I doubt that these men would enjoy being discriminated against, if the tables were turned.

(Female written)

This is where Yah lead me regarding singing among brethren.

It is written:

Praise Him among the peoples (Psalms 9:11; 96:1–13; 108:3). Women and men alike are to speak to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19). “Every one of you hath a psalm…” for the edification (prophesy/building up) of the assembly (1 Corinthians 14:26); “…come into His presence with singing” (Psalms 100:2). Worship Him in ruach (spirit) and in truth for He seeks such (John 4:23–24).

In The Antiquities of the Jews — Flavius Josephus (How after the Death of Cambyses and the Slaughter of the Magi but under the Reign of Darius, Zorobabel was Superior to the Rest) the following is recorded in Chapter 9:

…after this they chose themselves rulers, who should go up to Jerusalem, out of the tribes of their forefathers, with their wives, and children, and cattle, who traveled to Jerusalem with joy and pleasure, under the conduct of those whom Darius sent along with them, and making a noise with songs, and pipes, and cymbals. The rest of the Jewish multitude also besides accompanied them with rejoicing.

This singing group included men and women as stated in Chapter 10: “…the singing men and singing women were two hundred and forty-five…”

This is mentioned in Ezra 2:64–65: “64The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, 65Beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women.” (KJV)

Here is a third witness in Nehemiah 7:66–67: “66The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, 67Beside their manservants and their maidservants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and they had two hundred forty and five singing men and singing women.” (KJV)

As you can see, the entire congregation (assembly) is together here and among the singing men and women.

In Jewish law, men are not to hear an unrelated woman sing (Weisberg). This is to guard the set-apartness of marriage and keep jealousy far away (Weisberg). Therefore, a woman singing among the brethren without her husband or another brother could cause another brother to sin (lust).

In Ezra and Nehemiah, men and women are recorded as singing together. As for Deborah, she and Barak sang together (Judges 5:2–31). In Exodus 15:21 the question arises if Mariam actually sang because the word translated as “sang” is H6030 wat-ta-’an “To answer, respond” whereas the word translated as “sang” in Exodus 15:1 is H7891 ya-sir- “To sing” (Biblehub.com). Using the argument that she did sing, it does state she was among the women. It is not specifically state whether men were around to see, nor does it explicitly exclude them in the text.

References

Biblehub. https://www.biblehub.com/exodus/15-1.htm#lexicon, accessed online September 8, 2022

Biblehub. https://www.biblehub.com/exodus/15-21.htm#lexicon, accessed online September 8, 2022

Josephus, Flavius. The Antiquities of the Jews (How after the Death of Cambyses and the Slaughter of the Magi but under the Reign of Darius, Zorobabel was Superior to the Rest), https://biblehub.com/library/josephus/the_antiquities_of_the_jews/ chapter_3_how_after_the.htm, accessed online Sept 8, 2022

Weisberg, Chana. Why can’t a male listen to a female singer?

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/478233/jewish/Why-cant-a-male-listen- to-a- female-singer.htm , accessed online Sept 8, 2022

…

Two nights ago I spent time reviewing the context of 1 Cor 14 starting with verse 1. This is what I got:

First Paul is telling us in what ways we shall worship when we are together:

1 Love, gifts, prophesy. Prophesy is most important

2 Speaking tongues to Yah

3 Prophesy = upbuilding & encouraging

4 Tongue for self, prophesy builds up assembly

5 Tongue vs prophesy, prophesy is more important

6–11 Paul continues to clarify and make points on tongues vs prophesy

12 Build up assembly with prophesy

13 Tongues with an interpreter

14–19 More clarifying points on tongues vs edifying (aka prophesy)

20 THINKING EVIL

21–25 More clarification on tongues vs prophesy

26 “each one” (every man and woman) has a psalm (music/psalm)….Let it all be for up-building

The next few verses tells us how to do the above in an orderly fashion:

27–33 Taking turns speaking. Men and women hold their peace while others are speaking. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he addresses gender roles?

34–35 Women keep silent However, in verse 26 the Greek word for “each one” is for man, woman, or one. So, it can be any gender. This means that verses 34–35 contradict verse 26. However, we know that scripture cannot contradict itself and that Yah is not of confusion. Is it possible that this verse was added as a mistake?

In other words, 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 sounds a lot like the words of someone who didn’t really understand 1 Timothy 2:11–12. Additionally, it is well established that ancient copyists weren’t just making copies for public consumption. Frequently, they were making their own personal notes in their copies just like we make personal notes in our Bibles today, and in a very few cases, those marginal notes actually ended up in the text of Scripture itself. (See 1 John 5:7–8 in the KJV and compare to any modern translation like the NIV, and read the footnotes) (Mikels, 2019)

Is it possible that a copyist was writing a note in that place referring to 1 Timothy 2:11–12 but did not have a copy on hand and paraphrased best they could? Later on, their copy is found and their notes were taken as scripture and added in? While it is possible, there is no real proof of this, so I digress.

Taking it at face value, I wanted to allow the bible to interpret itself (emphasis added, mine). So I looked up the Greek word used here for “keep silent”. The word used here G4601 sigao from G4602 means to keep silent, keep close (secret, silent), hold peace from G4602 sige apparently from sizo (to hiss, that is, hist, or hush); silence:-silence. Compare G4623: siopao: from siope (silence, that is, a hush; properly muteness, that is, involuntary stillness, or inability to speak; and thus differing from G4602, which is rather a voluntary refusal or indisposition to speak, although the terms are often used synonymously); to be dumb (but not deaf also, like G2974 properly); figuratively to be calm (as quiet water) — dumb, (hold peace).

Because I hold the belief that Yahusha’s talmidim (and the writers of the Renewed Covenant (New Testament) would have spoken Aramaic and Hebrew (and even wrote their copies originally in those languages), I believe they would use those words as defined by scripture. So, to compare, I looked back in the beginning of the bible to find the first time “kept silent” is used. Here is the verse with a few passages before:

He remained silent. Why? In order to know whether Yahuah had prospered his way or not. The hebrew word here H2790:

חָרַשׁ chârash, khaw-rash’; a primitive root; to scratch, i.e. (by implication) to engrave, plough; hence (from the use of tools) to fabricate (of any material); figuratively, to devise (in a bad sense); hence (from the idea of secrecy) to be silent, to let alone; hence (by implication) to be deaf (as an accompaniment of dumbness): — × altogether, cease, conceal, be deaf, devise, ear, graven, imagine, leave off speaking, hold peace, plow(-er, man), be quiet, rest, practise secretly, keep silence, be silent, speak not a word, be still, hold tongue, worker (Copied from blueletterbible.org).

In this example, the man had something to say but he held his peace to see if Yah had prospered his way or not. He waited on Yah to fulfil all which he asked of him.

Ecclesiastes 3:7 says there is…. a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak….

Since 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 falls into a writing describing how we ought to be when we gather, I think this has to do with orderly worship as well. No man or woman should speak over another as they prophesy, pray, teach, or discuss. It is common courtesy.

As far as 1 Timothy 2:17 is concerned this strictly has to do with learning. What student goes into a full discourse while they are receiving a teaching?

To not interrupt and to be quiet while learning seems common sense but it seems obvious to me there were things going on in their world from which we are too far removed to understand. Is there any historical evidence outside the bible that could shed some light on what the Qorinti’ym [(Corinthians)] going through at this time? (Words within [()] are added for clarification.)