The Gender Eraser
“And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the people of Israel.” Exodus 19:6
Kingdom of Priests – You and I are adopted into the Kingdom. It doesn’t matter what ethnic background you have. Ancient or contemporary, adoption is the method of entrance. Once you enter, you have a role to play in the community. That role depends on who God made you to be and how the Spirit equips you to serve. But at least one role is common to all who enter. All are priests. God created a kingdom of priests, a mamlechet kohanim. No one who is adopted into the Kingdom is exempt from this role. Of course, this implies that women are priests just as much as men. God does not consider gender when it comes to adoption and He doesn’t consider gender exclusion when it comes to the priesthood.
“Wait a minute!” you object. “Only men could serve as priests before the Lord.” You’re right, kind of. The truth is that only certain men could serve as priests in the Levitical order. If you were from the tribe of Judah (like Yeshua), you could not be a Levitical priest. Now you know why Hebrews says that Yeshua is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He doesn’t qualify as a Levitical priest (that turns out to be very important). Neither do most of the men of Israel. A priest is an intercessor between God and others. There are qualifications for being a priest. Those qualifications are established by God, not men. So, only some of the males in Israel could act as priests for Israel, but everyone in Israel acted as a priest for the nations. In other words, God chose a small, select group of men to act as His priests in the role of intercession between Him and His people, but He chose all of His children to act as intercessors between Him and the rest of the world. Gender has absolutely nothing to do with this “nations” choice. Everyone in the Kingdom is a priest to the rest of the world.
For centuries the Christian church has endorsed the idea that only males should be the intercessors, proclaimers and pastors of the flock. I have a difficult time finding the Scriptural authority for such a claim. Don’t turn to Sha’ul’s letters. He bases his arguments on the Hebrew Scriptures and the Hebrew Scriptures clearly state that everyone in the Kingdom is a priest to the nations. Don’t try to use Kefa’s (Peter’s) epistles. He actually quotes this verse from Exodus. Furthermore, the Bible clearly teaches that only those from the Levitical order are qualified as priests of Israel. So, where did we find the authority to suggest that all males and only males have the right to act as the head of the congregation? It came from somewhere. You might want to investigate how this change entered our Christian thinking. In the meanwhile, it’s time to re-think our exclusion of God’s own choice. If God qualifies all as priests to the nations, who are we to say, “Sorry, we only allow men in the pulpit”?
Topical Index: priests, women, mamlechet kohanim, Exodus 19:6
“Everyone in the Kingdom is a priest to the rest of the world.”
I think that most of the pulpit preachers are really not part of the Kingdom, in that they have not followed the teachings of Yeshua HaMashiach to read and obey the word of God -Torah.
So they are not grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, and are not following the God of Israel.
Dear Antoinette … great to see your face and hear from you again over the past few days 🙂
May your work in Eretz Yisrael be blessed continuously!
In response to your comment about the pulpit preachers … I think “maybe yes and maybe no”!
We must be careful in passing judgment (yes?) …. We can not look into the hearts of people as does our Lord. Just because one is partially blinded to the truth of Torah (The Word), does not preclude the potential for a real and meaningful relationship between a person and Yeshua (G_D of Yisrael).
Is the relationship as strong as it could be? No!
Is the person’s usefulness in spreading the Kingdom maximized? No!
Could waywardness be an indication that “there is a problem?” Yes!
At some point I believe we need to understand that there are many who are grafted into the root of Yeshua in faith …. who have transformed …. who continue to grow in relationship with Yeshua …. who have not yet grasped the full gospel (for a variety of potential reasons) …. but …. who may be less than “stand up citizens” with regards to living by the constitution of the Kingdom!
I think we would agree that perhaps these disobedient pulpit folks should not be leading a flock ….. and we would agree that sadly there are some pulpit folks who have no genuine relationship with our Lord …. HOWEVER …. we should be able to agree that not all disobedient leaders are “ungrafted”! Ultimately their acceptance into the Kingdom as a citizen is a judgment reserved for Yeshua … The One Who can and will dispense Justice and Mercy!
I know where you are coming from …. and we really need to look hard at Matthew 5:17 – 5:20 …. but the extreme position of your comment could lead to a belief that only Torah observant believers are grafted into Israel and all others are what … burnt toast?
And we would say “what” about the partially blind who in and through faith deliver the greater works of Torah …. love, charity, kindness, etc. …. are we to sweep them away with their perceived non citizenship? And what about those leaders of past days who were martyred for the name of Yeshua …. do we think they were all steadfastly Torah observant?
Certainly we don’t want those unfaithful Pharisees (referred to in Matthew 5:20), who by outward standards followed Torah, leading Israel … and we prefer not to have blind leaders, who do not preach the full Gospel of Yeshua, leading Israel …. but even now our Lord is providing to us those leaders that can lead us correctly … praise His Name!
My sister …. I am zealous like you but I am not sure that things can be simplified to such an extent!
I am eager to hear if others agree or disagree …. this is a bit touchy but our sister Antoinette has opened up the door for some conversation on a pretty important topic.
Thanks Antoinette … got me going early this morning! 🙂
I’m still shooting from the hip, Drew. I need to learn to contemplate a little longer before I talk! Thanks brother, you really have a good and gentle way with words. I should learn to be a little more like that!
That reminds me of what you said yesterday …
“There should be little to zero debate as to what adoption into Israel means …. the question is not all that complex is it …. “what should Israel look like?”
Perhaps the bigger question is …. “do we look like Israel or have we simply rationalized this citizenship as being a member of some abstracted spiritual community that can not be identified in a temporal context?”
I think that might have been a nicer way of putting what I said.
Antoinette … we all suffer from numerous dysfunctions … LOL …. myself as much as anyone! I think we just sometimes move to a point (forward) and tend to forget from where we came … well at least I have been guilty of this in the past!
I personally do not like to dwell on my previous state of separation/self delusion/etc. but at times it is important to do so … then I appreciate even more the gift! 🙂
But don’t beat yourself up too much … I know that the Spirit within you loathes the powers and principalities that hold sway over people and you were not intentionally lashing out at individual souls! Been in the same boat sister … I know the emotions quite well and have been guilty of attacking the ignorant with less than a loving hand!
I love your zeal … it shows through even in written commentary …. I am smiling because of you today … 🙂
Skip: Gotta ask….and I may get shot down or you probably will say it doesn’t say what it says but I Timothy 3:1-12 and Titus 1:5-10 seems to state rather clearly that primary leadership in the church is gender specific (male)…I for one have no axe to grind with having women priests take on such ministries as preaching, teaching or interceding to and for others in the church (taking on more prominent spiritual leadership roles in the church for the benefit of the body and as a witness to the world). Certainly examples of that very thing in the NT (e.g. Priscilla). But if “eldership” or “overseers” was something Paul viewed as an imperative in “setting up” the, for lack of a better word, governance of these early “churches”, why not say “person” or “he shall be the husband of one woman or the wife of one husband” which he clearly does not. Is there a distinction between a “good” or “excellent” minister in I Tim 4:6 and the responsibilities of that role as “priest” (perhaps male or female as you say) and the role of “elders/overseers” that seem to be quite clearly denominated as roles for the male only? And is the minister/priest the same as an elder? Are they one and the same because if they are, then aren’t we forced to somehow double speak with what scriptures say about roles and responsibilities – not so much how we are to minister as males and females but rather who is to be the “final say so” in the community we call “church?”
Also, there seems to be a bit of a double standard here. On the one hand, we are all grafted into the kingdom and community of Torah obedience (sounds like no exceptions other than those that clearly no longer apply) so that the OT isn’t just instructive but to be followed explicitly, but then the entire body of modeling of what “priests” were and how the Jewish community operated as required by the Lord (male priests, male leadership in the home, tribes and descendants defined by the male and his line, i.e. the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and not the God of Sarah etc), now it is something different? Not sure I get this line of reasoning but open to chew on it more. Perhaps I am hung up on the words (semantics) and titles but there seems to be more here that is colliding rather than coming together in my mind.
Really trying to sort this all out keeping in mind that it is God on His terms and not God on my terms- also, I wonder if there was a “God’s best” design for the early church to aspire to while still recognizing and given the demographics of its membership at the time (Example: I always wonder what that first elder or deacon board at the church of Corinth must have looked like? Hopefully, after Paul’s letters, the composition and qualifications of those serving on these boards improved? – I am a strong believer in the maxim that the membership is only as strong as its leadership).
Timothy 3:1-12 and Titus 1:5-10
Hi David,
With all due respect, these guys might be smarter than we are, but they are just men.
I’m not sure who they are to begin with, but I would not want to compare them with Moses who stood next to his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron as the first three priests, if I recall correctly.
Hey Michael,
You got the idea. If we are going to understand what Paul says, we have to look at HIS role models – men and women in the Torah. And we have to remember that his letters are only 1/2 of the conversation. He is responding to real problems, not writing a church organization manual. Until you know the problem, the answer probably won’t make any sense.
Yes, of course you have to ask, as most Christians would. But the issue we must first face, and the question we must first answer is this: Was Paul a Torah-observant zealot. His own words claim that he is. Therefore, we are not allowed to interpret anything he says as contrary to the Torah. And as you must know by now, the Torah speaks against any interpretation of this passage which would indicate a hierarchy of authority. This is the fundamental work of my forth-coming book. We have to read Paul as JEWISH RABBI of the first century, not as a Hellenized Christian of the 5th century. Remember all those TW’s about rabbinic interpretation. Ah, they will become very important now. So, let’s put aside the canonical history of interpretation (what the Church has taught) and ask what the mindset of a Jewish rabbi would have been. And it’s not what you think. Most of our view of the Jewish concept of women comes from mistaken quotations by Christians. So, lots to do. In the particular passages you reference, we need a lot of cultural background before we can proclaim that Paul is offering halachah. It really is about exegesis – careful, contextual, cultural exegesis. Are you willing to wait for the book?
You know brother Skip … if I was not thoroughly convinced that Torah is about equality …. I would say that you really push the feminist agenda …. LOL!
Actually I applaud your diligence in bringing to light such a wrong … such an injustice …. as it pertains to gender equality …. and child of G_D equality.
Seems that there is always that “nicolatian” spirit working to subvert the will of ELOHIM … be it men over women, race over race, ecclesiastical organization over the laity … and so on!
Nice job in fighting the good fight!
It’s nice to have the advantage of being able to write about what I think – and have all these other people hungry to read it. So, you get to follow around the edge of my mind. Anyway, I am convinced that this issue is the biggest issue facing the inside of the Body. We have a pretty good idea about what we should look like on the outside, but inside we are so caught up in the culture of the canon, not the norm of Torah. This applies to the orthodox community as well – with plenty of influence from Islam in the 8th century. Got to go back – way back – to the Garden if we want to understand the model.
-careful, contextual, cultural, (Christ-centered) exegesis.. (Amen?) After all, -He wrote the book.
“careful, contextual, cultural, (Christ-centered) exegesis.. ”
“Exegesis (from the Greek ἐξηγεῖσθαι ‘to lead out’) is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text.”
“Christ is the English term for the Greek Χριστός (Khristós) meaning “the anointed one”. It is a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Māšîaḥ)”
Hi Carl,
The other day Skip and Mary, as I recall, were talking about whether we should have a “Christ centered” or a “Torah centered” approach to reading the Bible.
And now you mention Christ centered exegesis.
From a “common sense” perspective, I know what you mean, but in my view, we need to take a more “critical” view of this type of explanation.
I would argue that there is no “center” to the text and no “center” to our interpretation, unless we are looking at one particular point in the text and calling it the center of our attention.
I would prefer to say that the Torah is the “conceptual framework” of the text
Seems to me that on the one hand we need to look at the text from end to end (in time) and on the other at every point in time we need to look at the different layers (in space).
For example, we have a linguistic layer, a narrative layer, an historical layer, an ethical layer, a spiritual layer, a messianic layer etc; and all these interpretive layers are intertwined in a kind of complex tapestry.
Seems to me that Jesus is a character in the story who arrives on the scene toward the end of the narrative.
Seems to me that Jesus talks a lot about the most important character in the book who happens to be his Father.
Seems to me that Jesus is a Hero, but so is Abraham, and so is Moses, and so is Joshua.
Seems to me that Jesus is a prophet, but so is Isaiah, etc.
Seems to me that if there is a center to the Bible, it would be God the Father, who is there at the begining, middle, and end of the story.
“Exegesis (from the Greek ἐξηγεῖσθαι ‘to lead out’) is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text.”
“Christ is the English term for the Greek Χριστός (Khristós) meaning “the anointed one”. It is a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Māšîaḥ)”
Good point and careful elaboration. Torah is the fabric. YHWH is the center (and the beginning and the end). Yeshua is the seal of the Father’s work – and the beginning and the end. It is all intertwined. More than anything, what we need is careful consideration of all the layers as we move through the story.
thank you Michael and I agree completely with all you have said and will add my amen. What I am referring to as “Christ-centered” is the summary teaching of all the Bible and that is “behold, the Lamb of G-d.” Concealed within the O.T. and revealed within the New. In shadow or symbol in the O.T. and in full sunlight and substance in the N.T. Whether Old or New – our Bible is G-d’s continuing (still today) revelation of Himself to us. Jesus said: “I and my Father are one”. Our testimony today is “The LORD, He is G-d.” The Creator was the one who we crucified on the cross and who rose from the dead. Yeshua was and is -the Father in human flesh. He was (and is) and is to come. Fast forward to the end- and once again- “behold the Lamb of G-d who sitteth upon the throne.” They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. G-d poured out His own blood for a covering (an atonement) for our sins. The logos became carne. G-d became a man. Yeshua/Jesus- is YHWH. He also now resides in every believer/son/follower in the form of the Ruach Hakodesh- the Holy Breath. “Christ/Messiah in you- the hope(certainty) of glory (beauty)! And the best – is yet to come!
Ahh..worms for breakfast.. yummy!! (Bear Grylls would eat it!).. Belly up to the table boys,girls, (er, ladies.. you’re invited too!)
And now we can see even further into the import of the Scriptures given unto us for our instruction. One little thing we need to look at. (It’s always the little things.. isn’t it?). Christ was given “headship” (authority) over the church. There is an order to things -(thank you, Skip)- G-d is a G-d of order. Not confusion, not chaos, but clarity and control.
We (all) have a specific function to perform. We (all) are little cogs in a great big wheel. Bit players on life’s stage. This (of course) includes the jocks, the geeks, the givers, the takers, the skimmers, the scammers, the preachers, pirates, poets, plumbers, etc. Bottom line.. -“ME”-little. “G-d”-big.
In order to be “over”, you (yes,I’m talkin’ to you) must be “under.”. This is how “authority” works. From the private to the general- authority is given (by another). It is the idea of “placement.” YHWH has placed every one (plural or singular) within “the body”.. according to His purposes. “This is the LORD’s doings and it is marvelous in our eyes.” Maybe we should write a book, “The Way Things Work.” (lol!)
The prophet, the priest, the preacher. For that matter let’s go ahead and throw in some gender related words- the male and the female. -Oops.. I almost forgot about the pirate,the poet, the painter and the plumber. (No, Mr. plumber I won’t forget you!) lol!-
“Remember” the prayer of Moses? (that ‘all’ may prophecy?). It’s happening folks. “All” are speaking and proclaiming “the word of the LORD.” Isn’t it marvelous? Hallelujah! -Listen to this noise.. “Jesus Christ is LORD! I’ll say it again.. (via the internet- for all to “see”, to know, to perceive , to understand..) All- (I do love that word-even more today). Listen All. (Or as we would say here in the “deep south”, listen y’all!). The LORD,He is G-d! Jesus the Christ- Yeshua Hamashiah is LORD of all. (A rather inclusive little word wouldn’t you say?)
Would you like to “prophecy?” Well then, do it! Would you like to pray? Well then, (pray tell..) what’s stopping you? “Whosoever will” may come. Open invitation people- the veil of the temple has been torn in two… “remember?”
“For G-d so loved the world.” “The world?” Does this include “the Jew?”. Does this include a South American, thirteen year old female? Does this include me? Did Christ die for “all?”
Who are we trying to exclude? Who are we trying to deceive? What is our motive? Are we (just as our “schoolmaster”- the Law) endeavoring to bring people (people) to Christ? Are we leading a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called,with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love,eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? “There is one body and one Spirit, just as we were called to the one hope that belongs to our call. -One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4)
We are not going to play a game of “who’s on first?”. We are not the children of confusion. We are the children of clarity and of light. Jesus/Yeshua is the light of the world.
We will not be divided. We (all) are united “in Christ.” -He is the Unifier. “For Christ himself has brought peace to us. “He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” (Ephesians 4.12). E pluribus unum. I wonder where that came from?
Today, (right now) -Are you “in Christ?” “Rejoice in the Lord always.. and again I say, “rejoice!” -In all these things we are “more than conquerors” through Him that loved us. (Romans 8.37)
Unity? or Division? G-d is a G-d of tremendous creativity and diversity. -Amen? He also is a G-d of unity/shalom. -Amen? “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5.19)
He gave unto “us” this wonderful message of reconciliation. “Us?”. Sure sounds plural to me. -“This wonderful message of reconciliation.” “We”- “all” have a mission.
“these are the words which you shall speak”- He said, “I am.” I say, “He is.” -“Jesus (the) Christ is LORD!”
Could we today-sing together?
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am.
Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.
Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.
I think of my blessèd Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long:
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.
I know there’s a crown that is waiting,
In yonder bright mansion for me,
And soon, with the spirits made perfect,
At home with the Lord I shall be.
Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.
(Fanny Crosby was not all that blind, was she?)
This is timely. We are studying Leviticus in services this month. I’m passing this on to various people I think will appreciate & read this. I will include my pastor. I think he will say ‘Amen!”.
Suz