Bible -- Commentaries; Bible -- Feminist criticism; Women in the Bible
Eusebius says her tomb was to be seen at Kadesh, near the city of
Petra, in his time, and that she and her brothers all died in the same
year, it is hoped to reappear as equals in the resurrection.
E. C. S.
CHAPTER IV.
Numbers vi.
1 And the Lord said unto Moses,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say, When either man or woman
shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, unto the Lord.
5 All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come
upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth
himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the
hair of his head grow.
The Nazarites, both men and women, allowed their hair to grow long, as
the hair of the Nazarine was a token of subjection, the man to God, the
woman to man. St. Paul no doubt alluded to this custom when he said the
woman ought to have power upon her head, that is, wear her hair and
veil and bonnet in church as a proof of her subjection to man, as he is
to the Lord. The discipline of the church to-day requires a woman to
cover her head before entering a cathedral for worship.
The fashion for men to sit with their heads bare in our churches,
while women must wear bonnets, is based on this ancient custom of the
Nazarine. But as fashion is gradually reducing the bonnet to an
infinitesimal fraction it will probably in the near future be dispensed
with altogether. A lady in England made the experiment of going to the
established church without her bonnet, but it created such an agitation
in the congregation that the Bishop wrote her a letter on the
impropriety and requested her to come with her head covered. She
refused. He then called and labored with her as to the sinfulness of
the proceedings, and at parting commanded her either to cover her bead
or stay away from church altogether. She choose the latter. I saw and
beard that letter read at a luncheon in London, where several ladies
were present. It was received with peals of laughter. The lady is the
wife of a colonel in the British army.
Numbers xxv.
6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto
his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses and all the
congregation of the children of Israel.
7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,
saw it, he rose and took a javelin in his hand;
8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both
of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman.
14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain
with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a
chief house among the Simeonites.
15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the
daughter of Zur: he was head over a people, and of a chief house in
Midian.
Some commentators say the tie between Zimri and Cozbi was a
matrimonial alliance, understood in good faith by the Midianitish
woman. He was a prince and she was a princess.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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