In Song 3.9 it says, “King Solomon has made for himself a sedan chair (“aperion”) from the timber of Lebanon.” This was a chair or “litter” made from the cedars of Lebanon. In the Mishnah, Sotah 9.14 it says, “During the war with Vespasian (in the north of Israel) they forbade the crown (of gold) of the bridegrooms and the wedding drum (tambourine). During the war with Titus (after Vespasian left to go back to Rome, his son Titus took over in the war and was the one who led the Roman army in the fall of Jerusalem and Masada) they forbade the crowns of the brides and that a man should teach his son Greek. In the last war (the Bar Kochba revolt around 132-135 AD) they forbade the bride to go forth in a litter (a wedding chuppah) inside the city; but our rabbis permitted the bride to go forth in a litter inside the city.”
The Chuppah was huge back in then, a big “tent” and the marriage could be consummated in it after they let the sides down. The bride and groom would stay in this chuppah for seven days and after Jerusalem was destroyed, the rabbis did not allow this at all. The “Aperion” was a portable “chuppah” made of gold stitch shawls that was used to carry the bride to the place of the wedding. What is done today is a “zekor” or “remembrance” of all this, nut, an Aperion has been made today.
The men who carry the Aperion are called “Gibrai Israel” or “Heroes of Israel.” Weddings have been held using this since 1997, and there was an article in the Jerusalem Post about it. Jerusalem is called “Yerushaliyim Shell Zahav” or “Jerusalem of Gold” and this not only refers to the walls and buildings that looked golden in the sun, but it comes from the crown the bride wears at her wedding.
Isa 62.1-5 relates to the marriage of the Lord and his Bride. Jer 33.10-11 says the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bride and the voice of those who say that they are thankful for the kindness and mercy of the Lord will be heard again in the cities of Judah and Jerusalem, even though at the time they were desolate at the time. What is happening with the Aperion and the bride is a sign of this, and things are changing.
Most people are not even aware of an “Aperion” and how it has come back when they discuss signs of the return of Yeshua. There are many Scriptures that deal with women and their relationship with the Temple because the Temple will be the “heart and soul” of everything when the Lord returns. even the Synagogue today is based on what was done in the Temple.
Did believers in Yeshua go to the Synagogue or to a “church” 2000 years ago? They went to the Synagogues, the “Kahal” or “congregation.” This word “kahal” was translated into Greek as “ecclessia.” And ecclessia was translated into English as “church” but that gives a wrong impression today. The synagogue is far different than a church. But the Hebrew is “kahal.” In Heb 10.25 it says, “not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.” Now, this was written to believers and the word “assembling” is the Greek word “episunagogue.”
Now we are going to look at some controversial interpretations concerning women in congregations. Remember, these synagogues and congregations were patterned after the Temple in the first century when the Scriptures we are going to discuss were written. 1 Cor 14.34-35 says, “Let the women keep silent in the churches (synagogues); for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves just as the Torah also says (where does it say that?). And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.” This one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible and it has led to a lot false teaching. For a good explanation of these verses, go to the Zodiates Hebrew-Greek Study Bible and his Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament. Dr. Spiros Zodiates was a Greek scholar and his work is keyed to the Strong’s Concordance. He relates that where it says “keep silent” it means that the women (wives) were not to be breaking in to judge a prophecy. He already talked about how women could pray and prophecy in 1 Cor 11.5, so “silent” is not an issue, but judging a prophecy is. Where it says “subject themselves” just as the Torah says, it is referring to Gen 3.16 and Num 30.1-16, where the wife was subject to the husband and Num 30 is called the “Law of the Tongue.” A husband can override a vow of his wife on the day he hears it. This is not the time to go into a whole explanation of this chapter, but it goes along with 1 Cor 11.3. Gen 3.16 and Num 30.1-16 is the basis for 1 Cor 14.34-35 and 1 Tim 2.11-15. The word “women” should be understood as “wives” in these verses.
1 Tim 2.11-15 is another set of verses that are misunderstood. Zodiates has comments on these verses also. What Paul is saying is that he does not allow a wife to exercise authority over her husband, unless he has agreed to do so. In 1 Tim 2.12 it says that she is to “remain quiet.” Zodiates translates Paul’s words in this verse like this, “A wife in quiet submission I let learn. But a wife I will not let dominate a husband, but be in all quietness.” In the Greek world, especially in Ephesus, the Diana cult was very strong. The pagan doctrine surrounding the cult was very strong and it exalted females, and especially wives, and believed they were superior over men. Paul was trying to correct these concepts in the Greek believers who were tainted by all this false doctrine in the “kehilat” (congregations) that he was working with. Zodiates says that where it says “women” think “wives” and all this makes sense and it lines up with the Torah.
What Paul was writing was not meant for an instruction of “men over women” but for husbands to guide and teach their own wives, lest they produce confusion and disturbances in a congregational setting. This may have resulted in exercising a gift they thought they had and were “anxious to share.” You cannot take Paul’s statement in 1 Cor 14 to “keep quiet in the churches” as absolute. It must be taken in connection to what followed. Where it says “they are not permitted to speak” should be understood as uttering incoherent sounds that were not being understood by others. Remember, he just got done teaching about speaking in tongues.
Paul said it is better to have silence and he uses the same word for “silent” when he talks about a man who speaks in tongues without an interpreter in 14.28-30. What Paul was saying is only one man must speak at a time, for if two speak at once there is confusion. Don’t exercise your gift at the same time. The issue in these verses is confusion over order, wife to husband, in a family ordained by God. Paul says husbands should restrain their wives from outbursts during the service, which was what the Lord says in the Torah and the epistles of the New Testament. When Paul speaks of submissiveness by a woman, it is always to a wife to her own husband. Remember, there were women prophetesses and teachers in the time of Yeshua, and before his time. Huldah was a prophetess in the time of Isaiah and taught and prophesied at the southern steps of the Temple. The Huldah Gates in the Temple at the southern end were named in her honor.
Beruria was a famous teacher after the time of Yeshua, and she was the wife of Rabbi Meir. She was a sage and a scholar who rebuked her husband when he was praying for revenge on those who abused him. She is the one who said “Love the sinner but hate the sin” by correcting his interpretation of Psa 104.35 by stating that the verse states “Let sin be consumed from the earth” and adding that “the wicked shall be no more because they have repented.” It is said in the Talmud, Pesachim 62b, that she learned 300 laws (halachot) from 300 hundred teachers in one day.
With this in mind, go and read 1 Cor 11.1-16 and you will have additional insight into this concept of women and the Temple. You will see that the Lord ordained a structure, with the Father as head over the Messiah, the Messiah over the husband, and the husband over the wife. There is a “headship” that goes along with this structure. When a man has his “head” covered with anything other than the Messiah (has moved under another covering other than Yeshua), it disgraces his “head” the Messiah. And if a wife is uncovered (has moved out from under the covering of her husband) it disgraces her head (her husband). Women in the Temple and in the Lord were leaders, teachers, prophets and functioned in many roles and any limitation on what anyone could do was not an indictment on the gender, but people have been assigned certain roles. Men cannot go to certain places in the Temple, neither could women. Priests could not go anywhere they wanted in the Temple, and only one priest could go into the Kodesh ha Kodeshim. We should be content with who we are and the role God has called us into. To do otherwise is usurping something that does not belong to us. We have headship roles and functions within the things of God, and with these we need to be content. And, as we have seen and have briefly touched on, women had an important role in the Temple.
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