Did believers in Yeshua go to the Synagogue or to a “church” 2000 years ago? They went to the Synagogues, the “Kahal” or “congregation or assembly.” This word “kahal” was translated into Greek as “ecclessia.” For example, the book of Kohelet is called Ecclesiastes (see ecclesia there) in English Bibles because the Hebrew Kohelet is related to the word “kahal.” 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 for assembly 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.” these congregations could be made up of Jews who did not believe in Yeshua as the Messiah, believing Jews who did, and non-Jews called Godfearers who believed in the God of Israel and were learning the Torah. Many of these non-Jews would believe in Yeshua. The book of Romans was written to these congregations in Rome.
Now, we are going to look at some controversial interpretations concerning women in these congregations. Remember, these synagogues and congregations were patterned after the Temple and what was being done in Israel 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 the 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. Now, a prophecy may be the foretelling of a future event, but in most cases, it is teaching a biblical truth God has shown the person for the benefit of others. He already talked about how women could pray and prophesy in 1 Cor 11.5, so being “silent” is not the 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 for two examples, 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 you can go to our teaching on the Tanak and Num 30 on this website for more information. We also have a specific teaching on this website called “The Law of the Tongue in Num 30.1-16” and it goes along with 1 Cor 11.3 and Gen 3.16. 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 we believed.
1 Tim 2.11-15 is another set of verses that are misunderstood. Zodiates and other commentators have 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 this 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 an absolute law concerning women. It must be taken in connection to what followed. Where it says “they are not permitted to speak”, it should be understood as uttering incoherent sounds that were not being understood by others. Remember, he just got done teaching about speaking in tongues and was giving some guidelines.
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 1 Cor 14.28-30. So does that mean men must remain silent? No! What Paul was saying is only one person 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 about her own husband. He is not saying a woman cannot speak in a congregation. In fact Joel prophesied in Joel 2.28 that women would prophesy. Remember, there were women prophetesses and teachers in the time of Yeshua, and before his time. Miriam was a prophetess, Deborah led an army in Judges, and 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. In the time of Yeshua Anna was a prophetess in the Temple and taught others about Yeshua in Luke 2.36-38. These are just a few of the women God used to speak, prophesy and teach in the Scriptures. If a woman can teach at the Temple, they can speak and teach in a congregation!
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 congregational structure. You will see that the Lord ordained the 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 of influence” covered with anything other than the Messiah (has moved under another head of influence other than Yeshua), it disgraces his “head of influence”, Yeshua the Messiah. And if a wife is uncovered (has moved out from under the covering of her husband as her head of influence) it disgraces her head (her husband as her head of influence). Women in the Temple and in the Lord were leaders, teachers, prophets, military leaders evangelists, 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 in God’s economy. 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 and congregational structure.
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