COMPARING MEN AND WOMEN ATTIRE IN THE BIBLE/CHURCH
5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this. ~~ Deuteronomy 22:5
I had a very interesting discussion this week, with my Niece and Nephew about women wearing pants in the church. My nephew brought up the past, where girls at our high school of a certain religion never wore pants. Even in Physical Ed Class they worked out in long skirts. When I shared a couple of scriptures with them, such as Deuteronomy 22:5, they wanted to know how today’s scripture could be true or relevant when everyone in the bible days wore a dress. Was there really a way to tell the difference between men and women clothing?
Although everyone wore dresses in the bible, there was a way to make the distinction between what men and women wore in church. I wanted to help them further, so I found pictures, trying to show the difference between the men and women garbs in the bible days.
As you can see, men wore beards and facial hair to appear as ‘men’ and were often represented with weapons, such as swords or staffs on their side. While women had the same flowing robes there was modifications, such as overall length and hoods or hair coverings and jewelry. Although their garments were similar, it was easy to see the difference, so it would not be acceptable for either of them to show up to the temple wearing a garment pertaining to the opposite sex. There is no blurred line here, scripture is very clear – men should wear those items fitting a man and the same for a woman. This doesn’t happen in present time, as this is where the line gets blurred. In today’s society, we wear what we want, but men are not labeled as harshly as women are in the church or in society as a whole. Whatever a woman wears, to some people says who she is, based on a mere glance someone will label her by what she is not. We have to be careful with this type of judgement, because if we took the time getting to know the person behind the label, we would probably get a different viewpoint.
Don’t steal my glory before you know my story!!
When Samuel went to anoint David King, he looked at David’s brother, and he was sure that God would choose him because of his good looks, but that didn’t happen.
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” ~~ 1 Samuel 16:7
Rahab’s story is messy, and at first glance we would never see how the Lord could use her, but nevertheless, she shows us how to stand firm in the face of danger. She showed us how faith in action allows God to transform us. She didn’t look good to some, but she is considered righteous for her obedience to God (giving lodging to the spies and sending the Canaanites in a different direction).
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. ~~ Hebrews 11:31
Before we started to cherry pick scripture, which is the application of using certain Scriptures that fit our story, purpose, or denomination, completely ignoring all other Scriptures around it that are applicable but don’t help our cause. I wanted to leave them with one important thing and that is the word of God is true, how we interpret it may be very different, but that doesn’t negate its validity.
We may not always get it right at first glance, but Girl, I See You!!
