Please explain the deeper meaning of these verses.

[Venomous]

Hello!

I'm looking for a deeper meaning on the following verses from the bible, the reason is because I can't figure out it's deep and holy meaning. I don't find these verses good but they might be and I might just be missing something so any help would be good

Deuteronomy 22:28-29
1 Corinthians 11:7-9
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
Ephesians 5:22-24
1 Peter 3:7
and Sirach 42:14-16 (I am aware that some bibles do not have this but if it does then please explain the holy meaning behind it)

Thanks,
Venomous

 

[Venomous]

Bump, I really need help since I'm quite puzzled right now.

 

[BilliardsBall]

Hello!

I'm looking for a deeper meaning on the following verses from the bible, the reason is because I can't figure out it's deep and holy meaning. I don't find these verses good but they might be and I might just be missing something so any help would be good

Deuteronomy 22:28-29
1 Corinthians 11:7-9
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
Ephesians 5:22-24
1 Peter 3:7
and Sirach 42:14-16 (I am aware that some bibles do not have this but if it does then please explain the holy meaning behind it)

Thanks,
Venomous

I think the issue, as so many issues, lies in lack of context. Even the world's "best" preachers do half-hour sermons from one verse, but the Bible teaches in large passages, stories and chapters.

For example, it sounds from the Ephesians snippet that wives "just submit!" when the husbands, once you read the rest of the chapter and epistle, submit to:

*the government
*church elders
*God's law and commands
*and to "one another as Christians," which is to say they are to SUBMIT TO THEIR WIVES.

 

[Thanda]

Deuteronomy 22:28-29:

Cultural context is important. Unlike these days where sex before marriage is expected, there was a time when NO ONE was willing to marry a lady who was not a virgin. And worse still, since there were no contraceptives there was a good chance that someone could get pregnant from a rape. And if the chances of a non virgin getting married was slim the chances for a single mother were still less. Thus a rape would pretty much curse a girl to a life with her parents and without any children. Again the calamity of this situation can only properly be understood in the context of cultural expectations of the time.
Having said all this we are still left with the issue of how the lady would feel about this. Reading the scripture carefully reveals that this is what the perp is expected to do. There is no indication of what the lady and her family are expected to do.
I offer it as my opinion from what I understand about God that the family could choose to reject the money and the lady the offer of marriage.

 

[Thanda]

I previously said I offer it as my opinion that the father could refuse: I now have the evidence. In Exodus 22 we have:
16 ¶And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.
17 If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

Clearly the only person whom the Lord is trying to punish is the rapist: he is the only person who has no choice.

 

[atpollard]

Hello!

I'm looking for a deeper meaning on the following verses from the bible, the reason is because I can't figure out it's deep and holy meaning. I don't find these verses good but they might be and I might just be missing something so any help would be good

Deuteronomy 22:28-29
1 Corinthians 11:7-9
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
Ephesians 5:22-24
1 Peter 3:7
and Sirach 42:14-16 (I am aware that some bibles do not have this but if it does then please explain the holy meaning behind it)

Thanks,
Venomous

All of Deuteronomy 22:13-30 seems to be about making the best of a bad situation.
Advice on trying to right a wrong.
I would not take anything in that section as God's plan for the right way to do things.
From a NT perspective, I would suggest that attempting to make amends for a wrong is still a generally good principal to follow.
However, being clearly an OT law ... I suggest asking a Rabbi for a second opinion.

If you examine all of 1 Corinthians, you walk away with the feeling that the church at Corinth was operating under the spiritual equivalent of Murphy's Law ... whatever could go wrong, spiritually, did go wrong.
1 Corinthians 1 - Church fighting over leaders.
1 Corinthians 2 - Admonition to seek Truth from the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3 - Criticism of worldly Christians.
1 Corinthians 4 - Plea to return to true teaching.
1 Corinthians 5 - Dealing with incest.
1 Corinthians 6 - Dealing with lawsuits and sexual immorality.
1 Corinthians 7 - Dealing with married and unmarried believers.
1 Corinthians 8 - Dealing with fights over food and temple orgies.
1 Corinthians 9 - Need for self-sacrifice and discipline.
1 Corinthians 10 - Dealing with people reveling in their forgiveness as an excuse to indulge in orgies.
At last we arrive at 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul is instructing them to engage in cultural modesty with respect to their hair ... and to stop turning the Lords Supper into a festival of gluttony and drunken revelry.
The spiritual importance for our age lies not in the specific details ... we don't have a lot of temple orgies or carved idols to avoid ... but in the deeper and universal principles of seeking modesty, preferential love for one another, and wisdom from the Holy Spirit for what it means to have freedom in Christ.
In other words, "Freedom is not the right to do as you please, but the liberty to do as you ought." (author unknown)

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 again deals with a bad situation, not God's preferred plan of action. A 2001 Canadian Study quoted a statistic that 14% of parents will suffer physical abuse at the hands of their children. The statistics for psychological abuse and financial abuse are unknowable because incidents are almost never reported. I have no idea whether the Deuteronomy 21 solution of stoning abusive children at the city gate was ever a good idea, but before I would be willing to condemn God for something that has a very high burden of proof (capital crimes require multiple reliable eye-witnesses who agree on the details), I would be interested in hearing your plan for dealing with the issue in our age. Like Deuteronomy 22, I urge you to get a second opinion from a Rabbi.

Ephesians 5 was already explained by someone else.

1 Peter 2:11 to 1 Peter 3:7 are all about living a holy life through submission. Submission to authority and submission to one another. These verses and those before and after also ring with the call to place the welfare of others above your personal well being.

(Sorry, never read Sirach 42).

What in particular bothers you about these verses?

 

[Unification]

Hello!

I'm looking for a deeper meaning on the following verses from the bible, the reason is because I can't figure out it's deep and holy meaning. I don't find these verses good but they might be and I might just be missing something so any help would be good

Deuteronomy 22:28-29
1 Corinthians 11:7-9
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
Ephesians 5:22-24
1 Peter 3:7
and Sirach 42:14-16 (I am aware that some bibles do not have this but if it does then please explain the holy meaning behind it)

Thanks,
Venomous

Everything is opposite of outward and physical with scripture. The meanings are all inward and spiritual. Husband and wife, man and woman, male and female are not literal.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Everything is opposite of outward and physical with scripture. The meanings are all inward and spiritual. Husband and wife, man and woman, male and female are not literal.

Though it's notoriously difficult with religious texts to decide what is meant literally and what is meant metaphorically.

 

[ChristineES]

Instead of reading stray verses, I would read the Bible in context. Something in context will sound differently when out of context.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Sirach 42:14-16

I think you mean Sirach (or Ben Sira) 42:13-14, because 15 and 16 are part of a hymn that follows the topic of a father watching over his daughter.

Here it is in context:
[VERSE=Ben Sira 42:9-14, NAB-RE]
9
A daughter is a treasure that keeps her father wakeful,
and worry over her drives away sleep:
Lest in her youth she remain unmarried,
or when she is married, lest she be childless;
10
While unmarried, lest she be defiled,
or in her husband’s house, lest she prove unfaithful;
Lest she become pregnant in her father’s house,
or be sterile in that of her husband.
11
My son, keep a close watch on your daughter,
lest she make you a laughingstock for your enemies,
A byword in the city and the assembly of the people,
an object of derision in public gatherings.
See that there is no lattice in her room,
or spot that overlooks the approaches to the house.
12
Do not let her reveal her beauty to any male,
or spend her time with married women;
13
For just as moths come from garments,
so a woman’s wickedness comes from a woman.
14
Better a man’s harshness than a woman’s indulgence,
a frightened daughter than any disgrace.
[/VERSE]

(I can't get the new verse quoting feature to work. )

The footnote is:

1. 42:9–14 Ben Sira considers a daughter to be a source of anxiety to her father, lest she fail to marry, or be defiled, or lest, marrying, she be childless, prove unfaithful, or find herself sterile (vv. 9–10). He is advised to keep a close watch on her and on her companions, lest he suffer on her account among the people (vv. 11–12). The exhortations, which take into account only a father’s concern, are quite unflattering to young women. The concluding statements (vv. 13–14) show the limitations of Ben Sira’s perspective in the male-oriented society of his day.

Basically, it's detailing the duties and anxieties of a father for that time. Yes, the last two verses do reveal an archaic understanding of a woman's standing, but it's a reflection of the culture of that time. As for a holy meaning of the text that is relevent for our day, I'd say it's generally good advice. Fathers should watch over and guide their daughters, to be an example of how a man should treat a woman, to teach her that her value is not in her physical features and that she should be prized and expect no less from a suitor.​