Ephesians #10 "Navigating Relationships"
November 12, 2023Pastor Patrick presented this morning's message, "Navigating Relationships." It was the 10th message in a series studying the book of Ephesians. A video of the message is here. Our Conversation Starter for this week is here.
In 5:23, the Greek word kephale (κεφαλὴ) is used and should be translated more as soul or source rather than head. So, "the husband is the soul/source of the wife." If Paul had meant head, he would have used arche. Most of the time in the Old Testament, arche is used to translate rosh (רֹ֔אשׁ). But not always. In Deuteronomy 28:13, kephale is used to translate rosh because the meaning is "source of all nations." Likewise, here in Ephesians, kephale is used to mean soul/source.
See Proverbs 31:10-31 for an amazing list of the wife's value to a marriage. It also happens that these verses are an acrostic poem, that is, each verse starts with each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in order.
In 6:1, the use of the Greek word tekna (τέκνα) for children indicates that this is not an age thing, rather a relationship thing that lasts forever. No matter how old you are, you honor your parents.
Verse 6:2 is an interesting reference to the Ten Commandments. It's a surprisingly accurate and very specific reference to the 5th Commandment (Exodus 20:12) in that the 5th Commandment is, in fact, the only one of the Ten Commandments with a promise/reward. This is one of many references to the instruction of the Old Testament suggesting that OT instruction did not "go away" with the coming of the New Testament.
Further, Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Speaking of the 5th Commandment (Honoring your Mother and Father), PragerU.com just released a new 5-minute video on the topic. It's here. Dennis Prager did not make the point in this video that he has often made elsewhere that when he says parents/mother/father he is talking not about DNA donors but rather about those who played a role in the child's rearing. In other words, foster and step parents would be included as well as anyone else who played a positive role.
As for the work relationships, I'd like to point out again that the Torah was the first document in history to humanize slavery and indentured servitude in such a way that in the Israelite world slavery eventually died out (wasn't worth it) and ultimately began to be abolished outright in the 19th Century. For more on the Torah approach to slavery, click here.
Bonus
The Shema (Sh'ma)
We attended a baptism at Life Church a week ago. The message (mostly unrelated to the baptisms) was about parenting. And to my great surprise, the Shema was referenced, carefully described (though mispronounced), and was used to highlight the importance of community ("Hear, O Israel"), making sure you provide your kids with good community, good environments, that increase the odds of associating with good people.
I knew I had talked here and there about the Shema before, but never put all the pieces in one place. So, here we go...
The Shema (sh'ma, with the accent on the last syllable.) is probably the most important prayer in Jewish life. It is said twice daily, and has been for thousands of years. It comes from three Torah sections:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."
There is one line inserted in this first section after the first ("Hear, O Israel...") that is not Biblical. It reads: "Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever." I understand it's a response from the people during Temple days that would be said by the crowd whenever the priest would say God's name. When included today, it is said in a low/quiet voice.
The very first word is also the name of the prayer, shema (שְׁמַ֖ע). It means "hear." It doesn't say "see," as in see here or look here. It's important to understand that the Torah trusts the ears much more than it trusts the eyes. Things are called eye candy for a reason - they attract you more than they should, as in a female's attractiveness to a male, or distract you more than they should, like focusing on the clothes/looks rather than the message. Also, shema includes the notion of both obedience and understanding (Prager).
This first section sets forth two key Torah understandings. One, monotheism. And two, God is a unified whole or oneness. There are no separate attributes or "parts" to Him, and any such references are simply used due to our limited understandings.
The phrase "with all your heart, soul, and strength" would have meant something very different to the Israelites 3,000 years ago from what it means to us today. In ancient Hebrew, the heart was the seat of the mind (kidneys were the seat of emotion). Soul refers to your "living being" (nefesh), a person's unique essence, and to the religious, the part of us that survives eternally. It's what God breathed into Adam (Genesis 2:7). And "might" (me'odeka) would be better translated as "muchness," that is, all you have at your disposal, your capacity, including your property. This is one of those untranslatable words packed with meaning. Think "with everything you've got." So, the Shema triplet becomes mind, soul, and "all you've got".
Lastly, God instructs us to teach our children about God in all His facets every day and all the time (in essence). We have not been doing a great job of this for the past several decades. I think it's fair to say that secularism has taken over the majority of young adults today. Prager puts it this way (paraphrased), "the Greatest Generation gave its kids everything they didn't have, but neglected to pass on what they did have: faith, values, and patriotism."
See Prager's Rational Bible: Deuteronomy, pages 112-127, for much more on Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This includes: various meanings of "The Lord our God, the Lord is one," it's hard to love God, controlling emotions, is God lovable, and ritual and faith (tefillin, tzitzit, mezuzah).
Deuteronomy 11:13-21, "So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today — to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth."
This (the above) paragraph simply explains the great blessings that come with obedience and great curses from non-obedience. These should be understood as consequences. When you do or don't do these things, consequences naturally befall you and/or your society.
See Prager's Rational Bible: Deuteronomy, pages 197-200, for more on Deuteronomy 11:13-21. This includes: are these rewards believable, and evil and famine.
Numbers 15:37-41, "The Lord said to Moses, 'Speak to the Israelites and say to them: Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.'"
These tassels (tzitzit), along with tefillin (small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah) on your foreheads and Torah (small pieces of) on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates (mezuzah) were mentioned in the first part. As is clearly stated, these are to be present at all times to remind you all the time to follow God's instruction all the time.