Jewellery - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

Should Women Wear Jewellery?

The text in Job 42:11, as well as that pertaining to Rebekah, is descriptive of marriage jewellery. That was the one occasion when the ladies could "dress up" to the full. Thereafter the marriage jewellery was, as far as I have been able to tell, never worn again. It was a kind security held in the bank in case of divorce so the divorced woman could provide for herself, and was usually passed down to children for their weddings. When we read passages in the Tanakh about jewellery it's either in the positive context of the adornment of a bride for a wedding or a negative one denoting materialism, pride, exclusivism, etc..

For me the issue is clarified unambiguously by Sha'ul:

"1 Tim 2:8-10
8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; 9 in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, 10 but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.
NKJV

The apostle is not saying it's alright to wear fancy jewellry so long as our 'heart is right' but to avoid it altogether. To put it bluntly to make a point (Admittedly rather crudely), we can't go around wearing a T-shirts saying "Fornicating for Jesus" but rather we should be declaring, "Yah'shua Says No To Fornication". The same with jewellery. Call me an egotistical Ephraimite if you want (I am not sure why there are all these digs at Ephraim, by the way - do we Ephraimites get the right to make similar swipes at Judah's pride? ;) ) but to me the plain sense or p'shat of Sha'ul is crystal clear.

Selah
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I try to set the example by not wearing any jewellery myself and never have. This goes for fancy expensive clothes for men as well. What people wear influences their bearing as it is a projection of their ego. I used to be into the tie-and-suit thing but now view that was as much disdain as the casual T-shirt, jeans and baseball hat approach which were a fruit of the 60's rebellion. But that's another topic....

For a thorough discussion on this topic (N.B. This is an antinomian site) see:

http://www.whyileft.org/responses-to-the-upc/response-to-upc-bible-...

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