In this section of the Footsteps of Messiah series, we want to keep looking for that coffin. Here is our working text:
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How beautiful you are, my darling, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil; your hair is like a flock of goats that have descended from Mount Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep which have come up from their watering place, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost her young.
Wordplay with “veil” [tzemah] lends more insight into the beauty of the relationship.
Tzemah, the veil, means “to restrain or hold together.” This symbol suggests that the Torah is the restraint, and a woman who wears a scarf when she prays or prophesies the Word in the congregation is signalling her obedience to the restraint of the Word.
The veil ties or holds together a woman’s glory, her hair. Paul pointed out this mysterious beauty to the Corinthian women. Men are not permitted to wear something hanging down over their heads like woman's scarf, only a male cover such as a turban, or in modern use, a kippah or hat. Righteous women in the assembly are the parable and the prophecy of mankind’s restored glory and authority in Creation, while men are the parable of Adonai’s authority over man and Creation. (1 Co 11:7) I just finished recording a mini-series on headcovers in the HRN studio, so we'll try to let you know when it is available for viewing. The series is entitled "More Than a Scarf."
What else does Scripture say about hair? What is the symbolism? Knowing this will help us to decode Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians, things Yeshua says about the hairs of our head, and notably, the actions of the two women who bring alabaster vials of perfume and wash Yeshua’s feet with their hair. Here are some terms for your glossary of Biblical symbols:
Hair = glory
A woman’s hair is her glory. A leper is shaved of all hair to remove his “glory,” or humble him. A Nazirite shaves and sacrifices his hair.
Hair = a Divine sign of life/death [particularly to the metzorah/leper]
One of the alabaster events will take place in the home of Simon the Leper.
Hair = symbol of many or counting [because of great number]
Here is an example of how Yeshua incorporates this symbolism of hairs as "many or counting" in Matthew 10:30:
“But even the hairs of your head are all counted.”
And in Luke 12:7:
“But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not fear; you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows.”
This symbolism of counting links to the verse: “Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep which have come up from their watering place...” We’ll unpack this later, but it refers to the counting of the numbers of Israel when they emerged from the “washing” of the Reed Sea.
Another example of hair as a symbol of “many” or “counting”:
"For troubles surround me—too many to count!
My sins pile up so high I can’t see my way out.
They outnumber the hairs on my head.
I have lost all courage." (Ps 40:12)
This provokes us to imagine the weight of our troubles and sins being loaded upon Yeshua. Maybe the full context of this prophetic Psalm is linked to something else in Yeshua’s experience. Two women anoint Yeshua with perfume and wash his feet with their hair. One, who is unnamed, does it toward the beginning of his ministry, right after Yeshua resurrected a young man from a coffin in Luke Seven:
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Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head and began kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner!” (Lk 7:36-39)
Her sins were too many to count? Perhaps it was because her troubles completely surrounded her, cutting off escape and obstructing repentance. How interesting that Luke says she was a sinner, but the Pharisee said to himself, "...she is a sinner." Perhaps Luke means that before she encountered Yeshua, she was a sinner, but perhaps also she had repented, but she was still weighted by the reputation of a sinner.
What is clear, however, is that the woman came in repentance to Yeshua, signalled by her bringing what was probably the most expensive item she owned, an alabaster flask full of perfume. In washing the feet of him who brought Good News and resurrection, she touches her hair to his feet, which symbolize sins too many to count. I'm sure she wanted every hair to touch the Good News feet of Yeshua. She had likely witnessed or heard that Yeshua raised a young man from the dead in Nain, and she knew that this was the one whom she seeking, the only one who could break through the circle of troubles surrounding her and forgive her of the sins piled higher than the number of hairs with which she washed his feet.
So how did the alabaster woman know the prophecies of the Song of Songs, yet Shimon the Pharisee missed it?
The opening verses of the Song are evoked by the sinner’s kisses who seeks “the kisses of his mouth.”
THE BRIDE
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“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is sweeter than wine. Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, your name is like purified oil; therefore, the young women love you.” (So 1:2-3)
The alabaster woman brings her earthly perfumed oil and kisses to Yeshua the Bridegroom, seeking his Name Salvation (Yeshua) like fragrant, purified oil. She seeks the kisses of his mouth. The text does not suggest that Yeshua returned her physical kisses, yet he did kiss her a different way:
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“One who gives a right answer (davar) kisses the lips.” (Pr 24:26)
A davar is a word. It is the Word. Yeshua's answer to Shimon is the most loving kiss on her "lips," perhaps her lips "like a scarlet thread." The scarlet thread symbolizes redemption and safety, such as the scarlet garments supplied by the Proverbs 31 woman to her family to protect them from the fear of snow (judgment, Job 38:22-23).
Let’s read Yeshua’s kisses of a “right answer” in the context of Luke 7:
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And Jesus responded and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A moneylender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred denarii, and the other, fifty. 42 When they were unable to repay, he canceled the debts of both. So which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I assume the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave Me no kiss; but she has not stopped kissing My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. 47 For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” 49 And then those who were reclining at the table with Him began saying to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” 50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Lk 7:40-50)
Yes! "Therefore the young women love you!" They are forgiven much.
Two resurrections took place in Luke 7. The young man of Nain was raised from his coffin. A woman with an alabaster flask of perfume, a young woman dead in trespass and sin, was also raised up and her sins forgiven.
Later, the second alabaster woman will anoint Yeshua's body for burial. Another woman. Another alabaster flask. Another coffin. Perhaps these footsteps to the coffin have a pattern? We'll continue next week with Part 3.
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Shabbat Shalom!
