QUESTION CORNER by Milton C. Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 15, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 24.

QUESTION CORNER

By Milton C. Wilcox

CONDUCTED BY MILTON C. WILCOX MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA

NOTE.—This department is for the purpose of helping Bible students. Answers must of necessity be brief, often only suggestive, never exhaustive, never infallible only as they agree with the infallible Word. Such questions only will be answered as seem to the editors to minister to the mission of the paper. Questions of the same import cannot be answered repeatedly in the same volume. Name and address must be given, not for publication, but as evidence of good faith and to insure reply by letter if thought best. It is well always to inclose stamp, not stamped envelope, unless answer is desired by letter alone.

135 — DRY BONES OF EZE. 37:1.

Kindly inform us when the dry bones of Eze. 37:1 were gathered, and by whom, and for what purpose, and also what disposition was made of that great army.

J. C. W.

If our inquirer will read the scripture carefully, he will see that chapter 37 of Ezekiel was not an actual occurrence, but a vision. The prophet was set in a valley; and in that vision, that valley was full of bones, very dry; and he was asked, in that vision, “Can these bones live?” He did not know, but said, “Thou knowest.” Then he was told, in that vision, to prophesy over these bones; and he did as he was commanded; and in that vision, an earthquake occurred; and in that vision, bone came to its bone, flesh came upon the bones; and in the vision, all these bones, with flesh upon them, stood up, a very great army. That was the vision, and the parable of the vision. In verse 11 and onward, we are told what that vision meant. It meant the whole house of Israel then living. Israel was complaining, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.” Then God promises what the parable was designed to teach, and that is, if they would only yield to Him, He would save them out of their difficulty. He would bring their people up out of their graves, and He would bring to them all the blessings and the restoration that are told in the latter part of the prophecies of Ezekiel. But they did not do it, and would not do it. The vision will never be fulfilled as God wished to fulfill it to His people back there. The only fulfillment that we will see of it will be one that is far more glorious, when God will raise all His children from the dead.

136 — WOMEN SILENT IN CHURCHES

Please explain 1 Cor. 14:34, 35.

INQUIRER.

“Let your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.”

There are many conscientious Christian women who fail to bear testimony to the goodness of God, in public meetings in the church, because of the misunderstanding of this text. Taken in its broadest sense, it would mean that women are absolutely prohibited by the apostle from taking part in public meetings; but certainly the apostle did not mean this, nor is it the general teaching of Scripture. Note the following evidences:

First, the apostle gives instruction as to how women who were prophesying or publicly teaching should dress. 1 Cor. 11:5-13. Surely the apostle would not give instruction in this same epistle regarding women’s manner and dress and her appearance in public, and yet forbid public work.

Secondly, among the noted helpers of the apostle Paul were Aquila and Priscilla. Priscilla was the wife of Aquila. Sometimes her name is mentioned first. She seems to have been a public teacher, and among those who taught the great preacher Apollos. See Acts 18:1-4 and 24-26. Note also the number of women whom the apostle mentions in the last chapter of Romans as among those who helped him.

Thirdly, we are expressly told, in Acts 2, that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit “upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: . . . yea and on My servants and on My handmaidens in those days I will pour forth of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” No distinction is made between the men and the women.

In the twenty-first chapter of Acts, ninth verse, we read of Philip the evangelist, who had four virgin daughters that prophesied. By the term “prophesying” is meant speaking as impressed by the Spirit for God. It would include public teaching, and it would also include bearing testimony to the Lord’s work. Now this was true in Old Testament times as well. We have Miriam the sister of Moses leading the women of Israel with cymbals and song and praise. We have Deborah the prophetess leading out in the armies of Israel. It was to Huldah the prophetess that Josiah sent to receive instruction in regard to the meaning of the book of the law. When our Saviour was brought into the temple as a little babe, it was Anna the prophetess that spoke, impressed by the Spirit, and prophesied concerning Him.

God does not design that His children, male or female, shall repress the testimony and song and praise that they ought to bear, and instruction, if need be, that they ought to give, because of any human rule or law of church or men.

Why does Paul say what he does, then, to the women of Corinth? These things are worthy of consideration.

First of all, Corinth was one of the wickedest cities in the Roman Empire. It was filled with every class of wickedness that one could imagine; and among those who fostered the wickedness were the heathen priestesses—women who were religiously devoted to lives of licentiousness. These taught in public. They had their manner of teaching. They harangued assemblies and crowds. Some of these doubtless had been converted to the truth of the gospel, but not understanding everything pertaining to it, were carrying into the church the same customs that the heathen priestesses had followed in Corinth. It is these things which the apostle forbids. They needed in Corinth just such instruction as he here gave.

We certainly know that God has, through the ministry of women, wrought mightily for the salvation of precious souls, and He does not design, in these last days of glorious freedom of speech, that women should be suppressed in their work for the good of humanity. He does, however, want everything done decently and in order.

It is but proper to give what is another explanation of this text, and that is that verses 34 and 35 are the language of an objector—the language of some one in the Corinthian church who had been contending that women should say nothing, should not speak in public at all; and that the apostle answered this objection in the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh verses: “What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” That is, it was not for these objectors who had risen up, to control or seek to control those whom the Spirit of the Lord moved upon to speak. If we could only translate ourselves back to those times, and could only see the customs that were then in vogue, see the converts that were brought out from heathenism, see the nature of the heathenism out of which they came, we would not be surprised at any of these instructions which are given in Scripture.

Looking upon the first view of the text as correct, we could see that there is a real point in what the apostle said to the women of Corinth, “Let your women keep silence in the churches.” But no true follower of Jesus Christ ought to suppress the appeal of the Spirit in testifying to the goodness of God and praising His name for His mercies.

137 — THE CUBIT

Please answer, through the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, how many of our cubits of to-day would be equal to one of the cubits mentioned in Genesis 7, where we are told that the water prevailed fifteen cubits upward.

O. H. S.

There are two ways of reckoning the cubit in the Bible,—the one equal to eighteen inches, and the other to about twenty-two, or nearly that. The cubit of Genesis 7 was probably eighteen inches, or one and one half feet, according to our measurement. We do not reckon in cubits now; but generally speaking, the cubit is eighteen inches. Fifteen cubits, according to that kind of measurement, would be equal to twenty-two and one half of our feet.