29/12/11

Are the women under bondage? (Piercing of the ears)

Deuteronomy 15:17,18 - Then thou shalt take an aul [piercing object], and thrust it through his ear unto [near] the door [gate], and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.


About 3 to 4 years back when my daughter was about 2 to 3 years old some of my family members wanted to pierce the ears on my daughter, but I did not allow it. I did hear a lot of taunts and sarcastic remarks like I have become a fanatic etc. but I did not give unto pressure. On the other hand I started telling my wife to stop wearing earring but she could not overcome the pressure of others soon she started losing her earring one after another. It was not one or two but quite a few that too in a very short period of time. I knew our words do not go in vain so when people would see me laughing every time she lost an earring they would think I was crazy since they were of gold. After a few days I stopped the pressure since the Lord told me anything done without faith is sin. So unless my wife understands what earrings symbolize and does not remove them by herself, it would not spiritually help her.

In India and many countries the custom of women wearing earring has overtaken them so much that none really try to find how and who started this custom. Not wearing earrings is like not wearing clothes for many. It shows how customs have blinded man and put man under bondage.

It will intrigue you that when the Lord told Jacob to put away the strange things from among his family before making a Temple unto Him, among the things Jacob did was to collect the earrings of the family members and bury them for Jacob knew what earrings symbolized.

The concept of wearing earrings started in the temples of the pagan gods long before Abraham. The people who dedicated themselves to the temple, a god or a person pierced their ears and wore ornaments in these holes so as to symbolize themselves to be eternal slaves of the temple, or the god, or that person. Later people too started wearing earrings symbolizing their dedication to these temples, or gods, or a person. This custom became very famous with the Egyptians and so the Israelites who followed the Egyptian customs also started wearing them. It was first started by the men, then the women who became temple prostitutes and later even ordinary people started wearing them. Earrings are not feminine ornaments but unisex. They symbolize the person as being an eternal slave like in today's scripture. They are not worn by God's people but only by heathen, those who became slaves unto the gods or people.

As individuals we are called to be the Temple of God and as a congregation all become the rocks which are used to build the Temple. That is the reason why the Lord did not allow any sharp object or tool to be used on the stones which were used to build a sanctuary dedicated to Him.

There are people who go the other extreme like Jehovah's Witnesses who do not allow an injection or anything to pierce their bodies even at times of medical emergencies.

One needs to understand that earrings are not fashion objects but spiritual symbols which later became a fashion object. Piercing the body for medical reasons is not what the Lord forbids but doing it for spiritual symbolizations is what the Lord forbids, when we do that we are not piercing the flesh but our spirits. We are making our spirit eternal slaves unto that which they symbolize.

I have learned one thing after coming in the Lord and that is not to follow any custom without understanding what it symbolizes and that information is best learned from the people who started it, not from the people who follow it.

This message is not to make you remove your earrings because I told you. The Lord wants you to understand what you have been following and do with understanding knowing you are the Lord's Temple.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, the world us so much under the yoke of traditions that they follow customs without even understanding what they mean or symbolize. Under spiritual bondage they are become more like cattle and less humans. Lord we pray for the release of your people from these bondages, give them the courage to stand for the Truth and against the worldly understandings...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Genesis 35:1-5
1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
3 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

Deuteronomy 27:5 - And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.

Joshua 8:31 - As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.

Exodus 32:1-5
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

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