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The top hats that used to be worn normally in the city of London had the effect of giving a certain dignity to the persons who wore them. This is to some extent true of most hats worn by men, as distinct from caps and other forms of head covering. Distinctive headwear can make a person stand out in a crowd. A king's crown is a clear example of this. The high priest in the Old Testament wore a turban as stated in Exodus 29:5-7. He thus stood out not only from the common people but also from his sons. The sons wore high caps which made them stand out from the common people, but also distinguished them from the high priest (Exodus 29: 9). One would gather that a bridegroom wore a priestly turban at his wedding; something that would have distinguished him from the guests (Isaiah 61:10). Turbans were worn by the Chaldeans (Ezekiel 23:14/15). Probably Daniel's three friends wore them (Daniel 3:21), though there appears to be doubt as to the correct translation here. One wonders if the high caps of Aaron's sons gave rise to the high hats today often worn by chefs. Aaron's sons would have been involved with the cooking of sacrifices, so maybe the caps protected their heads from the cooking and also avoided the danger of hairs falling into the food. |
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The question will no doubt be asked as to what constitutes a head covering. The passage quoted above speaks of anything, but as the word is in brackets and is clearly put in so that the sentence makes sense in English it may be asked what weight should be placed on it. However, verse 7 says that man ought not to have his head covered (or meaning effectively the same thing, ought not "to cover his head"). What constitutes a covering is left to the judgement of the Christian. However, anything on the head would amount at least to a partial covering and therefore the wearing of nothing on the head when praying or prophesying is the only safe practice. The practice of godly persons in this connection should be noticed and followed unless there is very good reason to do otherwise. The practice of raising one's hat to a woman (it seems to have fallen out of use now that hats are rarely worn by men) may have arisen as a mark of respect as when hats worn at a funeral are taken off when anyone prays at the service by the grave. The origin of these practices probably connects back in some way to what Paul says in the chapter we are considering. |
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Although not part of Scripture the following may be of interest as showing the reason why Paul says that a man wearing a covering in the stated circumstances "puts his head to shame" : "This decision of the apostle was in point blank hostility to the canons of the Jews; for they would not suffer a man to pray unless he was veiled, for which they gave this reason. 'He should veil himself to show that he is ashamed before God, and unworthy with open face to behold him.' See much in Lightfoot on this point."We know of course that "Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God." (Exodus 3:6) and Elijah |
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"wrapped his face in his mantle" (1 Kings 19:13). The fact that Moses hid his face and Elijah covered his face with his mantle at least shows that their faces were not veiled at the time. The Christian is not to approach God as one ashamed but "in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:22). Again, we have in 1 Timothy 4:5 the thought of freely addressing God. There is no idea of shame in connection with our relations with God though reverence should be maintained (Hebrews 12:28/29). See also 1 John 2:28. |
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Covering the head is connected with mourning in Esther 6:12 and in chapter 7:8 the covering of Haman's face indicated that he was to die. In both cases the idea would be that the person's face was not fit to be seen. This should not be the case with a Christian. He is to look on the unveiled face of the Lord and be himself transformed according to the same image (2 Corinthians 3:18). However this goes further than what we have in 1 Corinthians 11 which is based rather on God's creatorial ordering so that we have the statement in verse 14 "Does not even nature itself teach you". Sensibilities also enter into the matters spoken of so that we have: "Judge in yourselves" (verse 13). The Christian should be careful, although he may do what is customary in the world where there is nothing moral involved and no specific passage of Scripture that would negate it, that he does not get carried |
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