THE HIDDEN MAN OF THE HEART
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Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
The Bible frequently associates jewelry with a proud attitude, an immoral lifestyle, or pagan worship.
When Jacob went back to Bethel to renew his relationship with God, he disposed of all the idols and earrings belonging to his family.
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. 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: 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. 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. 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.
So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
The Israelites melted down earrings and made a golden calf to worship.
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. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 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.
After Moses interceded for them, God spared their lives but announced He would not go with them to Canaan.
“And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.
For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.
And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.
And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.
As a sign of their humility, repentance, and consecration, God ordered them to take off these badges of vanity, pride, and lust.
They gave all their jewelry to God, to be melted down and used in construction of the Tabernacle.
And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the Lord.
Where did they get this jewelry originally?
They received “jewels” of silver and gold from the Egyptians.
Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.
The more accurate translation is probably “articles” of silver and gold.
In any case, God meant for them to take the Egyptian gold and silver for use in His service, not for personal ornamentation.
Another time the Israelites captured much jewelry from the Midianites, and again they offered it all to God.
We have therefore brought an oblation for the Lord, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the Lord, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.) And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.
In Gideon’s day, Ishmaelites and Midianites were distinguished from Israelites by their use of earrings and other jewelry.
And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
This jewelry became a snare for Gideon and his men.
When they captured it in war, he fashioned it into a gold ephod (sacred garment) to which they offered idolatrous worship.
When Jezebel tried to seduce Jehu, she “tired her head”.
And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
Or “adorned her head”.
In light of the context, it is unlikely that she simply arranged her hair in a modest manner.
It means she arranged her hair elaborately and apparently put ornaments on her head or in her hair.
The adulterous woman used extravagant clothing and ornaments of gold to attract her lovers.
And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
The adulterous woman allured her lovers by ornaments.
And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments,
Her many lovers gave her bracelets and crowns, but God warned that all her jewels would be stripped away in judgment.
They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.
And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
God likened His unfaithful people to an adulterous woman who wore jewelry:
And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.
The Lord pronounced judgment upon the proud, haughty, vain women of Jerusalem who gloried in their ornamentation.
Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, The rings, and nose jewels, The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
The perfume boxes, purses, and mirrors were usually worn on the body as ornamentation.
Most of the listed items can be used only for ornamentation and so always come under condemnation for their association with pride and vanity.
Some of them, such as the articles of clothing, can be used innocently, but in this case they too were worn with ostentation and pride.
They come under the condemnation of this passage whenever they are worn with the wrong spirit or with great extravagance, expense, and show.
The spirit of Esther stands in contrast to this.
When a woman was brought before the Persian king, she was allowed access to anything she desired in order to beautify herself.
Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house.
This included jewelry and cosmetics, which ancient royal courts used. Esther, however, desired and requested nothing, but used only what the king’s eunuch (who had charge of her) selected.
Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.
The Bible only records that she used oil of myrrh, perfume, and other preparations to purify (beautify) the skin.
Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)