 |  |
No.4.
The Headship of Man.
pp. 151 - 156
The Hebrew word `head' (rosh) is not used of man in his relationship to woman in the
O.T., but insofar that it is very frequently represented in the LXX by the Greek kephale
(`head' in I Cor. 11: 3; Eph. 5: 23, two relevant passages in this enquiry) it is important
to note its usage. Apart from referring to the human head, the head of the serpent, etc., it
is used as follows:
". . . a river . . . became into four heads" (Gen. 2: 10).
". . . the tops of the mountains" (Gen. 8: 5).
". . . the heads of their fathers' houses" (Exod. 6: 14).
"When thou takest the sum of . . . Israel" (Exod. 30: 12).
". . . he overlaid their chapiters" (Exod. 36: 38).
". . . restore it in the principal" (Lev. 6: 5).
". . . the chief fathers of . . . Israel" (Numb. 36: 1).
". . . make them rulers over you" (Deut. 1: 13).
". . . your captains of your tribes" (Deut. 29: 10).
". . . the three companies blew the trumpets" (Judges 7: 20).
"Ezer the first, Obadiah the second" (I Chron. 12: 9).
It is also used significantly of the month Abib, which became for Israel, "the
beginning of months" (Exod. 12: 2), and in the Psalms of the Lord's word, true "from the
beginning" (119: 160). Hence it is also found represented in the LXX frequently by the
Greek arche or archon ("beginning", "principality"; "ruler", "prince").
Rosh (`head') thus seems to denote primarily, "priority or precedence in respect of
time, order, place or dignity" (Parkhurst). But its usage also suggests that it can include
the idea of origin or source (Gen. 2: 10, beginnings of streams, `heads'), an important
consideration when thinking of the headship of man:
". . . . . the head (kephale) of the woman is the man . . . . . the man is not of (ek, out of)
the woman; but the woman of (ek) the man" (I Cor. 11: 3, 8).
The original source of woman (in Eve) was man, insofar that:
". . . . . the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He (into) a woman"
(Gen. 2: 22).
100: K. Barrett (in his commentary on I Corinthians) refers to a passage in Herodotus
(iv.91) where kephale, used in the plural form, is applied to the "source of a river".
(Compare above, Gen. 2: 10.)
Another aspect of the usage of rosh (and also kephale) is of the whole number, the
sum or principal as applied to persons (Exod. 30: 12) or possessions (Lev. 6: 5).
Certain papyri and Greek inscriptions, both before and after the period of the N.T., also
suggest this meaning: