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Thy Kinswoman Part 1 - Women's Weekly Bible Challenge

 Hello and welcome to the Women’s Weekly Bible Challenge! This is a Bible study Blog that focuses on Women in the Bible.  

On of my goals in these studies is to help you understand how to study the Bible for yourself.  I issue a CHALLENGE at the end of each series, which I hope will help you learn how to do word studies, using your concordance.

How do we accomplish WORD STUDIES?  As the name suggests, we begin by choosing a word, or a topic.  Then we use a concordance to find where, when and how that word is used in Scripture.  It may also require finding a related word and searching for those as well. You may also like to use a THESAURUS or a DICTIONARY to help find related words. 

Last week, we finished our series on Women Teaching, where we did a word study on every occurrence of women teaching in the Bible.  I offered up a new CHALLENGE to find the word “Aunt” in the scripture which will lead us to WISDOM, a very important person in the Bible.

In the video linked below, I demonstrate how I used a concordance to take this CHALLENGE. 

Before we dig in, I want you to know that this is going to be a rather deep study.  But the word of God is for everyone, no matter where you are in your walk with God.  Neither age nor scholarship matters when it comes to studying the Scriptures.  God’s word is the light, and it is the Holy Spirit that gives understanding when you believe the words.

LET’S DIG IN!

By searching for "Aunt", we found the only reference, which is in Leviticus chapter 18, which is in the Old Testament.

Leviticus 18:14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.

In order to have a better understanding of this verse, we need to spend a few minutes discovering the context.

Let’s look at a few verses at the beginning of Leviticus to see who is doing the writing and to whom are they writing.  It is VERY IMPORTANT to establish CONTEXT before trying to understand a passage of scripture!

The book of Leviticus is named after Levi, the third son of Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel.  The Priests of the nation of Israel were chosen from this tribe. 

Leviticus 1:1 And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying…

1:2 Speak unto the children of Israel…

6:8 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying…

6:9 Command Aaron and his sons,…

Aaron and his sons are PRIESTS.  We learn this in Exodus 28:1

And take unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office,…

By studying these passages ☝ we can understand that Leviticus is a book written to the nation of Israel by Moses, God’s spokesman.  Leviticus prescribes very specific laws and instructions for Israel’s religious service to God.  These services and sacrifices were executed by the office of the priests.

Now that we have established the context of the book of Leviticus, let’s establish the context of Chapter 18, beginning in verse 1.

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say to them, I am the LORD your God. 3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.

I encourage you to take the time to read Leviticus Chapter 18. You will find that it is about inappropriate intimate relationships:  acts of approaching near of kin, man lying with man, man lying with beasts, and woman lying with beasts.  God says these acts DEFILE all men, both Israel and the Gentile nations. In this chapter, we see that the Egyptians and the Canaanites were doing these unclean deeds in their lands.

Now let’s look at all the verses in Leviticus 18 that pertain to “Aunt”:

Leviticus 18:12 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach unto his wife: she is thine aunt.

Notice that these passages are addressing MEN.  It is important to note that the Bible is written by men and to men.  There are very few instances where God speaks directly to women in the Scriptures.  In the future we will have a series on WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO WOMEN; but in this passage it is clear that God is speaking to MEN.

Let’s read that last verse again:

14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach unto his wife: she is thine aunt.

When a man approaches a woman who is a near kinswoman to have intimate relations with her, that is called Uncovering  HIS Nakedness. The wife IS the husband’s nakedness.

The theme of “uncovering of the nakedness” found in this chapter, particularly verse 8 The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness, sheds light onto what Ham did to Noah.

Genesis 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

You might want to write that reference next to Leviticus 18:8 in your Bible. The fact that Ham’s son, Canaan, was cursed was very likely because he was the offspring of that event.

All the perversion and immorality that we see Israel being warned against in Leviticus chapter 18 is tied to Ham having intimate relations with his father’s wife in Genesis 9. 

Look again at Leviticus 18:3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.

Egypt is called the land of Ham.

Psalm 105:23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham

We know that the land of Canaan, is inhabited by the descendants of Canaan, the cursed son of Ham.

Egypt and Canaan are singled out as the preeminent locations of these vile sins.

Q: So what is a near kinswoman?

  • Your father’s sister is a near kinswoman; she is what we call a “blood” relative.
  • Your mother’s sister is a near kinswoman, also a blood relative.
  • Your father’s brother’s wife is your aunt.  She is not a blood relative, but that relationship is forbidden by the law because she is another man’s wife.

We can see that the word 'AUNT' is associated with the word ‘KINSWOMAN’.

Kinswoman is the word that I wanted us to find in Scripture today. It will lead us to WISDOM.  When we look up 'KINSWOMAN' in the concordance, we find it only in one other scripture: Proverbs Chapter 7:4.

Proverbs 7:1-5

1 My son, keep my words, And lay up my commandments with thee. 2 Keep my commandments, and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye. 3 Bind them upon thy fingers, Write them upon the table of thine heart. 4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call understanding thy kinswoman5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the stranger which flattereth with her words.

As always, we need to establish the context by going to the beginning of the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

The proverbs are attributed to Solomon, and as the King of Israel, we can assume they are written with his nation in mind. But to confirm who is being addressed as “my son” in Proverbs 7:1, we let scripture interpret scripture.

Exodus 4:22 Israel is MY SON, my firstborn.

And,

Hosea 11:1 When ISRAEL was a child, then I loved him, and called MY SON out of Egypt.

Doctrinally Proverbs is written to God’s son, Israel.

In Proverbs Chapter 7, we see that “My son” is instructed to call wisdom his sister and understanding his kinswoman, so they may keep him from the strange woman.

Q: Who is the STRANGE WOMAN and what is she likened to?

Let’s continue reading Proverbs Chapter 7:

6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, A young man void of understanding, 8 Passing through the street near her corner; And he went the way to her house, 9 In the twilight, in the evening, In the black and dark night: 10 And behold, there met him a woman With the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 11 She is loud and stubborn; Her feet abide not in her house: 12 Now is she without, now in the streets, And lieth in wait at every corner.

Drop down to verse 21 

21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, With the flattering of her lips she forced him. 22 He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter, Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 23 Till a dart strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life. 24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, And attend to the words of my mouth. 25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, Go not astray in her paths. 26 For she hath cast down many wounded: Yea, many strong men have been slain by her. 27 Her house is the way to hell, Going down to the chambers of death.

Q: Who is the Strange Woman? 

She is a harlot with a subtil heart that uses flattering words to seduce Israel to unfaithfulness.

TWO WAYS are represented by the kinswoman and the strange woman.  We see these two ways throughout the book of Proverbs and throughout the entire Bible, beginning in Genesis with the serpent seducing Eve to unfaithfulness to God.

We are shown in Proverbs 7 that the Kinswoman guards Israel against the strange woman.

Let’s compare that to similar passages in Proverbs 5:

1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, And bow tine ear to my understanding: 2 That thou mayest regard discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge. 3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, And her mouth is smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on hell.

Drop down to verse 18

18 Let thy fountain be blessed: And rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love. 20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a stranger?

Just as THY KINSWOMAN offers Israel protection in Proverbs 7,  THE WIFE OF THY YOUTH guards against the strange woman in Proverbs Chapter 5.

We will end Part One of THY KINSWOMAN here.  Take some time to meditate on the verses that we have studied today.  To prepare for next week’s lesson, I encourage you to search a concordance for “my sister, my spouse” in order to discover more about the kinswoman, Wisdom. Make the time to get an overview by reading Proverbs chapters 1-9.

LINK TO THY KINSWOMAN PART 2

The material covered in this blog can  also be found in this YouTube video which is private. Contact me by email or leave a comment on this post for the link to the video:



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