1 Chron 23-25
David didn’t just make preparations for the building of the Temple for Solomon. It seems he also made preparations for the service of the Temple as well. He organized the priests, the Levites, and even the musicians, all from the tribe of Levi. I was noting just the other day how music was always a God-ordained part of worship and service to God. I also noted recently how prophetic so many of the Psalms – even those not written by David – seem to be. Well, imagine my delighted surprise this morning to see this little detail here that I’ve never paid attention to before. “David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals.” (1 Chron 25:1). They prophesied with their music!
Prophesy doesn’t necessarily always equate to foretelling the future. But a prophet is a mouthpiece for God, so foretelling the future is always a possibility. The Psalms we have from these men certainly tell God’s story – both past and, I believe, future.
1 Cor. 14:21-40
It doesn’t sound to me like church in Paul’s day was quite the same as church is today. It sounds to me like church was a gathering of believers where many contributed to the teaching and worship. Paul was giving them instructions on how to do this in a decent and orderly manner, giving consideration to others who want to participate and to the building up of the whole body.
As for Paul’s instructions to the women (or potentially just wives), it doesn’t make any sense at all to me to take the words at apparent face value. To say that women are forbidden to make a peep in church because that is the Law seems awfully legalistic. And again, Paul makes his position on legalism quite clear. So it seems very out of character for him to make such a legalistic command here.
I think it is important to take cultural context into consideration here, as well as the context of the rest of Paul’s letter and the Bible as a whole. Back in chapter 11 of this book, Paul says, “but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head”. The point being that Paul acknowledged there that women prayed and prophesied. He did not say this was wrong. He only spoke to the head covering issue, which I talked about back when we read this passage.
I’m sure there are several possibilities for different interpretations of this text, and I don’t really know the “right” answer. But it does seem reasonable to me to think that this has something to do with useless, irrelevant chatter, with interrupting with questions, or with praying and prophesying in a manner that is not orderly, edifying, or allowing others their turn. I think any such interpretation takes in both cultural and Biblical contexts much better than simply saying that women shouldn’t make a peep while in church. And the greater point overall is that the things we all do and the contributions we all make when gathered together as believers should be done in a manner that contributes to peace and not to confusion. “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1 Cor 14:33).