Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 3
She used Old Testament texts (Exodus 28; the altar steps; Isaiah 47) to claim God treats the thigh as part of “nakedness” and public uncovering of hair as “shameful”—how would first-century Jewish-background Christians have heard those themes, and why do modern Christians often act as if those categories no longer matter?
Another way to ask: If the Old Testament treats the thigh as “nakedness” and uncovering hair in public as “shameful,” how might early Jewish Christians have understood that, and why do many Christians today act like those ideas don’t matter anymore?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript suggests first-century Jewish-background Christians would have carried Old Testament-informed instincts about shame, nakedness, and covering into their understanding of modesty, while modern Christians often ignore those categories because modern culture treats exposure as normal and many believers don’t think to look to the Old Testament for modesty standards.
- She says many relevant themes are in the Old Testament and “often we miss these because we don’t necessarily think of looking to the Old Testament for our standard of modesty.”
- She notes first-century Christians included many Jews, so their “sense of modesty [was] informed by what they knew from the Old Covenant.”
- She highlights the recurring OT refrain of “having your nakedness exposed” as “shame” and often “judgment for evil.”
- Exodus 28:42: priests wear linen trousers “from the waist to the thighs,” implying “to God, the thigh… is a part of nakedness.”
- God also commands priests not to go up steps “lest their nakedness be exposed” on the altar.
- Isaiah 47 portrays judgment/shame: “Remove your veil… uncover the thigh… your nakedness shall be uncovered,” which she takes as evidence that public hair uncovering and thigh exposure are shameful.