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How To Keep The Miqra Qodesh

Related to some of the comments I made back on the main page of the Sabbath Assembly Reading Schedule: When we gather together as believers, the way I enforce 1 Timothy 2:11-14 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is that I look for a "bare minimum that must be enforced" and enforce that. Why? Because if we go overboard, we may be in sin, but if we don't enforce it at all, that also is a sin. It is a sin when people who are hosting gatherings on Set-Apart (Holy) Days like Sabbath allow women to speak during the Scriptures Reading and Discussion in that group setting on that Set-Apart (Holy) Day.

Leviticus 23:1-3 And Yahweh spoke to Mosheh, saying,
2 "Speak to the children of Yisra'eyl, and say to them, 'The appointed times of Yahweh, which you are to proclaim as Miqraey Qodesh, My Appointed Times, are these:
3 Six days work is done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a Miqra Qodesh. You do no work, it is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings."

Miqra is translated "reading" in Nehemiah 8:8. The reason you see it translated as "convocation" or "gathering" instead is because in ancient times people didn't have their own Bibles and if you did not gather you would not hear the reading - so from an ancient perspective to have a "reading" implies you must also gather, of course, for it to be done.

The Scriptures Reading and Discussion on the Sabbath is commanded in Leviticus 23:2-3 to be done as a Miqra Qodesh - a Set-Apart (Holy) Reading. It is not a "regular reading like friends around the kitchen table on a non-Holy day" - it is a "Holy/Set-Apart Reading". So when Paulus is teaching in 1 Timothy 2:11-14 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 for women to be silent, the obvious time that you absolutely must enforce that rule is during the Miqra Qodesh on Set-Apart (Qodesh) Days which includes the Weekly 7th Day Sabbath and the seven annual Sabbaths:

  1. 1st Day of Feast of The Unleavened Breads
  2. 7th Day of Feast of The Unleavened Breads
  3. Feast of Weeks (Shavu'ot/Pentecost)
  4. Day of Alarm/Shouting (Yom Teruah)
  5. Day of The Atonements (Yom HaKippuriym)
  6. 1st Day of Feast of The Tree Huts (Sukkot)
  7. 8th Last Great Day Ending Feast of The Tree Huts (Sukkot)

When any man allows a woman to speak during the reading and discussion on a Set-Apart (Holy) Day like the weekly Sabbath or one of these above seven annual Sabbaths, they are failing to obey what Paulus is teaching us which is probably to teach us how to properly keep the Days Set-Apart (Holy). If you don't keep the Reading "Holy", then it may very well be you aren't actually keeping the day "Holy" either. I view women speaking during a Miqra Qodesh as most likely profaning the Sabbath and violating the rules on how to keep the "Miqra" "Qodesh". It is not just a "Miqra" - it is commanded in Leviticus 23:2-3 to be a "Miqra Qodesh" - done in a Qodesh, Set-Apart (Holy) fashion. We can't make women "feel nice about themselves" at the expense of dishonoring Yahweh. Men need to enforce silence of women during Scripture readings and discussions when we are gathered on Set-Apart (Holy) Days. If women sing during a time of assembly praise or say Amein after a prayer or something like that, I view that as different and OK because she's not entering into a "teaching and discussion role". So I view the bare minimum way to apply 1 Timothy 2:11-14 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 as being to apply it during the Miqra Qodesh, at a bare minimum, the Scripture readings and related group discussions, on Set-Apart (Holy) days.

2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

We cannot tickle people's ears in these last generations. We must speak the truth on this matter. Men - you are not doing anyone a favor by backing down from this. You are only creating confusion and hurting people's ability to understand the truth if you fail to enforce 1 Timothy 2:11-14 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 in gatherings where you have authority. Do what's right, whether the women agree or not, because Yahweh agrees, Yahushua agrees, and so do the Apostles. These words from Paulus are inspired and they are not optional, so don't treat them like you have a choice in this matter, because you don't. Stand firm on what is righteous. Be kind, be merciful, be loving, be gentle, be meek, be humble; but none of those things means 'lower the standard to make others happy'. You can be kind, loving, gentle, meek, humble, and all those good things without lowering the standard. Just as much as you can't do things just to appease men, you also cannot do things just to appease women. Yahweh comes first. This isn't about being unkind to women, this is about being kind to Yahweh. This isn't about being unkind, it's about making sure that the Miqra is Qodesh as Yahweh commanded - which is part of protecting the sanctity of the Sabbaths as Qodesh (Holy/Set-Apart) Days. We're near the end. Now is not the time to compromise and water down the truth.