English translations usually read, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” In the Old Testament “The fear of the Lord is the head of wisdom” ( Psalm 111:10). Rather the year “flows from” that first day. The first day of the year is not “in authority over” the rest of the year.
The Jewish new year is celebrated as Rosh Hashanah, “the head of the year”. Interestingly, the Hebrew word rosh can also mean “origin” or “beginning”. (I say “most translators” because not all those involved with translating from Hebrew into Greek were equal to the task. It seems that most of the translators of the Septuagint knew that kephale does not usually mean “leader”, “ruler”, or “one in authority”. Out of 180 instances where rosh has the sense of “leader” in the Hebrew Bible, only 8 were translated as kephale. Instead, they typically used the Greek word archon, which does mean “leader” or “ruler”. In the instances where rosh meant a “leader”, in the majority of cases, the translators did not use the word kephale in their translation. When the Hebrew word for “head” ( rosh) meant a literal head, the translators invariably translated rosh into kephale. However, in Hebrew, as in English, “head” can also mean a “leader” or “ruler”. (The Septuagint is the second–first century BC translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek.) That kephale did not ordinarily mean “leader” is demonstrated when we compare the Hebrew word for “head” in the Hebrew Bible with the Greek word for “head” in the Septuagint. When The Hebrew Word For “Head” Meant “Leader” In The Hebrew Bible, It Was Usually Not Translated With The Greek Word For “Head” In The Septuagint. In this article I provide four pieces of evidence that support this claim.ġ. However, “leader” or “authority” was not a usual meaning of the word in ancient Greek either before or during the first century. Many Christians have assumed that kephale means “the one in authority” in 1 Corinthians 11:3. In first-century Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament, the Greek word kephale (“head”) also had metaphorical meanings. One metaphorical meaning of head is “leader.” In English, the “head” of a social, political or military organisation is the leader, the top person, the chief, the one in authority. In English, the word “head” has many meanings apart from its literal sense.
The Greek word kephale, which literally means “head”, is one factor which contributes to making this passage difficult to understand. I think it is a really good example of clear, detailed and persuasive analysis, and I reproduce it here with permission.ġ Corinthians 11:2-16 is one of the most difficult passages of the Bible to interpret. I recently came across a really helpful and clear argument that ‘head’ in 1 Cor 11.3 (used only here and in Eph 5.23 of relationships between men and women) does not have the metaphorical meaning of ‘leader’ or ‘authority over’, written by Marg Mowczko, a theologian and writer from New South Wales, Australia. To imagine that ‘head’ in other cultures and languages does not have the same connotation requires a disciplined leap of the imagination, and this is not easy for the casual reader of the NT. The main reason for this for English speakers is that the term is deeply and widely connected with notions of authority, control and leadership-just think ‘headteacher’ or ‘headmaster’ and other compounds, and you can see how natural this is for us. The debate about the meaning of ‘head’ and ‘headship’ (even though the latter does not occur in the NT) continues to rumble on. Most statues, frescoes, mosaics, coins, etc, showĪncient Roman women with uncovered heads.
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