shame

By Elizabeth Prata

Ezekiel 3:8, “Behold, I have made your face just as hard as their faces, and your forehead just as hard as their forehead.“

Isaiah 48:4, “For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.”

In Jeremiah 3:3 we read, “Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no spring rain. Yet you had a prostitute’s forehead; You refused to be ashamed.”

What is with the focus on the forehead? What can it mean?

Topical Bible explains, “The forehead, in biblical literature, often symbolizes identity, character, and allegiance. It is a prominent part of the human body and serves as a visible marker in various scriptural contexts, both literal and metaphorical.”

The forehead is a most prominent feature of a person. It is what we normally see first. It is a representation of where the mind and thoughts reside, and thus, our focus and devotion. In the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary it is explained-

The Bible indicates that a person’s character can be determined by observing the forehead. A set forehead indicates opposition, defiance, and rebellion (Jer. 3:3).

Hardness of the forehead indicates determination to persevere (Isa. 48:4; Ezek. 3:8–9).

It has been used as a representation of Satan (Rev. 13:16–17).

At the same time, it stands for courage as when God told Ezekiel that He had made the prophet’s forehead harder than flint against the foreheads of the people (Ezek. 3:9). underlines mine.

The forehead is used as a very dishonorable word when read of the harlot’s forehead (Jer. 3:3), indicating utter shamelessness.

Shame is a long-lost emotion, in my opinion. People are shameless these days. In the case of the verse in Jeremiah 3:3 referring to a prostitute’s forehead, it indicates such shamelessness they don’t even blush, the forehead never reddens in shame or remorse. It was a metaphorical statement of Israel’s unashamed apostasy and faithlessness. It is the same sense in Ezekiel 3:7-8, Israel’s hard forehead of shamelessness.

Honor & Shame

Honor is spoken of frequently in the Bible. Honor is due God, authorities, parents, brethren. In Bible times, honor was the main measure of social status. A person could accumulate honor by inheriting via genealogy, having it ascribed to them from the community or synagogue, or acquiring it via deeds. For example, Job was living the fully blessed Hebrew life. He had accumulated wealth, family, health, and honor. His honorable height is what his seeming fall into the depths of shame was so shocking that his friends could not wrap their heads around it.

If honor was a highly blessed social currently in Bible times, its tethered opposite, shame, was a highly cursed standing. There were shame codes understood by all. Shame was associated with moral failure and sin, such as the woman caught in adultery. The Bible hints that Mary had the taint of shame all her life as a loose woman. (Mark 6:3; John 8:41; Matthew 1:19). The Woman at the Well was shocked that ‘The Prophet’ (Jesus) loved her despite her shame of so many husbands and immoral living situation.

Shame did not exist before the fall. Adam and Eve lived in a state of innocence and purity.

And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:25).

Shame arrived after the first sin, (Genesis 3:7) and along with it, blame, guilt, and hiding.

In these days, shame is such a long-lost emotion that people do not hide any more. Abortions are touted. Adulteries are open and accepted. Bigamy is visible. Neglect of children is rampant. Is there anything that would cause shame any more?

Recently, the once credible magazine Christianity Today published an article rife with gossip, assumptions, and innuendo, claiming that Elisabeth Elliot was a bisexual in a lesbian relationship. The now departed Elisabeth Elliot was the widow of Christian martyr Jim Elliot, famously speared in the jungles of Ecuador. Elisabeth remained in the jungle after her husband’s death and ministered to the very peoples who had killed her husband and 4 other missionaries. She eventually returned home and wrote many devotionals and other books that have edified generations of women.

Elliot remarried 13 years later, and her second husband passed away from cancer. Four years after that she remarried and her husband of 38 years cared for Elisabeth in her final years as she passed away from dementia in 2015.

CT used to stand for biblical truth and propagating the Gospel. Speculations, assumptions, and even acknowledged that a key exchange between Elliot and her possibe paramour supposedly giving credence to the speculation may not even have happened at all.

What this adds up to is gossip. Shamelessly, after taking down the article due to sharp criticism, CT re-posted it publicly the next day. No shame at all. No journalistic integrity. Only a perverted agenda and seeking for clicks, at the expense of Elliot’s family.

For author Austen and CT to play kickball with Elliot’s reputation after her death (where she can’t defend herself) under the guise of ‘history’ is utterly shameless. This is a modern example of a hardened prostitute’s forehead as per Jeremiah 3:3.

CT has a prostitute’s forhead.

We don’t have as much of an honor culture nowadays either. Honor isn’t inherited so much based on a family name, although some are given honor due to that. Honor isn’t a word that’s discussed much.

Famously, in 2018, Beth Moore wrote an open letter to her Southern Baptist Brothers complaining she didn’t receive the honor she was due her ‘stature’ as a Bible teacher. Of course she didn’t frame it that way, it was embedded in a faux concern for ‘her gender,’ but the complaints were there. Complaining about not being honored is not a good look.

The only Person who has reason to lament a misplaced or missing honor is Jesus. He submitted to dishonor of the highest degree in order to fulfill God’s plan for redeeming His people. Jesus had nothing to be ashamed about yet died in the eyes of the world in shame.

“Perhaps the most vivid honor/shame text is Phil. 2:5–11. Jesus had unquestionable inherited, ascribed honor; yet He gave it all up and took the most humble of all honor bases (a slave) and died the most shaming of all deaths, crucifixion. However, God gave Him the highest of all honor positions and a name above all names on the honor scale, causing all to bow before Him. The honor code is thus defined by God instead of men.” Source- Warren, B. (2003). Shame and Honor. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

If you feel ashamed of a sin, an incautious word, a moment of misplaced anger, or something else, good. Peter was ashamed of his betrayal, and cried bitterly over it. Jesus restored Peter and demonstrated his trust in Peter by giving him the important task of feeding His lambs. The Lord is forgiving. Shame is a Holy Spirit indicator that your conscience is unsettled.

1 John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.“

Repentance is purifying and cleansing. We serve a gracious God who allows us to feel shame and wipes away the shame after repentance. Let your forehead be soft!

By Elizabeth Prata

As a teen and young adult, I loved reading historical epics. Follett’s Pillars of the Earth, Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, Michener’s Hawaii, and of course, Winsor’s Forever Amber.

Forever Amber was written by Kathleen Winsor in 1944. It’s a romance set in Restoration England with historical events as a backdrop, such as the Great Fire of London, the Plague, and the ascension to the throne of King Charles II. It was banned in Boston, but there are no explicit sexual details or graphic scenes, just suggestions, which was enough back then. It is praised for historical accuracy. Amber was a character often likened to Scarlett O’Hara who used her fierce ambition, sensuality, (sexuality, too) to climb to the heights of social standing, acclaim, and wealth.

The book involves Amber pursuing one man, her lifelong love, Bruce, which is unrequited, as his was solely a physical attraction and he viewed Amber as just a mistress, not wife material. It shows Amber’s increasing desperation to reclaim him with a scene near the end of the book of the disappearing dress. As the King’s concubine, Amber had also sensed the King’s interest in her was waning as new court rivals emerged. Knowing Bruce had married a young virgin, Amber decides to capture Bruce and the King’s attention with a unique dress in a desperate attempt to challenge what she believed was her rival and to remain the center of the court’s attention. Amber never accepted that her and Bruce’s relationship was over and had never been substantial to begin with.

Amber is amoral, a literal whore, scheming, and unlikable. So of course at 970 pages the book was a total success. The audio book takes 42 hours.

As to the “Naked Dress” scandal: Near the end of the book in a climactic display of her desperate need for attention and status, Amber attends a court ball in a gown made of real pearls. The dress is designed to gradually “fall apart” as the pearls drop off throughout the evening, eventually leaving her virtually naked—a literal and symbolic representation of her willingness to expose everything to reclaim her unrequited love. It didn’t go as planned. After Amber makes her sweeping entrance, all eyes were indeed on her. The men whistled low, with arched eyebrows. The women sneered. Soon the men did too. Amber had gone too far. From the book:

“But aren’t you cold?” interrupted a feminine voice, and turning swiftly Amber found Mrs. Boynton beside her, looking her over with feline insolence.

Another voice, a man’s this time, came from her other side. “Ods-fish, madame. But this is the greatest display that ever I’ve seen in public since I was weaned.” It was the King, lazy, smiling, obviously amused.
Amber felt suddenly as if she had been hurt inside.

She turned sick with a feeling of horror and self-disgust. What have I done! she thought. Oh, my goodness, what am I doing out here half undressed?

Her eyes swept round the room and every face she saw was secretly smiling, covertly sneering at her. All at once she felt like the person in a dream who sets out confidently to go up-town stark naked, gets halfway there and then realizes his mistake. And, like the dreamer, she wished passionately that she were back home where no one could see her-but to her wild dismay she realized that this time she was caught in her own trap. She could not wake up from this bad dream.
–end quote from the book

At least Amber was ashamed. More on that in a minute.

Display is a good word. Hearing that word, the character of Amber realized what her moral descent had led to, she had descended to displaying the only thing she had left, not character, not wisdom, not gentility, not decorum, but her very flesh.

The 67th Annual Grammy Awards just concluded the other day. I did not watch it. I am out of step with today’s music, and frankly, shocked at the outfits. Or, should I say, lack of them. Literally. One male musician performed in silky boxers only. Some women bared nearly all. Class is out of style. Don’t go looking for the costumes worn at this event, they are un-edifying to pass before your eyes.

The Grammy event showed a lot of displays. If one ever wanted to see a stark realization of where this society is on the moral-immorality scale, this event is it. Lots and lots of ‘Ambers’ parading around naked. I mean, naked. Flesh displayed for all to see, in desperate attempts at what? To retain attention? To prop up one’s mistaken notion of empowerment? To bolster self-esteem? It is disgusting and a reminder that modesty is God’s command. Worse, there was barely a murmur from the press about the licentiousness. If ever there was a society that needed to look at where their immorality has descended to, this is it.

I am truly amazed to see where we are now compared to when I was young. I remember when ‘short shorts’ AKA hot pants were controversial. In 1970 they came into fashion, but a few years later extremely short hot pants had become shorthand for prostitution, particularly underage prostitution.

“Asked in 1971 to explain the popularity of hot pants, a male psychiatrist based in Manhattan borrowed language from the contemporary women’s liberation movement to suggest that they were “an expression of the female’s new freedom.” ~Girl Culture [2 volumes]: An Encyclopedia by by Claudia Mitchell (Editor), Jacqueline Reid-Walsh.

The world’s version of ‘freedom’ for women is parading around in flesh. God’s version of freedom is His eternal gift of freedom from the slavery of sin, which nakedness is one of those sins.

“Shame”. Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Empowered women do not shamelessly dangle their flesh in front of a global audience. Empowered women are powered by the Holy Spirit, on whom she relies. Her meek spirit, her gentle wisdom, her steady encouragements of her husband and children are entirely the attraction. Flesh is flesh. It will wither and die. The lasting contribution of a woman is not her paraded nakedness, but her modesty in apparel and her modest attitude.

I truly feel terrible for those women (and man) who came to a global event to celebrate music, creativity, and showmanship wearing their flesh as the display. God made humans in His image, and as image bearers they know not what they do when they uncover themselves.

Remember Noah, drunk and naked in his tent? (Genesis 9:20-24). Noah’s son Ham went in, saw his drunken naked father, and in delight, chortling, went out to tell his brothers and show them. What dishonor! To revel in someone else’s shame!

“Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk So as to look on their nakedness!” (Habakkuk 2:15 LSB).

Ham father of Canaan was cursed for his dishonor. We must not delight in another’s nakedness.

Just as in Forever Amber, Bruce never considered Amber marriage material, she was too willing to use her flesh and display it to anyone who could get her further along in her agenda. Ladies, make sure what you display is what God wants: a meek and quiet spirit, with clothing.

Tag: shame

What’s with the focus on the forehead?

Honor & Shame

The Disappearing Dress: When Display Replaces Dignity