by Nate Wilson for
Christ the Redeemer Church on 25 September 2022.
Previously
delivered as a CHIEF graduation address May 2017.
What is special about a daughter? The NKJV Bible mentions “daughter[s]” 577 times. That’s a lot; daughterhood must be important to God. So let me attempt to summarize a Christian view of daughterhood, combining as much as I can of all that the Bible has to say about daughters in seven points:
This was prophesied in Isaiah 62:11 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Look your Salvation has come, look His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him.’” (NAW)
• Granted, “the daughter of Zion” is figurative language for all the faithful Jews in Israel – both male and female – but they are characterized as a “daughter.”
• Nothing negative is connoted about being a daughter, rather, she is wholesome, noble, and beautiful.
• God commands Isaiah to say, “Behold/look at your salvation,” and point her to Jesus!
• This hearkens back to Isaiah 52:2 “Shake yourself, arise from the dust, be seated, Jerusalem. Let the bonds of your neck be unlocked, captive daughter of Zion!... 7. How fitting are the feet of an announcer upon the mountains, causing peace to be heard, announcing goodness, causing salvation to be heard, saying to Zion, your God reigns!”
• This idea was further developed by Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Matthew 21:5 tells us that this is a prophecy of Jesus!
• Jesus came to save His daughters, to release them from bondage to sin and oppression, and to personally come near and share all His goodness with them!
• In Jesus’ incarnation, He demonstrated His spiritual salvation through frequent physical healings of daughters:
Luke 13:10-17 “Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity." And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day." The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?" And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.” (NKJV)
• Do you have any idea of how deep Jesus’ compassion is toward His daughters – how much he wants to release them from their bondages? Daughters of Zion, go to Jesus to be healed!
• Jairus understood to do this for his daughter, and the woman with the issue of blood understood to do this for herself. The account in Luke 8 is the healing of two daughters:
Luke 8:40-55 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said, "Who touched Me?" When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?' " But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me." Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace." While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher." But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well." When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping." And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, "Little girl, arise." Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. (NKJV)
• Jesus’ commands in this passage should be taken to heart by all the daughters of Zion: "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace… Do not be afraid; only believe…"
• For the Gospel tells us, “whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16b), and “you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus... There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” [when it comes to being children of God saved by Him] (Galatians 3:26-28, NKJV).
• Daughters who place their faith in Jesus are healed, released from bondage, and saved eternally. This is His will.
• The next Biblical trend concerning daughters flows naturally from this point, for, after being healed and saved by Jesus…
In Exodus 10:3-12, Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, "Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me... Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?" So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, serve the LORD your God. Who are the ones that are going?" And Moses said, "We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the LORD." Then he said to them, "The LORD had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you. Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the LORD, for that is what you desired." And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land—all that the hail has left." (NKJV)
• Notice what Pharaoh suggests, “Moses, just take the men to go worship God!” And Moses, by God’s authority, says, “Nothing doing. The women and children must worship God too; we won’t leave them behind on our way to church. God wants our sons as well as our daughters to worship Him! That’s non-negotiable.”
• Brothers and sisters, make sure that your daughters know that God wants them worshiping Him.
• Daughters were also specifically invited to the tabernacle worship in the Old Testament:
Deuteronomy 12:11-18 “...you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the LORD. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates… you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hands.” (NKJV)
• You see, part of the Israelites’ tithes and offerings were spent on the three annual holy weeks with their times of feasting on fellowship offerings, as a way of celebrating peace with God after their sins were forgiven through the burnt offerings.
• Daughters, as well as sons, of every faithful household were included in the forgiveness of sins and in the communion meals of rejoicing before the Lord!
Is it any wonder, then that there are so many passages about daughters “rejoicing” before the LORD?
Psalm 97:8 “Zion hears and is glad, And the daughters of Judah rejoice Because of Your judgments, O LORD.”
Zech. 2:10 "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," says the LORD.
Zech. 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.
• The communion with God, which the daughters of God’s people in the Old Testament celebrated with animal sacrifices, was ultimately about communion with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Do your daughters understand this well enough to actually join in the rejoicing?
• Yet another aspect of worship is making the seventh day holy to God. Here too, daughters are specifically invited to participate in the worship of God:
Exodus 20:8-1 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
• “...Nor your daughter...” That means giving her a break from all her regular work on the Lord’s Day.
• Jesus clearly changed the weekly day of holiness from Saturday to Sunday by rising from the dead on a Sunday and then by holding all His meetings with His disciples on Sundays thereafter.
• Teach your daughter how to rest on Sundays. Teach her to worship God by making the Lord’s Day holy and by facilitating her involvement in every aspect of worship.
• Not only does the Bible speak to the ultimate issues of salvation and worship for daughters, it also has a lot of practical words about what daughters can do in this life.
• In Eccles. 12:4, daughters are associated with the beauty of music (“…daughters of music…”).
• And in Psalm 144:11-15 David prays, “Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners... That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; That our daughters may be as pillars, Sculptured in palace style; That our barns may be full... Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!” (NKJV)
• Keil & Delitzsch explained in their commentary that, “the elegant, slender daughters are likened to tastefully-sculptured Caryatides… upstanding pillar[s]... [In t]he architecture of Syria and Palestine... the corners of large rooms... are ornamented with carved work... and... it may... here signify ... ‘striped in colours…’”
• I’ve seen these beautiful, flowing engravings along the edges of the ceilings and walls of homes I’ve visited in the Middle East.
• Matthew Henry commented further: “By daughters families are united and connected, to their mutual strength, as the parts of a building are by the corner-stones; and when they are graceful and beautiful both in body and mind they are then polished after the similitude of a nice... structure. When we see our daughters well-established and stayed with wisdom and discretion, as corner-stones are fastened in the building, - when we see them by faith united to Christ, as the chief corner-stone, adorned with the graces of God's Spirit, which are the polishing..., and become women professing godliness, - when we see them purified and consecrated to God as living temples, we [consider] ourselves happy in them.”
• There is something special about the physical beauty which God has placed in the bodies of young women. The Bible affirms this beauty in passages like:
Job 42:13-15 “Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had... seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.” (NKJV)
Then there’s Song of Solomon 7:1 “How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince's daughter! The curves of your thighs are like jewels…” (NKJV) and... I’ll just stop right there, but it does go on, affirming the goodness and wonderfulness of the body of this prince’s daughter. There’s a similar passage describing a wedding ceremony in...
Psalm 45:13 “All glorious is the daughter of the king indoors; her clothing is made from gold fibers.” (NAW)
• But note that it is not outward adornment which is the beauty of a daughter; it is her heart-attitude:
Isaiah 3:16-42 Yahweh says, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, winking with their eyes, mincing along as they walk, jangling anklets with their feet, therefore the Lord will... take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; the ear-rings, the bracelets, and the scarves; the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the scent bottles, and the amulets; the signet rings and nose rings; the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags... Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of curly hair-do's, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.” (NAW) God punished the haughty women of Isaiah’s day who pursued only outward adornment by having them captured in war and exiled.
1 Peter 3:3-5 ...your world must be – not external, of braiding of hairs or of decoration made of gold things or of trying on of clothes, but rather [it must be] – the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable [characteristic] of your meek and quiet spirit which continues to be very precious in God's sight. For in this way the holy wives in the past who hoped upon God would also adorn themselves: by submitting themselves to their own husbands...” (NAW)
• Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t use any outward adornment. (If you interpreted it that way, you’d have to say that this passage doesn’t allow women to wear clothes at all, since the word for apparel/dresses/clothing is just the standard word for any kind of clothes.) The point is to start with a heart attitude which is beautiful before God, before putting any “icing” on your cake.
• Daughters should look beautiful, but it should be a beauty which is intended to point to God’s glory rather than worldly beauty which tries to attract attention to itself.
• So, the Bible says something about how to look, but what should daughters DO?
Josh. 15:16 And Caleb said, "He who attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife."
• At first blush, that may sound like very demeaning treatment of a daughter, as though she were some kind of chattel that could be disposed of as a political donation.
• But Caleb is upheld as an unusually-godly man in the Bible, so maybe we should assume the best rather than the worst of him.
• Consider that great men – such as Caleb (and the kings of Israel) – probably invested more in training their daughters in Godly values (and in other education) than the average parent did. They probably lived a lifestyle which was an example of excellence in everything from morality to social graces to skill in the arts and sciences to experience in management. Their daughters needed a husband whose character and wisdom and courage were worthy of her – a husband who could continue the trajectory which her father had begun for her of above-average personal development and outstanding opportunities to use her skills and graces.
• Caleb probably knew the bright stars in his army well enough to have a good idea of who could conquer Kiriah Sepher and therefore who he was offering to marry his daughter off to. He wanted to ensure that his daughter would get to spend the rest of her life with a man whose values and lifestyle were like his own.
Later on, when the sons of Korah wrote Psalm 45 about a royal wedding in Israel, they observed that “You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions. All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad. Kings' daughters are among Your honorable women; At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.” (Psalm 45:7-9, NKJV)
• It is only appropriate that a king’s daughter, who is honorable, and who is clothed in gold, be matched with a man who stands head-and-shoulders above the rest, who loves righteousness, and lives in an ivory palace. This allows for a continuation of the value-system and lifestyle of her parents.
That goes for everyone, not only the upper classes:
• Levites married other Levites to carry on the mission of the tribe of Levi of taking care of the things of God for their nation (Exodus 2:1).
• And the daughter of a priest was to help her father carry out his ministry by keeping herself holy. Leviticus 21:9 “in a case where a daughter of a man who is a priest is profaned on account of prostitution, she is profaning her father…” (NAW) thus disqualifying her father from being a priest!
• There’s also the case of Zelophehad in Numbers 27, a descendant of Joseph who followed Moses out of Egypt with faith in God to lead him to the Promised Land, but who died in the wilderness and had no sons. There were, however, 5 daughters of his who did enter the Promised Land: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, and they watched as the land of Israel was allotted to all the men, and they said, “Wait a minute, we need to stand up for the rights of our deceased father to claim an inheritance by faith in the Promised Land too!” And so they took their case to Moses, and Moses ruled that, "The daughters of Zelophehad speak what is right; you shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among their father's brothers, and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.’” (Numbers 27:8-9, NKJV) Here is a clear instance of God’s affirmation of daughters carrying on things that their father cared about and maintaining initiatives that their father invested in.
• There are some daughters who never marry, and 1 Corinthians 7:37 indicates that, barring significant problems, it is good for a daughter to keep living in her father’s house and contributing toward the things the family cares about.
• Fathers, are you instilling in your daughters a vision that is worthy of them investing their lives in to carry forward? Your daughters will carry forward your values, whether you have instilled them with good values or bad values. If you do not diligently teach them Godly values, they will quickly pick up your faults.
Lot and his daughters stand as a warning to us in this:
• Lot chose to associate with the wicked city of Sodom, “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD” (Gen. 13:12-13).
• Lot married off two of his daughters to some of the men of Sodom, men whose character was so bad that, when the message came from God to flee from God’s wrath, they laughed it off as a joke (19:14).
• Lot married a woman who was so caught up in that pagan city that when God destroyed the city with fire and brimstone and warned her not to look at it, she continued to “looked longingly1” (19:26) at it.
• And, the night before God destroyed Sodom, Lot suggested that his two unmarried daughters commit adultery (19:8).
• Is it any wonder then, that those daughters who escaped Sodom with Lot carried on his compromising values? Genesis 19 tells us that they got their father dunk, then committed sexual immorality with him, and the legacy which came from those two daughters is the pagan nations of the Moabites and the Ammonites (Gen. 19:35-38).
So, what if your parents provided a crumby example to you? Are you doomed to repeat their mistakes? Not necessarily.
• Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, “...we were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:3-7, NKJV)
• Jesus redeems sinners that we might receive the adoption as sons (Gal. 4:5) and take on His character traits,
• and he makes us sons of Abraham (as it says in Galatians 3:7) and daughters of Sarah (as it says in 1 Pet. 3:6) who take on their godly characteristics of “faith” and “obedience” and “doing good works and not being afraid,” thus carrying on the values of our spiritual Father.
Well, I’m only halfway through my notes, so I’ll save the last three points for another time, but may God give us and our daughters grace to be saved, to worship Jesus, to show forth His beauty, to carry on the faith and mission of our parents.
1I think the NIV captured the meaning of the verb נבט better here than other versions. This verb isn’t the standard one for “see” (ראה) but is related to the word for “prophet.”