Do fathers “own” their daughters?

I guess it doesn’t surprise me too much any more that a question worded this way would be so divisive in post-Biblical, post-Constitutional “Amerika”.After all, having become conditioned to a collectivist mentality, the concept of property rights seems to have become foreign to a once-free people anyway.

But the real irony is that the proper question here (in the case of wives and daughters – the teachings of Numbers chapter 30) is not about property at all; it concerns God-given authority.

Daughters are born into that headship of their father, and wives, by their acceptance of the union, commit to submit to it. Most of the rest of the Book is about the nature and consequence of rebellion to His Word, His will, and His plan.

I submit that a look around this world will show ample evidence of the fruit which results from that failure to understand and honor such simple, but vital, concepts.

But note that Ruth made a commitment to Naomi, and YHVH her Elohim, and honored it.  It was she — and all of her family — who was then blessed by YHVH in that obedience.  When she asked Boaz to be her covering, he became a “type and shadow” of the THE Kinsman-Redeemer.  Their union became part of the line of the Messiah.

Submission is a voluntary act.  That is the real key to understanding authority in accord with His Word, and what it means to be a ‘bondservant’ to the Most High.  Only once those concepts are firmly in mind will the counsel of Shaul/Paul in the end of Ephesians chapter 5 become crystal clear.