[Note: The following message is the prepared text for a sermon message given to the United Church of God congregation in the Dalles on Sabbath, June 10, 2023.]

I would like to see a show of hands, if you all don’t mind. How many of you here have ever heard a sermon on modesty? [Pause.] I can remember having heard at least three such messages, besides numerous announcements about it at the Feast of Tabernacles in warm-weather beach locations where modesty is a bit more rare. In each of the three sermons I heard, there were few Bible verses given about the subject and a great deal of commentary about how it is that other people are affected by the modesty of young women in particular. It is not my intention to give such a message today. What I wish to do instead is something that, for reasons unknown to me, few people seem to wish to do, and that is to focus on what the Bible itself has to say about modesty. And it must be admitted that the Bible is not always very direct about what it says, so what I will do is to discuss four ways that the Bible talks about the issue of modesty. First, we will cover the laws that the Bible provides on the subject. After that, we will discuss the way that the Bible’s discussion of how we should judge clothing and personal appearance relates to the issue of modesty. Third, we will talk about stories where issues of modesty for both men and women can be found. Fourth, we will discuss some general principles that the Bible provides that bear on the issue of modesty. Afterwards, we will conclude with what will likely be a very unexpected set of conclusions when we compare the biblical position on the subject of modesty with the way that we view the subject from a human perspective.

When I was asked to speak on this subject, I originally thought to have my church shirt partly open and present what I hoped would be a humorous appearance for you all. As I thought about what the Bible said about the subject of modesty, I realized this would be highly inappropriate, not just for serving as a distraction from what I was talking about, but also because the laws of biblical modesty apply first and foremost not to women but to men, and specifically for men involved in the religious service of the tabernacle and later the temple. There are two occasions in the law where modesty is specifically discussed, and both times it relates to men who serve in priestly or Levitical roles and not women. The first such example occurs, strangely, in Exodus 20:25-26. Exodus 20:25-26, which takes place right after the ten commandments are given, reads as follows: “And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.  Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’” Here, it is viewed as improper for the altar to be reached by climbing steps, lest this expose the men who serve at the altar to the lustful view of other people.

The second such law is rather similar to this, and we can find it a few chapters later in Exodus 28:41-43. This passage takes place in the midst of the discussion of the clothing that priests should wear, and it is much to the same purpose. Exodus 28:41-43 reads: “So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests.  And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs.  They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.” What this passage is saying is that as well as the priestly ephod and robes, rather flowing clothing we must admit, the priests who administered at the tabernacle or the temple had to wear trousers that were roughly equivalent to a very modest version of boxer shorts, here labeled trousers, in order not to expose their nakedness under their ephod and robes.

It is worth noting that the major focus of these modesty laws in the Bible are not women, but men. And it is specifically because it is men who are serving as the public face of worship that their modesty is of considerable importance, in that it models the modesty that both God the Father and Jesus Christ have. The heathen nations had debauched religious practices that included ritual prostitution by both men and women, and the Bible permitted none of this to occur in a godly religious system. And as it was men who were engaged in the public worship of God at the altar or in the tabernacle or temple, it was their modesty as representatives of God that was in question, not the modesty of the congregation as a whole. The presumption appears to be that immodesty in ordinary people would be a matter of ordinary discipline, but immodesty by those who were serving God as the representatives of the people was a much more serious matter, because it had the possibility of giving a false impression of the character of God Himself, which had to be addressed in the law.

When we turn our attention from laws relating to modesty to the advice relating to how to judge the clothing and appearance of others, we find ourselves reading material that is of relevance to both men and women. And here too we find surprises, especially if we compare this to the sort of advice that we typically hear about modesty. We find one often-quoted passage that is typically directed at women in 1 Peter 3:1-6, and let us turn to that passage now. 1 Peter 3:1-6 reads: “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.  Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.  For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.”

Let us note the specific context in which this particular advice concerning modesty occurs. Peter is writing here to female believers in the church who are married to unbelievers, and is a piece of prudential advice about how to best demonstrate the blameless and upright character that Christians should demonstrate in circumstances that are less than ideal. In a world where husbands had considerable power over their wives, these women, by virtue of their calling and commitment to follow God’s ways despite being married to husbands who were not believers, were in a delicate position. It should be noted that this sort of submissive behavior was not to be expected of women in general to men in general, or that it implied any sort of humiliating inequality between men and women in the eyes of God. What we are dealing with here is a matter of practical wisdom. To the extent that men see their wives behave chastely and decently, full of gentleness and respect towards God and towards them, they see the Church of God to which these women belong as members as being unthreatening towards the order and decency of their own household, and correspondingly can be won over by the conduct of their wives. Peter also assumes here that the husbands and wives, even if they differ in terms of their religious beliefs because God had called the wife but not the husband, are in a loving relationship in which the wife is not afraid with any terror towards her husband, which would be an abusive situation in which submissiveness to such abuse might not be the appropriate response. While this situation is not ideal, it is a situation that can be dealt with through the practical and shrewd wisdom of women who know better than to start a fight with their unconverted but not abusive husbands concerning how it is that faith in God should make us more gracious in our dealings with others, and better able to smooth over potential disagreements within the home. I should note as well that I am merely speaking from observation and reading here, and not from any personal experience in the matter of how husbands and wives should relate to each other.

While the first piece of advice we saw was directed at women, specifically women believers married to non-believing husbands, the second piece of advice concerns mostly men within congregations, and we find this advice in James 2:1-9. We find this advice in the context of favoritism to others based on the clothes that they wear and the wealth this signifies. James 2:1-9 reads: “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.  For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?  But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?  Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

It is interesting to note that one of the few ways in which men are judged with regards to clothing is the fanciness of their clothes. There is still a marked bias in many circles for men to wear expensive clothes as a means of showing off wealth and taste, and still to this day a tendency for people to be looked down upon if their suits are too old and too unfashionable. It is no surprise that in the immensely status-conscious Roman empire, where laws existed as to what class of people was allowed to wear certain colors of fabric, this was a problem. It is interesting to note, though, that this remains a problem today. Perhaps we are not as willing as the ancient world to admit it honestly, but if one person comes in a high-end Italian suit and another person comes in wearing Goodwill, there are still some people who would be partial to the and not the other, at variance to this reminder.

Just as Peter had comments to make about the modesty of wives married to unbelieving comments, so too did Paul have more general advice concerning modesty for women. We find this in 1 Timothy 2:8-10, in an interesting comparison that is being made between men and women. 1 Timothy 2:8-10 reads: “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.” It is striking to note here that Paul connects the modest apparel that women are supposed to wear with what is fitting for women who profess to behave with godliness and good works, just as it is striking that men are told to pray without wrath and doubting, two common barriers in our own godly behavior. It would appear, reading between the lines, that Paul sought to address some of the more common ways by which jealousy and anger and uncharitable behavior take place within the sexes. Modesty is valued in the Bible for its connection with godliness and for its encouragement of good works and its discouragement of bad works.

It is interesting to note, though, that modesty is not viewed even by Paul as being strictly a feminine concern. We read, for example, in 1 Corinthians 12:22-24, an often ignored statement about the rationale for modesty. 1 Corinthians 12:22-24 reads: “No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it”. What Paul is telling us is that modesty is a means by which we provide honor to something which could otherwise bring dishonor or embarrassment upon us. We honor something that is otherwise delicate and dishonorable by covering it. It is interesting to note that this particular view of honor directly states that there are parts of the body which need no covering and have no need for us to give special honor to them because they do not need us to honor. In many Muslim countries, for example, women’s skin in general (and even a lot men’s skin) is viewed as being dishonorable, and so people wear clothing that might strike us as being excessively modest, sometimes by choice and sometimes because of legal or social coercion. In contrast, those in traditional culture would view our own culture as being extremely immodest and lacking any sort of proper restraint in terms of what we wear and what we show off. While the culture of the Bible, at least from what we can see, was by no means as insistent on covering up the body as what we see in many contemporary Muslim countries, it was certainly far more modest than our own society, and we ought to consider why this was so and what it means.

Let us now turn our attention to various stories in the Bible where modesty is often seen to play a role. What I wish to do is provide these stories from the Bible, at least those sections which discuss modesty, and then discuss the sometimes surprising ways that modesty does or does not play a role in the story itself or in the judgment of the Bible on the people involved. These stories will take a majority of the time that we have left, and it should be remembered in all of these cases that these mostly familiar stories are often discussed in other contexts besides modesty, but our focus for today will be on what it says, or what id does not say, about the importance of modesty.

Let us begin in a somewhat surprising case, where apparent modesty is used as a weapon by a woman rather than demonstrating the outward manifestation of godly character, as modesty is intended as being for godly people. We find this story in Genesis 31:33-35. In Genesis 31, Jacob takes his wives and children and leaves Laban, having been promised blessings in the promised land. Unbeknownst to him, Rachel has stolen her father’s idols and uses apparent modesty as a means of extricating herself from a potentially fatal situation. Genesis 31:33-35 reads: “And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.  Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them.  And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the household idols.” Here we see that Rachel, audacious enough to steal from her father, is also brazen enough to feign modesty in order to cover up her theft and try to avoid the curse that was placed by Jacob on whoever had stolen Laban’s idols. Little did Jacob know, though, that he was cursing his beloved Rachel, who would soon die giving birth to Jacob’s twelfth and final son, Benjamin.

Let us now turn to the story of Tamar, which we find in Genesis 38. After having married two of Judah’s sons, who died because of their unrighteousness, Judah had refused to give Tamar as wife to her third and youngest son at the time, because he thought she was a black widow spreading misery to his family. Tamar took matters into her own hands in a way that combines modesty and somewhat shocking immodesty, in Genesis 38:12-26. Genesis 38:12-26 reads: “Now in the process of time the daughter of Shua, Judah’s wife, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.  And it was told Tamar, saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”  So she took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife.  When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face.  Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.” So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?” Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him.  So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood. And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her.  Then he asked the men of that place, saying, “Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside?” And they said, “There was no harlot in this place.” So he returned to Judah and said, “I cannot find her. Also, the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place.” Then Judah said, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; for I sent this young goat and you have not found her.” And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry.” So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!” When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.” So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again.”

There is a lot going on in this story, but for our purposes, it is interesting to note that while it might seem to us that Tamar was being very modest by putting on a veil, she was assumed to be a prostitute, and used this case of mistaken identity in order to secure her place within Judah’s family. It is somewhat frightening to note that had Tamar not been a clever woman in making sure that she could identify the father of her children through having Judah’s signet ring and staff as identification, that she could have been put to death for harlotry when there were two people–herself and Judah–involved in the act. Interestingly enough, once he realizes that he is the guilty party who has gotten his daughter-in-law with child, Judah blesses the woman that he had only a short time before wanted to burn for her immorality. This is one of the first examples of the double standard that has often made life difficult for women, in that Judah did not think himself wrong for seeking the comfort of a prostitute after his wife had died, but he did not show a great deal of compassion for Tamar’s desire to be married as she deserved.

We can find a third story about modesty in Genesis in looking at the situation of Joseph with Potiphar’s wife in the very next chapter, in Genesis 39:6b-20. Here we see an example of modesty that, strikingly, involves Joseph himself. Genesis 39:6b-20 reads: “Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand.  There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her. But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.  And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice.  And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.” So she kept his garment with her until his master came home.  Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.” So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused.  Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. “

We normally think of power rape as being a way that powerful men take advantage of others to gratify their own lusts, but here we have a striking example of a power rape attempted by a woman against a man, contrary to our normal expectations of how these things work. Here as well, Joseph fled with his garment in the hand of his master’s wife, who had just unsuccessfully tried to seduce him and then assault him, which was highly immodest, we would think. However, in such a situation, modesty is impossible, and Joseph clearly made the best of a bad situation in escaping having done wrong. However, he could not escape looking guilty, and he was imprisoned for a rape that he not only did not do but refused to do and was almost a victim of. None of this mattered in a world where people believed a lying woman instead of a righteous man.

Let us now turn our attention from these unpleasant matters, at least for now, and look at a brief part of the Book of Ruth that shows another side to the issue of modesty than one we have considered before, where both Ruth and Boaz were highly interested in propriety in a situation that could clearly be misunderstood. We find this story in Ruth 3:6-15. Ruth 3:6-15 reads: “So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her.  And after Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. Now it happened at midnight that the man was startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman was lying at his feet.  And he said, “Who are you?” So she answered, “I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.” Then he said, “Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich.  And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.  Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I.  Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the Lord lives! Lie down until morning.” So she lay at his feet until morning, and she arose before one could recognize another. Then he said, “Do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”  Also he said, “Bring the shawl that is on you and hold it.” And when she held it, he measured six ephahs of barley, and laid it on her. Then she went into the city.”

Let us note that in this particular case, no immodesty or immorality happened, but it was certainly a case that looked bad and could be construed as being immoral. After all, whether in the days of the judges or in our own equally immoral and cynical times, if it is known that a man and a woman spent the night sleeping in contact with each other, it would be assumed as a matter of course that the two would have been intimate, regardless of the reality of the situation. Boaz’s high character is demonstrated not only by his refusal not to take advantage of Ruth, even after his heart had been made merry with wine, but by his further protection of Ruth’s reputation and safety by allowing her to sleep next to him at night rather than risk a dangerous trip home in the dark, while also generously providing her with a considerable amount of food to show his intent to accept her offer of levirate marriage, and also keeping a report of her being at his barn from circulating while sending her home before she could be recognized as having spent the night with him. It is this admirable combination of generosity and practical intelligence that makes Boaz such a noble man and a worthy model for those in similarly potentially awkward situations, and is a reminder that modesty is not always about what is done or what is worn but also what can be construed from supposed facts.

Let us now turn to an example of royal immodesty that was used by God to protect David from the violence of his angry father-in-law King Saul. We find this story in 1 Samuel 19:18-24. 1 Samuel 19:18-24 reads: “So David fled and escaped, and went to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth.  Now it was told Saul, saying, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!”  Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.  And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.  Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.”  So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.  And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?””

Here we have a case where the Spirit of God is said to have caused Saul to behave immodestly in order to protect the life of David from Saul’s murderous rage. Yet if we cannot expect God’s spirit to lead people to behave immodestly, that is apparently among the options of divine providence that can happen where God wishes to protect one of His servants from the hostility of someone who had been rejected as ruler of God’s people for his disobedience as was the case with Saul.

Interestingly enough, there is a parallel story to this one where Saul’s own daughter Michal accused David of being immodest when it was not the case. We find this story in 2 Samuel 6:12-23. 2 Samuel 6:12-23 reads: “Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness.  And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep.  Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod.  So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.  So they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.  And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts.  Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house. Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.” Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.”

It is far beyond the scope of this message to talk about the immense bitterness that had taken place between David and his first wife and Saul’s daughter Michal over the course of years where both of them had been married to other people and where Michal went from a privileged princess to one of the few surviving members of a royal dynasty that had nearly been wiped out by violence. The young David who had confided in her had been replaced by a king who was openly seeking the affections of other women in the royal household. Be that as it may, Michal’s specific false accusation against David was that his dancing in a linen ephod and his performance of what might be judged as Levitical duties was something that marked such a rift in David’s household that he shunned Michal and she never bore any children. This particular domestic spat does not reflect well on either David or Michael, and both would have been better served by treating each other graciously, but grace can sometimes be in short supply when we are dealing with people who can cut us in our most sensitive places.

Since we are in 2 Samuel, let us turn a few pages to 2 Samuel 11 and discuss one of the most pointed biblical stories about modesty, the story of David and Bathsheba. For our purposes today we are interested in 2 Samuel 11:1-5. 2 Samuel 11:1-5 reads: “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴ Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house.  And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.””

We spoke earlier of the problem of power rape when discussing the example of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, but the story of David and Bathsheba is the classic example of a man abusing his power to gratify his immoral lusts, and it was indeed this very story where the concept of power rape was introduced to me in a paper that was e-mailed to me by a close friend and distant relative of mine in response to what I had written elsewhere on Bathsheba. It is noteworthy that nowhere in the Bible is Bathsheba condemned as being immodest in bathing on the roof. It should also be noted, for those who are not aware, that in ancient times and to this day in parts of the Middle East that water basins are kept on the flat roofs of buildings and that curtains can be placed on roofs where people can bathe in relative privacy, only being visible from above. It so happens that David’s palace was in a high part of Jerusalem so he was able to look down, immorally, on the wife of one of his bodyguards, who was bathing in what should have been perfect privacy, while he should have been off at war rather than laying about in Jerusalem. Because of David’s failures to curtail his own voyeurism and fulfill his kingly responsibilities, his lusts were inflamed and he made a mistake that nearly destroyed his own family and his rule over Israel.

One of the direct consequences of David’s own sin was the harm that it did to David’s family and to David’s moral authority within that family. In 2 Samuel 13:1-20, we read the harrowing story of Tamar, David’s daughter and the sister of Absalom. 2 Samuel 13:1-20 reads: “After this Absalom the son of David had a lovely sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her.  Amnon was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he became sick; for she was a virgin. And it was improper for Amnon to do anything to her.  But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Now Jonadab was a very crafty man.  And he said to him, “Why are you, the king’s son, becoming thinner day after day? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.” So Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’ ”  Then Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let Tamar my sister come and make a couple of cakes for me in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.” And David sent home to Tamar, saying, “Now go to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare food for him.”  So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was lying down. Then she took flour and kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes.  And she took the pan and placed them out before him, but he refused to eat. Then Amnon said, “Have everyone go out from me.” And they all went out from him.  Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, that I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them to Amnon her brother in the bedroom.  Now when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.” But she answered him, “No, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing should be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing!  And I, where could I take my shame? And as for you, you would be like one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you.” However, he would not heed her voice; and being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her. Then Amnon hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Arise, be gone!” So she said to him, “No, indeed! This evil of sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me.” But he would not listen to her.  Then he called his servant who attended him, and said, “Here! Put this woman out, away from me, and bolt the door behind her.”  Now she had on a robe of many colors, for the king’s virgin daughters wore such apparel. And his servant put her out and bolted the door behind her. Then Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her robe of many colors that was on her, and laid her hand on her head and went away crying bitterly.  And Absalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother; do not take this thing to heart.” So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom’s house.”

Nowhere in this horrifying story is Tamar blamed for anything that she suffered. She was not immodest in wearing the beautiful robe of many colors that the royal princes wore. She had not tried to seduce her half-brother–he had obsessed over her to the point where he was sick and his clever cousin through a ruse managed to place Tamar in a vulnerable place where she was without anyone to protect her and without any means of escaping from her brother’s lust. She was virtuous–it did not matter. She gave Amnon wise advice about the shame that would fall on her and the folly that he was engaged in, but it did not matter, because he refused to listen to her. Her father should have kept her safe from danger, and instead her father delivered her into her brother’s hand and then did nothing about it afterwards. As was the case with Bathsheba, sometimes people are endangered because those who have the power abuse their power to gratify their lusts and they just happen to be in the way through no fault of their own, with no one able to protect them from the horrors that result.

On that sobering note, let us close our discussion of the stories that deal with modesty in the Bible. Overall, what the Bible says about modesty is complicated. Sometimes what appears to be modesty is taken for immorality. Sometimes modesty has been used deceptively as a means of taking advantage of social restrictions to avoid problems. Sometimes modesty is impossible to maintain, and sometimes it is not sufficient to protect people from the exploitation that others wish to inflict upon others. In the Bible, modesty is meant to act as a demonstration of the commitment to moral purity and good conduct that men as well as women should model, but not everyone has the same sort of pure motives regarding modesty. Some people use modesty to pretend a goodness that they do not have, and others do not respect or regard the modesty that others show, and simply refuse to take no for an answer.

It is striking in this context that the Bible places the ultimate responsibility for avoiding lust on people for themselves and not on the people around them. Given the length of time that we have already spent dealing with this subject, let us look at two examples, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament before we close. First, let us turn to Proverbs 5:1-9. In giving advice to avoid the immoral woman, let us note that Solomon is placing responsibility on men to develop wisdom. Proverbs 5:1-9 reads: “My son, pay attention to my wisdom; lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell. Lest you ponder her path of life—Her ways are unstable; you do not know them. Therefore hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;” Here we see that while the immoral woman written about here is to be judged, it is the job of men to avoid falling into sin and temptation. The Bible does not expect that the world will make things easy on the believer, so it is up to the believer to live decently and righteously in the face of wicked society.

When we look in the New Testament, we see the same focus. Matthew 5:27-30 is well known in this context, but far from straightforward in what it is getting at. Nevertheless, let us read it and explain what it is really getting at. Matthew 5:27-30 reads: ““You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Let us note here that when Jesus Christ speaks of a man looking at aa woman to lust for her, the woman herself is not blamed. Lust is a problem of our own hearts, not of other people. And while this particular passage uses exaggeration and should not be taken literally, it demonstrates that we ought to pray for a clean heart and a right spirit within us that is able to resist evil so that we may enter into God’s kingdom.

Having now, for the first time in my life, given a message on modesty, I can look upon others who have engaged in similar efforts with a considerable degree of empathy. It is my firm belief that all who speak on the subject of modesty wish to do their part to help protect women from the negative effects of the lust of the men around them. This is by no means an easy task. As we have seen, the effects of lust can be catastrophic for the men and women who are unable to escape from powerful people who do not restrain their desires. Anyone who has any sort of understanding of the strength of lust and its negative effects on the lives of others wishes to protect people from that lust being directed at those whom we care for. As we saw in 1 Peter and James, fashion is communication, and human beings judge by appearances. It may not be fair that this is so, and we can be sure that God judges us by the reality within, but modesty is a way of bringing the otherwise hidden attributes of moral restraint and godliness to the visible awareness of those who are around us. It is not sufficient to save us from those who wish to do us harm unless we are able to escape and overcome the plots and power of those around us who wish to take advantage of us, and it can certainly be used in an improper way, but it is commanded for both men and women all the same.