HAT-DOFFING

Hat-Doffing

As a fan of the old westerns it came to my attention early on that cowboys would invariably tip their hats to the ladies. Also, whenever at a burial the hat would be doffed and held in a hand covering the heart as if swearing allegiance to the flag. As an Army Chaplain I find myself likewise removing my hat automatically whenever I or someone else prays – at a Remembrance Day Service, for example. What’s with hat-doffing? Some like to connect it with military saluting, which, in turn, they connect to knights in armour raising the visor on their helmets for identification purposes.

Whether it is tipping the hat for women or doffing the hat for God, at the very least, it is sign of respect when men do this. When the spotlight of Scripture is shone on this custom we can see that hat-doffing, i.e., showing respect, is an expression of the Fifth Commandment, ‘Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you’ Exodus 20:12. This Commandment is repeated in Deuteronomy 5:16. In Ephesians 6:2 it is phrased like this, ‘“Honour your father and mother”, which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”’

Does this Commandment mean longevity and hat-doffing are connected? If we keep in mind that a civilised society is called civilised on account of its people behaving civilly toward each other, then it is easy to see that the promised longevity is simply the result of that society applying the sum of the Decalogue, which is about loving God and your neighbour as yourself. Honouring your father and mother means more than respecting your own mum and dad. Rather, its application means that, as an inferior we are to respect all who are superior (including God) and, as a superior, all our inferiors. In a word, we are to show respect to all others regardless of their station in life.

When the Gospel of Peace impacts any uncivilised society that society becomes civilised, as the Western nations attest. However, the more any nation turns from the teaching of the Gospel and its attendant teaching of loving one’s neighbour as oneself, the less respect people have for one another, resulting in such things as, e.g., a higher violence and murder rate. We might say in shorthand: Healthy pulpit, healthy nation. At the moment Western nations are at various stages of decay and disrepair because many congregations, if they hear anything at all about God’s Law, hear always only what is negative. And yet, the degree as to how civilised any society is is measured against how well its collective citizens keep the Ten Commandments, summarised in the words: love God and your neighbour as yourself. Christians delight in God’s Law (Romans 7:22) because ‘the Law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good’ (Romans 7:12). In His ‘Sermon On the Mount’, Jesus reminded, nay, He rebuked the Pharisees for their twisted view and misapplication of God’s Law. They had forgotten what every Christian knows: ‘For we all know that the Law is spiritual’ Romans 7:14a. The Pharisees’ miserable failure to keep the Law outwardly revealed their inward or spiritual deadness. According to Jesus ‘They are blind leaders of the blind’ Matthew 15:14. He says, ‘Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also’ Matthew 23:26.

To be sure, also some ‘Christians’ today, like the Pharisees of old, overlook the spiritual nature of the Ten Commandments, forgetting that spiritual things are ‘spiritually discerned’ (1 Corinthians 2:14b). One lot reveals that they are spiritually undiscerning by trying to keep the Commandments as a means of salvation, and the other lot illustrate that they are undiscerning by their rejection of that which is, not dead, but spiritual, i.e., God’s Law. In other words, in the churches today both legalism and antinomianism betray a spiritual blindness. God’s Law needs to be written on the heart before it can be worn on the sleeve. How can anyone have missed the fact that the Law needs to be internalised before it can be kept as God intended? Jesus reminds us what the Scriptures teach, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength…’ and … ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ Mark 12:30-31.  

Hat-tipping and hat-doffing is one simple expression of loving God and your neighbour as yourself. Where do we find this in the Bible? ‘Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonours his head’ 1 Corinthians 11:4. This is where hat-doffing comes from. The male uncovering his head when in the presence of our heavenly Father is the application of the Fifth Commandment. The woman? She is not to uncover her head (1 Corinthians 11:5).