Let’s review the Three Rebellions: The Fall in the Garden, the descent of the Watchers, and the rise of idolatry after the Tower of Babel. The Fall brought mortality; that’s what the Fall and the symbol of Adam is all about. Depravity came later as the result of the Watchers. Idolatry was not the problem in the days of Noah; it was moral depravity as taught by the Watchers and the Nephilim.
Keep in mind that there is no Greek word for God’s staff, the elohim. In the Septuagint the elohim were lumped in with the angels, so the Apostles used that terminology in their Greek writings. Thus, in 1 Corinthians 11:10, Paul refers to “angels” as the background issue regarding hair and coverings, but it’s really about the Watchers.
From Genesis 6 we get the basic story of how the Watchers came into the picture, and in the 1 Enoch, along with Second Temple commentaries, we get the picture that the Watchers sent out their progeny, the Nephilim, to lead humans into depravity. Among all the things mentioned in the Jewish legends, which may or may not be true, a major element in the Watchers’ teaching is answered in Paul’s warning here in 1 Corinthians 11.
The basic problem is that Paul is emphasizing the moral necessity of male headship at home and in the faith community as a whole. In the common understanding of their day, this was connected with women having long hair and men having it short. It also included women covering their heads in public (generally scarves and veils) and men not wearing head coverings (hats, helmets, etc.). This rule held in any worship service that was open to the public. Whether or not we decide that this applies to us today in our world is not the point. The point is the spiritual and moral covering that hair and hats represented in their day.
The divine order of things in this world requires that all females submit to at least one male as her moral authority. It can be a father, husband, brother, uncle or any other male person who takes moral responsibility for the female in question. The covering of the pastor/elder is not the point, unless she resides in their home as a dependent. She must report to a household male somewhere.
Our western culture loads this concept with crap that does not come from the Bible, and leaves out some critical stuff that does. That’s a whole study in itself.
In our world today we have to give thought to various alternative ways of obeying this because the whole idea is blatantly illegal in the West. Still, the principle of spiritual covering still applies to those who claim Christ as Lord. It remains to this day a critical boundary line that can keep your life out of the hands of the Nephilim spirits today. You should be able to see clearly how the rebel alliance, both in Heaven and in the Abyss, has worked hard to destroy this way of living.
It’s not just the practical issues humans can reasonably understand from feminine emancipation. Anyone with a brain can see how the birth and raising of children is almost destroyed just from the mechanics of human social structure when women are declared legally and socially “equal” to men. However, there is a very destructive spiritual loss that is not visible to human logic. Every nasty thing the Watchers set loose on humanity is enabled by this wicked thing. It is a wedge, a lever, a doorway for Nephilim spirits to come and go in the individual soul and all their familial and social connections. It places you inside the Devil’s realm.
Thus, whenever Jesus mentions “in the days of Noah” He is referring to the depravity of humans doing anything they pleased with zero moral restraint. That’s what happened before the Flood. It’s what made Noah mourn and plead with God to rescue him from that depravity. It’s the corruption and perversion of everything God had revealed as the proper way for humans to live during their time as mortals. Female emancipation is part of this tragic image.
We aren’t seeking to roll things back to the bad old days of western patriarchy. That was evil in its own right. We are looking at the biblical shepherd headship. A man’s greatest treasure is his wife, so he needs to choose carefully who fills that role.
