But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
Ver. 12. Nor to usurp authority] As they will easily do if suffered to preach, αυθεντειν, to have what she will. Preachers are rulers, guides, captains,Hebrews 13:7; Hebrews 13:17. If the hen be suffered to crow once, &c. A prudent wife commands her husband by obeying him, as Sarah, Livia.
But to be in silence] Video, taceo, I see and say nothing, was Queen Elizabeth's motto. Where should the tongue be but in the head?