Deuteronomy 22
22 1-3 If you see your kinsman’s ox or sheep wandering off loose, don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it. Return it promptly. If your fellow Israelite is not close by or you don’t know whose it is, take the animal home with you and take care of it until your fellow asks about it. Then return it to him. Do the same if it’s his donkey or a piece of clothing or anything else your fellow Israelite loses. Don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it.
4 If you see your fellow’s donkey or ox injured along the road, don’t look the other way. Help him get it up and on its way.
Not only has God commanded the Israelites to avoid envying their neighbors’ possessions, but now He’s ordering them to take care of stray or injured animals. It’s not permissible for someone to find their neighbor’s donkey wandering on the road and quietly collect it without informing the neighbor. Lost items of all kinds are to be handled the same way. “Don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it.” Sins of omission are just as deadly as sins of commission.
“5 A woman must not wear a man’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing. This kind of thing is an abomination to God, your God.” David Guzik in his Enduring Word Commentary explains this verse this way: There are ways for men to deliberately dress like women, and for women to dress like men. When this is done, it goes against God’s principles as revealed in His commandments and is disruptive to natural order.
ii. This is not a command against women wearing a garment that in some ways might be common between men and women. A woman can wear trousers without looking like a man. It is a command against dressing in a manner which deliberately crosses or blurs the distinction between the sexes.
iii. “As elsewhere, Scripture considers the natural differences between male and female to be the Lord’s creation and so should not be disregarded or camouflaged.” (Kalland)
“6-7 When you come across a bird’s nest alongside the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, don’t take the mother with the young. You may take the babies, but let the mother go so that you will live a good and long life.” Here God lays out principles of conservation. Sparing the mother ensures that there will be more eggs and more young, but to take the mother and the eggs or the mother and the young means wiping out those birds completely.
8 “When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof to make it safe so that someone doesn’t fall off and die and your family become responsible for the death.” Flat roofs were very common in Bible times and were used as places to dry grain and even as auxiliary sitting rooms. But a flat roof without a railing is an invitation to a disaster and embarrassment and ruin to the family, as well as to visitors.
9 Don’t plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard. If you do, you will forfeit what you’ve sown, the total production of the vineyard.
10 Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
11 Don’t wear clothes of mixed fabrics, wool and linen together.
At first, we read these laws and scratch our heads. What’s the big deal here? But the Canaanites used combinations of seeds, animals, and fabrics to achieve mystical spiritual results. These combinations were thought to give spiritual power. God wants His people to depend on Him alone and not on occultic practices. Guzik remarks, “The apostle Paul later expressed the principle of this command like this: Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14) Those to whom Paul was writing were well acquainted with the occultic practices of yoking different animals together. God wants His people to be completely holy without any compromise.
The question for us is this: Are we compromising to go along with popular culture? Do we wear jewelry or special garments in hopes of impressing people and thereby gaining influence or power over them? Are we entering into agreements with those whose ethics are murky? Are we arguing ourselves into association with those whom we know to be spiritually dark? Do we even pride ourselves in “walking on the wild side,” rebelling against convention as if rebellion in and of itself is virtuous?
“12 Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you use to cover yourself.” God wants His people to be immediately identifiable by their mode of dress. Even today, ultra-observant Jews will still wear tassels. Of course, the tassel issue could be carried to extremes. Jesus criticized the Pharisees for enlarging the borders of their garments to show everyone how spiritual they were. (Matthew 23:5) While God is not demanding we wear tassels, does our mode of dress honor Him?
We have a close friend who is a Muslim, and we have had many fascinating discussions about the way so-called Christian young people dress, even when they attend church. The dress of many young church-going women horrifies our Muslim friend. These days, even in villages, young ladies may be wearing low-cut dresses with tight short skirts. One famous Christian musician has stopped singing during offering time at his church because he has found the low-cut dresses of the ladies parading forward with their offerings to be too distracting. Forty years ago, we lived in mid-town Memphis, Tennessee, and the prostitutes practiced their trade half a block from our house. These days, some of these “Christian” young ladies are dressing like those prostitutes. Sorry, folks, but it’s possible to look beautiful without looking like a sex worker.
Throughout this chapter, God continues to stress that He desires His people to be holy, to be concerned for others, and to be proactive in their care for the belongings of others. God does not want His people engaging in any practices that might open them up to demonic attack. May we continually look heavenward, so that we will please God in all aspects of our lives.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to live lives that honor You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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