Deuteronomy 22 Some other laws

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 22:If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner. 2 If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. 3 Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.

4 If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.

5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

6 If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. 7 You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.

8 When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.

9 Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.[a]

10 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

11 Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.

12 Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.​

a. Deuteronomy 22:9 Or be forfeited to the sanctuary

Well, this is from the easy English site.

People must help their neighbour when their neighbour’s animals were causing trouble. People from other countries and even the enemies of the Israelites had to obey this law too. Jesus taught the same thing in the story of the Good Samaritan. (See Luke 10:30-37.) A Samaritan was a person from Samaria. He was not a Jew. In fact, the two were enemies! But the Good Samaritan helped the Jew who was in trouble. People wore clothes of the opposite sex when they worshipped foreign gods. The sexes are equal, but they are different. People say that this law opposes transvestism. (Transvestism means to wear clothes that belong to someone of the opposite sex.) Both of those activities hide the difference between the sexes.

The Israelites should care about animals and birds. The laws about birds and about how to plough with animals show how to use them properly. Luke 12:6 says, ‘People sell 5 birds for 2 small coins. But God does not forget one bird.’ People must not use animals or birds in an unfair and selfish way. It was wrong to use a wooden bar to make strong and weak animals work together. Also, the ox was a clean animal that Israelites could give as a sacrifice. The donkey was not a clean animal and Israelites could not give it as a sacrifice.

In Israel, roofs were usually flat. People often ate and slept on them. The law to put a fence round the roof of a house shows care towards other people.

The Israelites must not mix different crops in the same field. They must not wear clothes that people had made out of two different materials. We are not sure why they had those laws. Perhaps they showed that the Israelites should worship only one God. They should separate themselves from the false gods in other nations. The long pieces of cotton on the edge of their clothes reminded them to keep God’s law.

There is plenty of commentary on these verses.... verse 5 in particular. I found all kinds of commentary on them. I almost posted someone new from a "blogspot" no less.... but realized I was trying to put a bandaid on the verses. So back to normal.....

This is from Godvine.

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man - כלי גבר keli geber, the instruments or arms of a man. As the word גבר geber is here used, which properly signifies a strong man or man of war, it is very probable that armor is here intended; especially as we know that in the worship of Venus, to which that of Astarte or Ashtaroth among the Canaanites bore a striking resemblance, the women were accustomed to appear in armor before her. It certainly cannot mean a simple change in dress, whereby the men might pass for women, and vice versa. This would have been impossible in those countries where the dress of the sexes had but little to distinguish it, and where every man wore a long beard. It is, however, a very good general precept understood literally, and applies particularly to those countries where the dress alone distinguishes between the male and the female. The close-shaved gentleman may at any time appear like a woman in the female dress, and the woman appear as a man in the male's attire. Were this to be tolerated in society, it would produce the greatest confusion. Clodius, who dressed himself like a woman that he might mingle with the Roman ladies in the feast of the Bona Dea, was universally execrated.​



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