Deuteronomy 22:1 ¶ Thou
shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from
them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. 2 And if thy brother be not nigh unto
thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house,
and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt
restore it to him again. 3 In like
manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with
all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt
thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself. 4 Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his
ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him
to lift them up again.
This is a remarkable rule in requiring the Israelites to look out
for each other’s possessions. It is a kindness that God expected from His
people and we would do well to learn from it. It is not ‘finders keepers, losers
weepers’ and they were responsible for returning lost possessions.
There is also kindness here listed to animals in helping an animal
under a burden to get up again.
Exodus 23:5 If thou see the
ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to
help him, thou shalt surely help with him.
This links very well with the following admonition from Jesus.
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto
you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Deuteronomy 22:5 ¶ The
woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put
on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD
thy God. 6 If a bird’s nest chance to be
before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be
young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou
shalt not take the dam with the young: 7
But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to
thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy
days. 8 When thou buildest a new house,
then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon
thine house, if any man fall from thence. 9
Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy
seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. 10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass
together. 11 Thou shalt not wear a
garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together. 12 Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters
of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.
Verse 5 has nothing to do with women wearing slacks or blue jeans.
Both men and women wore robes and other loose-fitting garments. This brings to
mind another passage.
Exodus 28:40 ¶ And for Aaron’s
sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets
shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty. 41 And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy
brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and
sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. 42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to
cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach: 43 And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his
sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they
come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not
iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and his seed after
him.
One of the
most interesting things Exodus 28:42 has to do with a modern complaint of
conservative minded Christians. Fundamentalists in America make a big deal
about women not wearing slacks, pants, or trousers. They refer to them as the
Biblical breeches. The problem with
that is that breeches are underwear
that go from the loins to the thighs.
Loins and thighs are references to the parts of the body that contains the
reproductive organs and organs of waste elimination. On the outside of the body
it is the area where a sword or dagger is hung.
Genesis
35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and
multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall
come out of thy loins
Song
of Solomon 7:1 How beautiful are thy
feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the
hands of a cunning workman.
Judges
3:16 But Ehud made him a dagger which
had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his
right thigh.
Pants wearing
didn’t become common in Europe until the 8th century AD, after the
fall of the western Roman Empire.[1]
The first recorded wearing of pants was for the horse-riding Scythians of the 8th
century BC. The Romans regarded wearing pants as a sign of being barbarians due
to the horse-riding hordes that constantly threatened the empire. How people
have twisted the Bible when they have an agenda to push is amazing. The God of
the Bible values modesty and this was a very clear command and a warning but
twisting the Bible to suit a social agenda is not acceptable.
Back to
Deuteronomy, ancient and more modern commentators noted that this included such
things as military apparel for women and certain clothing that signified
professions usually reserved for men. For men it was said that this was a
prevention of effeminacy and the confusion among the people of Israel this
would cause.
For verse 6 John Gill, who preached in Charles Spurgeon’s church a
hundred years before Spurgeon, wrote that this was to teach compassion and
humanity. However, judging by other similar verses regarding the use of animals
it may have been a condemnation of a heathen custom. Remember this command;
Deuteronomy 14:21b Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s
milk.
Exodus
23:19b Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s
milk.
Early
eighteenth century Bible commentator, Matthew Henry, reported, apparently from
older Jewish authorities, that it was common for the Gentiles to boil (see
Ezekiel 24:5 for seethe as to boil) a kid (goat) in its mother’s milk and
sprinkle that over fields to ensure a good harvest in the future. God forbade
such magical nonsense.
So, we might consider that this admonition about a bird sitting
over her eggs they wanted as another counter to heathen practice or just, as it
says, an ecological warning to make sure that there is plenty of game for
future use and they be not wasteful like the Pennsylvanians who made their local
Passenger Pigeons extinct or the near extinction made of the American Buffalo
out west.
Verse 8 gives the Israelite a common safety rule as roofs were
flat and used for storage and other activities. A battlement would be a low
wall at the edge of a roof, on medieval castles containing openings to shoot
from at various intervals.
Joshua 2:6 But she had
brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax,
which she had laid in order upon the roof…8
And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;
Judges 16:27 Now the house
was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and
there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while
Samson made sport.
2Samuel 11:2 And it came to
pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the
roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and
the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
Nehemiah 8:16 So the people
went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the
roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God,
and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.
Here is one website’s explanation of the usage of flat roofs in
Egypt from whence the Israelites came.
Egyptians developed
sun-dried mud bricks that could resist the flooding from the Nile and rain for
much longer than undried mud bricks. These new dried bricks also proved useful
for constructing flat roofs, which virtually all Egyptian homes had. In order
to bear the weight of people, the roof was supported by palm trunks. The roof
wasn’t just a convenient covering for the home. Instead, it was often used as a
secondary living area and the primary sleeping area. These early homes couldn’t
ventilate heat easily and would even retain uncomfortable amounts of heat
during the night. Rooftops were cooler, especially at night or when equipped
with reed canopies for shade, so people naturally preferred to spend time on
them. Rooms in the home were used for storage, cooking or other activities.[2]
Verse 9 shows us a
command given to the Israelites that teaches them about doctrine. All through
the Old and New Testament the pollution of God’s way of things is warned
against such as mixing worship of God with the worship of heathen idols, as we
have seen. Here is a literal warning to not let wheat and barley get planted in
one’s vineyard. In verse 10 it talks about an ox and an ass not plowing
together, in verse 11 about diverse types of clothing being sewn together, all
suggesting this indeed teaches about not mixing doctrine or worship with
heathen elements. For modern Christians there are many sermons to be had out of
that.
The final verse of the
passage hearkens back to this passage;
Numbers 15:37 ¶ And the
LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 38 Speak
unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the
borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon
the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: 39
And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and
remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not
after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:
40 That ye may remember, and do all my
commandments, and be holy unto your God. 41
I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to
be your God: I am the LORD your God.
This shows that these
commands had a teaching emphasis reminding the Israelites not to pollute their
faith.
Deuteronomy 22:13 ¶ If any
man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, 14 And give occasions of speech against her, and
bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to
her, I found her not a maid: 15 Then
shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the
tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:
16 And the damsel’s father shall say
unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of
speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet
these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread
the cloth before the elders of the city. 18
And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;
19 And they shall amerce him in an
hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the
damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and
she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. 20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens
of virginity be not found for the damsel: 21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the
door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones
that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in
her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you. 22 If a man be found lying with a woman married
to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay
with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. 23 If a damsel that is a virgin be
betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
24 Then ye shall bring them both out
unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die;
the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man,
because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from
among you. 25 But if a man find a
betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then
the man only that lay with her shall die: 26
But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel
no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour,
and slayeth him, even so is this matter: 27 For he found her in the field, and the
betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. 28 If a man find a damsel that is a
virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they
be found; 29 Then the man that lay with
her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she
shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his
days. 30 A man shall not take his
father’s wife, nor discover his father’s skirt.
Remember this statement from Christ;
Matthew 5:27 ¶ Ye have
heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already
in his heart. 29 And if thy right eye
offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee
that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be
cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand
offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee
that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be
cast into hell. 31 It hath been said,
Whosoever shall put away his
wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put
away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit
adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
The Jewish husband here in Deuteronomy had recourse against his
bride if she was not a virgin when they married. Remember again, that the
customs and culture of the Jews was considered as already existing in that they
had carried over practices from Egypt and practices that were customary in the
Ancient Near East. God modifies those customs and cultural practices but did
not necessarily create them. He allowed them in His permissive will. Here was a
way for a woman and her family to get justice in this accusation if it were
false. If it were true here was a way to remove wickedness from the Israelites.
Adultery was a grievous sin in a world that depended so much on lineage and the
assurance that your children were really your biological children.
Christ narrowly defines commands so that the Jews did not have the
excuse to abuse them as the Romans did by simply accusing a wife falsely and
then marrying another.
Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not
commit adultery.
Christ also points out that it is not well for someone who is
committing a sin to point out another, especially someone of a lower
social/legal standing, as a woman as compared to a man.
John 8:1 ¶ Jesus went unto
the mount of Olives. 2 And early in the
morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he
sat down, and taught them. 3 And the
scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they
had set her in the midst, 4 They say
unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such
should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6
This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But
Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard
them not. 7 So when they continued
asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin
among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8
And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by
their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto
the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and
saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine
accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn
thee: go, and sin no more.
Fornication and adultery are serious matters. It is not
acceptable, though, for someone to accuse their spouse of the sin as an excuse
to let them commit it themselves.
Verse 22, in the context of Israel and the inheritance of tribes,
shows that adultery was to result in death for both parties. Verses 23 and 24
make an assumption that a woman who is assaulted in the town will be helped if
she screams, something that does not always happen today, particularly in the
Sodom and Gomorrah of our large cities.
Beginning in verse 25 forcible rape is a capital offense as it
should be, a crime sometimes called ‘unfinished murder’ in today’s feminism. Verses
28 and 29 are disturbing to us today but the culture God is modifying here
regards the rape of a woman not so much as a personal affront, a crime against
her, as it is a crime against her family, and particularly her father. Remember
my comments on Dinah’s rape?
Rape,
sexual violence, in the degradation of the ancient world, was viewed
differently than we do today, at least today in the more sophisticated
contemporary countries and cultures. It was less a crime against a woman than
it was against her family in a context such as this. In primitive, abased
cultures rape is either the woman’s fault or a means by which a more physically
or politically powerful man may have his way with a woman who is not protected
by the men of her family or husband.
In verse 30 we now move to the sin that
Paul spoke of in his letters to the Corinthians.
1Corinthians 5:1 ¶ It is reported commonly that there is fornication
among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles,
that one should have his father’s wife.
Deuteronomy 27:20 Cursed be
he that lieth with his father’s wife; because he uncovereth his father’s skirt.
And all the people shall say, Amen.
Leviticus 18:8 The
nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s
nakedness.
Leviticus 20:11 And the man
that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both
of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
This
does not necessarily mean a person’s biological mother but any wife of one’s
father. Childbirth could be fatal as we saw in the case of Rachel. We know what
Reuben did with Bilhah who was rightfully his father’s secondary wife or
concubine.
[1]
LiveScience, “Explained: Why We Wear Pants,” July 16,
2012. https://www.livescience.com/34077-wearing-pants-horse-riding.html
[2] IKO Industries, LTD. “The Roofs of
Ancient Cultures,” https://www.iko.com/na/blog/ancient-roofs/. (accessed on 4.26.2021.)
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