Deuteronomy 22-23

Intro:

Congress has enacted approximately 200–600 statutes during each of its 115 biennial terms so that more than 30,000 statutes have been enacted since 1789.

At the federal level in the United States, legislation consists exclusively of Acts passed by the Congress of the United States and its predecessor, the Continental Congress, that were either signed into law by the President

Read Deut 22:1-5

I. Returning Property vs. 1-4

Explain

This section deals with lost and recovered items

The Jews were to return the property to the rightful owner if they found it

If they didn’t know who owned they kept it till they came looking for it

They were also supposed to jump in and help if a brother’s animal had fallen

Illustration

This is what Saul was doing when he went looking for his lost donkey in 1 Samuel

God used the scenario to anoint him as king of Israel

Apply

As Christians we are called to action, especially with our neighbors

This has been a normal part of our cultural for centuries because many denominations like the quakers and mennonites were farmers who lived by this code

It was taught to to children by parents who modeled it

II. Cross Dressing vs. 5

Explain

The familiar and now accepted word “unisex” first appeared in print in Life magazine (June 21, 1968) in an article describing unisex clothing as “good fashion as well as good fun.”

In this verse, God calls it “an abomination.”

However, people who agree with Moses don’t always agree with each other on how this law should be applied in the church.

Since Christians aren’t under the Old Covenant, some believers disregard the law completely, while others use it to tell the women in their churches how they should dress, both at home and in public.

We can’t ignore God’s revelation in the Old Testament, because Jesus and the apostles used the Old Testament in their discussions of spiritual concerns.

Even if this law about clothing doesn’t apply to the church in the same way it applied to Israel, there are spiritual principles behind it that are important to us

To begin with, this law doesn’t focus only on clothing.

Literally it says, “There shall not be man’s things upon a woman, and a man shall not put on a woman’s clothes.”

The phrase “man’s things” could refer to anything that was commonly associated with men in that culture, including clothing, tools, and weapons.

If we apply this law strictly to believers today, then we have to determine in every culture and in every circumstance what things are feminine and what things are masculine, and that might not be easy to do.

Semitic men wore earrings and other gold jewelry, a practice frowned upon by some churches today.

That this verse is a prohibition of transvestitism is clear, but could a man in Western culture use a woman’s umbrella or wear her raincoat?

Moses was reminding the people that there is a distinction between the sexes, established by God from the very beginning, and that God wants us to maintain this distinction.

III. Misc Laws vs. 6-12

Next we get into some random miscellaneous laws

vs. 6-7 Bird’s Nests

If you stumble upon a birds nest you can take the eggs of young birds but your have to leave the mother

Why? The mother will produce more eggs

If you take just the mother for food the eggs or chicks will die

vs. 8 Building a retaining wall

God commanded that a railing be made for the rooftop, so someone was protected against falling.

That you may not bring bloodshed on your house:

Failure to build in a safe way would bring guilt (liability) on the owner or builder of the home. They were responsible for the safety of those who would use the home.

In his sermon on Deuteronomy 22:8, titled “Battlements,” Charles Spurgeon shows how just as there was to be a railing for the protection of people on the roofs of Israel’s homes, there are also spiritual railings for our protection. Many people, in regard to sin, get too close to the edge and fall off. Then it’s too late! We need to have “railings” protecting us from the edge. Such railings will not only protect us, but others also.

vs. 9-12 Four Laws of Separation

Each of these laws was meant to separate Israel from her pagan neighbors, who would commonly combine unlike things to achieve what was thought to be a “magical” combination.

You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together:

So, in pagan cultures it was common to combine different kinds of seed in a vineyard; or to plow with an ox and a donkey together; or to wear a garment of wool and linen mixed together.

When God commands Israel to not do these things, it isn’t so much for the sake of the combinations themselves, but so Israel would not imitate the pagan, occult customs of their neighbors.

There is a spiritual application of this principle; the commands forbidding unholy combinations, “though in themselves small and trivial, are given… to forbid all mixture of their inventions with God’s institutions, in doctrine or worship.” (Poole)

2 Corinthians 6:14 As Paul says, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing:

This command was also to distinguish Israel from their pagan neighbors; in this way, an Israelite man was immediately known by the clothes he wore.

“A symbolic meaning is given to these tassels in Numbers 15:37-41, namely that they are a reminder to Israel to keep God’s law.”

Like most good commands of God, men have the capability to twist and corrupt this command. In Jesus’ day, He had to condemn the Pharisees in Matthew 23:5, saying they enlarge the borders of their garments. In other words, they made the tasseled portion of their garments larger and more prominent to show how spiritual they were.

IV. Sexual Immorality vs. 13-30

vs. 13-21 Disputing a Woman’s virginity

Charges her with shameful conduct:

The idea is that the man accused his wife of not being a virgin when they were married.

Apparently, this was discovered on their wedding night, when they first had intimate relations (when I came into her I found she was not a virgin).

It is important to understand that in ancient Israel virginity was valued. It was seen as a great loss to give up one’s virginity before marriage, and if a woman was known to have lost her virginity, it greatly reduced her chances of getting married.

By the same principle, if a husband believed that his wife had lied about her virginity, he felt cheated. What follows is an attempt to resolve the issue.

Then the father and mother… bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity… they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city: according to custom, a Jewish woman would first be intimate with her husband upon a special cloth, which would collect the small drops of blood which were accepted as evidence of the young woman’s virginity. This bloodstained cloth would then become the property of the married woman’s parents, who kept it as the evidence of the young woman’s virginity

The elders of the city shall take that man and punish him:

If the parents could produce the evidence, then the man was found to have made false accusation against his wife and it was commanded that a fine to be paid to the father of his bride.

Additionally, the man had forfeited his future right to divorce this wife: he cannot divorce her all his days.

The strong penalty against a man who made a false accusation (one hundred shekels of silver was a significant fine), and the loss of his right to divorce his wife in the future was an effective deterrent against wild, false accusations by a husband against his wife.

But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman:

If this were the case, the woman was to be executed by stoning. This was not only for her sexual promiscuity (to play the harlot), but also for her attempt to deceive her husband.

All this simply reinforces the principle that virginity was valued, highly valued, in Israel.

Today, far too many people – especially women – sell themselves cheaply by easily giving away their virginity.

vs. 22 Adultery

Both of them shall die:

God commanded the death penalty for adultery.

This was primarily because of the exceedingly great social consequences of this sin. Therefore, God commanded the ultimate penalty against it.

God also specifically instructs: both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman. Adultery was not to be condemned with a double standard; if it was wrong for the woman, it was wrong for the man, and vice-versa.

Then both of them shall die: As a practical matter, this death penalty was rarely carried out, as is the case in most of the situations where capital punishment was commanded. This is because any capital crime required two or three witnesses, and the witnesses had to be so sure of what they saw that they were willing to “cast the first stone” – that is, initiate the execution (Deuteronomy 17:6-7).

So, particularly in a case of adultery (or other sexual sins) there would rarely be two eyewitnesses willing to initiate the execution – and so capital punishment would not be carried out

vs. 23-29 Laws regarding Rape

If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband:

If a man had intimate relations with a virgin who was betrothed to a husband, and it happened in the city (and no one immediately hears the woman cry out in an attempt to stop the man), then both were to be executed.

The woman was to be executed for disgracing her virginity; the man was to be executed because he humbled his neighbor’s wife. Interestingly, the woman was considered the wife of another man, even though she was only betrothed, and was still a virgin, having not yet consummated the marriage.

But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside: If a man had intimate relations with a virgin who was betrothed, and it happened in the countryside (where no one could hear the woman, even if she should cry out), then only the man was to be executed, because the woman was presumed to be the victim of rape.

Significantly, the woman was not blamed for the rape, and it was presumed that she was innocent in this circumstance.

If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed: If a man had intimate relations with a virgin who is not betrothed, then he must pay a fine and was obligated to marry the woman (presumably, if she will have him), and he forfeited his right to divorce her in the future.

Some Jewish commentators note that the fifty shekels of silver were to be paid in addition to the dowry.

vs. 30 Incest

A man shall not take his father’s wife:

This probably described the case of a son marrying his stepmother after his father had died.

This was considered incest, even though there was not a blood relation, because he was considered to have had uncovered his father’s bed.

Nor uncover his father’s bed:

Significantly, this was exactly the same kind of immoral relationship that the Corinthian church accepted, and Paul had to rebuke them about – that a man has his father’s wife! (1 Corinthians 5:1-2)

V. Excluded from Worship vs. 1-8

vs. 1 Missing parts

By crushing or mutilation: This refers to those emasculated by either birth defect, accident, or by deliberate emasculation.

Shall not enter the assembly of the LORD: When we read this term, it usually refers to the nation gathered before the LORD in worship, such as when they were gathered at Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 5:22, 9:10, 10:4, and 18:16). But it doesn’t always have this sense

Isaiah 56:3-5 shows that even eunuchs and foreigners could be accepted before the LORD if they would obey Him, and they would be accepted before the “normal” people who disobeyed God.

Shall not enter the assembly of the LORD:

Eunuchs were excluded because God’s covenant with Israel was vitally connected with the idea of the seed, and emasculation is a “crime” against the seed of man.

Additionally, most eunuchs were made to be so in pagan ceremonies where they were dedicated to pagan gods.

vs. 2 Forbidden Union

One of illegitimate birth:

It is difficult to define exactly what is meant by the term of illegitimate birth.

Some later Jewish writers defined this as someone who was born of an incestuous relationship between Jews; others said it refers to those born of mixed marriages between the people of Israel and their pagan neighbors (as in Nehemiah 13:23).

vs. 3-6 No Ammonites or Moabites

An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD:

The Moabites and the Ammonites not only treated Israel cruelly on their way to the Promised Land, but they also were a people with a disgraceful beginning. Moab and Ammon were the two sons born to the daughters of Lot through their incest with their father (Genesis 19:30-38).

vs. 7-8 Edomite’s and Egyptian’s

You shall not abhor an Edomite:

The Edomites were ethnically related to Israel, because Israel’s brother Esau was the father of the Edomite peoples. Therefore, Israel was commanded to not abhor an Edomite.

Interestingly, one of the most famous Edomites in history was abhorred by Israel – Herod the Great. Many of his spectacular building projects in Judea were intended to not only glorify his own name, but to win the favor of the Jews who despised him as an Edomite.

You shall not abhor an Egyptian:

The Egyptians were also to receive more favor than the Moabites or Ammonites, because Israel was a guest in Egypt for almost 400 years. Though the years Israel spent in Egypt were hard, God had a great purpose for them. Egypt was like a mother’s womb for Israel; they went in as a large family and came out as a distinct nation.

VI. Uncleanness in the Camp vs. 9-14

vs. 9-11 Nocturnal Emission

God commanded ceremonial cleanliness among the army of Israel. Some occurrence in the night probably refers to nocturnal emissions, and the cleansing ceremony for this is described in Leviticus 15:16-18. After observing the ceremonial washing, he may come into the camp again.

vs. 12-14 Bring a trowel

God commanded sanitary cleanliness among the army of Israel; each soldier was to carry some type of shovel, with which he could cover [his] refuse.

VII. Misc Laws vs. 15-21

vs. 15-16 Escaped slaves

vs. 17-18 Prostitution forbidden

vs. 19-23 Charging Interest

vs. 24-25 Stealing Grapes & Grains