Deuteronomy chapter 22. We're going to try to get through the whole chapter this evening. It basically breaks down into two broad categories. Verses 1 to 12 are miscellaneous laws for the covenant community.
And verses 13 to 30 are miscellaneous laws concerning the integrity of marriage and sexual relationships. So two broad categories. with six specifics in each of those categories. So I'll just read the chapter and then we'll start by looking at verses 1 to 4. Okay, chapter 22 beginning in verse 1.
You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them. You shall certainly bring them back to your brother. And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him.
You shall do the same with his donkey, and so you shall do with his garment. With any lost thing of your brother's, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise. You must not hide yourself. You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them.
You shall surely help him lift them up again. A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God. If a bird's nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall surely let the mother go and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof. that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it. You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.
You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself. If any man takes a wife and goes into her and detests her and charges her with shameful conduct and brings a bad name on her and says, I took this woman and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin, then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman's virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. And the young woman's father shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man, his wife, and he detests her. Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, I found your daughter was not a virgin, and yet these are the evidences of my daughter's virginity.
And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him. And they shall fine him 100 shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife.
He cannot divorce her all his days. But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house. And the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die, the man that lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones. The young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor's wife.
So you shall put away the evil from among you. But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the young woman. There is in the young woman no sin deserving of death.
For just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. For he found her in the countryside and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her. If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman's father 50 shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her. He shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.
A man shall not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's bed. Amen. Well, as I said, there are two broad categories. The first, miscellaneous laws for the covenant community in verses 1 to 12, and then miscellaneous laws concerning the integrity of marriage and sexual relationships in verses 13 to 30.
Some of the verses here, some of the sections are a bit vague. So to say with absolute certainty this is what this means, isn't my forte this evening. I hope to just shed some light on these particular passages, at least suggest some trains of thought. Most of it is very clear.
When we get to the laws concerning sexual morality, there are some interesting things that we need to try and pause and to consider as we get specifically toward the end of the chapter. Some have seen a bit of a contradiction in the way that one woman is treated versus the other. I'm convinced there is no contradiction. The text makes Perfect sense as it stands, but some of these laws concerning mixing things and the laws concerning the bird's nest I don't know that I have the absolute corner of truth with reference to the bird's nest But again just to try and give some thoughts some of the commentators that I called but the most of it is very straightforward very simple and very applicable to the current situation we find ourselves in.
So let's look at verses 1 to 12.
Care for a Brother's Property
The first is the concern for a brother's property. The concern for a brother's property in verses 1 to 4. You have to notice the emphasis in the instruction. The emphasis in verses 1 to 4 is that you do not hide yourself.
You do not hide yourself. That means you do not ignore the real and genuine needs of your brethren. You don't try to avoid those situations which may not be the most pleasant in your life. Rather, covenant community dictates or involves a loving, kind expression of brotherly affection and kind-heartedness toward those within the community.
The parallel legislation in Exodus 23, 4 and 5 deals with an enemy's property. We're supposed to have regard even for the animals belonging to our enemy? How much more our brother? And in verses 1 to 4 the brother isn't necessarily a blood brother because feasibly you may not even know this particular person according to verse 2.
It is a brother within the covenant community. It is the family of God. The person is not to hide themselves from the brother's loss or distress. If you're coming around the corner and there you see your brother with a flat tire, the idea is do not turn around and go the other way.
Do not hide yourself from his distress. Don't be like the priest and the Levite who, when they were walking down that Jericho Road, failed to render aid to that man who had fallen prey to thugs. The good Samaritan happened along and did what the covenant community should have done for that particular person. The idea is clear.
You are not to neglect a difficult situation. You're not to ignore a difficult situation. You're not to turn away from a difficult situation, but rather you were to actively assist those in need. And the legislation, as I said, is quite clear.
Verse 1, you return your brother's animal if it goes astray. You don't say tough luck on, you know, Ben over there. There went his ox or his donkey. You don't do that.
That's not gracious. It's not kind. It's not brotherly affection. It is not bearing with one another in their distress or difficulty.
Secondly, you are to care for the animal until your brother seeks it. He may live a long way off. He may be unknown to you. So what do you do?
You don't just say, well, finders keepers, losers weepers. That's the price of doing business in the covenant community. No, you take the animal home and you sustain the animal and you care for it and you supply it with all the fodder and all the things necessary until such time as the rightful owner comes and then you restore his property to him. You don't try to get over on the people of God.
You don't try to make profit off of the covenant community. You don't try to, you know, do things that pagans or heathen do. You are to restore the animal to the brother when he comes. And as well, you are to realize that all of his property belongs to him.
It's not just his animal, it's not just his donkey, it's not just his ox. Notice in verse 3, You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment. With any lost thing of your brothers which he has lost, and you have found, you shall do likewise. You must not hide yourself.
You don't just ignore things. You just don't hope they go away. You don't just say, man, I'll say a prayer that that ox will find its way home. No, get out there and grab the ox and help it home to its rightful owner.
That's the price of doing business in God's covenant community. Paul maintains that we are to do good to all men. especially to those who are of the household of faith. We ought never to be misers or scrooges or hard-hearted toward the needs of our brothers and sisters. We may not be dealing with oxen, we may not be dealing with donkeys, we may not be dealing with garments, but I think the principle is valid for our covenant community, which is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we are to not only help him in the aforementioned ways, but we are to render assistance in the case of emergency on the road. Again, here it is. You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fall down along the road and hide yourself from that. You shall surely help him lift them up again.
I'm smiling because it's so like us to drive by and wave at somebody. I hope that AAA shows up. I hope somebody comes along to give you aid or render you assistance. Have you ever seen people whose car has stalled out and they're pushing it in the middle of the street?
It's okay to get out and help them. That's legit, even if they're not in the covenant community, but especially to those who are of the household of faith. You shall not hide yourself from a brother in distress. If you are able and you have the strength, go over there and help him pick his donkey up.
Help him get his ox back on track. Help your brother express concern, express love, express genuine tender heartedness to the covenant community when it comes to their property.
Prohibition Against Transvestism
Secondly, general law, the prohibition against transvestism. The prohibition against transvestism. Now this text is not speaking or forbidding women to wear trousers. Notice in verse 5, a woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment.
If a woman can't wear trousers because it pertains to a man, then she shouldn't wear socks because they pertain to a man. She shouldn't wear a shirt, because that pertains to a man. The prohibition is against transvestism. That means dressing like a woman if you're a man, or it means dressing like a man if you're a woman, to do so in a very specific way.
Not just because you're going to wear trousers as a woman, but because you want to look like a man. because you're not content with the gender that God has made you and you are a transvestite. You are dressing in such a way that is rebellious against the living and true God. Again, not because you're wearing trousers or shirts or socks, but rather because you're trying to look like the opposite sex than what God has constituted you as. Craigie says transvestism tends to be associated with certain forms of homosexuality.
Secondly, in the ancient world, it is probable that transvestite practices were associated with the cults of certain deities. Christopher Wright says, almost certainly, it is about the perverted crossing of genders, either in orgiastic rites involving transvestism, in some form of pagan worship, or both. The final phrase of the law shows that some form of serious immorality or idolatry was involved. Notice, verse 5, very end.
For all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God. That does not mean that if you're a woman in the 21st century wearing trousers, you're an abomination in the sight of God. It means that if you're a woman trying to be a man, or a man trying to be a woman, you are an abomination before God. It's dealing with that.
To take this text out of its context and to make some blanket statement that it's always wrong for a woman to wear this or a man to wear a kilt. How could a man get away with a kilt? Why don't we attack them? Aren't skirts those things that pertain to a woman?
I don't hear this text being preached in Scotland against men wearing kilts. Why does it only run... I don't know, maybe it is. Maybe there is a group of people out there that are condemning kilt-wearing men.
Why is it? It seems to be a fundamentalist doctrine. It seems to be an imposition upon the text fueled by some other concerns that we don't want women to wear trousers. Well, if we don't want women to wear trousers, we certainly won't want men to wear kilts unless we understand the thrust of the passage and its transvestite nature in connection with homosexuality or with idolatry.
That's what God abominates. To say that it's other than that is to go far beyond the sane exegesis.
The Rule Concerning a Bird's Nest
Notice thirdly, the rule concerning a bird's nest. The only reason I'm kind of chuckling is because a couple of the commentators said some things here that were just kind of funny. Here's the scenario. Let's just read it.
Verse 6. If a bird's nest happens to be before you along the way in any tree or on the ground with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall surely let the mother go and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days. Now, obviously, what is in view here is food, right?
If you're not taking the young ones or the eggs, to have pets. You're not bringing them home to your birdcage. You're not bringing them home to your hatchery. You are not doing those things.
You're going to consume them. And the specific instruction highlights the reality that you let the mother go. Now, commentators suggest there's one of two things going on here. Some suggest it's humanitarian in nature. humanitarian in nature.
Here you are, you're hungry, and you could eat the mother and her young, but you decide to spare the mother. I don't think that's humanitarian to gobble up the young, especially if you're the mother bird. I don't think she's thinking it's humanitarian at all. I don't think that's what's in view here.
I think it's more economic in nature. Notice back in chapter 20, there is a prohibition against cutting down trees that bear fruit. The idea is resist the temptation to satisfy your immediate desires. Take the young or take the eggs and enjoy them.
Let the mother go so that you lay up something for the future, so that there's provision ahead. The text specifically highlights the reality that man should resist the temptation for short-term gain at the expense of long-term provision. Now, ideally, they would be in the land for a long time. They would need trees to bear fruit.
They would need mother birds to lay more eggs. They would need that sort of sustenance to supply food for their life in the land. So it's probably not a humanitarian concern. unless you feel especially kind by simply eating young ones and letting the mother go. No, it's more ecological or environmental with a particular end in view, to provide food for God's children for the long haul.
Demand for Safety Precautions
The fourth one is the demand for safety precautions. Now, if we do scratch the surface on what these actually mean, how they have this rhyme and reason, I don't know. I mean, everything happens... Again, I think there are those times where God gives through Moses miscellaneous laws.
Is there a unifying thing? One man has seen the respect for life and all of its forms in verses 1 to 12. but the transvestism really doesn't fall prey into that category. It's hard to sort of categorize. That's why I've said miscellaneous laws for the covenant community.
So the fourth is the demand for safety precautions. In Exodus 21, 33 to 34, we see a law similar, not the same, but similar in terms of scope. Exodus 21, 33, and if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to the owner, or to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his.
What we find here in Israel is this law for safety precautions. Specifically, you had flat roofs on the homes, and that flat roof was a place for living. You could sleep there, you would recreate there, or you would entertain your guests there. So if you happen to invite some family over, you were to have a parapet around the roof so that the kid wouldn't fall off, or that the adult wouldn't fall off.
You were to protect life. You were to put that safety precaution in place to preserve life. It is a good thing. The law highlights the reality of personal liability for the house owner.
Just because you own a house doesn't mean that it can be a safety hazard to others. Now, I'm not suggesting that all forms of local and provincial and federal licenses and permits are hereby justified on this particular verse. But I am suggesting that we need to be responsible citizens. We need to be responsible individuals.
This text highlights the reality of personal liability for the homeowner. It as well demonstrates concern for the sixth word, you shall do no murder. Now, not that you're pushing that person off necessarily, but if you have set up an unsafe environment, you have a pit that you haven't covered, you have a swimming pool that little children can fall into, or you have a roof that people can fall off of and die, there is such a thing as criminal negligence. which thus does jeopardize the sixth word. You shall do no murder.
If I am criminally negligent, I ought to be held responsible for a violation of the sixth word. As well, it is an expression of love to the brethren. When you're sitting there recreating or entertaining your fellow covenant members and they see that parapet, they know that you love them. You don't want their kid to walk off your roof and die, walk off your roof and fall into your open pit.
I mean the double whammy. No, you're actually a responsible covenant member doing what he is supposed to do. This text has manifold applications in modern society. I mentioned the swimming pool.
Put a fence around it. Your neighbor has a three-year-old, and he can get into your pool. You might want to rethink how you're operating and functioning. You know, there's all manner of criminal negligence that we need to take consideration to.
Again, not justifying every permit and every money grab situation that the government may try to impose upon us, but it is not unjust, and it is not unlawful, and it is to abide by the dictates of the sixth word, to be a responsible individual, to make sure that your home is not a safety hazard, to make sure that people aren't going to break their neck when they come to visit you. That's the thrust of this particular verse.
Prohibition Against Certain Mixtures
Notice fifth, the prohibition against certain mixtures. planting seeds, plowing with animals, and mixing textiles. Verses 9 to 11. You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled. According to some of the commentators, this was common practice in Egypt.
Maybe God is telling them, don't do like the Egyptians do. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. the ox was a clean animal, the donkey is an unclean animal. Maybe it was because of that ceremonial aspect. Some have suggested that they just couldn't do it together.
I don't know. I'm not sure how all that sort of thing works. And then, you shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together. Now again, people take verses like this and ask if it's wicked if we wear polyester.
Is it evil that I'm probably wearing a polyester sweater at this particular point? I actually think verses 9 to 11 transcend what we might associate with these verses. And I think these instructions reinforced Israel's distinctiveness from the nations around her. And abiding by these principles, abiding by these particular laws and rules, reminded them of their distinctiveness from the nations around you.
And then notice, or I'll just read Christopher Wright, he says, even at everyday levels, Israel was to be reminded of the importance of not mixing with paganism.
The Law Concerning Tassels
And then the sixth, in terms of the miscellaneous laws for the covenant community, is this law concerning tassels. Tassels. Did anybody read this before they came tonight? Does anybody know why verse 12 is there?
I'll just try and answer. It is a reminder to remember God's law. That's what verse 12 is all about. And you say, how do you know that, Jim?
Because of Numbers 15. Numbers 15. You may turn there, just so you can see. You might even want to write this in your margin next to Deuteronomy 22, 12.
Somebody will say it. And it's quite common. Now, I don't know if you've had these discussions. When you start talking to people, especially unbelievers, but more and more even believers or professing believers, when you start saying that the law of God is good, they'll throw out things like, what, so we can't plant mixed seeds?
We can't wear polyester? You mean I can't let an ox and a donkey plow together? It's a red herring. If you say I believe that adultery is wrong, homosexuality is wicked, these things are vile.
Oh, so we can't mix seeds. It's to try and to divert attention. It's an attempt to side note the conversation and to just sort of throw it off into Neverland. Well, the tassel law will certainly come up.
Somebody reads verse 12, they'll say, oh, so we have to have tassels on our garments today? If it helps you to remember the law of God, then more power to you. Notice in Numbers 15 at verse 37. Again the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel.
Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. And you shall have the tassel that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them. And that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined. And that you may remember and do all my commandments and be holy for your God.
I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God." With the specific clothing that is probably in view in 2212 and in Numbers 15 is the cloak, the outer garment, something that would serve as your jacket during the day and your blanket during the night. So what does that suggest? That the law of the Lord is always to be before your eyes.
You're always to consider his law in order that you may do it. If you would like to put a tassel on your sleeve to help you remember the law of the Lord, by all means, go and do likewise. If you are able to remember the law of the Lord without the tassel, I don't believe that in the New Covenant we are mandated to wear these tassels on our particular clothes. But the point of the passage was not fashion.
The point of the passage was not style. The point of the passage is God's law. Remind them of God's law in order that they may obey. Those tassels would remind you to resist parliamentary, to pursue holiness, and to remember God's redemptive power displayed at the Exodus.
So the tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself was a crucial reminder that the law of the Lord is perfect, that it governs, that it rules, that it guards, that it is over us as the covenant community in Old Testament Israel. So those are some miscellaneous laws concerning the covenant community with reference to life in the land.
Laws on Marriage and Sexual Integrity
Let's look at the miscellaneous laws concerning the integrity of marriage and sexual relationships in verses 13 to 30.
Allegation of Premarital Unchastity
The first is the allegation of premarital unchastity, verses 13 to 21. Now as I was going through this particular passage today, one thing struck me. There is nothing new under the sun. Oh, it's so horrible today.
We have transvestites. So did they. It's so horrible today. We have fornication.
So did they. It's so horrible today. We have adultery. So did they.
It's so horrible today. There's cases of rape. So did they. You see, sin is the constant element that is unchanging in man's makeup.
We were created upright, as the preacher says in Ecclesiastes 7, 29. But we have sought out many devices. It's not just our generation. It's all generations.
It's all men everywhere have sinned against the living and the true God. So God, knowing the hearts of men, God, knowing the waywardness of men, legislates to try and restrain men and to protect the innocent parties involved. So the first is the allegation of premarital unchastity. Verse 13 is vague.
I cannot give you an explanation as to what specifically is in view here. If any man takes a wife and goes into her and detests her. Simply didn't have the time today to do a major in-depth study of this detester. Chapter 24 verse 1, when a man takes a wife and marries her and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her.
Something happens at the time of the consummation, in terms of their wedding, that causes the man some sort of moral revulsion. And then notice what he does. There is a particular procedure. Verse 14, he charges her with shameful conduct, specifically that she was not a virgin.
That's what's in view. They've gotten married. They've consummated the marriage. He now detests her, and he charges her with shameful conduct.
The specific content of his charge is, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found she was not a virgin. So she was both a fornicator and one guilty of fraud. You have to understand that's also a concern. The 7th commandment and the 8th commandment is violated in this particular section.
Fraud is not right. To say that you're a virgin or have your parents affirm that you're a virgin and you are not is to defraud that particular man. It's not wrong for him to get upset. It's not ungodly for him to get upset.
If he thought he was, just to use some commercial terminology, I am not reducing her to a piece of property, but if he thought he was buying a particular piece of goods and that was not what he got, that's fraud. So that's what's in view, sexual immorality and fraudulent conduct. Now notice, the father and the mother of the woman present evidence to the elders. Verse 15, more than likely the bed sheet from the night that the wedding or the marriage was consummated.
Again, these are things that we probably don't always like to think about, but this is God's holy word. So the parents proffer up this particular evidence, and then the father presents his case in verses 16 and 17. The young woman's father shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her. Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, I found your daughter was not a virgin, and yet these are the evidences of my daughter's virginity.
Notice specifically the parental involvement in this marriage situation. They don't just run off and do whatever they want, irrespective of the family. The father's involved. The mother's involved in this particular situation.
Craigie says, parents were responsible because they had given their daughter to the man in marriage. And by that act, they had indicated that the girl was qualified for marriage. Now notice, after this procedure is conducted, there is punishment for the guilty. And in the first instance, the man is punished if he is found to be a liar.
Okay? Everybody with me? I think that you'll see some beautiful wisdom in these verses. The man is punished for his guilt.
That's verses 18 to 19. Notice. then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him. Why? Because the parents have offered up evidence that proves that this man is a liar.
He has detested her without cause. He has charged her and accused her without cause. He has maintained that she is not a virgin, which is shameful conduct for her, without cause. So if he is found to be a fraudulent dealer, if he is found to be a liar, notice the penalty that is levied against him.
Verse 18, then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him. Now I take this to mean corporal punishment. Some sort of a whack. There's probably a better technical term for a whack than a whack, but I think you all get the gist of what I'm trying to communicate here.
In Chapter 25, we will see the rules governing corporal punishment. By corporal punishment, I mean that. Taking a stick or some sort of an implement or some sort of an instrument and bringing it to bear on the backside of an offender. So if this man lies about his new bride, he is going to get corporal punishment.
Secondly, they're going to impose a monetary fine on him that is double the normal price for when a man pursues a woman for marriage. Not 50 shekels, but 100 shekels of silver. And then thirdly, he is going to be prohibited from ever divorcing her. Now, this penalty is steep, isn't it?
Don't you think that it would prohibit or at least help inhibit a man from entering in willy-nilly to level up such a charge? If he knew that there was a chance that he was going to be found out as a fraud and he would be whipped or beaten, he would be financially put upon, and he would never be allowed to divorce this woman. He would think twice, hopefully. Now, there's always people out there.
There's always those sorts of meatheads that don't respond favorably to those threats, and they'll go out and do those things anyway. But those three things hopefully would converge upon the new bridegroom and hopefully inhibit him from making a false charge. So it's not just that this guy says, you know, she just doesn't make me happy. She burnt my eggs.
I find fault in her. She was not a virgin. She is filled with shameful conduct. Well, you just do whatever you want.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You better think twice before you seek to prosecute this particular case. Now, it could be the case that the man is right. It could be the case that the parents were not able to present evidences to affirm her virginity.
And in that case, verses 20 and 21 specify death. for the offending woman. If the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house." Probably not in her father's house, though that may have occurred. But as a subject, as one in her father's house, she has done this disgraceful thing. She has played the harlot in her father's house, so you shall put away the evil from among you.
So that is the specifics with reference to this situation concerning premarital unchastity. Now, this penalty with reference to the man, just backing up for a moment, would help to prevent false allegations. But as well, that law would protect the woman. You say, why would she want to be married to this guy?
There was no nanny state in those days. There was no cradle to grave coverage. There wasn't food stamps. There wasn't entitlements.
There wasn't Obamacare. There wasn't MSP. If you were without a husband, it was a tough economic row for you to hoe in that situation. Wright says, the law takes the view that the security and provision of a household, even in the home of such a man, is preferable to the insecurity of a divorced woman that nobody else is likely to ever marry.
I mean, she's left to fend for herself. So this threefold whammy on this particular fellow would hopefully inhibit a hasty recourse to this allegation. But as well, it would indeed protect the woman involved in this particular situation. That's the first, the allegation of premarital unchastity.
The Case of Adultery
Secondly, the case of adultery, verse 22. Very simple. We don't need to explain it. We can just read it.
If a man is found lying with a woman, married to a husband, then both of them shall die. The man that lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. This really discredits the idea that women were property. in Old Covenant Israel.
No, you don't punish property for the violation of the owner. Both the man and the woman were to be executed. That's why in John 8, when they bring that woman caught in adultery in the very act of Jesus, they were not seeking to obey the law of Moses. If she was caught in the very act of adultery, there was a man there with her.
They were not intent on upholding the law of Moses. John tells us conspicuously they were testing Jesus. But both parties in an adulterous situation are to be executed, so you shall put away the evil from Israel. So you see this idea that my private sins or what I do in my bedroom or what I do in the privacy of my own home doesn't affect anybody else.
No, you put away the evil from Israel. It defiles the land. It pollutes the land. God does not look favorably upon a community where there is ungodliness and unrighteousness not being dealt with.
Seduction of a Betrothed Woman
The third miscellaneous law concerning the integrity of marriage is the seduction of a betrothed woman. A betrothal was a legal arrangement. In fact, if you notice, in this particular section, in verses 23 and 24, the woman is referred to as wife in verse 24. So a betrothed woman was the wife of the man she was betrothed to.
Everybody with me? So here we have the seduction of a betrothed woman. Now, that's a tough word to try and get our mind. I don't mean seduction with candles and, you know, romantic music.
Seduction means an enticement to do a particular act in this sense or in this situation, sexual relations. Notice in verse 23. If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband and a man finds her in the city and lies with her. This is very important, the specification of in the city.
Contrasted with what we find in verses 25 to 27 in the countryside. Let me just cut to the chase. If you're in the city and you cry for help, you will get help. If you're in the countryside and you cry for help, you're not going to get help.
Right? There's nobody around. What God through Moses is showing us is intent. He's showing us consent.
Verses 23 and 24 show us this virgin who is betrothed She consents to this activity. If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death with stones. The young woman, because she did not cry out in the city, she consented to the sexual act. If she was not consenting, if she did not want this to happen, all she would have to do is cry out and somebody would come and assist her.
Somebody would come and help her. And the man, because he humbled his neighbor's wife, so you shall put away the evil from among you. So that's the seduction of a betrothed woman.
Rape of a Betrothed Woman
The fourth is the rape of a betrothed woman. Again, these are unsavory ideas and concepts to consider on a Wednesday evening, but it's reality. This past Saturday I stood out on the corner again holding up abortion signs and people come and say, that's disgusting and that's horrible and you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Yeah, I know, it's disgusting.
But we don't live in a world that is filled with sunshine and rose petals and bluebirds. We live in a world that has abortion. We live in a world that has rape. We live in a world that is brutal.
If the heavens declare the glory and the righteousness of God, the streets declare the sinfulness of man. And God does not lie. God does not hide us from these unsavory truths, he tells us how his law protects the innocent and punishes the guilty. Notice in verse 25, if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, same scenario in terms of her legal status, she is betrothed to a man, so she is a wife.
And the man, here's the key verb, forces her. When we get down to verse 28, we read the word seizes, it's a different verb. The NIV is wrong to suggest that verses 28 and 29 is additionally rape. The only rape in this section is verses 25 to 27.
More on that in just a moment. But notice, if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her. This is crucial. That is what the definition of rape is.
It is forced. He forces her, and he lies with her. Then only the man who lay with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the young woman.
Don't penalize her. Don't treat her like an unclean thing. Don't treat her like a leper. She was the victim of a violent assault.
Love her, hug her, care for her, and tend to her. Don't treat her as the criminal. You shall do nothing to the young woman. There is in the young woman no sin deserving of death.
For just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out. She screamed, she begged, she implored, she desired help, but there was no one to save her because she's in the countryside. This was not a consensual act on her part.
She was an unwilling victim of a violent and horrific crime that the Bible says is just as the crime of murder. You don't punish her, you don't treat her poorly, you don't treat her as a leper.
Seduction of a Single Woman
Notice, fifthly, the seduction of a single woman. I'm using my words carefully. This is not the rape of a single woman, verses 28 and 29. The verb employed in verse 25 demands violence.
The verb employed in verse 28 does not. He seizes her. Could be violent, could be unkind, but it's not necessarily implied. If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, then he seizes her and lies with her.
Notice, and they are found out. That's suggestive of her complicity in the situation. It doesn't say, and he is found out. No, it's they are found out.
The parallel legislation is in Exodus 22, verses 16 and 17. where specifically we read, 2216, if a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, same scenario, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride price for her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride price of virgins. What we have in verses 28 and 29 is not the rape of a single woman, but because she's single or not betrothed, she doesn't get the same protection of the law. False.
That is wrong. There is no inconsistency. There's no separate set of rules. There are separate sets of circumstances with the same law designed to punish the guilty and to protect the innocent.
And in this particular scenario, if a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, then he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her, he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days." And when we hear that language of bride price, it does suggest the idea of property. It wasn't like that. It wasn't like that. Christopher Wright says, it is wrong to translate it bride price.
The custom of exchanges of money and other gifts between families in the context of marital arrangements is widespread in many cultures and is usually a part of the cementing relationships and investing in the stability and permanence of the new union. We do the same thing today. What parent in here who has seen their child get married hasn't given them lots of money? It's just part and parcel of the arrangement.
It wasn't the situation where the man hands in 50 shekels and he goes to his cash register and takes his daughter off the shelf and hands her over. It's the way we read it. We impose certain mindsets that it was beneath us, that it was somehow below us, that it's just so far beneath our dignity. No.
It was the fact that families were involved. There was a process. things in place, and in this particular scenario, if a man finds a young woman, he seizes her, he lies with her, and they are found out, and that rule applies that he has to pay, he has to marry her, and he can never ever divorce her.
Prohibition Against Affinity
And then the sixth miscellaneous law is the prohibition against, it's probably affinity, not so much incest, though it would certainly be against incest. Verse 30, a man shall not take his father's wife nor uncover his father's bed. It's probably not his mother that's in view, it's probably his stepmother. Now again, the law would prohibit him from doing that with his mother to be sure, but a man shall not take his father's wife nor uncover his father's bed.
In our London Baptist Confession it says marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity. That's a relationship by blood. You can't marry your brother. You can't marry your sister.
You know, I think first cousin, beyond first cousin. So consanguinity, but then the confession goes on to say, or affinity. Affinity is a relationship by marriage. So if she is your father's wife, that is affinity.
You are not to take her. You are not to uncover his bed. You are not supposed to violate that sacred bond. You are not supposed to violate that covenant arrangement.
This is repeated later in Deuteronomy 2720. It's repeated in Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20. There's a New Testament example in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. What do you think Paul has in mind when he is charging the Corinthians with the horrific crime that is not even named among the Gentiles?
A man has his father's wife. He's got this text. He's got Leviticus in his mind. And he is reproving the church in Corinth for violating this law concerning Affinity.
A man shall not take his father's wife nor uncover his father's bed. So the sixth miscellaneous laws. One, the allegation of premarital unchastity. Two, the case of adultery.
Three, the seduction of a betrothed woman. Four, the rape of a betrothed woman. Five, the seduction of a single woman. And six, the prohibition against affinity.
As I've said on the way here, we have seen how this is applicable to the situation that we find ourselves in. It may not be the case that we find bird's nests and there's a particular theocratic law which dictates how we are to deal with the young, the eggs, or the mother, but certainly the principle holds true for us in this new covenant era. We ought to be concerned for our brother's property. We ought to be concerned for God-given gender distinctives.
Men ought to be men, and women ought to be women, not vice versa. That is wrong. It is a violation of the created order. Birds don't try to swim, and fish don't try to fly.
Neither should men try to be women, and women shouldn't try to be men. As far as the mixing laws and the tassels, we ought to consider our distinctiveness before God the Lord, and we ought to remember His law always. And with reference to these laws concerning sexual relationship, we ought to protect jealously the relationships that we are in, and we ought to guard our hearts with reference to these particular violations of God's holy law. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for its clarity and its application in our own lives. And our Father, we live in a world that is filled with sin and depravity and wickedness. We know that law cannot change the heartless, but it can certainly restrain men. And we pray that your church, that your people would understand your word, would be able to apply your word We pray that you and your mercy would restrain sinners from being as bad as they can be.
We pray that the gospel would be proclaimed, that that power, that glorious truth that does change hearts under the blessing of your Holy Spirit. We ask God in heaven that you would be merciful, that your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.