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Dave Burnette's Commentary

Deuteronomy Chapter 22

Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Moses 
Date Penned: (1407 BC)
Overview: To Remind and Rededicate Israel to the Lord (c 1-34)
Theme: Principles for Godly Living (c 5-28)
Message: Helping Your Neighbors (v 1-30)

Deuteronomy 22 Commentary

(22:1-4) Caring for Neighbors - The Israelites were to care for lost animals or possessions and return them to the rightful owners. The way of the world, by contrast, is "Finders, keepers. Losers, weepers." We, too, should go beyond the finders-keepers rule by protecting and returning the property of others. This will help keep us from being envious and greedy.

(22:5) Sexual Identity - This verse is not concerned with clothing styles but with people determining their own sexual identities. It is not clothing or personal style that offends God but rather the use of one's appearance to act out or take on a sexual identity different from the one biologically assigned by God at birth. In his wisdom, God intentionally made each individual uniquely either male or female. When men or women claim to be able to choose their own sexual identity, they are making a statement that God did not know what he was doing when he created them.

(22:8-11) Practical Instructions - These are practical laws, helpful for establishing good habits for everyday living. Since people used their flat roofs as porches, a railing (battlement) was a wise safety precaution. If you plant two different crops side by side, one of them will not survive, since the stronger, taller one will block the sunlight and take most of the vital nutrients from the soil. An ox and a donkey, due to differences in strength and size, cannot pull a plow evenly. Two different kinds of thread wear unevenly and wash differently. Combining them reduces the life of a garment. Don't think of God's laws as arbitrary restrictions. Look for the reasons behind the laws. They were made not just to teach or restrict but also to help and protect God's people.

(22:13-30) Sexual Sins - Why did God include so many laws about sexual sins? Instructions about sexual behavior would have been vital for three million people on a 40-year camping trip. But they would be equally important when the people entered the Promised Land and settled down as a nation. In Colossians 3:5-7 and elsewhere, Paul recognizes the importance of strong rules about sex for believers because sexual sins have the power to disrupt and destroy people--and thus, the church. Sins involving sex are not innocent dabblings in forbidden pleasures, as they are so often portrayed to be, but powerful destroyers of relationships. They confuse and tear down the climate of respect, trust, and credibility so essential for solid marriages and secure children.

 

 


Dave Burnette's Life Application

Taking a Stand

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue in the book of Deuteronomy with Chapter 22 and we see Moses giving the 5th set of principles - Laws for Human Relationships. In this section we see principles for Helping Neighbors, Rules for a division of the sexes, and violations for marriage laws. In this section we see again the Lords opinion on the sanctity of Marriage and division of the sexes. In making application we see that the Lord takes Marriage seriously and it being between a man and women. In culture we see our standards for marriage being far from the Lords with 60% ending in divorce. Also in culture we have a debate on gay marriage while the Bible explains God's position clearly. Before He passed away, Truett Cathy the founder of Chick-fil-a came under fire when in an interview he agreed with Scripture on being anti-gay marriage. For those who know Truett this comes as no surprise. He closed his restaurants on Sundays, he taught Sunday School at his church, and honored God with his finances funding many charities. It is small world as I knew Truett as a small boy when we would visit his 1st restaurant in hapeville Ga. The Lord blessed him from there to create this restaurant giant. I remember as a boy asking my parents why he was closed on Sundays having them reply "He is Christian and closes to go to Church on Sundays". The culture and media though - branded him as "old fashioned and intolerant" for his Biblical convictions showing how far from God many in our society have fallen. God's position is found throughout the Bible and in our text today. We see clearly what God believes and we have to make a decision to agree with God's position or agree with the position of society. How about you? Do you take a stand for what is in the Bible even when society disagrees with its principles? Let us learn from today's text seeing God's position on these principles and then Take a Stand for what He declares is right.   

 

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Deuteronomy 22

Deuteronomy 22

 1Thou 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.

 2And 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.

 3In 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.

 4Thou 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.

 5The 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.

 6If 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:

 7But 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.

 8When 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.

 9Thou 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.

 10Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.

 11Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.

 12Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.

 13If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,

 14And 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:

 15Then 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:

 16And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;

 17And, 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.

 18And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;

 19And 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.

 20But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:

 21Then 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.

 22If 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.

 23If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;

 24Then 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.

 25But 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.

 26But 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:

 27For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

 28If 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;

 29Then 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.

 30A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.