Moses begins by telling us what every good community needs, that is, respect and love for our neighbours. If we love our neighbour, we must look out for our neighbour’s property. Even if we don’t get along with our neighbours, we still have a responsibility to protect our neighbour’s property.
Moses says if someone sees their fellow Israelite’s ox wandering around loose and don’t do anything about it, Deuteronomy 22:1 / Exodus 23:4-5, this demonstrated that they simply didn’t care about other people’s property.
Whatever a fellow Israelite loses is to be returned, Deuteronomy 22:1, or held on to until they claim it, Deuteronomy 22:2. The same law applied to some losing a donkey, cloak, or anything else, they must not ignore it, Deuteronomy 22:3.
If someone sees a fellow Israelite’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, they cannot ignore it, they must help the owner get it to its feet, Deuteronomy 22:4. In other words, they are to help them rather than acting like they don’t exist. Israel was not only to universally oppose sin but they were also to keep watch and help each other.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The priest and the Levite, when they saw the wounded man, passed by on the other side of the way, Luke 10:31-32. This was a notorious breach of the merciful law mentioned above.’
To confuse the identity of women and men was a corruption of God’s creation. A woman who puts on a man’s clothes or a man who puts a woman’s clothing on is to be marked as detestable to the Lord, Deuteronomy 22:5 / 1 Corinthians 11:3-15.
The text doesn’t tell us what determined either a man or woman’s clothing, but if the clothing was identified by society to reflect the status of either a man or woman, then men and women should shun the parading themselves as the opposite sex, 1 Corinthians 11:2-15.
Moses goes on to give regulations regarding finding eggs or young birds being nursed by their mother. The people were not permitted to take both the mother and young together, Deuteronomy 22:6. If Israel obeys this commandment, and allow the mother to go free, then they would find blessings and long life, both as individuals and as a nation, Deuteronomy 22:7.
Moses goes on to give more regulations regarding the care for others even when building a house, Deuteronomy 22:8. The parapet was the battlement or railing to prevent someone from falling off a roof, Joshua 2:6 / 2 Samuel 11:2 / Acts 10:9. Failure to build in a safe way would bring guilt to the owner or builder of the home, Deuteronomy 22:8.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Houses in the East are in general built with flat roofs, and on them men walk to enjoy the fresh air, converse together, sleep, c. it was therefore necessary to have a sort of battlement or balustrade to prevent persons from falling off. If a man neglected to make a sufficient defence against such accidents, and the death of another was occasioned by it, the owner of the house must be considered in the light of a murderer.’
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Deuteronomy 22:6-8.
‘These precepts are designed to cultivate a spirit of humanity, Deuteronomy 25:4 / Leviticus 22:28 / 1 Corinthians 9:9-10.’
Moses doesn’t tell us why the Lord wouldn’t allow planting two different types of crops in one field other than the fact that if it is done. The crops and the fruit of the vineyard were now classed as defiled, Deuteronomy 22:9 / Leviticus 19:19. In other words, the whole field was to be given up. Moses also doesn’t tell us why it was unlawful to plough with an ox and ass under the same yoke, Deuteronomy 22:10 / Leviticus 19:19.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The ox and the donkey being of such different size and strength, it would be cruel to the latter to yoke them together. These two animals are named as being those ordinarily employed in agriculture, Isaiah 32:20.’
He also doesn’t tell us why it was forbidden to mix different fibres, Deuteronomy 22:11 / Numbers 15:37-41. The mixing of fibres in garments, Leviticus 19:19, that is, wool and linen is probably a reference to Canaanite garments that were worn in respect of certain Baals.
Just as the Israelite, who mingled two things that didn’t lawfully belong together, the apostle Paul teaches the same principle when it comes be being spiritually yoked with an unbeliever, 2 Corinthians 6:14. Israel are to make tassels on the four corners of the cloak they wear, Deuteronomy 22:12 / Numbers 15:38.
When a man took a woman in marriage, she was to be a virgin, Deuteronomy 22:13-14, it may be that when the man lies sexually with the woman he believes she has been defiled by another man. If the man truly believes this, he is to state his cause to the woman’s mother and father, Deuteronomy 22:15.
The woman’s mother and father were to take her ‘proof of virginity’ before the elders, Deuteronomy 22:15. The reason for doing this was simply to prove the man’s fears were wrong. Her father speaks to the elders and says he gave his daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her, Deuteronomy 22:16.
The proof of virginity was the bloodstained linens on which the man and woman had sexual intercourse the night of the wedding when the wedding was consummated, Deuteronomy 22:17. The linen was kept by the father of the bride and so this was evidence that the woman was a virgin at the time of the wedding.
If the accusing man has been discovered as wrong, he was to pay his wife’s father and mother 100 shekels of silver, Deuteronomy 22:18-19 / Exodus 22:16-17, because he has sought to shame his wife by giving her a bad name, Deuteronomy 22:19, that is, she was a fornicator before she was married, 1 Corinthians 6:18. The man had forfeited his future right to divorce this wife, Deuteronomy 22:19.
However, if the woman was found to be guilty of immorality previous to the marriage, Deuteronomy 22:20, that is, she had committed fornication with another man before she was married to the current man, then she was to be stoned at her father’s house for she had brought disgrace on her father’s house, Deuteronomy 22:21.
Notice again, Israel are commanded to ‘purge the evil from among you’, Deuteronomy 21:21 / Deuteronomy 13:5 / Deuteronomy 17:7 / Deuteronomy 17:12 / Deuteronomy 19:19.
Moses speaks of a man who is found sleeping with another man’s wife, this is adultery, Deuteronomy 22:22. In the case of adultery, both the man and woman were to be stoned, Deuteronomy 22:22 / Deuteronomy 17:6-7 / John 8:1-12.
Notice again, Israel is commanded to ‘purge the evil from among you’, Deuteronomy 22:22 / Deuteronomy 22:24 / Deuteronomy 13:5 / Deuteronomy 17:7 / Deuteronomy 17:12 / Deuteronomy 19:19 / Deuteronomy 21:21.
He also speaks of a woman who is engaged to a husband. If a man had intimate relations with a virgin who was engaged to a husband, and it happened in the town, and no one hears the woman cry out in an attempt to stop the man, then both were to be stoned to death, Deuteronomy 22:23-24.
Notice again, Israel is commanded to ‘purge the evil from among you’, Deuteronomy 22:24 / Deuteronomy 22:22 / Deuteronomy 13:5 / Deuteronomy 17:7 / Deuteronomy 17:12 / Deuteronomy 19:19 / Deuteronomy 21:21.
Moses goes on to give instructions regarding the sin of rape. If out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die, Deuteronomy 22:25.
If the fornication took place in a field, the cries of the woman couldn’t be heard, therefore, only the rapist was to be stoned and the innocent woman left alone, Deuteronomy 22:26. The evidence of the rape would have been the crying out of the woman in the town, Deuteronomy 22:27. However, if she didn’t cry out, then she wasn’t raped but willingly committed fornication.
Moses speaks of a case of fornication between two people who are not engaged to be married, if it is that they are found out, Deuteronomy 22:28, then the man is to pay her father fifty shekels of silver, that is, around one and a quarter pounds of silver, Deuteronomy 22:29.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The fine was to be paid to the father, because the slander was against him principally as the head of the wife’s family. If the damsel were an orphan the fine reverted to herself. The fact that the penalties attached to bearing false witness against a wife are fixed and comparatively light indicates the low estimation and position of the woman at that time.’
The two are to be married and never to divorce, because the man had violated her, Deuteronomy 22:29. Moses finishes by speaking about the sin of incest, a man isn’t to marry his father’s wife, Deuteronomy 22:30 / 2 Samuel 3:7 / 2 Samuel 16:22 / 1 Kings 2:13-25 / Ezekiel 22:10 / 1 Corinthians 5:1-2.