Deuteronomy 22:1-8

Preventing accidental death 22:1-8

Love for one’s neighbor comes through in several concrete situations in Deuteronomy 22:1-4. Failure to get involved and help a neighbor in need is also wrong under the New Covenant (James 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17).

Men appeared in women’s clothing and vice versa (Deuteronomy 22:5) in some of the worship rituals of Astarte. [Note: Ibid., p. 234.] Furthermore transvestism did and still does have associations with certain forms of homosexuality. [Note: Craigie, The Book . . ., p. 288.] Perhaps for these reasons God gave the command to wear clothing appropriate to one’s own sex as well as because God intended to keep the sexes distinct (Deuteronomy 22:5). Homosexuality was punishable by death in Israel (Leviticus 20:13).

"There are positive values in preserving the differences between the sexes in matters of dress. The New Testament instruction in Galatians 3:28, that there is neither male nor female, but that Christians are all one in Christ Jesus, applies rather to status in God’s sight than to such things as dress. Without being legalistic some attempt to recognize the relative difference of the sexes, within their common unity as persons, is a principle worth safeguarding." [Note: Thompson, p. 234.]

Deuteronomy 22:6-7 show that God cares for the least of His creatures, and He wanted His people to do the same. Israelites could not kill mother birds along with their young or vice versa.

"The affectionate relation of parents to their young which God had established even in the animal world, was to be kept just as sacred [among animals as among humans, Deuteronomy 22:6-7]." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 3:410.]

Another view is that this law taught the Israelites to protect this important source of food, namely, eggs. [Note: Deere, p. 302. On the law of the bird’s nest (Deuteronomy 22:6-7), see Robert M. Johnston, "The Least of the Commandments: Deuteronomy 22:6-7 in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity," Andrews University Seminary Studies 20:3 (Autumn 1982):205-15.] Building parapets on their flat-roofed houses, to keep people from falling off, reminded them of the value of human life and to love their neighbors (Deuteronomy 22:8).