Deuteronomy 22:1-12
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. 2 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. 3 You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you 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.
4 “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.
5 “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.
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; 7 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.
8 “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.
9 “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.
10 “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
11 “You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.
12 “You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself.
This collection of miscellaneous laws covered everything from accountability and involvement to care for your neighbors to sexual purity and identity reinforced by appropriate clothing to caring for animals to safe building designs to protect others to purity in farming of crops and animals to purity in clothing materials and also to religious significance in certain clothing design elements to remember the LORD and faithfulness towards Him. The last one with four tassels on the garments was from Numbers 15:38, 39-40 that prescribed and described their placement and meaning to remind them to avoid sin and seek Him in holiness and obedience to His word. This part still applies to us today, the remembrance of following the scriptures we take in by hearing, reading, studying, and memorizing with appropriate meditation on meaning and application. This is to continue to focus on following our Lord and pursuing holiness (Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 1:15-16) to Him (Exodus 28:36, 38, 2 Corinthians 7:1) in our sanctification. The others were not for us to follow in the letter, but the intent, that we may in various ways remind ourselves to love our neighbors as ourselves in care and assistance in times of need (Colossians 1:10, 1 Timothy 6:18, Titus 3:14) to do all we should be doing (Hebrews 13:21) as we follow our Lord and Deliverer, Jesus Christ. This extends to being good stewards of the world and around us as originally entrusted to our fore-bearers, Adam and Eve, though not at the expense of the people made in God’s image. It does include care in our farming of good treatment of animals and responsible management of crops with the aim of purity in our efforts for the good of others and not to serve the environment as an end. It also means in a related sense that we build responsibly to keep safety a priority in our design and building as well, again to love our neighbors as ourselves for their good and God’s glory in their watchcare. These then are examples and not legalistic checklists to put God’s word into practice for accountability and watchcare of one another and ourselves to follow His word in holiness in all we do and pursue in living for Him.
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