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Not all biblical laws seem clear to us—clear in the sense that we understand what they’re teaching and why they’re important. For instance, in Deuteronomy 22:11, Moses said, “You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.” What’s that about?
The right assumption is that Moses’s instructions are based on moral reasoning, even if those reasons aren’t always clear to us. The biblical laws are not arbitrary or aimless. Have you ever read what he told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 22:9–12?
Moses said, “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself” (Deut. 22:9–12).
The first three commands are prohibitions (Deut. 22:9–11), and they all have the notion of mixing what shouldn’t mixed. The fourth command (22:12) isn’t negative; it’s a positive command about making tassels for the corners of the outer garment.
But what’s the logic behind these negative and positive commands?
Without getting into the specifics in each these commands (which we will do in a future post), we can say that, broadly speaking, the point is Israel’s calling to live holy lives. They are to live distinctly in the promised land, for the Canaanites were idolaters and lovers of dark deeds. The Israelites needed to enter the land and live differently. They needed to be holy, for the Lord their God was holy.
Their calling to live holy lives was demonstrated in moral commands as well as ritual and agricultural practices that were based on moral reasoning. The distinctiveness of the Israelites as a people was something to be manifested in every realm of their lives.
Instructions about sowing seeds and yoking animals, then, were not irrelevant to holy living. The people of God were called to be set apart, and they were to look like a people set apart. Being able to appreciate the emphasis on holiness is important as we study the many commands which Moses gave to the people.
At first, not even Daniel LaRusso understood all the reasons behind Mr. Miyagi’s training regimen in The Karate Kid. When he showed up at Mr. Miyagi’s house, Mr. Miyagi told him to wax the cars—“wax on, wax off.” Then he told him to “paint the fence.” Then he told him to “sand the floor.”
Daniel eventually expressed that he didn’t think any of this had anything to do with the training he’d been hoping to receive. But, of course, the viewer knows that we can trust Mr. Miyagi and that Daniel is immature and ignorant. The exercises of waxing, painting, and sanding had been training him all along. The exercises had everything to do with what Daniel needed.
The instructions of Moses were training the Israelites in holiness. The people of God were learning to submit all the aspects of their lives to the wisdom and goodness and authority of the living God who had redeemed them and who entered into covenant with them.
The Israelites were to be in the world but not of the world. They were to be in the land but not of the land. They were to be holy.
In 1987 our 13 year old daughter ran away from home. That was devastating to my wife and I. We explored every, even remote, avenue trying to locate her. At one point I questioned possible cab drivers, bus drivers etc and deveopled a series of leads she appeared to have gone to another state 1000 miles from home. So I drove there, following leads along the way (all of these leads later proved spurious, result of strangers wanting to sound helpful).
I ended up walking the streets of a resort town in Colorado where random teens hung out.
After several days with no success I was passing a shop which carried handmade silver jewelry. A particular cross necklace caught my eye. I bought it, put it on, beneath my shirt- close to my heart vowing to always keep her close and on my mind.
After 18 months we did find her, she had been safe though deluded, and has had a good life in spite of that foolish time. I continued to wear the cross necklace under my shirt, close to my heart. I took it off only when having open heart surgery in 2014.
In 2023, the Lord impressed me to engage in a lengthy fast/prayer time to refocus on Him. One day I was getting dressed and was tucking the cross inside my shirt as usual when I "heard" Him ask "Are you ashamed of Me? Does that need to be hidden?"
Since that day, I answered those questions by wearing it proudly exposed for all to see- still near my heart but proclaiming Who I follow. I cannot begin to relate the number of conversations about the Lord have started because people take note, ask a question or wonder - just what is this all about. It's not a tiny cross, about 1 1/2 inches tall, sort of rustic, primitive design ....in short it catches the eye. There it shall be as long as I have breath for all to see and perhaps wonder - why does this stodgy, sort of quiet guy have this around his neck?