Because the Israelites were God’s chosen people, separated from other nations, practices that were acceptable in pagan cultures were prohibited to the Jews. God set apart the priests and Levites to teach the people how to know right from wrong and the clean from the unclean, and this helped the people develop discernment. As they obeyed God and sought His blessing, they learned more and more of what was fitting and proper in Jewish society. The nation decayed spiritually because the priests and Levites failed to do their job, and the Jews began to imitate their heathen neighbors (Ezek. 22:23–29; 44:23).
Clothing (v. 5). The familiar and now accepted word “unisex” first appeared in print in Life magazine (June 21, 1968) in an article describing unisex clothing as “good fashion as well as good fun.” In this verse, God calls it “an abomination.” However, people who agree with Moses don’t always agree with each other on how this law should be applied in the church. Since Christians aren’t under the old covenant, some believers disregard the law completely, while others use it to tell the women in their churches how they should dress, both at home and in public. We can’t ignore God’s revelation in the Old Testament, because Jesus and the apostles used the Old Testament in their discussions of spiritual concerns. Even if this law about clothing doesn’t apply to the church in the same way it applied to Israel, there are spiritual principles behind it that are important to us (2 Tim. 3:16–17).
To begin with, this law doesn’t focus only on clothing. Literally it says, “There shall not be man’s things upon a woman, and a man shall not put on a woman’s clothes.” The phrase “man’s things” could refer to anything that was commonly associated with men in that culture, including clothing, tools, and weapons. If we apply this law strictly to believers today, then we have to determine in every culture and in every circumstance what things are feminine and what things are masculine, and that might not be easy to do. Semitic men wore earrings and other gold jewelry, a practice frowned upon by some churches today. That this verse is a prohibition of transvestitism is clear, but could a man in Western culture use a woman’s umbrella or wear her raincoat?
Moses was reminding the people that there is a distinction between the sexes, established by God from the very beginning, and that God wants us to maintain this distinction. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27). By divine wisdom, man and woman were made for each other but were made to be different from each other. Many nations in the ancient world approved and practiced homosexuality, even in their religion, but God prohibited it in Israel and made it a capital crime (Lev. 18:22; 20:13). The maintaining and honoring of sexual distinctions neither demeans the woman nor exalts the man. Both were created by God in His image and both shared in the creation blessing and mandate (Gen. 1:28–31). To blur their distinctives, so that men are no longer distinguishable from women is to bring confusion to God’s order for His world (1 Cor. 11:1–16; 1 Tim. 2:9–15).
If men and women in Israel had been allowed to “cross dress,” it would have made it easier for them to sin. All the adulterer had to do was put on women’s clothing and nobody would know who was visiting the neighbor’s house. In today’s society, disguises are no longer needed. In fact, sexual sins are standard fare in media entertainment, and people don’t seem to be ashamed of what they see or do. Furthermore, “cross dressing” would mean imitating the pagan nations that used such practices in their religious rituals. “Be not conformed to this world” (Rom. 12:2) doesn’t mean that Christians should look like they came from another world or out of a time warp. Dedicated Christians will not only look and act like Christians, but they’ll also look and act like men and women. This also applies to children and young people. Fashions change and cultures differ, but Christian girls and women should always dress modestly (1 Tim. 2:9) in garments suited to the occasion, and so should men and boys.
The principle behind the law is that of separation from the world and recognition of God’s order for men and women. It’s a principle that helps us honor God and avoid confusion and sin. To say that we have to obey the letter of this law today is to miss the point. Does this also mean we can’t wear garments with mixed fibers (Deut. 22:11) or that we must sew tassels on our clothing (v. 12; see Num. 15:37–40; Matt. 23:5)? Perhaps the prohibition about mixed fabrics is a further reminder of Israel’s responsibility to be separated from the other nations that practiced these things, perhaps as part of their religious system.
Farming (vv. 9–10; Lev. 19:19). By not yoking different kinds of animals together, the Jews were again recognizing God’s order in nature. There was also the matter of separation, for the ox was a clean animal and the ass an unclean animal. From a practical point of view, the animals have different temperaments, and their being yoked together could only create problems. Keeping the various seeds separated when sowing the fields was also recognition of the principle of separation. It’s possible that the pagan nations mingled their seed as a part of their fertility rites in connection with their gods.
Whether they were weaving garments, plowing with their farm animals, or sowing their seed, the Jewish people were to remember that they were God’s people and therefore a separated people. This was the old covenant version of 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (nkjv).