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Deuteronomy Chapter 22 "Property
Rights [1-8]." This
Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription/ location Though our Constitution is taken from the laws of God, our judicial system has taken the "law of precedent" to govern our courts. Should we complain about it? No, for that is the way that it is, and Jesus commanded us to obey the laws of the land. However as a student of God's Word, the "law of precedent" is never an absolute law, for it is based on the way that we have done business in the courts in the past. The law of "precedent" is when a court decision sets an example to be followed in all similar cases arising thereafter. We are functioning under man's laws in our court system that allows for plea bargaining, the process which gives the prosecutor and the defense attorney bargaining power to dismiss one charge in exchange for a plea of guilty to another charge, usually to a lesser charge. The process of the law of precedence is an prime example of the way most churches are carrying out their worship services today, and it is called the "traditions of men". Rather than studying God's Word for what it says, they use the tradition of what was accepted in the past as being of God, as being the truth, rather than going directly to the Word to see what it says. There is very little difference between the "law of precedent" and "the traditions of men". The judge that sat on the case "Brown vs School board 501" set the standard [the law] for all other court cases dealing with segregational matters. It doesn't matter if the judge that gave that ruling was right or wrong, when the high court backed that decision the second time through, it became the law of the land. Even though that law does or doesn't align with the Word of God, it becomes absolute to our system even though it may be flawed, whereas what is stated in God's law is absolute. This is the way that it is done now, and we as Christians have neighbors, and we are to follow the absolutes of God's law in getting along with our neighbors. Good neighbors are priceless. What is important is that we use common sense in the community that we live in, and treat them in the same manner that we would like to be treated ourselves. If you want them to be good neighbors, then you must also be a good neighbor. You look after his property in his absence the same way that you expect him to care for yours when you are gone. When you practice discipline between the neighbors, it makes for a better community. Deuteronomy 22:1 "Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother." This applies today just as it did then, in the rural areas of our land. The point that this is bringing up is that you care about your neighbors and the community that you are living in. If you see something is not right in your neighborhood, try to correct it. If you see something being taken by a thief, take note of what is happening and let the proper authorities know. Use good judgment in protecting your neighbor's [brother's] property. Remember that when you obey God instructions, you will receive God's blessings. Deuteronomy 22:2 "And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again." When an animal comes on your land or doorstep, what do you do? God has it all laid out for you right here. Just because it came to your house, you cannot count it as yours, but God requires us to take care of it until it's owner can be found and the animal can be turned over to its rightful owner. When that owner can't be found, you can continue to care for it, or turn it over to someone that has assumed that authority, such as the humane shelter. In the case of a farm animal, the same instructions apply. You keep that animal and maintain it until the rightful owner can be found. If that owner seeks his or her property, than restore it to him. Deuteronomy 22:3 "In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do wiht his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's , which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself." This verse is directed to those people that say, "I don't want to get involved", when they see a wrong taking place. You had better be willing to get involved for the sake of your neighbor, for when neighbors turn their backs on each other, that is the way crime takes over the neighborhood. This does not make you a policemen, for leave the policeman's work to the policeman. You and I are to assist him or her where we can, when we are in a place to witness a wrong taking place. The reason for this is to make your community a better place to live. In the rural areas people take care of each other differently than in city, but what is important is that people learn to take care of each other. If your neighbors seem hard to get along with, maybe the problem starts with you. If you move away from that neighborhood the next will be just like the one you left, for neighbors earn the respect of each other. If a new person moves into your neighborhood, and asks you how the neighbors are, your answer should be, how were they in the last place that you lived? It will give you a clue as to what to expect from this new neighbor. This is all part of peace of mind and the pursuit of happiness. A good neighbor is part of that peace of mind. A good neighbor creates good neighbors. You are the one that sets the standard of your life. One person can change the whole environment of the neighborhood and turn it all around, and it starts with you. Deuteronomy 22:4 "Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again." If you see a neighbor in trouble, give him a helping hand where you can. It may be something simple like helping lift an object, or giving a cup of sugar when needed. Today there are times when evil people try to use another persons kindness to rob them, and this is why common sense should be use. But when you see help is needed and you can give it, we are to do it, it is God's law. Deuteronomy 22:5 "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God." There are all sorts of instructions given by different so-called scholars on this verse, and each idea deals with their own personal traditional beliefs. Some say it has to do with colors, others with skirts and pants and the things we wear, but this has nothing to do with clothing as we think of it today. At this time men did not wear pants as we think of men's cloths but robed skirts. This verse is directed to the perverting of anything that is intended for one sex gender that it not be used for the other gender. Men are not to wear woman's clothing or objects that are accepted as being of a woman in the community, and the same goes for women wearing the things of men. It is also directed to a man taking the part of a woman, or the woman taking the part of a man in intimate affairs in a relation. This verse has to do with sexual perversion [including Sodomy], and God finds all perversion an abomination. The door to Christ is just as wide for all of God's children. When anyone of God's children fall into sin and come to Him in repentance for that sin in Jesus name, there is forgiveness at the cross of Christ. There is an abomination today in both the physical and spiritual side of this action, for if you continue in your perversion, the odds are that you will die of AIDS. The more serious side to this is on the spiritual side, for if you continue in your perversion without coming to the cross of Christ in forgiveness, you will die the spiritual death. The spiritual death is also called the "second death" and is far more serious than the death of your flesh body. This is a warning to you; if you are in perversion, get out of it and repent of those sins of the past. God forgives all your sins, but you have to seek Him in faith, repenting in Jesus name, and turning from those perversions of the past. Christ will help you if you truly desire repentance and a change in your life. Deuteronomy 22:6 "If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:" Deuteronomy 22:7 "But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." This has the same intent as the verse stating; "never boil a kid in its mother's milk". It is dealing with having respect for the creatures of God's creation. God likes the things as they are, and each creatures has its own purpose in God creation. This verse is reminding us that we are to allow any and all species the right to reproduce themselves. Deuteronomy 22:8 "When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence. This law falls under the local building codes. The reason for building codes are to make the building safe from all foreseeable problems and dangers to the people of the community. People in those days spent most of their time on their roofs, for that is where the watchman was, and the kids played. This is why the battlement, or about a three foot wall was built up on the sides of the roof, so that someone would not fall off. However today we have many other codes that deal with our times and place, and when the community puts them in place, we are to follow and respect each of these codes. If they outgrow their use, then take them off the books and don't worry about them. But when they are part of the code we are to follow them. It is part of God's law, and He cares about your safety and protection. Deuteronomy 22:9 "Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled." There are certain things that you can plant next to each other and others that you can not for they cross pollinate. God likes things as He created them to be, kind after kind. Deuteronomy 22:10 "Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together." God is saying, if you are going to plow with an ox, get two oxen. If you are going to use an ass, then get two of them, but don't try to mix the two kinds of animals. The point here is not that it looks stupid, but that each thing, animal and plant has its own purpose and part in God's creation, and don't mix them up. Agriculture practiced our Father's way will always bless your work, and this applies to the hybrids of agriculture also. Deuteronomy 22:11 "Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of wollen and linen together." Did you know that it is against God's will to mix fabric in the way you dress? This is aimed at adultery, to mix anything that was not to be brought together. What this is saying is that when you mix anything with something else, you have created something that was not intended. Don't mix something that has one purpose by God's laws of creation with something else, even down to the clothing you wear. In this last generation we have entire industries that are build around the mixing of everything imaginable. It is from this that we get all sorts of fabrics, plastics, steels and metals, along with foods, drinks, and so on. If man's minds can imagine a mixture, and a use for that mixture, than we have a new product on the market. So our traditions have thrown this law right back into the face of God. However for us living today, we must follow the principle of the law, and keep from mixing those things, such as plant and animal life, where we know we can control. Deuteronomy 22:12 "Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself." Though this law seems a little silly, we must stop and take a close look at the intent of the law. What is God trying to say to us today. Fringes are tassels, and today there are many other things that take the place of it. Numbers 15:38 "Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of blue:" Numbers 15:39 "And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:" Numbers 15:40 "That ye may remember, and do all My commandments, and be holy unto your God." The blue tassels that hung from the clothing are not only hung on your clothing but those men around you, for it was a reminder to all men to follow God's law. They were to be in plain sight, and every person in the community knew the meaning of those blue tassels. When you see these tassels sway, it was a reminder to all the people to keep all the laws: To not mix the things under the law, to obey all the building codes, to stay out of Sodomy, and to follow all the rest of the laws of God in their lives. This is the same principle as putting a rubber band around your finger to help you remember something. God is telling you as one of His children, don't forget those things that I have told you. We are now going into the punishment of doing crimes dealing with adultery. God created man and woman in a natural state, and one of the most important parts with marriage and the bring of man and woman together was to have children. These next verses then deals with man and woman coming together in a natural order, and the violation of those that do not. Deuteronomy 22:13 "If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her," We are going to skip all the way to the twenty first verse because the punishments of the laws dealing with these verses do not apply to us at this time. At the death of Christ on the cross, Christ's blood became many things dealing with justice and punishment. There is forgiveness at the cross for those that have violated God's law in adultery, but those sins are not the unforgivable sin. When repented in Jesus name, God takes those things off His books and out of His mind, and they become charge less. It is like the police officer tarring up a speeding ticket. Did the speeding take place? Yes, But with not charge to present before the court, it is as if it did not occur in the mind of the court. Though Christ can forgive, there are certain things that He won't, as He stated in Matthew 5:21, 22, that even though the murderer does repent, he still must die for that sins, and sent to the heavenly Father to face the soul of the murdered one before the throne of God, for taking the that life. Capital punishment for murder, rape and treason are the only matters under the law that still exist under the law. Deuteronomy 22:14 "And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, `I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:' " Deuteronomy 22:15 "Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:" Deuteronomy 22:16 "And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, `I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hatedth her;" Deuteronomy 22:17 "And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, `I found not thy daughter a maid;' and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity.' And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city." Deuteronomy 22:18 "And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him." Deuteronomy 22:19 "And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days." Deuteronomy 22:20 "But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:" Deuteronomy 22:21 "Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you." Deuteronomy 22:22 "If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel." Deuteronomy 22:23 "If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find here in the city, and lie with her;" Deuteronomy 22:24 "Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour[s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you." Deuteronomy 22:25 "But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:" This verse deals with rape, and this crime goes on throughout the world and touches most communities of our land. The penalty for rape here is death. Deuteronomy 22:26 "But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:" Rape in the eyes of God is in the same degree of sin as that of murdering a neighbor without cause. Rape and premeditated criminal homicide are treated exactly alike, with the same punishments before the eyes of God. God has no patience with a rapist. God is telling us to kill the rapist, and send him to Me, and I will straighten him out. Get the thug out of the community so these things will not happen again, and it will establish order in the community so that others that have the penalty will keep it in mind and think twice before doing such an act. Deuteronomy 22:27 "For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her." It is hard for some men to understand how God treats those that do premeditative murder under the same light as He does for rape. However, when you hear the mental anguish of the lady that has been raped speak of her trauma that she went through, you see that our Heavenly Father understand exactly the act of what she went through. Deuteronomy 22:28 "If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;" Deuteronomy 22:29 "Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days." In this case both the man and the woman were both consenting to their sexual relationship, and when they have had this relationship together, they are to married. Though there are biblical reasons for divorce, a man could not use those reasons if he and she had engaged in premarital sex, under this law. Under today's laws of our land, this law cannot be held up. The part here that must be considered is whether or not she chose to be in that sexual relationship. She should not for forced to marry him if he forced himself upon her. If he forced that relationship, than the penalty for that criminal act of rape should be the same whether she was betrothed to another or not. The difference between these two cases was that in the first case the woman was betrothed, and in the second case she was not. The virgin girl that is not engaged or married to a man has the same rights as the young lady that is engaged to be married. I know our heavenly Father would have the same penalty on the man committing the act regardless of the marital status of the lady. Deuteronomy 22:30 "A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt." The term, "to discover his father's skirt" is a Hebrew figure of speech that means the same as "discovering thy father's nakedness". These terms have nothing to do with seeing his father's nude body. It has to do with his father's wife, which in most cases is his own mother. The son should never lay with his father's wife, and that is to uncover your father's nakedness. This is exactly what happened in Noah's day when Ham laid with his mother, and from that sexual union came Canaan. God was angry with Ham for committing that act. This act did not start a new race or any other race, for both Ham and his mother were of the Adamic, the ruddy complected race that we call white today. Many today are so stupid that they think that another race was formed from that act, and they show their biblical ignorance, and complete stupidity. God created the races on the sixth day, all of them prior to the creation of Adam, the father of the Adamic race. No sexual union between two people of the same race has, nor ever will create a different race, and to apply such to your conversation shows a lack of understanding of simple biology.
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