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Deuteronomy 22:5 - Thoughts on God's restraint of passions - Day 168

Good afternoon friends,

As we come to the end of Deuteronomy, we see the extent of God's concern for the social and moral fabric of Israel as they are about to cross over Jordan.  I want to encourage us to consider His ongoing concern for restraint of passions.

Blessings

Jeff

I don't know if I should be surprised that such a prohibition was needed so far back in history.  Not that I am a fashion expert, but I am having a hard time imaging how a man's cloak is different from a woman's cloak.  Yet God knew that such a prohibition was necessary for his chosen people at that time.  My conclusion is that however a culture distinguishes between clothing for men and women, this is a significant distinction.  God is not saying what a man's garment should look like and what a woman's cloak should look like.  The culture recognizes the difference between the sexes in terms of biology and their clothing was made to align with this difference.   That being said, the desire to "cross dress" is not new to modernity.  The fall affected all areas of humanity including sexuality.  God graciously gives commandments to restrain these impulses for the good of society.  And this is not just a few specific impulses.  For example, The Greek word porneía is where we get our word pornography.  But porneia is any sexual relation outside of monogamous heterosexual marriage.   God seeks to restrain all impulses outside of marriage. 

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