8 Tishrei 5776
by David Weiss
Deuteronomy 22:8-12:
“When you build a new house, you must build a
low wall around your roof; otherwise someone may fall from it,and you will
be responsible for his death. “You are not to sow two kinds of seed between
your rows of vines; if you do, both the two harvested crops and the yield
from the vines must be forfeited. You are not to plow with an ox and a donkey
together. You are not to wear clothing woven with two kinds of thread, wool
and linen together. “You are to make for yourself twisted cords on the four
corners of the garment you wrap around yourself."
This chapter of
Deuteronomy has a series of commands in it that seem somewhat random at first. If
you read them in the context of the entire Torah then you see how they show
the theme of the Torah. A big part of what G-d was showing in the Torah was
the idea of being
different than the people who were living in the land they
were about to possess. Over and over, we see the idea he was communicating
was to not be like them. He did not want intermarriage with them nor
to worship their idols. That is why he wanted the Israelites to
defeat them in battle as they entered the land. He didn't want them to
be
influenced into idolatry by them.
Here in this section of verses he
gives rules for things he did not want to exist side by side. He didn't want
two kinds of crops sewn side by side, or two different kinds of animals to
plow side by side or two kinds of material to be sewn together. Sometimes
people try to look for a modern application of these rules. Not that there
is anything wrong with understanding the modern day application of
eating pork (for example, from the dietary laws) but that it somewhat
misses the point. It's okay to understand them in that light but the
original purpose is found in the context of the obedience it required of
them.
Some people also believe that the dietary rules and other aspects
of the Torah no longer apply. They base this on verses in the New Covenant
which are often taken out of context. They use Kefa's vision in Acts of a
sheet being lowered with unclean animals, and the command to eat from it as
being a nullification of the dietary laws. But he never actually ate from
them. It was a picture from G-d to not call Gentiles unclean but for Kefa to
tell them about the Gospel. I personally believe the dietary restrictions
still apply, but only to
Jewish people. The book of Acts makes it clear that
they do not apply to gentile believers. Are they a matter of salvation? I am
not convinced they are, but neither am I convinced they have
been nullified for Jewish believers.
This context of the Torah does
apply to all believers. The Bible teaches us to be in the world but not of
the world. It is telling us that it is still true that we are to be different
than the world around us. How else can we show unbelievers that we are
different from
the world? If we make business decisions like them, how will
they see
us as different? If we act just like them, how will they see us
as different? You may not feel led to wear garments with only one kind
of material or not believe you can only eat certain foods. But when we
go the opposite direction and do everything the same way as the world
does
it is hard for them to see a difference in us and therefore a need to
change.
I know two different people whose faith led them to make
hard decisions in their work a number of years ago. One is a police
officer who was told to sign a blank arrest report because the person
arrested was the child of a politician. He refused to do so and
eventually
everything worked out. Another was a plant manager whose boss
wanted him to do something similar. (Sign a paper that was not true.) When
he refused, he ended up losing his job and had to get a job that paid half
of what that one paid. Both were led by their faith. Both had different
outcomes. We do not know what results our faithful actions will bring about
and that is why it is called faith.
The bottom line for us today is not
whether I am correct in my assertions or whether you agree with them. The
bottom line is that from the beginning of any kind of organization to how we
worship G-d,he has been very clear about one thing: we are supposed to stand
apart
from the world and how they live for themselves, versus how we
are supposed to live our lives for G-d. Whether we do that by
following the rules of the Torah or by living our lives in a way that shows
the world we are different is not the important part. Living for
G-d;
walking with him, and listening to his counsel are how we
set ourselves apart for him. The great part is that it does not have to
befor show in any way. We just need to live our lives for him and
they will see the difference in our lives. Then we will have
the opportunity to tell them about him.
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