The instructions from Moses to the Israelites were training the Israelites for righteousness, training the Israelites for faithfulness. But for sure, there are instructions that are not so obviously contributing toward a holy life. You might see something like verse 11, you shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. That doesn't just pop out as obvious to say, oh, well, obviously you wouldn't do that, you know? It's like, what's going on that they would be told not to do that? So for sure there are instructions that don't so obviously contribute toward a holy life. No doubt the initial context of the Israelites would allow for some greater clarity because Moses remains with them for these years throughout the wilderness. And even as these instructions are given, He and the priest would be available for any explanation or further expansions on these instructions. And we have the canonical text, and that may mean we don't have all of our questions answered. A certain reasoning that might not be as obvious to us, reasoning that would be more obvious to them perhaps. But I do wanna emphasize that the instructions of Moses, wherever they're found, including what we're gonna study tonight, were never arbitrary, they were never aimless. These commands are not just randomly chosen because he was trying to investigate and be involved in the minutiae of Israel's life. Instead, the Israelites were learning and being trained to trust that whatever instructions they were being given, these instructions served a greater goal of the nation's holiness and their call to love God and love neighbor. Now, I don't know about you, but this particular passage makes me think of the movie The Karate Kid, and I know the link is obvious to you, so I should go ahead and explain. It makes me think of when Daniel LaRusso was training under Mr. Miyagi. Mr. Miyagi has property, Daniel LaRusso shows up at this property, and Mr. Miyagi says, wax the cars. Wax on, wax off, right, famous phrasing. He tells Daniel, paint the fence. He tells Daniel, sand the floor. None of this is initially relevant to Daniel. He's unclear as to how any of this applies. In fact, he's actually pretty frustrated the more minutes and days into this training it goes. These instructions are not initially clear to Daniel, but they all connect to the larger goal of training muscle memory and reflexes. particular movements that all along the way have actually been training him for the very purposes he had shown up on the property to receive. And so when I think about these Israelites receiving a variety of instructions on different realms of life, here's how to think about your linen and your wool, and here's how not to yoke certain animals together. And by the way, when you're in your vineyard and sowing, here's what you're not to do. All of that doesn't stand out perhaps immediately as moral commandments, but they are all shaping the spiritual reflexes and worldview of the Israelites. It is meant to shape and influence them in a manner where they can see with greater discernment, we are called to live differently. And part of that training in righteousness, part of those instructions in practical matters will involve them standing out in ways that show their distinction. Moses gives these Israelites instruction that sometimes is gonna require some more reflection on our part. The moral reasoning that undergirds these instructions. But we can trust that whatever they're learning to do, their ceremonies and the dietary practices and the agricultural instructions are all contributing toward the goal of shaping them to be a holy people. even if they get these instructions initially and think, what does this have to do with us being a set apart people? The Israelites were to live in Canaan, but not like the Canaanites. They were to be in the land, but not of the land, in the world, but not of the world. This is their mission. The four instructions in verses nine to 12 serve that end. Three of them are prohibitions. You've noticed that in verse nine, you shall not. Verse 10, you shall not. Verse 11, you shall not. Followed in verse 12 by a fourth command, you shall. Three negatives, so three prohibitions, and then one positive commandment. And I think that these are held together by allowing that fourth commandment to really click things into place for us. And I hope to show that in just a bit. So three of these are prohibitions. The fourth is a positive commandment, and they remind us of earlier language in Leviticus. In Leviticus 19, 19, God said, you shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, and nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material. The passage tonight kind of reminds us of certain things they're not to mix. And that's a common denominator because notice that two kinds of seed in verse 9 or in verse 10, an ox and a donkey or in verse 11, wool and linen mixed together are all sorts of things that combined shouldn't be combined. That mixed together ought not be mixed together. And that seems to be an underlying point here. that there are mixtures they are not to engage in. And that has to do with their calling as a people of God not to have their worldview and their spiritual worship mixed in with what's going on in Canaan. So by not mixing certain things externally, they are training themselves in righteousness to be a people whose heart is not mixed with the practices of the Canaanites. Because you wouldn't want to say that mixing wool and linen is actually immoral. That wouldn't be the point. nor with sowing seed in the rows where there are vineyards that are planted. The point of these prohibitions is not to say these are moral issues in themselves, but to show training in righteousness to be a set-apart holy people, which of course is thoroughly a moral issue. These are forbidden mixtures, and I do think that they have this practical value of training them. In prior parts of Deuteronomy, I've also highlighted that the Ten Commandments are forming the structure and flow for why these laws appear where they do. I argued last time we were in Deuteronomy that verse 8 ended a section relying on the Sixth Commandment. The Sixth Commandment, you shall not murder. Beginning tonight in 22 verse 9, through I think chapter 23 verse 14, you have several sections that are reliant on the 7th commandment. So we move in the order of the 10 commandments and we see in the 7th commandment, you shall not commit adultery. Now on the face of it, we're thinking that's the covenant of marriage and yet We see that the seventh commandment, as Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, the spirit of it is about being faithful with one's body and heart, one's thoughts and commitments, knowing where God has drawn boundaries and honoring them. The passage tonight is preparing us for several sections where God's design and His boundaries and the spirit of the law seem to rely upon the seventh commandment. You shall not commit adultery. Things that ought not be mixed. So you have, you know, the covenant of marriage and then something outside of marriage where that boundary is violated. When we read about two kinds of seed, an ox and a donkey, cloth of wool and linen, we're learning about things that are to remain separate and not blended together. And that is preparing us for issues of holiness and morality later on in this section. So let's begin with the first of these four commandments. And I'm just going to treat each of these verses as a part. So four parts to the passage tonight, one part per verse. And in verse nine, here is what this essentially summarizes to me. Don't sow two kinds of seeds in the same vineyard. Don't sow two kinds of seed in the same vineyard. So the full commandment is, in Prohibition, you shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you've sown, and the yield of the vineyard. All right, well, what you have in mind, first of all, is a vineyard. So you've got this picture of vines, you've got the fruitfulness of the grapes, you've got the plans for winemaking, and all of the things that will be part of owning and maintaining your vineyard. But your vineyard doesn't take up every square inch. You've got this vineyard setup, this lovely vineyard setup, with space that you could use for other things. And so you might imagine someone who is engaging in agricultural activity to say, well, you know, We've got some space here that we could plant some other stuff. We could plant some other things. We've got seed that we could use. Here's some rose that we could take advantage of. Okay, so we've got the vineyard going on, but what if we sowed some seed as well? He says, don't do that. 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. Now, there is a lack of clarity about what it means in the second part of the verse, lest the whole yield be forfeited. Forfeited to whom? Some translations have tried to say, lest the whole yield be defiled, but I don't think that's the best way to see this statement. Instead, the whole yield being forfeited, or in some way given up as a dedication to towards something else. What we know from the book of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, Exodus gets a bit of this as well, is that the priests and the tabernacle could receive offerings from your crops. So things from your vineyard and things that you have harvested, seed that you have planted, could be dedicated to the priesthood and to the temple or the tabernacle. And you could, if you wanted to say, I'm going to dedicate these crops, but I'm not going to actually take the crops. I'll take the price that they would get. And then I'm just going to donate that money. And that is equivalent to donating my crop. There's various ways it could be done. It seems to have something in view like that. Let's say you have pledged that things from this vineyard are going to go to the priest and to the tabernacle. If you sow within this vineyard two kinds of seed, then not only is the dedicated fruit of the vineyard part of what you're committing, but from that ground are also things you have sown that are going to be harvested besides the grapes. So the whole yield would then be forfeited. He says, don't mix this. It would be the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. Don't do that. Now it also is the case from what we can tell archaeologically and historically that the Egyptians mixed grapes in their vineyards with vegetables they were planting in the same areas. Perhaps this is not only an emphasis for the Israelites to be careful about what they are pledging to the tabernacle and not end up forfeiting all of their food supply, but even setting themselves apart from a background in Egypt where people operated in a certain way with planting and there to live differently. So, zoom out for a moment. Is it immoral that they would have any sowing of seed, you know, among the vineyard planting? No, there's nothing on the face of that that makes that immoral. But the symbolism of what these agricultural practices have, and perhaps the call back to Egyptian background, could explain the need to set themselves apart that here in verse 9 is clear. So I think verse 9 could be the trickiest of the four to wrap our minds around, but do not sow two kinds of seed in the same vineyard is the case. Other Old Testament scholars have noticed Israel is often depicted with imagery that's not as much a people, but something else like a vine that has been planted or a vineyard that is being tended. So you can describe Israel with metaphors in the Psalms and in the prophets. And one of those metaphors for Israel is that they are a vineyard. And so perhaps, as some theologians have suggested, if Israel is a vineyard and they're planting vineyards, they are to be a people unmixed when it comes to their worship and ethics and practices. They are not to imitate the Canaanites. So they are to be a pure vineyard, and therefore in order to symbolize that truth, they're to plant vineyards unmixed with other seeds. So there's a variety of ways to think about the importance, but there is a spiritual theological purpose. It's not because seed wouldn't actually grow. This kind of farming and agricultural practices is something that is done in other parts of the world. So we have to think about what would be the reason behind this spiritually and theologically. And it has to do with their call to be holy. All right. Now, you're ready for the second one. I know you are. Here we go. Here's law number two. Prohibition number two. Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. The way this commandment is stated in verse 10, you shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. Both an ox and a donkey could be useful to have on your property for a variety of reasons. You could have a donkey doing particular work, either bearing a certain burden on the donkey's back to carry, or doing some sort of activity in the yard itself. You could have the same thing with an ox, though the ox would be less used for transit and more hard work and labor that you're yoking the ox for in your yard. But let's imagine this scenario. You picture this yoke, this wooden device, and it's placed upon this massive ox and this little donkey. How is that going to look? It looks weird is how it looks. That's how it looks. These are not matched, okay? We would say this is unequally yoked. Okay, this is a picture of what ought not to be brought together. You got this massive ox and yoking that with another ox, well that would make sense. You got a donkey and if you put that together with another donkey, well that would make sense. Here's what doesn't make sense. Yoking together an ox and a donkey that's gonna plow. It would be comical trying to watch that. You're sitting here watching what the ox is doing and the donkey trying to keep up. The strength, the sheer size, the pace, none of it matches. That's the point though, isn't it? That's the point. The point is the spiritual significance that is at play when you watch visibly the need for not mixing these two things. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey. Others have drawn attention to the fact that an ox was in the category of animals that were in the dietary category of clean. And a donkey was in the category in the dietary regulations of an unclean animal when they were forbidden to eat. So here, not only do you have a mismatch of size and pace and strength, you also have a mixing of clean and unclean, which they're dietary procedures and protocols made clear in Deuteronomy 14. So when we look at these two animals and we think, well, what's going on here? Well, what's going on here is what it symbolizes. It symbolizes not mixing what ought not to be brought together. The Israelites were to live in accordance with God's design. They were to walk in a holy order together, and they were not to yoke themselves with the Canaanites. They were not to take their daughters for their sons. They were not to intermix with their marriages and with their descendants, idolaters with the worship of the living God. You might say, in other words, the Israelites, as people, were not to yoke themselves together with what would not make sense. In fact, if you saw someone yoking together an ox and a donkey, you would question their discernment. You would say, what do they not see about this? This is not a good idea. And of course, that's precisely the point. The spiritual lesson here in verse 10. We go to the third prohibition. So, do not sow two kinds of seed in the same vineyard. Don't plow with an ox and donkey yoke together. Thirdly, do not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. Now, there is some speculation as to why this would be, but this is a remark about clothing. In fact, verse 12 is a remark about clothing as well. It's just a positive command. So this prohibition, you shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. This does not mean they couldn't have a part or a material of wool and then a separate material of linen and wear that on the same person. It means that the cloth, an individual piece of cloth, could not consist of both wool and linen. So you could have linen cloth, you could have wool cloth, wearing those things is not an issue. But there is this prohibition about having a cloth of wool and linen mixed together. And the reason for this, consider first of all the background here in Egypt. As one writer puts it, this is language mixed cloth here, reflecting a common Egyptian practice of mixing various materials in clothing. In fact, such clothing, he goes on to say, made of mixed fabrics was often worn by pagan cultic prostitutes and Israel is to have nothing to do with such practices. So we could immediately notice perhaps similarly to the sowing two kinds of seed in a vineyard, if they are coming out of a place of great religious confusion and darkness, then avoiding certain things that would denote those earlier practices can be useful in their training in righteousness. as they grow in discernment, as they grow in maturity, because there's nothing immoral about wool, nothing immoral about linen, and there's not a moral component to these materials, right? But so it must mean that it is signifying something about their devotion, conviction, and worship that we must pay attention to. I find it especially intriguing that priests did wear cloth made of both wool and linen. So while this could tell them to not only be set apart from Egyptian practices, it also reminds them that even though they are a kingdom of priests, there is a segment of their population, the priests from Levi's tribe, that do dress and live differently. They are to be holy Now the people as an Israelite community are to be a holy people. But individually, they are to live ritually pure and clean, being able to approach the tabernacle. And the priests are to live in such a manner that would not disqualify them from tabernacle procedures, offering of sacrifices, entering the holy place, and especially the high priest entering the most holy place once a year on the day of atonement. The priests wore garments of mixed fabrics. We know this from the book of Exodus, in Exodus 28 and 29, which are concerned with the garments of the priests. So for instance, one writer summarizes it this way, Aaron and his sons were ordained with the binding of a tunic on their head and girded with a sash composed of wool and linen. Only the sash of the ordinary priest's garments was composed of wool and linen, the materials that composed the garments of the high priest and the inner curtain of the tent of meeting. This means the ordinary Israelite was not a priest. So the non-priestly Israelite was not to dress as if they were a priest. They are not like the Egyptian false worshippers, nor are they the particular segment of Israelites, the priests, that God has set apart. And this seems to be confirmed by Josephus, a Jewish historian, in his book, The Antiquities of the Jews. Josephus says, let not any of you wear a garment of wool and linen, for that's appointed to be for the priests alone, end quote. So there is plenty of evidence that in the days of Moses forward, we have from Exodus, confirmed even by a Jewish historian in the first century like Josephus, that the priestly garments were composed of wool and linen. You might say by analogy that the priests had certain mixtures that were unique to their office. They had anointing oil, a mixture that was not to be broadly shared and used by the Israelite populace. They had particular incense combinations and recipes that were unique to their tasks as priests that were not sold in the local marketplace, okay? You just didn't go in and find that and just use that. These were designed by God to be part of the holy ceremonial aspect of Israel's life. And I think Moses is helping them see that in their calling to be distinct, they must also honor what God has designated for the priests. While they are delivered from Egyptian false practices, they are all not individual priests. as those from Levi's tribe have been designated to be. So you shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. So I tend to think there's both an Egyptian background and a Levitical priestly relevance to why this instruction exists. So those are the three prohibitions. This third one, do not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together. They're to live distinct. And I think one of the reasons this underlying idea of distinction is especially strong is in the fourth commandment. If we're just speculating up to this point, I think this fourth commandment really confirms for us how it all locks into place. You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself. So how does that make everything click into place? Because they have already been told about tassels in Numbers 15. So when you read from Deuteronomy 22, this instruction about making tassels, I think we have to keep in mind more instruction from Numbers 15. Here's what we were told. Numbers 15, 38. Speak to the people of Israel, tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at, and remember all the commandments of the Lord. to do them, and not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God, I am the Lord your God. So let's remind ourselves that they had outer garments, that wasn't the only layer they had, but the outer garment was the one they wore the most. And that's the garment mentioned here. They would wear it during the day, but it would also serve as a kind of blanket at night. That means that no matter what other layers they had in the evening going to bed, the outer garment remained one of them. It was a kind of 24-7 garment. And maybe you have blankets that serve this kind of function in your house, or robes that you might put on, that during the day or at night, it wouldn't be unusual for you to have something at hand that you would frequently, commonly wear. The outer garment was like that. And the significance is that at the corners of this garment, at the hem part of the garment, these corners had tassels that were deliberately made that were meant to look in a certain way to remind the Israelites of something. Because that's just not made normally on them. They're put. They're put on them. You shall make yourself tassels. Deuteronomy 22 verse 12. Now, why are they making those tassels? Well, according to Numbers 15, it's because they're to remember we're to look distinct. And even our outer garment tells us what we wear should trigger in our minds. We're a set apart people. I'm to do the commands of the Lord. And I would say that the way they yoke their animals, or the animals they're not to yoke, and the way they sow their seeds, or where they're not to sow a seed, and how they think about their wool and linen cloth are all part of reminding them we are to be a holy people. We're to follow the commandments of the Lord, to fear the Lord, and not to just follow after our own heart. God's delivered us out of Egypt. He's our God, and therefore, if He is training us in righteousness, let us submit to His wisdom. Let us submit all of our lives to His Lordship. We can trust that. You should know that this garment was a loose outer cloak, and as one writer says, this cord attached to the fringe, according to rabbinical sources, was a blue cord made of wool, while the other cords and even the garment itself was more likely linen. So you have here an irony and maybe even exception to what we see in verse 11. You shall not wear a cloth of wool and linen mixed together so that their particular clothing is to look distinct and pure, but the tassels, The tassels themselves, that's not the full garment. The tassels, according to rabbinical sources and the way it seems to read in the book of Exodus and numbers in Deuteronomy, the tassels have a mixture that is appropriate. Not the garment as a whole. They're forbidden for that kind of broad mixture. But you shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment. And that would likely involve a very minute but significant mixture of wool and linen. After all, they are a kingdom of priests. They're not individual priests from Levi's tribe, every one of them, of course, but they are a set apart people. They are to have holy priests to represent a holy nation. So you've got this clothing command in verse 11 and another clothing command in verse 12. And I think the command in verse 12, make yourself tassels, reminding us of Numbers 15, that they're to keep God's commandments and be a holy people, informs the three prohibitions that we've just read. So they're not arbitrary. And I don't think we have to reach for just any old explanation for the ways that the sewing and the yoking and the garment mixing have been explained and prohibited. I think in verse 12, It confirms for us in this final command here in verse 12 that there to be a holy people. And that's retroactively the lens through which to read those prohibitions. Now, if we are to apply the teaching of this, I don't think we're like the Israelite covenant community under Sinai's laws trying to think about our garment mixture in the same way. There's a discontinuity we want to acknowledge. However, what were those particular laws to symbolize? Well, of course, they're to be a holy people. They're to be a holy people. In fact, Deuteronomy 22 may be what Paul has in mind in 2 Corinthians 6. It could be an allusion to Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 10, because Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6.14, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. And where Paul in the Old Testament would get the idea of yoking together something that is unequal is most clear in Deuteronomy 22. Now, why might that kind of imagery of an unequal yoke be important for Paul? Because for Paul, it's about holiness. And I think this further confirms we're on the right track in Deuteronomy 22 by discerning some sort of holy vibe in these verses. He says in 2 Corinthians 6, don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? What fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. In other words, when language about unequal yoke is given with a picture in Deuteronomy or an actual command in 2 Corinthians 6 with holiness made clear, I think that the continuity among the people of God throughout the ages is they were to be a holy people. Now particular ceremonial and agricultural things attended to the circumstances of the Israelites to bolster that. That doesn't have to be brought over in continuity, but the principle of holiness remains, doesn't it? The importance of the moral reasoning behind the particular commands and prohibitions. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. He says this to the new covenant community, to the Corinthians. We are called to live a holy life. We've seen from Paul this idea, let's think about Peter. In 1 Peter 2, he says in verse 11, beloved, I urge you as sojourners in exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of your visitation. He's thinking then about them not as an Israelite nation in a land of promise, but as Christians living among non-Christians. And they are being thought of here as sojourners and exiles. And among the Gentiles and among the pagans, how ought they to live? Well, just like the Israelites of old, they're to live among people who don't know God in a way that is honorable. They're to live abstaining from the passions of the flesh. They're to be holy. And then in 1 Peter 1, he says in verse 14, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. That's exactly what Deuteronomy 22 is about. He's saying to them, in effect, Israelites, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, You also be holy in all your conduct since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. This is the pronouncement of the most high God in the Torah. He has declared that who he is among the Israelites is a holy God in their midst. And therefore as obedient children, as people in covenant with him, they are not to conform to the pattern of their former ignorance, the passions of their indwelling sin. We're on the right track then using imagery and text like this to inform our understanding of Deuteronomy 22. They are being trained in righteousness. And they might hear language about sowing the seeds and animals to not yoke together and think, wait a second, what does this have to do with being holy? But the whole point of these laws is that even if it doesn't seem as clear initially, the reasoning behind them and the context of the goodness and wisdom of God's commands is aiming for their holiness. They're to live in a distinct way. You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited. The crop you've 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. We read that as Christians, and we say that as obedient children, we will not be conformed to the passion of our former ignorance, for the Lord our God who has redeemed us is holy. Let's pray.