“A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.
One line about clothing sits in a chapter full of stray oxen, roof railings and mixed seed. It carries one of the Bible's strongest words: abomination — something God detests. The question the verse forces is why God should care what a person puts on, and what the garment is standing for.
The Chapter Around It
Writers who read Deuteronomy 22 as a whole see rules meant to shape feeling, not just behavior.
J. N. DarbyDeuteronomy 22 seems to contain rules that guard the people against a lack of kindness and mercy. They also guard against anything that would offend natural feeling, whether about tenderness or purity. In the same way, God forbade all mixing in ploughing or sowing.
The laws are small on purpose, and their smallness is the point.
William KellyIn Deuteronomy 22 we have a group of rules about righteousness, care, love and tenderness. They cover the smallest matters as well as the greatest... The great aim here is that God would shape the heart of His people to this measure, after His own affections.
What the Law Is Protecting
The clothing rule is not aimed at immorality in general. One writer places its purpose further back — in the way God made people in the first place.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe direct purpose of this rule was not to stop sexual immorality, and not to oppose the worship of other gods. It was to keep holy the distinction between the sexes. God set up that distinction when He created man and woman, and Israel was not to sin against it... Every breach or blurring of this distinction was unnatural, and so an abomination in God's sight.
Commentators differ on the immediate aim. Another treats the disguise as practically useful for wrongdoing as well as false in itself.
F. W. GrantDisguising your sex would serve all kinds of dishonest and deceitful purposes. It also falsified the stamp God has put on nature — defacing, you might say, the coin of His kingdom.
Why God Calls It an Abomination
The offense is against God first, and against other people second. The clothing contradicts a decision God already made about the person wearing it.
Leslie M. GrantVerse 5 forbids a woman to wear a man's clothing, and a man to wear a woman's clothing. To dress in order to pass as the opposite sex is an abomination. If God created someone as a man, it insults God for him to take a woman's place in this outward way. The same is true for a woman taking a man's place. Let us be thankful instead for what God has made us. Let us carry the responsibilities of that place, and enjoy its blessings too.
What Clothing Says
Writers treat clothing as speech. It is the first statement a person makes, before they say a word.
Truth & TestimonyClothing and garments speak not only of the moral state of the person but also of his testimony. The first thing you see in a person is his garment.
That is why something as small as a garment can be a denial.
Julius A. Von PoseckSo we see God speaking His mind here in words no one can mistake, even on the natural level. He marks with shame every woman who disowns the place the Lord has given her, even if she only does it in her clothing.
The Same Principle After the Cross
Christians are not under Israel's law. But the order of creation that this law guarded still stands.
Hamilton SmithIt is true that in Christ — in the new creation — "there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female". In the old creation, and in the church, these distinctions still exist. Christianity gives us great privileges together, but it does not set aside the order of creation. While we live in these mortal bodies, in a world where these differences are real, the Christian must keep that order.
The New Testament makes the same appeal to visible difference that Deuteronomy made.
Raymond K. CampbellIn 1 Corinthians 11:14-15 the apostle points to nature as more evidence of the difference between man and woman... God gave long hair to the woman and short hair to the man as a mark that tells them apart.
Summary
- Place — God gave each person a place at creation; the verse defends that place, not a dress code for its own sake.
- Stamp — the disguise defaces "the stamp God has put on nature," passing false coin in God's own kingdom.
- Speech — garments talk. They are the first thing others read, so a small outward thing can deny a God-given place in public.
- Standing — the New Testament appeals to the same created difference. Christianity brings new privileges, but it does not cancel the order of creation.
- Thankfulness — thank God for what He made you. Carry the responsibilities of that place, and enjoy its blessings.