“A woman is not to wear men’s clothing, and a man is not to put on women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to Adonai your God.”-Deuteronomy 22:5
As clear and simple as Deuteronomy 22:5 is, this verse has caused a helluva a lot debate over the years.
In this verse, God commands that a man is not to put on the things a woman normally would and vice versa.
Most people assume this instruction is referring to only clothing.
Not true.
This command covers much more than that.
It refers to any and all things a man or woman uses to express their gender whether it be jewelry, hairstyles or weapons of war.
The thrust behind this command is all about avoiding confusion and deception.
It’s telling us to not to pretend to be something we’re not by taking on the characteristics of the opposite sex regardless of whether it is changing our appearance, our role in society, clothing and/or undergoing a freakish sex-change operation.
It doesn’t matter that sex-change operations didn’t exist during Bible times, trust me, this commandment is specifically addressing transvestism.
The Lord considers it an abomination.
Whenever I hear about what Bruce Jenner did to his natural manhood, the only thing I can say is “Messiah come back soon! Please!”.
Now why do I say this verse has been cause for much heated debate over the years?
Here’s the reason why?
The so-called progressive and liberal scholars want to show that the Lord of the Bible no longer views what the Bible clearly labels as deviant behavior an abomination anymore.
They’re following the liberal church along a similar path when it comes to their loosened attitudes towards homosexuality.
The liberal church preaches that homosexuality should no longer be seen as a sin.
Along these, same lines, there are scholars who argue that transvestism was strictly confined to a certain era or culture.
They’ll further argue that “Christ’s law of love” means that any behavior stemming from one’s personal decision that doesn’t directly harm anyone else is fair game in the Lord’s eyes.
To support their views, they love to quote Paul in Galatians 3.
“For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this trusting faithfulness; because as many of you as were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah, in whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.”-Galatians 3:26
They are promoting the idea that under the new “law of Christ”, God has literally done away with the whole concept of gender-based human sexuality.
Are you friggin’ kidding me?!
Don’t be led astray.
This is a conclusion that can only be reached via throwing in the trash the foundation of God’s Word, this very Torah we are studying.
What Paul is talking about in Galatians is the spiritual STATUS of a human before the Lord.
In other words, whether a person is acceptable or unacceptable to God is NOT dependent on whether that person is a male or female.
It is dependent on his or her sincere faith and allegiance to the God of Israel through faith in His Chosen Messiah.
Does that mean that women cannot learn to defend themselves? I figured that the specific wording of the commandment indicated a man’s armor, but what about weapons? Or what if an armor is made specifically for a female? How exactly should this commandment be acted out from your perspective, if I might ask?