“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
Yesterday we began discussing that one singular verse in Torah that outright bans transvestism in God’s Kingdom.
What’s really interesting is when we do a little historical digging, we can discover how transvestism played itself out in ancient societies.
This gives us a good idea of what the Lord was really banning from a practical perspective when He was speaking to the ancient Israelites.
For example, when we examine the historical records from the Mesopotamian cultures we find it was normal for a male priest to put on female garments, don female jewelry, and even to put on female make-up (cosmetics) when he was worshipping a goddess.
Now why in the world would he do that?
The idea was he was attempting to disguise himself as a female so he would be more accepted by the female god.
He was trying to identify with the feminine attributes of the female god he was worshipping.
Obviously such a practice would have no place in monotheistic Israel.
Another example we have from ancient times was that of men dressing as women so as to avoid being drafted into the military.
And the opposite also occurred.
Some women would cut their hair short, put on men’s clothing and armor and carry man-sized weapons so that they would be mistaken for a man and thus be allowed to fight in a war.
It’s kind of interesting to note that none of these tactics would work today in modern Israel as both the young men and women are required to serve in the military.
Now I have no doubt that Deuteronomy 22:5 is directed towards these practices that were actually quite commonplace in ancient times.
However, as with many of God’s holy laws and instructions, there is BOTH a practical and a broader more spiritual purpose behind the commands.
This becomes clear when you look at the total context of the laws surrounding verse 5 which deals only with transvestism.
See, here’s the thing.
Deuteronomy 22:5 is actually speaking directly to a man’s attitude and the condition of his heart.
On a higher level, God is saying I am the Creator and that’s why it’s important that you live your life in accordance with how I ordered the universe.
God is saying…
DECEPTION AND CONFUSION IS ALWAYS BAD IN MY ECONOMY!
And that is why a man shouldn’t pretend to be a woman…
…or why a woman shouldn’t pretend to be a man.
Really now? “DECEPTION AND CONFUSION IS ALWAYS BAD IN MY ECONOMY!” so this is an economic issue?
How about this: a man is not supposed to share clothing with a woman since it would endanger him with UNCLEANNESS. Taking a chance that the woman’s clothes might have menstrual blood on them.
If it is the deception,, then why doesn’t God mention the deception?
btw given that the vast majority of men had beards does anyone ever truly believe such a deception would succeed without a thorough shaving which in and of itself was shameful for a man.
The only explanation which makes sense is the pagan priest scenario but that is covered by so many other ways as wrong that it is a waste to even have that single sentence among all the other context of this passage.