22:1–3 Lost animals are a common problem; there are numerous biblical references to sheep or oxen going astray. Animals do not necessarily follow the restriction of fences when such intended restrictions are in place. Stray animals must not be ignored, for both the sake of the owner and the well-being of a dependent animal. The animal must be retained by the person who finds it until its owner learns of its location and claims it. If the animal has strayed a great distance this may take some time, in which case the finder will need to provide for it alongside his other animals. Exodus 23:4 further stipulates that even if the animal belongs to one’s enemy, it is to be returned.

Recovery of lost items can be a difficult issue, as may be observed from a related law in Exodus 22:8, in which both the finder and the loser claim property as their own, and there is no real evidence to identify the actual owner. The proscription of ignoring straying animals in these verses dictates that lost items cannot be ignored: animals or any other item must be held safely until the proper owner is found.

22:4 The requirement to help a fallen animal finds a parallel in Exodus 23:5, in which it is made explicit that the animal has fallen under the weight of a heavy load. There the beast of burden belongs to an enemy, while here it belongs to a neighbor. The action is for the benefit of the brother, but the relief provided to the animal cannot be separated from the responsibility.

22:5 The prohibition of this verse is not restricted to the wearing of garments across genders. The Hebrew keli (“garment”) does not have specific reference to male clothing but refers to any artifact that belongs to a man, such as a tool, a weapon, or any other item associated with males. The point of the proscription is gender distinction. While the Bible has no direct prescription concerning specific male and female roles in the function of the home, it is clear on gender identification. This is a fundamental tenet of the creation account, in which procreation is made possible only through male and female, enabling the presence of a home and the function of dominion over creation. The abhorrence referenced in this verse is the deliberate obfuscation of this distinction necessary to created order. Confusion creates conflict and the absence of shalom. The anthropological study of Mary Douglas shows that every culture has its taboos that are based on a larger system of order and organization of ideas.57 In the law of Moses these are seen not only in regulations of diet but in various other prescriptions for identifying pollution and maintaining purity. Holiness means keeping distinct categories of creation, which involves correct definition and discrimination. Rules of all acceptable sexual relationships are a part of proper order. Holiness is a matter of separating what should be kept separate, which prohibits all manner of confusion, deceit, double-dealing, or contradiction.

22:6–7 Respect for the life of animals is a consistent theme, recurring most frequently in the prohibition of consuming the blood of an animal because it represents life. Humans must respect the fact that, in supplying their own need for food to sustain life, they are also taking life that does not belong to them. Humans and animals share a dependency as part of the common, as expressed most eloquently is Psalm 104:29: “When you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.” For this reason when a person encounters a bird fostering her young, the life of the bird must be respected.

Birth is the essential requirement to the continuance of life, mentioned several times in connection with respect for life. A similar prohibition is found in Leviticus 22:27: “When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the Lord.” The same idea is likewise expressed in the prohibition of cooking a young goat in the milk of its mother (Ex. 23:19; Deut. 14:21). Some species of animals give up their own life in order to procreate. The cost of life coming into the world of the common is great for both humans and animals and is to be acknowledged.

22:8 The roof of an ancient house was a living space, as was every other part of the building. It could be used for storage, socializing, or resting. It could be a cool place in the evening of a hot day or a warm place in the sun on a cool day. A parapet was a necessary for protection, since a fall might be not only injurious but fatal. This is the same kind of precaution as necessary when digging a hole in the ground (Ex. 21:33–34). Death from a fall from an unprotected roof was equivalent to homicide.

22:9–11 Regulations regarding mixtures of animals, seeds, and cloth are related, as may be seen from the same association found in Leviticus 19:19. The Hebrew word qodesh is used for items dedicated to the support of the temple (Lev. 27:1–15). Such items are designated for a limited period, after which they return to common use. When a crop is planted between the rows of a vineyard, it is regarded as being dedicated to the temple. This is the reason the proscription of Deut. 22:9 states that, in planting in a vineyard, the owner dedicates (tiqdash, “be forfeited”) both the crop that was sown and the yield of the vineyard to the temple. It is “forfeited” as far as profit for the farmer is concerned. That this is the correct interpretation is indicated by its association with the wearing of wool and linen in the same garment (v. 11). Only the priests wore garments of mixed fabrics. The ephod of the high priest and the turban were made of purple, violet, and scarlet linen woven tightly into patterns (Ex. 28:6; 39:29). The turban of the high priest was bound by a violet woolen cord called a petil (Ex. 28:37). The brilliantly dyed wool especially distinguished the priest’s garments, which were referred to in tradition as shaʻtnez (“cloth”; Deut. 22:11). 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 (Ex. 29:9). Only the sash of the ordinary priest’s vestments 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. The ordinary Israelite is forbidden to wear such a mixture, since it belongs to the priesthood.

In these verses Moses brings together the cropping of a vineyard with the priestly vestments in order to indicate that both are dedicated to temple use and taken out of use in the common.58 Josephus confirms this interpretation in NT times: “Let not any one of you wear a garment made of woolen and linen, for that is appointed to be for the priests alone” (Antiquities 4.208). These traditions of later Judaism were not late elaborations on Mosaic law but were an interpretation based on ancient understanding.

Moses prohibits the pairing of an ox and a donkey in plowing, while in Leviticus 19:19 the interbreeding of different animal species is forbidden. This prohibition has to do with holiness as it relates to created order. God had made everything after its kind, an order of creation that Israel was to cultivate and maintain as representatives of the divine rule. It may be that in Deuteronomy a humanitarian aspect is intended in the way in which the regulation is formulated. Using an ox and a donkey as a team makes them unequally yoked. A donkey cannot be expected to pull the same weight as an ox, which it would be required to do if yoked with an ox on a single implement.

22:12 The requirement to wear tassels on the corners of a garment is related to the commands concerning the mixing of linen and wool in garments. The requirement is elaborated in Numbers 15:37–40, where its purpose is set out by a series of verbs: “look,” “remember,” and “do.” These summarize the pedagogic technique of the ritual system of the Torah. Sight (sensual perception) combined with memory (intellectual apprehension) translates into proper action (good deeds). The reason the tassel serves this end is explained by its composition. The tassels were also woven of wool and linen. Traditionally the tassel consists of four white threads, one of which is longer than the others. The threads are inserted into holes at the corners of the garment, folded over, and tied with a double knot. A violet or a blue-purple cord is attached to the threads at each corner, forming a resemblance to the garments of the priest. Individual Israelites do not hold the status of a priest, but Israel is to be a nation of priests (Ex. 19:6). Remnants of white linen cords and dyed woolen cords were found in the Bar Kokhba caves, showing that this was the practice of the devoted during the final days of Jewish resistance against the Romans.

Tassels express a gradation of holiness analogous to that of the temple and its Most Holy Place, the Holy Place, the court, and then the camp. The fabric of the innermost part of the temple and of the high priest was a mix of brilliant white linen and blue-purple wool. Beyond the high priest, only the sashes of the other priests were woven this way. For ordinary Israelites, only the fringes of the garments may be made with linen and dyed wool. The tassel is the exception to the prohibition of any ordinary Israelite’s wearing cloth of a mixture of linen and wool. This is a constant reminder of the order of holiness in the world of the common and a testimony to the need for all Israel to strive for the highest level of holiness in living out the covenant life under the rule of their Most Holy Suzerain, who orders the common.