RPG Adults
THE LAW OF TEXTILE AND CHASTITY
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5
Deuteronomy 22:11-30
Matthew 19:1-10
“Ye are bought with a price;
be not ye the servants of men.”
THE LAW OF TEXTILE AND CHASTITY
Wool and linen: Israel was forbidden to wear a mixture of wool and linen. As with the laws that dealt with their farming practices, this law was given to Israel to remind them of the need to be separate from the world. Through their daily activities, Israel would be reminded that they were God’s people, and were to be different from the heathen nations.
Another law also had to do with cloth: “Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself ” (Deut 22:12). God wanted Israel to be visibly and clearly set apart from the rest of the world even in such minute details. Their outward conduct must also represent their inward thinking. They would show others through their dressing that they were a people separated unto God. God sought to teach in this way by giving them these laws.
Laws of chastity: The longest section here, Deuteronomy 22:13-30, has to do with the law of marriage and the prohibition of adultery, with the details of marriage arrangements also given. God’s way in marriage plans is equally important today. Jesus and Paul dealt with this subject in the New Testament and gave a fitting update. They spoke strongly forbidding divorce and separation, attributing the Mosaic law in this regard to the people’s hardness of heart and referred the disciples to creation as God’s order of marriage (1 Cor 7).
The study of these laws is helpful in establishing principles for our lives today. We need to have an honest and disciplined conduct in our everyday life. God gave these laws to Israel to make them worthy and dependable people.
THOUGHT: The full understanding of God’s laws in everyday life makes it worth living.
PRAYER: Father, may I live each day with full understanding of Thy precepts on my everyday life.