UNROLL
Early morning on a stony hill road: a single stray sheep wanders along the verge beside a dry-stone wall, a village of flat-roofed houses small in the valley below.

The Book of

Deuteronomy 22

A stray sheep, a fallen donkey, a bird on its nest, a railing on a roof: love for a neighbor reaches into the smallest things, and into marriage too.

30 verses≈ 6 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

Where we are

  1. 1–4Remember the wayFrom Horeb to Moab
  2. 5–11Love the LORDThe heart of the covenant
  3. 12–26Laws for the landWorship, justice, neighborChapter 22
  4. 27–30Blessing and curseChoose life
  5. 31–34Moses' farewellA song, a blessing, a death

Various Laws

Dusk on a rocky hillside path: a lone ewe stands among stones and thornbushes, far from any flock, the lights of a village small in the valley below.

If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; be sure to return it to your brother. If your brother does not live near you, or if you do not know who he is, you are to take the animal home to remain with you until your brother comes seeking it; then you can return it to him. And you shall do the same for his donkey, his cloak, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it.

If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.

0:32

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

On a stony hill track a gray donkey has fallen under a heavy load of sacks; a man in a wool cloak stoops to untie the load while its owner hurries back toward them.

If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.

Deuteronomy 22:4

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

A woman must not wear men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD your God.

Moses
On a terraced field in the morning a farmer plows behind a matched pair of oxen under one wooden yoke, while a donkey grazes apart by the field wall.

The law

Kept distinct

  1. Kept distinct

    No two seeds in a vineyard

    Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; if you do, the entire harvest will be defiled—both the crop you plant and the fruit of your vineyard.

  2. No ox and donkey yoked together

    Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

  3. No wool and linen woven together

    Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.

  4. Remember

    Tassels on the four corners

    You are to make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.

Close on the corner of a plain undyed wool cloak hanging from a peg by a doorway, a twisted tassel of white threads with a single blue cord through it.

Love in the small things

Your brother’sanimalreturn it, lift it ·1–4A bird on theroadlet the mother go ·6–7A railing onthe roofno one falls · 8Kept distinctseed, yoke, cloth ·9–11Tassels torememberfour corners · 12Love yourneighborin the everyday

Whiteboard

None of these laws is grand. A sheep wandering off, a donkey down on the road, a nest by the path, a new roof, a field, a cloak. Yet each one asks the same thing: will you notice, and will you care? “You must not ignore it.” Love for God and love for a neighbor are worked out in ordinary days, in what we see and choose not to walk past.

Reflect

Looking past

Three times in four verses Moses says, “you must not ignore it.” It is easy to see a need and look the other way because it is not ours, or it would cost time. Whose need have you been looking past? Write down one person and one thing you could do to help them lift their load this week.

Marriage Violations

Suppose a man marries a woman, has relations with her, and comes to hate her, and he then accuses her of shameful conduct and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman and had relations with her, but I discovered she was not a virgin.”

Morning in the gate passage of a small walled hill town: gray-bearded elders sit on stone benches along both walls, the middle of the passage empty, light from the open gateway behind.

The law

A bride defended

  1. At the gate

    Her parents bring the proof

    Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate

  2. Her father speaks to the elders

    and say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he has come to hate her.

  3. The charge repeated

    And now he has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’

  4. The proof spread out

    But here is the proof of her virginity.” And they shall spread out the cloth before the city elders.

  5. Justice

    The elders punish the man

    Then the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him.

  6. A hundred shekels to her father

    They are also to fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given a virgin of Israel a bad name.

  7. She stays; he may never divorce her

    And she shall remain his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.

If, however, this accusation is true, and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.

Pray

Faithful and kept

These laws guarded the honor of marriage and defended a bride against a false accusation. Pray for faithfulness in your own marriage or future marriage, and for the marriages around you. Pray for anyone who has been falsely accused or given a bad name, and for anyone who has been wronged and carries the shame of it. Ask God to defend them, to heal them, and to make His church a place of truth and refuge.

The law

Adultery

  1. Adultery

    With another man’s wife: both die

    If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die.

  2. Purge the evil from Israel

    You must purge the evil from Israel.

  3. Betrothal

    A betrothed woman, in the town

    If there is a virgin pledged in marriage to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her,

  4. Both put to death at the gate

    you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife.

  5. Purge the evil

    So you must purge the evil from among you.

But if the man encounters a betrothed woman in the open country, and he overpowers her and lies with her, only the man who has done this must die. Do nothing to the young woman, because she has committed no sin worthy of death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him. When he found her in the field, the betrothed woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.

If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.

Question

Quick question

The chapter opens with a lost animal on the road.

What were you to do with your brother’s stray ox or sheep if you did not know who he was?

You’ve experienced

Deuteronomy 22

0 of 34 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.

Deuteronomy 22:4

or swipe left