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Mixed Fabrics: Does Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11 condemn wearing mixed fabrics?

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Mixed Fabrics

Does Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11 condemn wearing mixed fabrics?

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A rack of clothes. Jeff Sheldon/Unsplash
The broader principle of the several statutes that forbid “mixing” in various ways is that God wanted His people to pursue purity and quality.

In addition to His eternal spiritual commandments, God gave Israel various statutes and judgments as part of its civil code or national law. Most aren't binding laws for Christians today, but Christians should consider and learn from the principles contained in all of them. Is there any principle in these laws or in their intended purpose that can guide Christians in everyday life?

In its introductory notes on Leviticus, Expositor's Bible Dictionary points out: "The weaving of two kinds of material (wool and linen in Deuteronomy 22:11) may be a rule that would prevent loss by unequal shrinkage." There is no apparent application today for two reasons: (1) Most Christians do not make their own fabric or clothing today, and (2) clothing manufacturers do not mix these materials.

However, the broader principle of the several statutes that forbid "mixing" in various ways is that God wanted His people to pursue purity and quality. Similarly, Christians are to pursue pure and godly character. The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary offers the following explanation for Leviticus 19:19:

"Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee—Although this precept, like the other two with which it is associated, was in all probability designed to root out some superstition, it seems to have had a farther meaning. The law, it is to be observed, did not prohibit the Israelites wearing many different kinds of cloths together, but only the two specified; and the observations and researches of modern science have proved that 'wool, when combined with linen, increases its power of passing off the electricity from the body. In hot climates, it brings on malignant fevers and exhausts the strength; and when passing off from the body, it meets with the heated air, inflames and excoriates like a blister' [Whitlaw]. (See Ezekiel 44:17-18.)"

 

How can you explain Bible scriptures that are difficult to understand? Mixing fabrics

Comments

  • Built Ford Tough
    Jeffery Craig

    Interesting article. People look at the laws given in Deuteronomy and Leviticus and associate them with the Old Covenant and claim they are not for the Christian today; and yet there are reasons God tells us to avoid certain things. God does not forbid us from doing things because He's a big meanie, He commands things for our own good, for our own health and well being. God created us and the world so He knows how things work, just like a car maker knows how their cars work and what type of fuel and lubricants work, and what can be harmful to that vehicle. The bible is to us what an owner's manual is to a car; if you follow your manufacturer's manual you'll get many years of worry free driving as your car will last; the same is with us, if we follow God's owner's manual, the Bible, we'll live a long, healthy, happy life. Sure, some of God's laws sound strange and off the wall, but He gives them to us for a reason and that is for our own good.

  • johndancey
    John Dancey

    We don't know the reasoning of Yahweh. But here are some interesting new things we do know.
    1. All elements, items, wool, leather, linen, and different colors of light have a specific frequencies. Different colors of linen have different frequencies.
    2. Linen, wool, and leather all have a frequency of about 1,000.
    3. A healthy human body has a frequency of about 75. A fatally ill human has a frequency of around 35.
    4. mixing Linen and wool create frequency of about 0.
    5. white natural linen is about 1000. Black is about 0. black either zeros out or significantly reduces all frequencies.
    6. there have been studies done showing healing properties of linen sheets.
    We don't know God's mind, but this goes to show us there is stuff we just don't know, and every word is important.

  • Machiavelli
    sergio brignone

    Frequency of?
    Electromagnetic frequency?
    What are you talking about?
    Mixing 2 different waves of different frequency do not give you frequency of zero. In matter of fact, you can listen radio because you CAN mix frequencies at will.
    Which kind of studies? Where is the reference?
    This kind of random assertions is what gives bad reputation to religion.

  • LVClaudia
    Claudia A Holmes

    Wow. Your response sure opened me up to some new information. I am going to research this, I just love digging deeper into the meanings of God's word.
    Thank you for giving me a new perspective for these verses. I already know the health risks/benefits of clean/unclean foods. I use this when I share God's word with agnostics or non-believers.
    The importance of what God says to us is tragically being lost by the different translations, corrupted in my humble opinion. But I sure do appreciate your explanation of not mixing linen and wool. God only wants the best for us and He doesn't always explain His reasonings but I still want to do His will.
    Thank you again for your awesome perspective.

  • Holiness_to_G-D
    Holiness_to_G-D
    I personally believe that what "Submit to the World" is correct. We don't understand many things but we just have to follow what the bible says. A lot of us don't understand or don't want to understand what we have to do. We all have a mission and a purpose and everyone's purpose is to serve G-D. We find it hard to understand but if the bible says to do it then we should do it. There is a lot of stuff that we might not be doing still and its because we don't understand it. I was born into a christian family and attended church all my life but I was just doing it as a routine. I didn't feel close to G-D at all. I only looked for him when I had a problem and knew I couldn't do it on my own, but when you really start to study from the beginning (as in from Genesis) you start to see a lot of things. Why do we take part in the lords supper and not Passover? Why don't we celebrate the feasts that we are written in the bible? Why do we say no to circumcision? Where did we get these ideas that the Messiah came to abolish the law? I never see it once in the bible that all these things are over and we should stop doing them. So why is it that we stopped doing them? If we want to be saved we have to become descendants of Abraham Issac and Jacob. As in study and do as they did. The christian religion is blind from one eye (they don't believe in the Torah) and the Jews are blind from the other eye(they don't believe in the Messiah). It is only when you put them together that you can see clearly.
  • Malachi 3_16-18
    Ailsa Braun
    Hi Submit to the Word, I believe this is a non-issue in our age, since the fabrics mentioned in the Bible as not to be worn together were linen and wool, and these fabrics are not mixed today. Notice that the word “as” in Deuteronomy 22:11 is italicized, which means that it was added by the Bible translators. So we can’t take this to mean we can’t mix any fabrics at all, it means just wool and linen. In addition to the sources quoted in the above article, and the fact that it is a blend of fabrics being addressed, rather than separate garments (let’s suppose a linen robe and a wool scarf worn at the same time), I will also add that wool can be very irritating to a person’s skin, even when worn alone, which is why I don’t wear it at, except maybe for a wool coat. I don’t find linen or cotton or synthetics irritating. Perhaps that is another reason why the priests were to wear linen garments instead of wool (Ezek 33:17-18) – can you imagine how difficult and in fact impossible it would be for them to serve in the temple if they broke out in weeping skin rashes, as I have had when I wear wool next to the skin? I understand and agree in general with your analogy with purity, but all analogies using physical objects break down ultimately when they are used to represent spiritual concepts. For instance, Jesus used leaven in one of His parables to represent the Kingdom of God and how it grows from something very small to something very large . Well, in most other places in the Bible, leaven is used to represent sin – something very undesirable, that we need to get rid of (1 Cor 5:6-8, Ex 13:6-7, Lev 23:6). Just some things to think about.
  • Submit to the Word
    Submit to the Word
    I will not claim to understand all that is written, but I will claim that it is all true. And when God state that we(the believers) should not wear clothes of mixed materials, I simply want to obey. I dont understand why He commanded it, but I sure know He did. So many people go away from God in so many ways. As it is written: each went their own way.... For me it is simple. He command, I follow. I have several understandings about this, all of them are spiritual and purity themed, do not mix=You shall have no other Gods beside me, God is One, not mixed of two, We mix materials to achieve quality or properties that are not given by God-thus incurring the lawlessness of the prophet Balaam, that we want unearned profit. There are more reasons I could give, but so far God did not confirm my understandings. I only know He commanded it, and that God is eternal, and so is His law. This world will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Psalm 119:100, I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts. I do not understand this law, but I will say it again, I know God commanded it. In Deutoronomy 29:29 God it is written: The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. You may say that the law is no longer binding... but the law of God is eternal and to break it is sin..... We are called to walk as Christ did, and He walked not in sin.... Hallelujah! Glory be to God! God bless you all, God open your eyes that you may see, God open your ears that you may hear, And God make your hearts soft that you understand what you see and hear. In the name of our saviour and Lord, the Son of God Jesus Christ i pray this..

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