What does the biblical statute about a woman not wearing anything that pertains to a man mean today?
Answer:
Deuteronomy 22:5 says: "A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God." Like many of the statutes, this law had to do with pagan customs of the time, and as we will see, does not refer to women wearing pants. The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary explains:
"Disguises were assumed at certain times in pagan temples. Maimonides...mentions that a man attired in a coloured female dress, in honour of Venus, Ashtaroth, or Astarte, and a woman equipped in armour, worshipped at the shrine of the statue of Mars...
"Asiatics, when they engaged in the worship of Ashtaroth, were accustomed, according to Philocorus, quoted by Townley (in his edition of Maimonides, note 33), to exchange the male and female dresses. In fact, all idolators confounded the sexes of their deities—representing them sometimes as male, at other times as female; and hence, their worshippers, male and female, fell gradually into the custom, which became extensively prevalent, of changing their attire in adaptation to the sex of a particular divinity."
God's command to Israel forbade the people from incorporating pagan religious rites into true worship. In spite of this instruction, today's Christianity commonly mixes paganism in with the worship of Christ.
Does Deuteronomy 22:5 forbid women from wearing pants? No, it doesn't. In fact, even men in the Middle East through the history of the Old and New Testaments did not wear pants; they wore a robelike garment. However, there is an underlying principle that applies today. Men should dress in an appropriately masculine manner and women should dress in an appropriately feminine manner. Clothing manufacturers make pants designed for men and pants designed for women.
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I disagree with the statement of saying that clothing manufacturers make pants designed for men and pants designed for women.Because the word of God did not make any mention of the design, it is straight forward that "A woman shall not wear anything that PERTAINS to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God."Deuteronomy:22:5.A man is identified as wearing PANTS and woman DRESS or SKIRT, even if the society(manufacturers) can classify them as of men and of women but what does the word of God says? Jesus answered the question of divorce as this was allowed in the Old Testament,He said Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
But I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.Matthew 19 vs 7-9.
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In my view, concidering the diversity of cultures across this planet, the question can be somewhat loaded and may have the possiblity of being misleading when it comes to explaining De 22:5. Depending on who reads it.
Perhaps there are places that view pants as a men only garment and I'm not going to tell any Scotsmen that wearing a kilt is nothing more than men wearing dresses in disobedience to De 22:5.
Looking at the statement made in the first comment "Because the word of God did not make any mention of the design", also means God did not tell us whether pants or kilts are women or men only things. But what it is telling can be described fairly well with one hyphenated English word, it involves the act of "cross-dressing".
As defined by the Free Online Dictionary, "the practice of adopting the clothes or the manner or the sexual role of the opposite sex".
I would go so far to say that any man who also wears pants that are designed for women, to take advantage of the much slimmer waistline in order that he can achieve a feminine figure is also transgressing the spiritual intent of De 22:5.