Did you know that in Alabama it is illegal to make a person in church laugh by wearing a fake mustache on Sunday? In North Carolina, it is illegal for a bingo session to last more than five hours! This is a sample of laws that are technically still on the books, but no longer enforced.

Deuteronomy 22:1–12 contains a series of laws that may seem irrelevant to believers today. Are Christians supposed to obey these laws? If, as followers of Christ, we are not under the Mosaic Law, why are they still in the Bible? These laws reveal God’s character. They describe how God wanted Israel to live within their cultural context. They are authoritative to us as God’s revelation. They are a source of wisdom as we reflect on the values on which these laws were founded.

Some laws in this section were given to remind Israel that they were to be a separate and distinct people. They were not to wear clothing of two different kinds of cloth (v. 11) or plant fields with different kinds of seeds (v. 9). These are not moral issues, but they would be a physical reminder of Israel’s call to be holy.

Many laws describe how they should treat others. If you saw an ox or goat wandering, you were to care for it until its owner came looking for it (vv. 1–3). If you saw an animal that had fallen and the owner was struggling to help the animal back to its feet, you were to help (v. 4). There is even a law related to having compassion for wild birds (vv. 6–7).

Jesus summarized the Law in this way to His disciples: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12).

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