To Mix is Not to Match

Reading:   Deuteronomy 22

Chapter twenty-two is another repetition of Mosaic law pertaining to the diversity of type.  I did not touch on this subject before so I shall attempt to do so on this second glance.  The original point of law is found in Leviticus 19:19...

19 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. 

DEUTERONOMY 22:9-11

9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. 

10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. 

11 Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together. 

So what I am hearing is...if any man is found in a planted field of both potatoes and corn working a plow that is tethered to a team comprised of an ox and an ass together, the man, of course, clothed with articles of both cotton and wool and of a feminine type, well that man is way, way, way out of bounds and worthy of immediate stoning - pebbling even (though to mingle stone and pebble is not advised in the anti-diversity climate of the Israelites).

Levity aside, why so stringent on seemingly trivial things?  The answer may be as rudimentary as setting up a basic pattern of kind - teach the childlike, freed slaves, to stay within type in all that they do and the very thought of mingling with heathen men or women might become abhorrent to them.  Or, the answer may lie in a more complex scheme that involves detrimental side effects of each pairing; a loss of produce when mingling seeds, possible plaques induced by the mingling of beasts, and the possibility of an allergen assault caused by the friction of garment type.

Ultimately, the reality lies with God and we, as I'm sure the Israelites learned to do, must have faith in His plan and His direction.  We do not see the big picture and its ridiculous to attempt to do so.  

Whatever will be will be,
The future (and past) is not ours to see.
Let it be!  Let it be,      
Salvage that which you can and do see!

~Kipling