That Biblical Injunction

by Virginia

One of our readers has asked me to comment on the biblical passage from Deuderonomy 22:5 which says, "A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whosoever doeth these things is an abomination un- to Jehovah thy god."

My comment takes several forms: In the first pl- ace let us consider that this passage comes as but one of a large number of regulations, laws and rules of conduct which were set forth in this section of the bib- le to the conditions of the time. Then let us remember that one can "prove anything by the bible", meaning of course, that all kinds of interpretations of allegor- ical statements can be made and since the bible is full of parables, allegories etc..one can, by searching dil- igently enough find some bit of text that appears to substantiate most anything he wishes biblical authority for. Next, is the fact that there are those who believe the bible literally (when it fits their purposes and non- literally in many other cases) and those who realize that what was said there is in many cases both allegor- ical or symbolic AND that it was said for the circum- stances of the time and need not be considered to fit all future times.

If one is going to take the quoted passage literal- ly, out of context both in the biblical text and from the point of view of the times, then it follows that all other passages should be taken equally literally. For instance, monogamy must obviously be wrong since Deut. 21:15 starts out, "I a man have two wives, the one beloved and the other hated..." Evidently it is biblically literally permissible to have two wives. Deut. 22:22 says, "If a man be found lying with a wom- an married to a husband then they shall both of them die... Pretty gruesome punishment for adultery which is rather common in our day. Deut. 25:5, If brethern

H

61.