Deuteronomy 22:11

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) A garment . . . of woollen and linen together.—In Ezekiel 44:17-18, the priests are altogether forbidden the use of woollen garments during their ministry. “The fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19:8), literally, their requirements. That is what they need. But it is said of the priests in Ezekiel, “They shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat: That which cometh out of the man defileth him.” Again, in God’s dwelling-place, the interior or mishkân, the tabernacle where He abode, was of fine linen. The outer tent and coverings were of hair and skin and wool. The tabernacle where He dwells, and the earthly house of the tabernacle, must be kept distinct, while His tabernacle “remaineth among us in the midst of our uncleanness.” (See Leviticus 16:16).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:5-12 God's providence extends itself to the smallest affairs, and his precepts do so, that even in them we may be in the fear of the Lord, as we are under his eye and care. Yet the tendency of these laws, which seem little, is such, that being found among the things of God's law, they are to be accounted great things. If we would prove ourselves to be God's people, we must have respect to his will and to his glory, and not to the vain fashions of the world. Even in putting on our garments, as in eating or in drinking, all must be done with a serious regard to preserve our own and others' purity in heart and actions. Our eye should be single, our heart simple, and our behaviour all of a piece.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare the marginal reference. The prohibition of Deuteronomy 22:10 was also dictated by humanity. The ox and the donkey being of such different size and strength, it would be cruel to the latter to yoke them together. These two animals are named as being those ordinarily employed in agriculture; compare Isaiah 32:20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts—The essence of the crime (Zep 1:8) consisted, not in wearing a woollen and a linen robe, but in the two stuffs being woven together, according to a favorite superstition of ancient idolaters (see on [160]Le 19:19).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts,.... The Jews say nothing is forbidden under the name of sorts but what is spun and wove, as it is said, "thou shalt not wear sheatnez", a thing that is carded, spun, and wove (l); which Ainsworth translates "linsie woolsie", and is explained by what follows: as "of woollen and linen together"; of which See Gill on Leviticus 19:19, whereas Josephus (m) observes, this was granted to the priests only to wear such garments. Bochart (n) affirms it to be false; but that great man is mistaken; the blue, purple, and scarlet, in the priests' garments, were no other than dyed wool; and it is a sentiment in general received by the Jews, that the priests wore no other but woollen and linen in their service; see the note on the above place; otherwise this law is so strictly observed, as not, to sew a woollen garment with linen thread, and so on the contrary (o).

(l) Misn. Celaim. c. 9. sect. 8. (m) Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 11. (n) Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 45. col. 491. (o) Leo Modena's History of Rites, &c. l. 1. c. 5.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. a mingled stuff] Heb. sha‘aṭnez, a foreign word, and perhaps Egyptian (doubtfully derived from the Coptic saht, ‘woven,’ and nudj, ‘false’), LXX κίβδηλος. Also in Leviticus 19:19, which has a garment of two kinds for the wool and linen together of D. According to Hosea 2:5; Hosea 2:9, Israel attributed her wool and flax (and other products) to the Baalîm, and if as is probable different products were attributed to different Baals we have a confirmation of the theory stated above in the introd. note. Josephus, IV. Antt. Deuteronomy 8:11, gives another reason.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - A garment of diverse sorts; sha'atnez, a kind of cloth in which threads of linen and threads of woollen were interwoven. The meaning of the word is uncertain. The LXX. render by κίβδηλος, "spurious, bad;" Aquila, by ἀντιδιακείμενον, "variously disposed, diverse." No Semitic etymology can be found for the word, and as the Hebrews derived the textile art from Egypt, the home of that art, the word is probably of Egyptian origin. Deuteronomy 22:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Still less were they to expose human life to danger through carelessness. "If thou build a new house, make a rim (maakeh) - i.e., a balustrade - to thy roof, that thou bring not blood-guiltiness upon thy house, if any one fall from it." The roofs of the Israelitish houses were flat, as they mostly are in the East, so that the inhabitants often lived upon them (Joshua 2:6; 2 Samuel 11:2; Matthew 10:27). - In Deuteronomy 22:9-11, there follow several prohibitions against mixing together the things which are separated in God's creation, consisting partly of a verbal repetition of Leviticus 19:19 (see the explanation of this passage). - To this there is appended in Deuteronomy 22:12 the law concerning the tassels upon the hem of the upper garment (Numbers 15:37.), which were to remind the Israelites of their calling, to walk before the Lord in faithful fulfilment of the commandments of God (see the commentary upon this passage).