There are many passages of scripture in
the Bible that have caused me to stop, think about and definitely ponder
over. One such passage is Deuteronomy 22:10, where God says “Thou
shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” This passage had always been one that I have
spent some time over. In the middle of
telling the Hebrew children what to do before they go into the Promised Land
God makes this interesting statement to them.
I know that this verse did have a definite informational and scriptural
truth to it especially at that time, but I think that many today who read this
passage fail to see or search out the meaning that is has for us today. Before we can go into an interpretation for
today we need to understand the real reason for the statement. Bible Commentator John Gill says that “the reason why
they were not to be put together was either (as some think) lest the law should
be broken which forbids the gendering of cattle with a divers kind, (Leviticus
19:19 ) but Aben Ezra thinks the reason is, because the strength of an ass is not
equal to the strength of an ox; and therefore he supposes this law is made from
the mercy and commiseration of God extended to all his creatures; though
perhaps the better reason is, because the one was a clean creature, and the
other an unclean, and this instance is put for all others; and with which agree
the Jewish canons, which run thus, “cattle with cattle, wild beasts with wild
beasts, unclean with unclean, clean with clean (i.e. these may be put
together); but unclean with clean, and clean with unclean, are forbidden to
plough with, to draw with, or to be led together.” The mystery of this is, that godly and ungodly
persons are not to be yoked together in religious fellowship: see 2 Corinthians
6:14.” (1)
Other commentaries
agree with Abner Ezra in that these should not be teamed together because the stride and step
of an ox and an ass are physically different and that they could not pull
together evenly or equally. This unequal
pull would cause an over work and effort bringing on an early weariness on both
animals this is especially true because the ass being much smaller making his
step shorter than the ox creates an unequal and irregular draft. Thus the work would be nearly twice as hard
for the ox and the ass because of the natural cadence of these two unevenly
yoked animals and as we noted above, the law teaches us to consider differences
in human beings, and not to be unequally yoked.
This commentary in
relation to the upcoming community that the Hebrews were to experience with the
children of this new land would be in alignment with the Apostle Paul who says
in 1 Corinthians 6:14 “Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and
what communion hath light with darkness?” How true is that in our relationship
with the Lord? How many times in our
walk with Christ have we intervened in someone else’s life and tried to do that
which belongs to God? We make things
worse trying to push or pull and in doing so we end up working against the Lord
as we try to help? Sometimes the unequal
yoke is when we yoke up with another in God’s stead.
It
does not take a lot of research to understand the concept of an equaled yoke
and the importance of it in service and in relationship of the two. The bible says in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for
I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Here in this passage we find the Lord asking
us to yoke up with Him for both kingdom service and as we move forward in
relationship with Him. Too often I have
heard others refer to this passage stating that Jesus in this passage is
stating that He wants to carry our load, which is not what He is referring
to. I have learned that there are three
important lessons to be learned when being yoked with another. First,
when you are yoked together with someone, both are expected to pull the load,
but when one of the two fails to pull his share of the load it causes undue
stress on the one they are yoked up to.
This may cause the one in the lead to begin to drag the one who lags
behind, and possibly choke them. Second, when you are yoked together
with someone and you take on an aggressive stride to push on ahead you will
quickly exhaust the one you are yoked up to and will exasperate them. Third,
when you are yoked up to another, you cooperate and learn to walk
together. This requires collaboration
from both parties to succeed as note: (1) you need to learn the others step or
stride and (2) you set your stride accordingly.
When this is done the yoke becomes a tool to help you walk alongside the
other and both parties work together helping one another. As the scripture says “Can two walk together, except
they be agreed” (Amos 3:3)
I
decided to look into this a little further and after a little more research looking
into one of my favorite commentators, Jameison-Faussett-Brown
I discovered even more information. In their commentary they bring out one
more additional fact to consider and that being in regards primarily to the
ass. They point out that “the ass often
feed on more coarse and poisonous weeds, which would produce a foul breath and
stench which could often be poisonous and offensive to the one it is yoked
too. It would be so offensive to the ox
that it is said that they have been observed to often to hold their head away
from the ass and to pull only with one shoulder.” (2)
Now
with this new insight in mind, let’s take an inward look at the sins that we
all continue to hold onto in our lives that drastically affect our relationship
with the Lord. When we openly and
honestly consider the scripture text mentioned above we will see that SIN in a
believer’s life is much the same. A
sinful lifestyle causes a foul stench that is very offensive to Him. We falsely assume that our relationship with
the Lord is good, but it never will be as long as that sin retains a presence in our lives.
With this in mind, we begin to create an unequal yoke with the
Lord. Our relationship with the Lord
begins to resemble the unequalled yoke of the ass and the ox. This is because in our foolish attempt to continue
to hold onto our sin, we become much like the ass in our yoke with Him. We are smaller, we are definitely weaker, and
the odor of our sin is very offensive to Him.
Instead of a sweet savor to the nostrils of the Lord our prayer
offerings are more of an offensive stench to Him because they are produced from
a heart and mouth that is tainted by sin and instead of sweetness there is a
foul breath and stench of our sin. He
does continue in the relationship but He cannot look upon us as we know He
cannot look upon sin (Isa:59:2).(3)
Much like the Ox that is yoked up to the ass he turns his face from us
to avoid the smell that is coming from a heart that is still corrupt with sin. This remains a problem as long as we still
want to hold onto sin and profess a right relationship with the Lord.
Our
once sweet relationship with Christ will become more and more strained because
of our willful disobedience as we hold onto sin. If that is not enough, it will also begin to affect
our relationships with others though it may not be evident to the sinning party
as it will be to those who are sinned against. Unconfessed and un-repented sin in the life of
a believer (any believer) will become just like the foul stench of the “Ass”
leaving a bad taste in the lives of those that they are around. The remedy for this is that sin must be deal
with, sin must be confessed, it must be forsaken and most importantly it must
be repented of. One must bring it humbly
before the Lord, asking and trusting that the Lord eradicate it from our heart
and life. If we do not deal with our sin,
God the Father will. 1 John 1: 9,
says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Only God can forgive us of sin, restoration
comes to us solely from God. If we
humbly come to Him and repent of our sin, He will forgive us, and He will
restore us. Then and only then will we be restored and equally yoked again to
the Savior.
Our
prayer to the Lord should be, “Lord, help me not to be the ‘Ass’ in our
relationship with you, help that which proceeds out of my mouth to be a sweet savor
to you and not to be tainted by sin. May
my breath before you and others be sweet because of my relationship with you
and not foul or tainted with the stench of sin in my life.”
=
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
1. Taken from: https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/deuteronomy-22.html
2. Taken from: https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/deuteronomy-22.html
3. Isaiah 59:2, “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (KJV)
