No Mixture

Torah Portion Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19, Isaiah 54:1-10, Matthew 24:29-42, Psalm 32

The commandments of God are not given to put a yoke around our necks but to show us how to live in covenant relations with Him.  As I studied the Torah Portions this week the Father began to speak to me about “mixture”, the putting together of things that are forbidden.

This study focuses on Deuteronomy 22:5, 9-11

Deuteronomy 22: 5 (WEB)

A woman shall not wear men’s clothing, neither shall a man put on women’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

Deuteronomy 22: 9-11 (WEB)

You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest all the fruit be defiled, the seed which you have sown, and the increase of the vineyard. 10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11 You shall not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.

This week’s Torah Portion speaks of not creating a mixture of things that are forbidden; mixing seeds in the field, animals that plow the field, garments (wool & linen), and wearing an article of clothing that is made for the opposite sex. At first glance, these seem superficial but as I began to study and ask the Lord about mixture I learned that mixture is not just about the physical or what is listed. I learned that a mixture or mixing of things that do not belong together creates a new breed, a new system, or a new entity. 

In 1 Corinthians 15:33, we are told that bad company corrupts good morals. Throughout the Psalms and in the book of Proverbs we are warned not to follow the ways of the wicked or to be entangled with evil, but cling to the word of God. Paul tells us not to be yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters because we will love one and hate the other (Matthew 6:24). This is why God constantly warned the children of Israel not to follow the ways of the other nations but to take heed to obey and follow His commandments. He didn’t want them to create a new breed or a new way of life. He wanted them to live according to His image and likeness, in the way He created Adam-and-Eve. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they created a mixture that should not have happened. They became intimate with what was forbidden (Genesis 3). That’s why the Father had to put them out of the Garden, so they would not continue to eat from the Tree of Life and live in a state of immortality and sin. If God had allowed them to continue to live in the Garden of Eden eating from the Tree of Life they would have lived perpetually as something He did not create. 

We can see an example of what would have been by looking at Genesis 11:1-9 when Nimrod and the people began to build a city and tower to the heavens. For this reason, God had to separate mankind by language. "The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 2 As they traveled east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.” 5 Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. 6 Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. 7 Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth." Genesis 11:1-9 (WEB)

When I think about mixture from a spiritual perspective I see a picture of someone holding onto the principles of God in one hand and the ways of the world in the other. It is not always intentional but this is what has been passed down through our family bloodline from generations. All week as I read, thought about my family, and asked the Father to reveal that which has been passed as a mixture from generation to generation He began to reveal things that I would not have known otherwise.

Our belief system and the way we do things are a result of a mixture that has been passed to us. I am sure if you ask the Father to show you ways in which a mixture has been created in your family, you would be surprised at what He reveals. I am not saying everything from our bloodline is a mixture or that a mixture is only a result of what we have inherited, but we will better understand why we encounter certain problems and know how to pray and break the cycle through obedience to the word of God. We too have created mixtures by the choices we have made. I continue to pray and ask the Father to reveal to me ways in which I have personally created a mixture in my life so that I can break the cycle and walk in the fullness of His blessings of His covenant. Sometimes it is the simplest things that we don’t even think about when we do them that are the most surprising.

I challenge you today to seek the Father and allow Him to reveal to you the things that are causing a mixture in your life. My prayer is that Adonai will give you wisdom by His Ruach to know how to let go of the things He has revealed.

Psalm 32: 1(WEB) - Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Psalm 32:8-9 (WEB) - I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you. 9 Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.

Photo: Liger. Hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger. Both parents are from the Panthera genus, but from different species.
Source: http://listverse.com/2011/05/02/top-10-hybrid-animals/