Do Not Mix pt. 2

I wrote earlier this year a thread called Do Not Mix in which I wrote about some conclusions that we had come to. But something has recently been brought to my attention. I’d like to share what that is and tell about how it has affected our family.

Let me copy something from the Scriptures, including Strongs Numbers and I’ll emphasize a particular number. These references are from the KJV.

Lev 19:19 Ye shall keep 08104 my statutes 02708. Thou shalt not let thy cattle 0929 gender 07250 with a diverse kind 03610: thou shalt not sow 02232 thy field 07704 with mingled seed 03610: neither shall a garment 0899 mingled 03610 of linen and woollen 08162 come 05927 upon thee.

Deu 22:11 Thou shalt not wear 03847 a garment of divers sorts 08162, [as] of woollen 06785 and linen 06593 together 03162.

First of all, Leviticus 19 as listed here is a bit different than what I had been studying from. What, in the version I had been using most, read as “mixed fabric” the KJV says “linen and woolen”. Why is this? The Strongs Number here is 08162 which is this:

8162 sha`atnez shah-at-naze’ probably of foreign derivation; linsey- woolsey, i.e. cloth of linen and wool carded and spun together:–garment of divers sorts, linen and wollen.

Both can be correct explanations, but one is more clear. When I went to see where in Scripture this word is used, I found that this word seems to only be used in these two verses in all of Scripture. So we are told not to mix wool and linen specifically. It doesn’t seem that mixing other fibers is a bad thing but keeping the wool and linen mixture holy for the High Priest is a significant issue. If we all wore clothing made of this material it would not set the High Priests garment aside as anything special, or holy.

When we found this out we talked about how it would affect our lives. It was an interesting fact to learn, to say the least. Standing in the kitchen on a cool day Miriam said, “So regular old sweatshirts are okay then?” This has been the biggest problem for our family as we’ve tried to implement our decision of no mixed fibers. Well both sweatshirts and socks have presented a dilemma.

Does this change our idea of the object lessons contained in the “Do Not Mix” thread? Not really. There are plenty of Scriptures that tell us not to mix the holy and the common and our worship of Him with the ways of the world. That object lesson remains unchanged.

Are we disapointed in our family decision to cut out all mixed fiber clothing? Not at all. It was a nice and refreshing thing to make a bold move and it has been a good reminder every time we come across new clothes to look at the tag and remind ourselves about mixing and maintaining holy things as holy. We don’t regret it at all. But we do find some similar parallels to teachings of Yeshua in His days on earth.

A big problem Yeshua had was with the teachers of the day making their own interpretations of Torah as important, if not moreso, than Torah itself. He pointed back the true Torah and established a boundary between the True Word (that is Himself) and the traditions of men. Many say He abolished or changed the Torah when in fact, He did not. But that’s another topic. For us, we see how those things have come about over time and how necessary it is for someone to bring the truth to light. It is not bad to go beyond the command in most cases, as long as other commands are not being broken. But it is very important to be able to establish between the actual command and the traditions surrounding it. Until someone points these things out, how do we know?

Now that we have found this bit of information we feel free to make a slight change if we want to. We are allowed to wear mixed fibers as long as we don’t wear the sacred mixture that is designated for the High Priest alone. And honestly, we don’t know if we could even find a wool and linen mixture in the clothing stores. We are free to do so, but that doesn’t mean we have to.

See, the Torah is not a heavy burden! Yeshua said that His burden and his way was light and easy. It truly is! Even when the pendulum swings a little too far in one direction it is still easy and light. The pendulum generally comes back to the middle and our life adjustments reflect that, or at least it should be that way.

Remember, we are on a journey. As we grow we learn and apply more and more. Sometimes we need little course adjustments but those are okay!! Like DH has said oh so many times before, “You can’t steer a ship that isn’t moving!”