Deuteronomy 22:5 is one of those oft-quoted passages from my
Pentecostal upbringing that requires reassessment and mature
evaluation.
"A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a
man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to
the LORD your God." (NKJV)
In my youth, I saw this verse as a specific prohibition against women
wearing pants (male apparel) which included an injunction against
"dressing out" in physical education class.
So thoroughly was this ingrained in my mind, for years I missed the
obvious, literal meaning of the passage - a prohibition of
transvestism.
Before I offer my comments on this passage, let me point to two preliminary
readings that I will address in this discussion: (1)
"Transvestism in Ancient Israel" from Claude Mariottini's blog
(Professor at Northern Baptist Seminary) -
http://doctor.claudemariottini.com/2...nt-israel.html
and (2) Harold Vedeler's article "Reconstructing Meaning in
Deuteronomy 22:5: Gender, Society, and Transvestism in Israel and the
Ancient Near East" (Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no.3 (2008) p.
459-76). I have included a PDF copy of this fairly technical article
for your consideration. I will engage the ideas of both writers,
agreeing with some of their insights, but offering a much simpler
solution for interpreting this passage.
Vedeler correctly recognizes the threefold structure of the passage.
Two parallel prohibitions - (1A) men prohibited from female clothing
and (1B) women prohibited from male clothing - and (2) the reasoning
behind these prohibitions - such acts are "an abomination before
Yahweh."
Vedeler offers an interesting presentation of transvestism as a social
practice in the ancient and modern worlds, although he too quickly
limits the erotic dimension of transvestism as a thoroughly modern
phenomenon. Specifically, he focuses on the female quest for masculine
power and the gender-bending nature of Canaanite cultic (temple)
garments. Mariottini makes a similar argument - but in a much more
straightforward way - referring to the vestments of the Canaanite
worshippers of the Baal/Asherah deities. Both scholars draw a fairly
strong conclusion -
Deuteronomy 22:5 as condemnation of Canaanite
cultic practice - from fairly weak evidence.
I do not agree with Mariottini's argument for the cultic nature of the
phrase "an abomination before Yahweh" - an argument taken from the
classic commentary of S. R. Driver. This phrase appears in other
contexts in Deuteronomy and other Pentateuchal legislation that are
clearly not condemnations of cultic practice. Any good concordance
will show this.
The heart of Vedeler's argument is that different words for male and
female garments (and the differing power of the Hebrew verbs
associated with them) show an obvious imbalance that points to meaning
beyond the literal. Not wanting to cross swords with the analysis of
Hebrew usage and syntax on which Vedeler makes his argument, I must
differ at a couple of very simple points: all of which focus on
PARALLELISM.
Whatever subtlety may be hidden in the choice of nouns and verbs in
sections 1A and 1B, these two prohibitions must first be seen as
simple parallelism which is common throughout Hebrew literature,
especially the Wisdom tradition. (I am not trying to "late date"
Deuteronomy as a Persian- or even Greek-era document. Rather, I argue
that some of Deuteronomy is exilic and some of the Wisdom literature
surely predates the Persian period.)
Simple parallelism - leaning toward antithetical parallelism in this
case - makes both prohibitions roughly equivalent and insists on a
fairly literal interpretation of the passage - the prohibition of
violating the cultural norms of gender difference in clothing.
Whatever the underlying message of this passage - power, cultic
practice, or eroticism - to ignore an ancient parallel to the modern
practice of erotically motivated transvestism seems unfair.
Deuteronomy 22:5 is a prohibition of transvestism whatever its
motivation - or put positively, an affirmation of cultural norms of
gender difference specifically expressed in clothing.
Threaded Mode
