UNEQUALLY YOKED

“You are not to wear clothing woven with two kinds of thread, wool and linen together.”
Deuteronomy 22:11

Back when I was a freshman in high school, (and I am going to date myself with this comment), Paula Abdul was just becoming famous. One of the many hits on her debut album was titled, “Opposites Attract.” I can still see the video in my mind of her and MC Scat Kat dancing as they explain their differences and how those differences bring them together. But if you were to ask marriage counselors if this coined phrase is true, you might receive a different response. In essence, to save us from learning the hard way in this situation, Adonai forbid it from the beginning. Now He did not say people wise that opposites do not attract, but if everything in His Word is not only literal, but also a type and shadow, would it not be true in marriage as well?
Beginning in Deuteronomy 22:9, we read that one is not to sow two kinds of seed between rows of vines. In verse 10, we read that the plow is not to be done by a mixed combination of ox and donkey together. And in verse 11 we see that clothing is not to be made of two kinds of thread. While these prohibitions were named specifically by Adonai, and do not mention the weaving of people, we can easily see this too is the case. Paul writes in II Corinthians 6:14-16, that the weaving of a believer with an unbeliever is just as much an error. The partnership these two share is as inappropriate as the yoking of the ox and donkey.
We live in a time when we are told to marry for love. But truth be told, we can fall in love with almost anyone. While I was in high school, a few years after Abdul’s debut, I began to have feelings for a Mormon girl. Sure she was sweet, and we had many things in common, but I had no business dating her. Yet I allowed myself to fall deeper and deeper in love with her. When the relationship was over, I found myself more invested in the Mormon faith than I ever intended. I allowed myself, like Solomon with his many wives, to be pulled away from Adonai and slowly giving in to the teachings of Joseph Smith. My error was that I placed myself in a position to be unequally yoked.
There is a reason why Adonai forbids the weaving of certain things. There is a safety that comes in obeying His command to not yoke unequal things. Yes, opposites do attract, but because they do doesn’t mean they should. I am looking for my bride, but I have learned to become picky in the search. I want a bride who is equal with me in the faith, and I cannot settle for anything less.

Deuteronomy 22:8 – 23:7