Deut 22:5 is the only prohibition of transvestitism in the Bible and itscultural environment. The context in which it appears suggests that it wasinserted secondarily, in the period after the Babylonian Exile. This viewnarrows down various speculations concerning the original Sitz im Leben ofthis precept, and it leads one to understand it primarily within the frameworkof the canonical shape of the whole Pentateuch. Accordingly, this regulationmainly refers to the rule of the bisexual division of human nature (Gen 1–2),the rule of preserving the order of creation (not mixing species; Lev 19:19;Deut 22:9-11), as well as the preservation of the procreative force, heremainly related to masculinity (Gen 5:1-3; cf. 1:28; 9:1.7).
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