Love for one's neighbor comes through in several concrete situations in verses 1-4. Failure to get involved and help a neighbor in need is also wrong under the New Covenant (James 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17).
Men appeared in women's clothing and vice versa (v. 5) in some of the worship rituals of Astarte.241Furthermore transvestism did and still does have associations with certain forms of homosexuality.242Perhaps for these reasons God gave the command to wear clothing appropriate to one's own sex as well as because God intended to keep the sexes distinct (v. 5). Homosexualism was punishable by death in Israel.
"There are positive values in preserving the differences between the sexes in matters of dress. The New Testament instruction in Galatians 3:28, that there is neither male nor female, but that Christians are all one in Christ Jesus, applies rather to status in God's sight than to such things as dress. Without being legalistic some attempt to recognize the relative difference of the sexes, within their common unity as persons, is a principle worth safeguarding."243
Verses 6-7 show that God cares for the least of His creatures, and He wanted His people to do the same. Israelites could not kill mother birds along with their young or vice versa.
"The affectionate relation of parents to their young which God had established even in the animal world, was to be kept just as sacred [among animals as among humans, vv. 6-7]."244
Another view is that this law taught the Israelites to protect this important source of food, namely, eggs.245Building parapets on their flat-roofed houses reminded them of the value of human life and to love their neighbors (v. 8).
