Deuteronomy 22:10
Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
BSB
ASV
Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
KJV
Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
Compare the marginal reference. The prohibition of Deu 22:10 was also dictated by humanity. The ox and the donkey being of such different size and strength, it would be cruel to the latter to yoke them together. These two animals are named as being those ordinarily employed in agriculture; compare Isa 32:20.
Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together,.... They might be used separately, but not together; nor was it uncommon in some countries for asses to be employed in ploughing as well as oxen. Pliny (h) makes mention of some fruitful land in Africa, which when it was dry weather could not be ploughed by oxen, but after showers of rain might be ploughed by a mean little ass; so Leo Africanus (i) says, the Africans only use horses and asses in ploughing.
Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass - It is generally supposed that mixtures of different sorts in seed, breed, etc., were employed for superstitious purposes, and therefore prohibited in this law. It is more likely, however, that there was a physical reason for this; two beasts of a different species cannot associate comfortably together, and on this ground never pull pleasantly either in cart or plough; and every farmer knows that it is of considerable consequence to the comfort of the cattle to put those together that have an affection for each other.
1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together--Whether this association, like the mixture of seeds, had been dictated by superstitious motives and the prohibition was symbolical, designed to teach a moral lesson (2Co 6:14), may or may not have been the case.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.