This pasuk’s admonishment does not seem consistent with the natural sequence of sin. First, the eyes see something inappropriate. The heart subsequently desires that which the eyes have seen. Only after the eyes have registered that which it should not have seen does the heart lust after it. In a lecture focusing upon the issue of tznius, proper dress, Horav Yehudah Leib Fine, zl, commented that in regard to inappropriate dress, the sequence is reversed. The individual whose heart leads him astray, who follows the blandishments of the yetzer hora, chooses to dress in an improper fashion. Hence, the roving eye notices this breach in Jewish tradition and causes the person to sin.
The Torah is addressing two people. The first is one who is so insecure that he feels he must call attention to himself by dressing in a manner unbecoming any human being, let alone a Jew. What he does not realize is that by “curing” his diffident nature, he is contributing to the spiritual digression of the second Jew.
