Deuteronomy 23 — Blog — KEN D. MILLER

9 “When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

10 “If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, 11 but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.

12 “You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. 13 And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. 14 Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.” – Deuteronomy 23:9-14 ESV

As we have discussed before, the God of Israel was anything but a distant and disinterested diety who with no personal stake in the lives of His people. He cared deeply about every aspect of their lives. The laws God gave them to regulate their lives provide ample proof that His interest in them went well beyond matters concerning worship, tithing, and offering sacrifices to Him.

In these verses, Moses provides the people of Israel with instructions regarding war. As they prepared to enter the promised land, battle was going to be an inevitable part of their future. In order to occupy the land, they were going to have to conquer its inhabitants. So, God provided Moses with instructions outlining their behavior while conducting military campaigns. Even during times of war, God expected the men of Israel to maintain a sense of decorum and to do all that was necessary to keep themselves holy or set apart before God. War would not be an excuse for wickedness. If anything, it would call for even greater care on the part of the people, to ensure that they did not defile themselves before God.

Because Israel did not maintain a standing army but operated on the basis of a mandatory militia, the men of fighting age all had to be ready at a moment’s notice to suit up for action. These excursions could last for indefinite periods of time and would require a great deal of sacrifice on the part of the nation. Men would be called away from their homes and families. Their farms, fields, and vineyards would go untended in their absence. Forced to leave their wives behind, these men would find themselves facing all kinds of temptations. And during these military campaigns, the encampments filled with men could easily become breeding grounds for lax moral behavior.

The first command concerned an avoidance of anything and everything that was considered evil. The old phrase, “boys will be boys” applies here. God knew that a crowd made up entirely of men would be like a magnet for wickedness. These men would find themselves tempted by everything from off-color humor to sexual promiscuity. In every century, gatherings of soldiers have always attracted prostitutes. And the heat of battle with its ever-present threat of death can cause any man to lose faith and compromise his moral convictions. So, Moses called the men of Israel to keep themselves pure, even during times of war.

The next two verses get very specific and graphic. They deal with ceremonial uncleanness as a result of a man having nocturnal emissions. Without their wives to satisfy their sexual needs, this was going to be a normal and natural occurrence. But it would also leave the individual in an impure state and in need of purification. God had provided very specific instructions concerning this matter.

“If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until the evening. And every garment and every skin on which the semen comes shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening.” – Leviticus 15:16-17 ESV

Ceremonial impurity was unacceptable. But so was physical impurity. That’s why Moses went on to provide the men with instructions regarding the disposal of human waste. These encampments could easily be filled with tens of thousands of men, creating a significant hygiene problem. With that many men gathered in one place for a prolonged period of time, waste disposal would have to be a major priority or disease and dysentery could easily diminish the full effectiveness of the army. So, Moses instructed each soldier to carry an implement for burying his waste. And they commanded to go outside the camp in order to relieve themselves. This would help prevent the spread of disease but also encourage privacy and modesty. But even more importantly, it would maintain purity in the camp, which was essential “Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you” (Deuteronomy 23:14 ESV).

Even while on bivouac, the men of Israel were to consider the constant presence of God. He was always in their midst and, therefore, they were to maintain a sense of decorum and reverence, treating their temporary living conditions with the same care and concern as they would their own homes.

Jesus made the statement, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20 ESV), and this thought would be true of the men of Israel as they gathered together to fight in the name of God. Holiness in the camp was essential. Impurity could easily result in God’s departure from their midst and that would prove to be a devastating outcome. Even in the heat of battle, holiness was required.

“…therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.” – Deuteronomy 23:14 ESV

There was to be no time or place where holiness was not the Israelites’ highest priority. And while the life of the Christ-follower will also include moments of spiritual warfare, there is no excuse for compromise or moral laxness. Purity in the camp should always be our highest priority. The presence of God is real and He is with us in each and every circumstance. So, His call that we be holy as He is holy applies to every occasion in which we find ourselves, whether in the safety of our home or the heat of the battle.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

1 “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

2 “No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.

3 “No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, 4 because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you. 6 You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.

7 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. 8 Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the Lord.” – Deuteronomy 23:1-8 ESV

Moses now shifts his focus from marriage to the wider corporate context of Israel. More specifically, he addresses the topic of worship or the corporate assembly of the covenant community. Six times in eight verses, he will discuss those who are forbidden to “enter into the assembly of the Lord.” This is a reference to the gathering of the people of Israel for all God-ordained feasts and festivals, or other prescribed occasions where the people were to gather for public worship.

Those times at which the corporate community gathered together before the Lord were to be seen as sacred. Those events were to be attended only by those who could be deemed legitimate members of the covenant community of Israel. God had made His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. They were considered by God to be holy because He had set them apart from all the other nations. So, there were restrictions concerning who could take part in these sacred assemblies.

First of all, Moses prohibits the inclusion of any males who suffered from any form of emasculation. This would include those suffering from any form of birth defect concerning the male genitals or those who had accidentally or deliberately been emasculated. This regulation, while seemingly unfair and exclusionary, had a purpose behind it. Any emasculated man would have been considered physically incomplete or lacking in wholeness. Wholeness and holiness were closely linked in the Hebrew way of thinking. And emasculation would have left the individual incapable of procreation because of their inability to produce the seed necessary for conception. These people were not to be treated as second-class citizens, but they were restricted from joining in the corporate worship of God. Again, this had to do with wholeness and holiness.

The second restriction has to do with anyone born of a “forbidden union” or illegitimate birth. This most likely included anyone whose parents were of mixed ethnic backgrounds, particularly referring to a Hebrew and a pagan. But it is thought to have included children born out of incest, rape, or some other unholy union between a man and a woman. Once again, it is not that these people were to be considered as non-members of the Jewish community, but that their participation in the corporate worship of the nation was restricted. The issue was that of holiness or wholeness.

Anyone of Moabite and Ammonite descent was also restricted from participation in the corporate worship of Israel. The mention of these two people groups indicated that Moabites and Ammonites could convert to Judaism, but they could not join in the national assemblies reserved for the worship of Yahweh. There are several factors behind this prohibition. The first is that these two people groups were the descendants of the two sons born to Lot as a result of his incestuous relationships with his own daughters (Genesis 19:30-38). But they were also guilty of having treated the Israelites harshly during their journey to the land of Canaan. The king of Moab had attempted to use a prophet to curse the people of Israel, but his efforts were derailed by God. This snub of God’s chosen people had long-term ramifications, restricting any Ammonites and Moabites who converted to Judaism from participating in corporate worship with the nation of Israel.

But any Edomites who had converted to Judaism were not to be restricted from the corporate assemblies of Israel. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. And the Israelites were commanded to treat them as brothers.

Finally, anyone of Egyptian descent who had become part of the Hebrew nation was also to be treated fairly and allowed to participate in the worship of Yahweh. This inclusion of the Egyptians seems odd when you consider that the people of Israel spent more than 400 years as their slaves. But the nation of Egypt had been used by God to foster the growth of the nation of Israel. When Jacob and his family had first arrived in Egypt, they number just over 70 people, but by the time they left four centuries later, they numbered in the millions. And it had been the people of Egypt who had blessed the Israelites by providing them with gifts and treasures when they departed.

The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. – Exodus 12:35-36 ESV

So, God commanded that the Israelites treat any Egyptians in their midst who worshiped Him to be treated as equals, allowing them to join in their corporate assemblies.

The coming together of the people of God for times of corporate worship was meant to reflect their status as His chosen people. We have seen how God commanded the purging of evil from their midst. This was particularly important when it came to times of worship. The presence of the wicked or evil would pollute their corporate holiness. God was to be treated with reverence, and as worthy of the greatest honor they could bring. These assemblies of the Lord were not to be taken lightly or flippantly. God was to be honored as holy and deserving of the greatest respect. So, these prohibitions have much more to say about the perfection of God than they do about the imperfections or unworthiness of the individuals mentioned. The worship of God was to be taken seriously, and by providing clear directions and restrictions regarding proper worship, Moses was reminding the people of Israel just how worthy of worship their God was.

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