Deuteronomy 23:12

_IF THERE BE AMONG YOU ANY MAN, THAT IS NOT CLEAN BY REASON OF UNCLEANNESS THAT CHANCETH HIM BY NIGHT, THEN SHALL HE GO ABROAD OUT OF THE CAMP, HE SHALL NOT COME WITHIN THE CAMP:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

9-14 The camp of the Lord must have nothing offensive in it. If there must be this care taken to preserve the body clean, much more should we be careful to keep the mind pure....

Verse Deuteronomy 23:12. _ C._] These directions may appear trifling to some, but they were essentially necessary to this people in their present circumstances. Decency and cleanliness promote health, and prevent many diseases....

The whole passage refers not to the encampments of the nation while passing from Egypt through the wilderness, but to future warlike expeditions seat out from Canaan....

EXPOSITION CIVIL RIGHTS. WHO MAY AND WHO MAY NOT ENTER INTO THE CONGREGATION. UNCLEANNESS IN THE CAMP TO BE AVOIDED. RECEPTION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES. LICENTIOUS PERSONS TO BE REMOVED, AND GIFTS THE PRICE OF IMPURITY TO BE REFUSED. LAWS REGARDING USURY, VOWS, AND

THOU SHALT HAVE ALSO A PLACE WITHOUT THE CAMP,.... A place prepared, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, provided on purpose for the use hereafter suggested; so Ben Melech: WHITHER THOU SHALT GO FORTH ABROAD; to do the necessities of nature, which they were to do without the camp, not in any place they thought fit and most convenient, but what was appointed for that purpose....

19. THE CONGREGATION OF JEHOVAH AND ITS CONSTITUTION AND HOLINESS CHAPTER 23 _ 1. The constitution of the congregation of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 23:1)_ 2. The cleanness of the camp in time of war (Deuteronomy 23:9) 3. Concerning the escaped slave and the harlot (Deuteronomy 23:15) 4. Usury forbidden (Deuteronomy 23:19) 5. Concerning vows (Deuteronomy 23:21) 6. The neighbor's vineyard and field ...

ANOTHER SECTION DEALING WITH WAR (see Deuteronomy 20:1; Deuteronomy 21:10). Regulations for securing the ceremonial purity of the camp (see Numbers 5:2 (P)). The reason stated (Deuteronomy 23:14) is that Yahweh is in the camp (_cf. Deuteronomy 20:1_); Schwally and others suspect that the original motive is the belief that impurity attracted evil spirits. [J. G. Frazer (_Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 158f.) points out that the rules of ceremonial purity, by which the Hebrew warriors were bound, are identica

(2) TEMPORARY EXCLUSION FOR EGYPTIANS, MOABITES AND PHYSICALLY UNCLEAN (Deuteronomy 23:7-14) 7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a sojourner in his land. 8 The children of the third generation that are born unto them shall enter into the assembly of Jehovah. 9 When thou goest forth in camp against thine enemies, then thou shalt keep thee from every evil thing. 10 If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of that which chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp: 11 but it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall bathe himself in water; and when the sun is down, he shall come within the camp. 12 Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad; 13 and thou shalt have a paddle among thy weapons; and

LAWS REGARDING ADMITTANCE TO THE CONGREGATION, CLEANLINESS IN THE CAMP, UNCHASTITY, USURY, AND VOWS 1. Shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord] i.e. not merely as priests (see Leviticus 21:16) but as ordinary members of the nation of Israel, all of whom are 'holy unto the Lord.' The reference in this v. is probably to the self-mutilation practised by the devotees of certain heathen gods, and alluded to by St. Paul in Galatians 5:12 : cp. Deuteronomy 14:1....