Essay for Deuteronomy 23:10
כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א מַחֲנֶ֖ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ וְנִ֨שְׁמַרְתָּ֔ מִכֹּ֖ל דָּבָ֥ר רָֽע׃
When thou goest forth in camp against thine enemies, then thou shalt keep thee from every evil thing.
The Five Books of Moses, by Everett Fox
The matter of bodily wastes, interestingly, did not enter the list of ritually “polluting” emissions enumerated in Lev. 12 and 15. Unlike blood and semen, they did not carry the connotation of life-death boundaries. At the same time, it is recognized here that a lapse in personal cleanliness on the part ot the Israelites will violate the purity of the camp, in which God “dwells.”
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