For example, laws requiring them to bathe themselves, bury their excreta, quarantine the contagiously ill, and avoid certain foods all promoted health and physical cleanness.a​—Exodus 30:18-20; Leviticus, chapter 11; Le 13:4, 5, 21, 26; 15:16-18, 21-23; Deuteronomy 23:12-14.

23:9-14 690

“For Jehovah your God is walking about within your camp to deliver you and to abandon your enemies to you, and your camp must prove to be holy, that he may see nothing indecent in you and certainly turn away from accompanying you.”—Deut. 23:14, NW.

For Jehovah your God is walking about within your camp to deliver you and to abandon your enemies to you, and your camp must prove to be holy, that he may see nothing indecent in you and certainly turn away from accompanying you.” (Deut. 23:9-14, NW)

The Israelites had an advantage because they knew that they were sinners, and they had laws from God that helped them to avoid contracting or spreading many diseases. (Leviticus 5:2; 11:39, 40; 13:1-4; 15:4-12; Deuteronomy 23:12-14)

Jehovah has appropriate concern about such matters, as we can see from the laws that he gave the Israelites. (Exodus 21:28-34; Deuteronomy 22:8; 23:12-14)

Jehovah required his ancient people to take steps to dispose of wastes, steps that had ecological as well as sanitary import. (Deuteronomy 23:9-14)

a The Hebrew word for dungy idols, gil·lu·limʹ, was a term of contempt that originally meant “dung pellets”​—something detestable to the Jews.​—Deuteronomy 23:12-14; 1 Kings 14:10; Ezekiel 4:12-17.

Perhaps what comes to your mind are laws given to Israel regarding sanitation and steps that minimized the spread of infection. (Deuteronomy 14:11-21; 23:10-14)

 3. (a) What standard of cleanness must Jehovah’s servants maintain? (b) How was the need for cleanness stressed when Jewish exiles were released from Babylon?

³ Jehovah’s servants must maintain a high standard of physical, moral and spiritual cleanness. (Exodus 30:17-21; Deuteronomy 23:12-14; Ephesians 5:25-27; 2 Corinthians 7:1)

Regulations on such matters as divorce, loans, kindness to the fatherless and to widows, brother-in-law marriage, accurate weights, the offering of firstfruits, and tithing bring this discourse to a close.​—Deuteronomy 19:1–26:19.

His interest in public health is plain from laws about quarantine and the disposal of excrement, which could contaminate water supplies and spread disease. (Leviticus 13:1-59; Deuteronomy 23:9-14)

You can understand that this is so when you consider what it says about keeping clean. (Exodus 30:17-21; Deuteronomy 23:12-14)

It also points out that cleanness is important. (Deut. 22:1-4; 23:12-14; Ex. 30:18-21)

Moses’ second discourse covers chapters five through twenty-six.

25. How was the army’s religious and physical cleanliness ensured, and how did this work beneficially in connection with the siege of enemy cities?

²⁵ Since wars were wars of Jehovah, soldiers were sanctified for warfare and cleanliness was required in camp. (Deut. 23:9-14)

Sanitary measures were taken regarding the disposal of human wastes. (Deut. 23:12-14)

Deuteronomy 1st half

De 1-12, of 2nd

De 18-34 century.

But sewage can be safely disposed of by burying, as was required among the Israelites even in military camps. (Deuteronomy 23:12, 13)

In Bible times, God gave Israel specific laws on diet, quarantine, hygiene, and sanitation that were well suited to their wilderness sojourn. (Leviticus 11:2-8; 13:2-5; Deuteronomy 23:10-13)

But the comments he wrote at Deuteronomy 23:12, 13 are completely free from the mistaken​—in fact, harmful—​medical practices of Egypt.

For example, the requirement that human excrement be buried deterred the spread of such diseases as dysentery and typhoid fever. (Deut. 23:12, 13)

With your equipment you will have a trowel, and when you squat outside, you shall scrape a hole with it and then turn and cover your excrement.” (Deut. 23:12, 13, New English Bible)