Purity in the Military Camp
23: 9-14
Purity in the military camp DIG: How were the Israelite soldiers to treat the land in the military camp? Why? What did the Israelites carry into battle that the pagan nations did not? What is the difference between uncleanness and sin? How are they the same? How did ADONAI walk in the midst of the military camp? What did it mean to the Israelites if the Ark was captured?
REFLECT: As you put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17) every day, and go out to fight for His holiness and Kingdom in the world, how pure is your camp? Do you live your life as if ADONAI is always with you, seeing and hearing everything you do and say? Why? Why not? Is there anywhere you can go and escape His presence? Is that a good thing? Why? How do you keep your family, church, or community clean?
The purity in the military camp outside of Isra’el needed to be treated as pure as the land inside Isra’el. For ADONAI, the Holy One was in their midst.
Deuteronomy 19:1 to 26:15 (to see link click Dl – The Social and Family Mitzvot) deals with individual mitzvot, and to today’s readers they might appear irrelevant at first, but the very principles behind these commandments were the ones that have brought dignity to mankind. We need to examine these mitzvot in depth to discover the spirit in which they were given, so that we can still live in obedience to God’s Word today. For example, in Numbers 18, the Israelites were to bring their tithes to the Tabernacle because the priests and Levites had no inheritance. But today we have no Temple and no priesthood; however, we bring our tithes to our place of worship. That is the spirit of the mitzvah.
This section applied to Isra’el’s soldiers when they were encamped away from home. The basic principle was that they would treat their camp as they would treat their land at home, for ADONAI was with them, even on the battlefield, walking in their midst. The idol-worshipping nations believed that they left their gods behind when they went to another country. But Isra’el’s God was always with them, for He is the God of the earth. If a soldier had become unclean at home, he would have to leave the community, wash, and return the next day, and that same rule applied in the military camp.496
Dear heavenly Father, Praise You that you are with Your children wherever they go. We don’t have You with us only when we are worshipping or reading Your Word. From the time we wake up in the morning till when we go to sleep at night and wherever we go during the day, we are so thankful that You are with us! ADONAI, You searched me and know me. Whenever I sit down or stand up, You know it. You discern my thinking from afar. You observe my journeying and my resting and You are familiar with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, Adonai, You know all about it. You hemmed me in behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from Your Ruach? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to heaven, You are there, and if I make my bed in Sheol, look, You are there too. If I take the wings of the dawn and settle on the other side of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely darkness covers me, night keeps light at a distance from me,” even darkness is not dark for You, and night is as bright as day—darkness and light are alike (Psalms 103:1-12). We love to make time during our day to talk to You, to praise You and to love on You. You are the most wonderful Father! In Yeshua’s holy name and His power of resurrection. Amen
When you go out as an army camp against your enemies, you are to guard yourself from every evil thing. The noun evil thing (Hebrew: ra), has a wide semantic range, but generally doesn’t refer to something that is morally evil as to something that is unclean or unbecoming. In the first example: If there is among you a man who is not clean from an involuntary nighttime emission (Leviticus 15:16), which made him unclean, he is to go outside the camp – he may not reenter the camp. Now toward evening he is to bathe in water, and when the sun sets, he may reenter the camp. In the second example: There is to be a place at hand for you outside the camp, and you are to go there outside. You are to have a shovel for yourself among your weapons. When you relieve yourself, you are to dig a hole first and afterwards cover your excrement (23:9-13).
The reason for such ritual cleanliness is now given: For ADONAI your God walks in the midst of your camp, to rescue you and to give your enemies over to you. Therefore, your camp must be holy, so that He does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you (23:14). The LORD walked in the midst of the Israelite camp as the commander of ADONAI’s army (Joshua 5:14). As the God who will go before them and fight for them, He travels with them everywhere they go as His army.
Even though God’s presence is often associated with the Ark of the Covenant (see the commentary on Exodus Fr – The Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place: Christ at the Throne of Grace), it is not necessary to conclude that the Ark traveled with the fighting men of Isra’el to every battleground. There is no evidence in later biblical passages that the Ark was transported with the army when it conducted military campaigns. The use of the verb walks (Hebrew: from the root halak) equates YHVH’s walking among and with Isra’el with the exercise of His sovereignty (Genesis 3:8; Job 22:14). Wherever God walks, He walks with absolute authority.497
And because YHVH’s presence in the camp was the Ark, no unholy thing could be tolerated. Anything indecent could turn the LORD and His promise of victory away from Isra’el’s military camp. On the one hand, in the days before the Ark had a permanent resting place, it was the visible sign of the presence of God when Isra’el went to war. When it arrived in the Israelite camp, the Philistines said: God has come into the camp (First Samuel 4:7). On the other hand, the capture of the Ark was regarded as the loss of God’s presence when it was on the battlefield. When Eli learned that the Ark had been taken by the pagan Philistines, he fell backward from his seat, broke his neck, and died. Now his pregnant daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, learned that the Ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, crouched down and gave birth to a son because she was seized with labor pains. As she was dying, she named the child, appropriately enough, Ichabod (Hebrew from the root I-kabod, meaning there is no glory), saying: The Sh’khinah glory (see the commentary on Isaiah Ju – The Glory of the LORD Rises Upon You) has departed from Isra’el, for the Ark of God has been taken (First Samuel 4:18-22). So, the presence of the Ark in the camp signified that God was present.
No matter where we go, ADONAI goes with us, and we must not think that we can disobey Him and get away with it. God encourages us to “keep away from everything impure.” Whether we’re on vacation or away from home on business, the Lord watches us and desires us to be as careful in the light of day or in the darkness of night.498 David said it this way: Where can I go from Your Ruach? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to heaven, You are there, and if I make my bed in sh’ol, look, You are there too. If I take the wings of dawn and settle on the other side of the sea, even there Your hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely darkness covers me, night keeps light at a distance from me,” even darkness is not dark for You, for night is as bright as day – darkness and light are alike (Psalm 139:7-12).
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