Deuteronomy 23:1-14
Those Excluded from the Congregation
1 “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the LORD.
2 “One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD.
3 “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever, 4 because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road 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 Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you. 6 You shall not seek their peace nor 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 an alien in his land. 8 The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.
Cleanliness of the Campsite
9 “When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. 10 If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp. 11 But it shall be, when evening comes, that he shall wash with water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.
12 “Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; 13 and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. 14 For the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.
Cleanliness was commanded within the congregation and without in the world around the people of the LORD. This holds true today as it was foreshadowed in these old commands for holiness of the body of believers in the Lord and among those outside who try to influence them and us into compromising God’s will for us to honor and glorify Him in our passions and actions. The outward appearance was the beginning of holiness to the LORD, including the representative wholeness by prohibition of eunuchs and illegitimate children who were denied entry to the congregation within the camp to keep it holy as pure as the required sacrifices of spotless lambs. Also the enemies of God such as the Moabites mentioned specifically here were to be kept out of the camp of the congregation to avoid idolatry and immorality creeping in and bringing cursing against the LORD as Balaam had done (Numbers 31:16, 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, Revelation 2:14) for a price at the incomprehensible cost of morality and conscience. Those who helped the people of God, however, were not to be despised or kept from coming to worship within them inside the camp of the congregation, a pattern for the church today to welcome those in who are not set against the Lord and His people. Cleanliness was also expected when going outside the camp of the congregation by keeping themselves holy and unspotted (2 Peter 3:14, James 1:27) from the world of the ungodly while among them. This holds just as true for we who are of God’s congregation today, to keep ourselves untainted by sin as we venture through this sojourning and bear witness to the truth of the gospel and turning from sins of idolatry and immorality to Christ as our ultimate holiness in His righteousness. He walks among us in this camp of the church body and within each of us who are His children, for the Holy Spirit of the Living God lives in these temples of us individually and corporately. He has delivered us and continues to do so (2 Corinthians 1:10) that we might strive for holiness to conform to (Romans 8:29, 12:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18) and form His image in us, within and without. May we seriously pursue holiness both within and outside the church as a witness of the holiness obtained through repentance and faith in Christ both to the world and among one another.
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