Often the Bible surprises me with the level of attention given to details in the text. This morning I found it odd to discover directions for good camp hygiene.
Designate a place outside the camp where you can go relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.
Campers and soldiers use this method today, digging a cat hole and covering it up after moving their bowels (FYI here’s another reason I don’t like camping).
But why would the Lord concern himself with Israeli excrement?
For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. You camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.
The Lord called for holiness among his people, especially among these warriors leading the nation into the promised land. Excrement littering the ground offended the Lord as he moved with the people of Israel. Droppings represented indecency, while holiness is identified with cleanliness.
Excrement surrounding a camp also proves highly unsanitary. This command to bury their poop protected the nation of Israel from various diseases and kept nearby water supplies safe.
This simple call toward holiness focused people on the Lord and led them into healthier conditions for living. The Lord’s instructions always protect from danger and provide something better. In this case, following the Lord protected from sickness and disease and provided the presence of the Lord in a battlefield campaign.
Two really good reasons to dig a hole and bury your sh*t.
Deuteronomy 23 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022
Photo by Denny Müller
So is this the basis for cleanliness is next to godliness.