Ulangan 23:9-11

Purity in Personal Hygiene

23:9 When you go out as an army against your enemies, guard yourselves against anything impure. ¹  23:10 If there is someone among you who is impure because of some nocturnal emission, ²  he must leave the camp; he may not reenter it immediately. 23:11 When evening arrives he must wash himself with water and then at sunset he may reenter the camp.

Yosua 3:5

3:5 Joshua told the people, “Ritually consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will perform miraculous deeds among you.”

Yosua 3:2

3:2 After three days the leaders went through the camp

1 Samuel 11:11

11:11 The next day Saul placed the people in three groups. They went to the Ammonite camp during the morning watch and struck them ³  down until the hottest part of the day. The survivors scattered; no two of them remained together.

[23:9]  ¹ tn Heb “evil.” The context makes clear that this is a matter of ritual impurity, not moral impurity, so it is “evil” in the sense that it disbars one from certain religious activity.

[23:10]  ² tn Heb “nocturnal happening.” The Hebrew term קָרֶה (qareh) merely means “to happen” so the phrase here is euphemistic (a “night happening”) for some kind of bodily emission such as excrement or semen. Such otherwise normal physical functions rendered one ritually unclean whether accidental or not. See Lev 15:16-18; 22:4.

[11:11]  ³ tn Heb “Ammon.” By metonymy the name “Ammon” is used collectively for the soldiers in the Ammonite army.