Deuteronomy 23:9

9 `When a camp goeth out against thine enemies, then thou hast kept from every evil thing.

Deuteronomy 23:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 23:9

When the host goeth forth against thine enemies
An army of soldiers march in order to meet the enemy and fight him:

then keep thee from every wicked thing;
the Targum of Jonathan adds, by way of explanation,

``from strange worship, uncovering of nakedness, and from shedding innocent blood;''

that is, from idolatry, uncleanness of every sort, and murder; and all other wickednesses ought to be abstained from at all times by all persons, but especially by soldiers in such a circumstance, just going to battle; since sin committed weakens natural courage, as it loads the conscience with guilt; and since victory and success, which depend upon the blessing of God on arms, cannot be reasonably expected, where vices of all sorts are indulged and abound; and especially seeing such are about to expose their lives to the utmost danger, and know not but that in a few hours they must exchange this life for another, and appear before God, the Judge of all, against whom they sin; and yet how little are these things thought of by such in common! it was the wisdom of the Jewish legislature, which was of God, to inculcate such things into the minds of their soldiers.

Deuteronomy 23:9 In-Context

7 `Thou dost not abominate an Edomite, for thy brother he [is]; thou dost not abominate an Egyptian, for a sojourner thou hast been in his land;

8 sons who are begotten of them, a third generation of them, doth enter into the assembly of Jehovah.

9 `When a camp goeth out against thine enemies, then thou hast kept from every evil thing.

10 `When there is in thee a man who is not clean, from an accident at night -- then he hath gone out unto the outside of the camp -- he doth not come in unto the midst of the camp --

11 and it hath been, at the turning of the evening, he doth bathe with water, and at the going in of the sun he doth come in unto the midst of the camp.