Various practices, most of which we have discussed previously, rendered the Israelite encampment ceremonially unclean. The laws in these verses applied to Israel after she entered the land and, specifically, while her armies engaged in battle. The connection with the seventh commandment is what is unseemly, especially in the area of sexual associations.
The Israelites were evidently to regard human waste products as unnatural and therefore unclean.
"There was nothing shameful in the excrement itself [v. 14]; but the want of reverence, which the people would display through not removing it, would offend the Lord and drive Him out of the camp of Israel."261
The Israelites were to acknowledge God's presence among them by keeping their camp free of human refuse. This would hallow His name as He walked among them.
". . . much of the information found in the [ancient] Egyptian medical texts was medically hazardous. For example donkey feces were used for the treatment of splinters, which probably increased the incidence of tetanus because of tetanus spores present in feces. Crocodile feces were used for birth control. In contrast Moses wrote that God instructed the Israelites to cover their excrement because it was unclean' (Deut. 23:12-13). At no time did Moses resort to adding the popular medical techniques of his day, though he was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians' (Acts 7:22), which certainly included their medical wisdom."262
God's people should conduct themselves in view of God's presence among them (cf. Eph. 5:3-4).
