◄ Deuteronomy 23:11 ►
When evening approaches, he must wash with water, and when the sun sets he may return to the camp.
Study Bible
But when evening approaches
The phrase "when evening approaches" signifies a specific time of day, marking the transition from day to night. In the Hebrew context, the day begins at sunset, so evening is a significant time for reflection and preparation. The Hebrew word for evening, "ereb," often symbolizes a time of change or transition. This time of day is often associated with introspection and the end of daily labor, providing a moment to pause and prepare for the new day. In a spiritual sense, it can represent the end of a period of uncleanness or separation, as seen in this verse.

he must wash with water
The act of washing with water is a ritual purification process, deeply rooted in the Hebrew tradition. The Hebrew word "rachats" means to wash or bathe, and it is often used in the context of ceremonial cleansing. Water, in biblical symbolism, represents purification, life, and renewal. This act of washing signifies a physical and spiritual cleansing, preparing the individual to re-enter the community. It underscores the importance of purity and holiness in the life of the Israelites, reflecting God's desire for His people to be set apart and clean.

and when the sun sets
The setting of the sun marks the completion of the purification process. In the Hebrew culture, sunset signifies the end of one day and the beginning of another, a time of renewal and new beginnings. The phrase emphasizes the cyclical nature of time and the opportunity for restoration and reintegration into the community. The setting sun is a powerful symbol of God's faithfulness and the constancy of His creation, reminding believers of the rhythm of life ordained by God.

he may return to the camp
Returning to the camp signifies restoration and acceptance back into the community. The Hebrew word "machaneh" refers to the camp or encampment, which was the center of communal life for the Israelites. This return is not just a physical re-entry but also a spiritual and social reintegration. It highlights the importance of community and the restoration of relationships after a period of separation due to impurity. This phrase underscores the grace and mercy of God, who provides a way for His people to be cleansed and restored, reflecting the broader biblical theme of redemption and reconciliation.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The author of Deuteronomy, who is delivering God's laws and instructions to the Israelites.

2. Israelites
The people receiving the law, who are preparing to enter the Promised Land.

3. The Camp
Represents the community of Israel, where God's presence dwells among His people.

4. Evening and Sunset
Specific times mentioned for ritual purification, indicating a structured approach to holiness.

5. Ritual Purification
The act of washing with water as a symbol of cleansing from impurity.
Teaching Points
Holiness and Community
The requirement for purification before re-entering the camp underscores the importance of maintaining holiness within the community of believers.

Symbolism of Water
Water is a recurring symbol of cleansing and renewal, pointing to the need for both physical and spiritual purity.

Obedience to God's Commands
The specific instructions for purification reflect the broader principle of obedience to God's laws as an expression of faith.

Time for Reflection
The waiting period until evening provides an opportunity for reflection and repentance, reminding believers of the importance of introspection in their spiritual walk.

Integration of Physical and Spiritual
The law illustrates the integration of physical actions with spiritual truths, encouraging believers to live out their faith in tangible ways.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the concept of ritual purification in Deuteronomy 23:11 relate to the New Testament understanding of spiritual cleansing?

2. In what ways can the practice of purification before re-entering the camp be applied to maintaining holiness in our daily lives?

3. How does the symbolism of water in this verse connect to other biblical references to water and cleansing?

4. What can we learn from the structured approach to holiness in Deuteronomy 23:11 about the importance of discipline in our spiritual lives?

5. How does the requirement for purification before returning to the camp reflect the broader biblical theme of community and accountability among believers?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Leviticus 15
Discusses various laws of purification, emphasizing the importance of cleanliness and holiness in the community.

Numbers 19
Details the purification process with water, highlighting the significance of ritual cleansing.

Psalm 24:3-4
Speaks about the purity required to stand in God's holy place, connecting physical cleanliness with spiritual purity.

1 John 1:9
Relates to the concept of confession and cleansing from sin, drawing a parallel between physical and spiritual purification.

Ephesians 5:26
Discusses the washing of water with the word, symbolizing spiritual cleansing through Christ.
Sermons
A Pure Camp for a Pure KingR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 23:9-14
Purity in the CampJ. Orr Deuteronomy 23:9-14
People
Aram, Balaam, Beor, Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Pethor
Topics
Approaches, Bath, Bathe, Camp, Evening, Inside, Midst, Reenter, Return, Sundown, Sunset, Tents, Towards, Turning, Wash, Within
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 23:11

     4933   evening

Deuteronomy 23:9-11

     7426   ritual washing

Deuteronomy 23:9-14

     8269   holiness, separation from worldly

Deuteronomy 23:10-11

     7340   clean and unclean

Library
Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful.
That The Employing Of, And Associating With The Malignant Party, According As Is Contained In The Public Resolutions, Is Sinful And Unlawful. If there be in the land a malignant party of power and policy, and the exceptions contained in the Act of Levy do comprehend but few of that party, then there need be no more difficulty to prove, that the present public resolutions and proceedings do import an association and conjunction with a malignant party, than to gather a conclusion from clear premises. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Here Then Shall These Persons in their Turn be in Another More Sublime Degree...
28. Here then shall these persons in their turn be in another more sublime degree of righteousness outdone, by them who shall so order themselves, that every day they shall betake them into the fields as unto pasture, and at what time they shall find it, pick up their meal, and having allayed their hunger, return. But plainly, on account of the keepers of the fields, how good were it, if the Lord should deign to bestow wings also, that the servants of God being found in other men's fields should …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Lessons for Worship and for Work
'Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few. 3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Introductory Note to the Works of Origen.
[a.d. 185-230-254.] The reader will remember the rise and rapid development of the great Alexandrian school, and the predominance which was imparted to it by the genius of the illustrious Clement. [1865] But in Origen, his pupil, who succeeded him at the surprising age of eighteen, a new sun was to rise upon its noontide. Truly was Alexandria "the mother and mistress of churches" in the benign sense of a nurse and instructress of Christendom, not its arrogant and usurping imperatrix. The full details …
Origen—Origen De Principiis

Excursus on Usury.
The famous canonist Van Espen defines usury thus: "Usura definitur lucrum ex mutuo exactum aut speratum;" [96] and then goes on to defend the proposition that, "Usury is forbidden by natural, by divine, and by human law. The first is proved thus. Natural law, as far as its first principles are concerned, is contained in the decalogue; but usury is prohibited in the decalogue, inasmuch as theft is prohibited; and this is the opinion of the Master of the Sentences, of St. Bonaventura, of St. Thomas …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Jesus Defends Disciples who Pluck Grain on the Sabbath.
(Probably While on the Way from Jerusalem to Galilee.) ^A Matt. XII. 1-8; ^B Mark II. 23-28; ^C Luke VI. 1-5. ^b 23 And ^c 1 Now it came to pass ^a 1 At that season ^b that he ^a Jesus went { ^b was going} on the { ^c a} ^b sabbath day through the grainfields; ^a and his disciples were hungry and began ^b as they went, to pluck the ears. ^a and to eat, ^c and his disciples plucked the ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. [This lesson fits in chronological order with the last, if the Bethesda …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

That it is not Lawful for the Well Affected Subjects to Concur in Such an Engagement in War, and Associate with the Malignant Party.
That It Is Not Lawful For The Well Affected Subjects To Concur In Such An Engagement In War, And Associate With The Malignant Party. Some convinced of the unlawfulness of the public resolutions and proceedings, in reference to the employing of the malignant party, yet do not find such clearness and satisfaction in their own consciences as to forbid the subjects to concur in this war, and associate with the army so constituted. Therefore it is needful to speak something to this point, That it is …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Canaan
Canaan was the inheritance which the Israelites won for themselves by the sword. Their ancestors had already settled in it in patriarchal days. Abraham "the Hebrew" from Babylonia had bought in it a burying-place near Hebron; Jacob had purchased a field near Shechem, where he could water his flocks from his own spring. It was the "Promised Land" to which the serfs of the Pharaoh in Goshen looked forward when they should again become free men and find a new home for themselves. Canaan had ever been …
Archibald Sayce—Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations

Brief Directions How to Read the Holy Scriptures once Every Year Over, with Ease, Profit, and Reverence.
But forasmuch, that as faith is the soul, so reading and meditating on the word of God, are the parent's of prayer, therefore, before thou prayest in the morning, first read a chapter in the word of God; then meditate awhile with thyself, how many excellent things thou canst remember out of it. As--First, what good counsels or exhortations to good works and to holy life. Secondly, what threatenings of judgments against such and such a sin; and what fearful examples of God's punishment or vengeance …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men.
Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Appeal to the Christian Women of the South
BY A.E. GRIMKE. "Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not within thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place: but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer:--and so will I go in unto the king, …
Angelina Emily Grimke—An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South

The Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.' Exod 20: 17. THIS commandment forbids covetousness in general, Thou shalt not covet;' and in particular, Thy neighbour's house, thy neighbour's wife, &c. I. It forbids covetousness in general. Thou shalt not covet.' It is lawful to use the world, yea, and to desire so much of it as may keep us from the temptation …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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