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He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

23:1 stones. That is, the “testicles.”

23:2 bastard. The Hebrew word here possibly refers only to certain types of illegitimate children, particularly those conceived in especially flagrant sins, such as incest or in pagan idolatrous ceremonies. However, note the listing of a ten-generation genealogy of Judah’s illegitimate son Phares to David (Ruth 4:18-22).

23:3 Moabite. This proscription applied specifically to males. Ruth, for example, was a Moabite woman who married an Israelite man and became a proselyte to his faith (Ruth 1:4,16).

23:12 without the camp. The sanitation practices outlined in Deuteronomy 23:9-14 were much in advance of those of other nations of the time, especially in reference to armies in their encampments. This no doubt contributed in measure to the freedom from disease promised them by the Lord (Exodus 15:26).


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