Deuteronomy 23:1 & 9 –
<1>If a man’s testicles are crushed or his penis is cut off, he may not be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.
<9>When you go to war against your enemies, be sure to stay away from anything that is impure.
This is one of those chapters that the lawyer in me loves and hates. It goes all over the board from being allowed to gather and going to war. Heck verse 10 deals with “nocturnal emission” so you can ensure you are not overwhelmed by lust. Some make sense while others make no sense. This is where many get lost in worshiping God and say these regulations are just legalistic mumbo-jumbo.
Verse 1 is one that I look at and say why. Why would it be bad if your privates were crushed or missing? Does that really change a man’s mental outlook that radically where they would impede worship for others? I would tend to believe that is when a person really needs to press into God and get as much support as possible. Being ostracized for an accident makes no sense to me. The only “logic” is the depression one may spread into the community for their woes. But I would think God would want the “assembly” to lift this man’s spirits up and help keep him focused on God.
Now verse 9 makes sense but is one of those how can this ever happen. I have never heard of a “clean” war. When this was written they did not have any “long range tactical” weapons and had to fight hand to hand. This made staying away from anything impure difficult. Heck if I was going to battle with an army that had these marching orders I would ensure that I had tons of pigs on the battlefield and that everyone had a “nocturnal emission” before battle. I can only assume God helped in this aspect of their battles, because I could see no way that victory would be easy if you were trying to keep your hands clean at the same time. Some “laws” are logical and have scientific basis, while others have me scratching my head. The biggest key is to understand how the Israelis became so legalistic by the time Jesus came around.