Deuteronomy 23King James Version
Who may enter the assembly of the Lord. Laws of camp cleanliness. Do not return a runaway slave to his master. Do not lend at interest to your brother. If you make a vow, do not delay to pay it. When you walk through your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill but not put any in your basket.
Moses legislates who may not enter the congregation of the LORD: those with certain physical conditions, Ammonites and Moabites, and others. Edomites and Egyptians may enter after three generations. He gives laws for the military camp: sanitation, shelter for escaped slaves, no cult prostitution, no charging interest to Israelites, and keeping vows promptly. The chapter ends with a permission to eat from a neighbor's vineyard or grain field, but not to carry anything away.
Community has boundaries that are neither arbitrary nor permanent: some exclusions are permanent, some are temporary, and the shape of the community reflects its history and identity.
21: "When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee." A promise made to God is not a loose intention; it is a debt.
The plains of Moab, 1406 BC. The military camp laws are practical: latrines outside the perimeter, a spade on every soldier's belt. The text is not squeamish. The holiness of the camp is tied to the literal cleanliness of it, because God walks among them.
Moses, legislating. The Ammonite and Moabite, whose exclusion is grounded in their refusal to aid Israel and in Balak's hiring of Balaam. The Edomite and Egyptian, who receive a path in. The escaped slave, who is protected.
The escaped slave law of verse 15 is notable: a slave who escapes to Israel must not be returned to his master. This is the opposite of later American fugitive slave laws. Ruth's story directly challenges the Moabite exclusion by placing a faithful Moabite woman at the center of the Davidic lineage.
For when you feel like your past disqualifies you from belonging. Some of these exclusions are about nations and their historical actions, not individuals. The doors are not all closed forever.
1He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
2A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
3An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:
4Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.
5Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.
6Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
7Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.
8The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.
9When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.
10If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp:
11But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.
12Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad:
13And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:
14For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.
15Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:
16He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.
17There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.
18Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
19Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:
20Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
21When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.
22But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.
23That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.
24When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.
25When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's standing corn.