Deuteronomy 23:13

Deu 23:13 And 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:

Ver. 13. Thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp.] Where he is both van and rear. {Isa 52:12}

And to give up thine enemies.] Hence the Philistines were so frighted at the sight of the ark. "Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them," said those Egyptians. {Exo 14:25}

That he see no unclean thing.] Hereby God taught his people holy conversation, that they should keep themselves from their iniquity, as David did {Psa 18:23} - that is, from such sins as either by their constitution, calling, company, or custom, they are most prone to.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 23:13. Cover — To prevent the annoyance of ourselves or others; to preserve and exercise modesty; and principally that by such outward rites they might be inured to the greater reverence of the Divine Majesty, and the greater caution to avoid all real and moral uncleanness.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23:13 It would be disgusting and shameful to have an open latrine outside the camp, let alone within it.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning hereby that his people should be pure both in body and soul.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon,.... A nail or spike, some kind of instrument to make a hole in the ground with, which was fastened to the sword upon their loins; which was to be instead of a spade or mattock to dig with:

and it shall be, when thou shall ease thyself abroad; without the camp, in the place appointed for that use, whenever nature required such an action to be performed:

thou shall dig therewith; with, the paddle, an hole in the earth: the Essenes used, according to Josephus, to make it a foot deep with a spade or mattock, and to everyone that was newly admitted among them, a little pickaxe was given for that purpose (r):

and shalt turn back; having eased nature:

and cover that which cometh from thee; their dung, with the earth they dug out of the hole they made. This law was made to preserve modesty and decency becoming men, and not act like brute beasts, as well as cleanliness in the camp, and, the health of themselves and their fellow soldiers; and that, they might not be offensive to the smell, as well as pernicious to the health of one another; and especially for a reason that follows in Deu 23:14; so Maimonides (s) says, the intention of this law is especially cleanliness, and to avoid nastiness, filthiness, and impurities of every kind, that men might not be like the brute animals.

(r) De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 8. sect. 9. (s) Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 41.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Girdle. Hebrew azon, means "a balance," as the Hebrews generally carried weights, &c., about them, chap. xxv. 13. Moderns translate, "a paddle upon thy weapon," But the Septuagint seem to have read ezor, "a girdle," (Calmet) which is more intelligible, as the Jews were accustomed to carry the necessary utensils, money, &c., not in their pockets, as we do, but in a bag, which they fixed to their girdles, or belts. All the Jews who dwelt in the camp, were bound to have a paddle, for the purpose here mentioned. (Haydock) --- Josephus (Jewish Wars ii. 7,) observes, that the Essenians always made use of one, with which they made a hole a foot deep, and covered it with their robes, that nothing indecent might be exposed to view. (Haydock) --- The Turks still follow the same custom, when they are encamped. (Busbec, ep. iii.) (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A paddle; the nature of which may be known from the use, which here follows.

Cover that which cometh from thee; partly, to prevent the annoyance of ourselves or others; partly, to preserve and exercise modesty and natural honesty; and principally, that by such outward rites they might be inured to the greater reverence of the Divine Majesty, and the greater caution to avoid all real and moral uncleanness, especially now when it was most necessary so to do.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

A paddle upon thy weapon; rather, a small spade (the word properly means a pin or nail) among thy furniture, or, according to another reading among thy implements or accoutrements; they were to carry with them along with their implements of war a tool for digging in the earth.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Cover - To prevent the annoyance of ourselves or others; to preserve and exercise modesty and natural honesty; and principally that by such outward rites they might be innured to the greater reverence of the Divine Majesty, and the greater caution to avoid all real and moral uncleanness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

ויד תהיה לך THOU SHALT HAVE A יד [WITHOUT THE CAMP] — Understand the word יד as the Targum does: ואתר (and you shall have a place). Similar is, (Numbers 2:17) “Each man at his place (ידו)” (Sifrei Devarim 257:1).

מחוץ למחנה WITHOUT THE CAMP — i.e. outside the area enclosed by the clouds of glory.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.