I must admit I take perverse pleasure in reading the legal sections of the Old Testament – sometimes you’ve just got to sit, laugh, and wonder, what was going on that made this particular point worthy of recording.

“You must have a latrine outside the camp, and go out to this; you must have a trowel in your equipment and, when you sqat outsde, you must scrape a hole with it, then turn round and cover up your excrement. For Yahweh your God goes about the inside of your campt to guard you and put your enemeis at your mercy.” (Dt. 23.13-15)

This one had me laughing and asking some rather . . . . unfortunate questions.

First, the suggestion here is that Yahweh likes to keep his sandals clean. It’s O.K. to be wading knee deep in the blood of your enemies, (borrowing here from the tales of Anat), its quite another to have to step outside the camp, grab a stick and scrape the bottom of your chrysolite sandal.

Second, one wonders, what other tribes might have done, or even what Israelites did before God made this helpful suggestion – was there perhaps a lack of consitency, visit the area where the Benjaminites camped and you had to avoid the area of the left facing corners of their tents? Hmmmm. . . .