Deuteronomy 23:9

"When thou goest forth in camp against thine enemies, then thou shalt keep thee from every evil thing. If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of that which chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp: but it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall bathe himself in water; and when the sun is gone down, he shall come within the camp. Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: and thou shalt have a paddle among thy weapons; and it shall be when thou sittest down abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: for Jehovah thy God walketh in the midst of the camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore, shall thy camp be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee."

Even nature itself teaches the type of sanitary behavior legislated here. A dog and other animals will cover bodily excrement or at least attempt to do so. That sanitation was one of the motives behind this instruction appears to us as certain. We reject the notion proposed by Scott that, "Where was the danger of the exposed excrement being found by the enemy and used magically"[11] against Israel. In the first place, no such danger existed, and, even if there had been a fear of such a thing in Israel, one cannot conceive of God's being concerned about it. There is no mention of any such purpose in the divine instructions found here. Keil was correct in pointing out that, "There was nothing shameful in the excrement itself, but the want of reverence, which the people would display through not removing it, would offend the Lord and drive him out of the camp."[12]