The nation of Israel must be protected from anything that might jeopardize the coming of the Christ.
Our next chapter, Deuteronomy 23, deals with those who could not “enter the assembly of the Lord” (v 1). There is some discussion as to what this actually meant. I find Adam Clarke’s comments helpful: “If by entering the congregation is meant the bearing a civil office among the people, such as magistrate, judge, etc., then the reason of the law is very plain; no man with any such personal defect as might render him contemptible in the sight of others should…rule among the people, lest the contempt felt for his personal defects might be transferred to his important office, and thus his authority be disregarded.” The chapter includes those who do not have the capacity to beget children (v 1), those who do not have a clear lineage in Israel (v 2), those who had entered the nation from among the Ammonites or Moabites “to the tenth generation,” in this case “because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you” (vv 3-4), and Edomites or Egyptians to “the third generation” (v 8). The Edomites were shown this consideration because they were Israel’s brothers, since they sprang from Esau, and the Egyptians were to be shown some consideration “because you were an alien in his land” (v 7). The Egyptians were originally very kind to Jacob’s family; it was only later that they oppressed them. Yet in all this, the Lord was showing the importance of maintaining both cleanliness (see vv 9-14) and holiness in the camp of Israel. The nation must be preserved at all costs, because, many years after these days, a Savior would come through Israel to offer salvation to us all.