Deuteronomy 23:12-13 "You shall have a place outside the camp and you shall go out to it; and you shall have a stick with your weapons; and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it, and turn back and cover up your excrement."

I pick these readings randomly, trusting the Holy Spirit to guide me, but some days, like today, I really wonder what I am supposed to say!

Deuteronomy is a long dissertation by Moses of things God wants His people to know, especially detailed explanations of His laws. In this section, God is giving the Israelites instructions for when they are in military encampments. This verse is basically telling them to dig and use latrines. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing God would have to tell them, nor does it seem like something He would be overly concerned with. Much of the law of Moses is like this - very nitty-gritty and, to our modern ears, not sounding tremendously like God, more like an overly-involved boss or parent.

After this verse, God goes on to say that He will be among them in their camps, "to save you and give up your enemies before you", therefore He wants the camps to be completely holy, with nothing indecent that would cause Him to turn away. (Deuteronomy 23:14). There are other things our human bodies do or are prone to that God tells the Israelites are unclean, one example is immediately prior to this in Deuteronomy 23:10, another is contracting diseases, such as leprosy. None of these are anyone's fault, they are not sinful, but they are, to God, unclean physical conditions that have to be dealt with in a certain way. While this, again, seems strange - God made us after all, He should not be "offended" by what happens to us naturally - we have to remember to look on these laws, and all of God's laws, as laws of love.

The Israelites are like very young children at this point, they have just been led out of slavery in Egypt, and they need to be cared for and given instructions by their Father. They do not know all the ways of getting and passing illnesses and diseases, but God does. Because God loves them and wants them to be healthy and happy, He lays down certain laws that will keep the possibility of sickness at bay. I don't think it is that our natural bodily functions are offensive to God, although He says it that way to drive home the point. I think it is that He does not want His people to fall victim to preventable illnesses. Seeing them die from causes like that is, I think, what is "offensive" to Him. 

All of God's laws are meant to save us, mostly from eternal, spiritual death, but also from preventable physical harm and death. The specificity in Deuteronomy, and elsewhere, is just another sign of His great love for us!