Mosaic sanitation laws anticipated modern hygiene knowledge (fecal disposal, contamination)

The Mosaic law required Israelites to bury human waste outside the camp (Deuteronomy 23:12-13). Mike notes that soldiers in the American Civil War who defecated near their tents had much higher infection rates — a problem the Israelites had addressed 3,000 years earlier. Whether or not one believes the Bible is divinely inspired, these prescriptions were genuinely good public health practices.