military service that God had granted certain men, such as those who had recently become engaged, built a house, or planted a vineyard (Deut. 20:5–7). But most importantly, a census was supposed to be taken only of those men who were considered ritually clean according to the Old Testament law. The rule stipulated that there should be a ceremony in which each man would donate a token of a half shekel into the temple treasury, thereby signifying that he was not in a state of defilement, and only then