Numbers 19:15

15 Any open jar without a sealed cover on it is unclean.

Numbers 19:15 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 19:15

And every open vessel
An earthen one, as the Targum of Jonathan; and so Jarchi interprets it; and Maimonides ^F18 observes, that this is only to be understood of an earthen vessel:

which hath no covering bound upon it;
a linen or a woollen cloth wrapped and tied about it:

[is] unclean;
the air of the house getting into it by its being uncovered.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 In Misn. Cholin, c. 1. sect. 6.

Numbers 19:15 In-Context

13 Anyone who touches the body of a human who has died and doesn't cleanse himself defiles the LORD's dwelling. Such persons must be cut off from Israel because the water of purification wasn't sprinkled on them. They remain unclean.

14 This is the instruction: When anyone dies in a tent, all who go into the tent and all who are in the tent are unclean for seven days.

15 Any open jar without a sealed cover on it is unclean.

16 Anyone in the open field who touches a person slain by the sword, or who died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

17 For the unclean person, they will take some of the ashes of the purification offering and place fresh water with it in a jar.