Leviticus 11:33

33 If the dead, unclean animal falls into a clay bowl, anything in the bowl will become unclean, and you must break the bowl.

Leviticus 11:33 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 11:33

And every earthen vessel, whereinto [any] of them falleth,
&c.] Any of the above eight reptiles, should they by chance fall into the midst an earthen vessel:

whatsoever [is] in it shall be unclean;
if it only by falling touched the outside of it, it was not unclean; but if it fell into it, then whatever was contained in it was unclean; for, as Jarchi says, an earthen vessel does not pollute or receive pollution, but from the air of it ^F21, from its inside:

and ye shall break it;
other vessels might be put into water and rinsed, and so be cleansed, but earthen vessels, being of no great value, were to be broken in pieces: an emblem this, as Ainsworth suggests, of the dissolution of our bodies, which are as earthen vessels, and of the destruction of sin thereby, and of the entire removal of it by death.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F21 Vid. Misn. Celaim, c. 2. sect. 1. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

Leviticus 11:33 In-Context

31 These crawling animals are unclean for you; anyone who touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening.

32 "'If an unclean animal dies and falls on something, that item will also become unclean. This includes anything made from wood, cloth, leather, or rough cloth, regardless of its use. Whatever the animal falls on must be washed with water and be unclean until evening; then it will become clean again.

33 If the dead, unclean animal falls into a clay bowl, anything in the bowl will become unclean, and you must break the bowl.

34 If water from the unclean clay bowl gets on any food, that food will become unclean.

35 If any dead, unclean animal falls on something, it becomes unclean. If it is a clay oven or a clay baking pan, it must be broken into pieces. These things will be unclean; they are unclean for you.