Numbers 19:15

15 And every open vessel which has not a covering bound upon it, shall be 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 Every one that touches the carcase of the person of a man, if he should have died, and not have been purified, has defiled the tabernacle of the Lord: that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because the water of sprinkling has not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.

14 And this the law; if a man die in a house, every one that goes into the house, and all things in the house, shall be unclean seven days.

15 And every open vessel which has not a covering bound upon it, shall be unclean.

16 And every one who shall touch a man slain by violence, or a corpse, or human bone, or sepulchre, shall be unclean seven days.

17 And they shall take for the unclean of the burnt ashes of purification, and they shall pour upon them running water into a vessel.