Leviticus 11:33

33 If one of these dead creatures falls into a clay pot, everything in the pot is unclean and you must break the pot.

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 Among the crawling creatures, these are unclean for you. If you touch them when they are dead, you are ritually unclean until evening.
32 When one of them dies and falls on something, that becomes unclean no matter what it's used for, whether it's made of wood, cloth, hide, or sackcloth. Put it in the water - it's unclean until evening, and then it's clean.
33 If one of these dead creatures falls into a clay pot, everything in the pot is unclean and you must break the pot.
34 Any food that could be eaten but has water on it from such a pot is unclean, and any liquid that could be drunk from it is unclean.
35 Anything that one of these carcasses falls on is unclean - an oven or cooking pot must be broken up; they're unclean and must be treated as unclean.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.