Numbers 19:15

15 and every open container without a lid 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 dead body of anyone and doesn't get cleansed desecrates God's Dwelling and is to be excommunicated. For as long as the Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he remains ritually unclean.

14 "This is the rule for someone who dies in his tent: Anyone who enters the tent or is already in the tent is ritually unclean for seven days,

15 and every open container without a lid is unclean.

16 "Anyone out in the open field who touches a corpse, whether dead from violent or natural causes, or a human bone or a grave is unclean for seven days.

17 For this unclean person, take some ashes from the burned Absolution-Offering and add some fresh water to it in a bowl.