Numbers 19:11

11 "Anyone who touches a dead person's body will be 'unclean' for seven days.

Numbers 19:11 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 19:11

He that toucheth the dead body of any man
A man and not a beast, as Aben Ezra observes; for he that touched the dead body of a beast was unclean only until evening, ( Leviticus 11:24 ) ; any man, Jew or Gentile, as the same writer notes: this is instanced in, as being the principal pollution, though not the only one, yet so some think, for which the water of purification made of the ashes of the burnt heifer was appointed:

shall be unclean seven days;
the reason of which is, because death is the fruit of sin, which is of a defiling nature, and to show that all that are dead in sins are defiled and defiling, and are not to be touched, or to have communion and fellowship held with them but to be abstained from.

Numbers 19:11 In-Context

9 "A man who is 'clean' will gather up the ashes of the young cow. He must put them in a place that is 'clean.' The place must be outside the camp. The ashes will be kept by the community of Israel. They will be added to the special water. The water will be used to make people pure from their sin.

10 "The man who gathers up the ashes of the young cow must wash his clothes. He too will be 'unclean' until evening. That law is for the people of Israel. It is also for the outsiders who are living among them. The law will last for all time to come.

11 "Anyone who touches a dead person's body will be 'unclean' for seven days.

12 He must make himself pure and clean with the special water. He must do it on the third day. He must also do it on the seventh day. Then he will be 'clean.' "But suppose he does not make himself pure and clean on the third and seventh days. Then he will not be 'clean.'

13 Anyone who touches a dead person's body and does not make himself pure and clean makes my holy tent 'unclean.' He must be cut off from Israel. The special water has not been sprinkled on him. So he is 'unclean.' And he remains 'unclean.'