Numbers 19:15

15 The vessel that hath no cover, nor binding over 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 toucheth the corpse of a man, and is not sprinkled with this mixture, shall profane the tabernacle of the Lord, and shall perish out of Israel: because he was not sprinkled with the water of expiation, he shall be unclean, and his uncleanness shall remain upon him.

14 This is the law of a man that dieth in a tent: All that go into his tent and all the vessels that are there, shall be unclean seven days.

15 The vessel that hath no cover, nor binding over it, shall be unclean.

16 If any man in the field touch the corpse of a man that was slain, or that died of himself, or his bone, or his grave, he shall be unclean seven days.

17 And they shall take of the ashes of the burning and of the sin offering, and shall pour living waters upon them into a vessel.