Leviticus 11:34

34 Each meat, that ye shall eat, shall be unclean, if water of such a vessel is poured out thereon; and each flowing thing, that is drunken of such a vessel, shall be unclean; (Any food that ye shall eat, shall be unclean, if water from such a vessel is poured out onto it; and anything that is drunk from such a vessel, shall be unclean;)

Leviticus 11:34 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 11:34

Of all meat which may be eaten
Which otherwise is lawful to eat and fit for food, whether herbs, or whether the flesh of clean creatures:

[that] on which [such] water cometh shall be unclean;
that is, such water as is put into an unclean vessel, become so by the fall of any unclean reptile into it; wherefore such water poured out upon any sort of food, clean and fit to eat, or that is put into such water, to be dressed, it becomes unclean and unfit to eat; for the vessel, being unclean, defiles the water, and the water defiles the food: Jarchi interprets this of water in general, which coming upon anything eatable, prepares it for uncleanness;

``we learn (says he) that no food is fit and prepared to receive defilement until water comes upon it once; and after it is come upon it once, it receives defilement for ever, even though it becomes dry;''

but the former seems to be the true sense:

and all drink that may be drank in every such vessel shall be
unclean;
whatever otherwise might be lawfully drank, yet being put into such a vessel, into which any unclean reptile was fallen, or being in it when it fell into it, became unclean and not fit to be drank; and those liquors which receive uncleanness, and make meats unclean by coming on them, according to the Misnic doctors F23, are these seven, dew, water, wine, oil, blood, milk, and honey.


FOOTNOTES:

F23 Misn. Machshirin, c. 6. sect. 4.

Leviticus 11:34 In-Context

32 and that thing shall be defouled, on which anything of their bodies dead by themselves falleth, as well a vessel of wood, and a cloth, as skins, or pilches, either hair-shirts; and in whatever thing work is made, it shall be dipped in water, and those things shall be defouled till to eventide, and so afterward they shall be cleansed. (and anything shall be defiled, on which any of their dead bodies falleth, yea, a vessel of wood, or a cloak, or skins, or pilches, or hair-shirts, however they might be used; it shall be dipped in water, and shall remain defiled until the evening, and then it shall be clean again.)
33 Soothly a vessel of earth, in which anything of these falleth within, shall be defouled, and therefore it shall be broken. (And an earthen, or a clay, vessel, in which any of these things falleth within, shall be unclean, and so it shall be broken.)
34 Each meat, that ye shall eat, shall be unclean, if water of such a vessel is poured out thereon; and each flowing thing, that is drunken of such a vessel, shall be unclean; (Any food that ye shall eat, shall be unclean, if water from such a vessel is poured out onto it; and anything that is drunk from such a vessel, shall be unclean;)
35 and whatever thing of such dead bodies by themselves shall fall upon (and anything that a dead body of such a creature shall fall upon), it shall be unclean, whether furnaces, or kettles standing upon three feet, (and) they shall be destroyed, and shall be unclean.
36 Soothly wells and cisterns, and all the gatherings together of waters, shall be clean. He that toucheth their body dead by itself, shall be defouled (But whoever toucheth their dead body shall be defiled, or unclean).
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.