Numbers 19:15
Ver. 15. And every open vessel,.... An earthen one, as the Targum of Jonathan; and so Jarchi interprets it; and Maimonides {r} 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.{r} In Misn. Cholin, c. 1. sect. 6. Numbers 19:16Ver. 16. And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields,.... That is killed by another, that dies a violent death, either by the sword or other means; one that touched such an one was unclean, or that touched the sword with which he was slain, as the Targum of Jonathan adds: "or a dead body": that dies a natural death, or suddenly, or in any way:or a bone off a man; dug out of a grave, and lying by itself:or a grave; the Targum adds, either the covering or side of a grave:shall be unclean seven days; all which has respect to the defiling nature of sin, which is the cause of death and the grave. Numbers 19:17Ver. 17. And for an unclean person,.... Defiled by any of the above means:they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin; from the place where they were laid up for this use;See Gill on "Nu 19:9" and some have thought that they were laid up in various cities and places in the country, as well as at Jerusalem, that they might be come at easily upon occasion; otherwise they could not be had without great trouble and expense, and in some places not so soon as the law required for their purification, namely, on the third day after their defilement:and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel; the Targum Jonathan is,"fountain water in the midst of earthen vessel;''for no water but fountain, spring, or river water, was made use of; and it should seem by what is said that ashes were first put into the vessel, and then the running water was put to them; and yet the Jewish writers say {s}, that if the ashes were put in first, and then the water, it was not right; and the meaning of what is said here is, that the water and ashes should be mixed together; for it is urged from the words: "running water in a vessel", that it is plain, that the water is put in the vessel and not to the ashes; and therefore that which is said, "shall be put thereto", is to caution the person, that after he has put the ashes upon the water, that he mixes them well with his finger, and cause the water below to rise above {t}.{s} Maimon. Milchot, Parah Adumah, c. 9. sect. 1. {t} Bartenora in Misn. Temurah, c. 1. sect. 5. Numbers 19:18Ver. 18. And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water,.... Three stalks of hyssop bound together, as the Targum of Jonathan, and this man was to be a clean priest, according to the same; but it does not seem necessary that he should be a priest, but that anyone free from ceremonial pollution might do it:and sprinkle it upon the tent; where there was a dead body: but this, we are told, is to be understood not of a tent made of wood, or stone, or clay, but made of anything woven, as linen: or of skins {u}:and upon all the vessels; in such a tent, that is, open ones, as before observed:and upon the persons that were there: when the man died in it, or came into it since, and while the dead body was in it;and upon him that touched a bone; of a dead man, or, as the Targum of Jonathan, the bone of a living man that is separated from him:or one slain, or one dead; slain with a sword, or dead of the pestilence, as the same Targum, or of any other disease, or in any other way:or a grave; or the covering or side of one, as the same Targum adds.{u} Maimon. in Misn. Sabbat, c. 2. sect. 3. Numbers 19:19Ver. 19. And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean,.... The clean priest shall sprinkle upon the unclean man, as the Targum of Jonathan; that is, he shall sprinkle the water of purification upon him that is unclean in any of the above ways:on the third day, and on the seventh day; See Gill on "Nu 19:12",and on the seventh day he shall purify himself; either the unclean person, who shall perfect his purification, as Jarchi interprets it, that is, by doing what follows; or else the clean person, who becomes in some measure unclean, by sprinkling and touching the water of separation, as appears from Nu 19:21 as the priest that sprinkled the blood of the heifer, and the man that burnt it and gathered its ashes, Nu 19:7and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even; in like manner as the man that let go the goat into the wilderness, Le 16:26. Numbers 19:20Ver. 20. But the man that shall be unclean,.... By touching any dead body, bone, or grave:and shall not purify himself; with the water of purification:that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation:See Gill on "Nu 19:13".because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: by going into it in his uncleanness:the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him, he is unclean; and will remain so, for nothing else could purify him, see Nu 19:13. Numbers 19:21Ver. 21. And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them,.... To the children of Israel, throughout their generations, unto the coming of the Messiah, when the ceremonial law, which stood in divers washings and purifications, was abolished:that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; the priest that sprinkled, according to the Targum of Jonathan, or any other person that did it; so that the same purifying water, which made an unclean person clean, defiled a clean one; for though it was purifying, it had uncleanness in it; having the ashes not only of the cow itself, but of its skin, blood, and dung; and so a lye made of ashes is impure in itself, and yet serves to scour cloth: Ainsworth thinks this signifies the imperfection and insufficiency of legal rites, which, in their greatest virtue, only sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, and left the purifier himself in uncleanness he had not before; by consideration of which, the people might be led to Christ, and his Spirit, for cleansing, Heb 9:13 but it rather signifies, that the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, and answers to this purifying water, that its cleansing virtue is owing to Christ being made sin for his people; and that some may be instruments of directing souls to the blood of Christ for cleansing, and yet be defiled themselves: it does not appear that this man, thus unclean, was to have the water of purification sprinkled on him, but was only to wash his clothes; see Re 7:14and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even: but was not clean until he had washed, as Aben Ezra observes, though not expressed; for if one that only sprinkled it had need to be washed, much more one that touched it, and which was unavoidable, if, when he mixed the water and ashes together, he stirred them with his finger, See Gill on "Nu 19:17", though Maimonides {t} understands this of sprinkling and touching the water when there was no necessity for it, when a person was not employed in doing the duty of this law.{t} Hilchot Parah Adumah, c. 15. sect. 1. Numbers 19:22Ver. 22. And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean,.... Not the person unclean by sprinkling, or touching the water of purification, but the unclean person spoken of throughout the chapter, that was unclean by touching a dead body, bone, or grave; whatever that man touched, any vessel or thing, that was unclean also; or "whomsoever", any person, man or woman, for it respects both persons and things:and the soul that toucheth it; that which the unclean person hath touched; or "him", the unclean person, whether the unclean person touched him, or he the unclean person, or touched anything he had touched, he was unclean; denoting the spreading and infectious nature of sin, and how much sin and sinners are to be avoided; see Le 15:4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.