Numbers 19:13

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹¹Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days. ¹²He must purify himself with the water on the third day and the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. ¹³Anyone who touches a corpse, the body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person must be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean, because the water of purification has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him.¹⁴This is the law when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone already in the tent will be unclean for seven days, ¹⁵and any open container without a lid fastened on it is unclean. ¹⁶Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁷For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt purification offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh running water over them. ¹⁸Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, grave, or person who has died or been slain. ¹⁹The man who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be clean by evening. ²⁰But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

purifieth: Numbers 15:30, Leviticus 5:3, Leviticus 5:6, Leviticus 5:17, Leviticus 15:31, Hebrews 2:2, Hebrews 2:3, Hebrews 10:29, Revelation 21:8, Revelation 22:11, Revelation 22:15

the water: Numbers 19:9, Numbers 19:18, Numbers 8:7

his uncleanness: Leviticus 7:20, Leviticus 22:3, Proverbs 14:32, John 8:24

Reciprocal: Numbers 9:13 - forbeareth Numbers 19:20 - shall not 2 Chronicles 30:19 - though he be not Ezekiel 36:25 - will I John 13:10 - He

Cross-References

Genesis 13:13
But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 18:20
Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,

Genesis 19:1
The two angels entered Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed with his face to the ground,

Genesis 19:5
They called out to Lot, saying, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!"

Genesis 19:6
Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him.

Genesis 19:8
Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them whatever you want. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."

Genesis 19:9
"Get out of the way!" they replied. And they declared, "This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them." And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door.

Genesis 19:12
Then the two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here-a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,

Genesis 19:15
At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, "Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."

Genesis 19:16
But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD's compassion for them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself,.... With the ashes of the heifer, or water of purification, and so neglects the means which God has appointed for his cleansing:

defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; that is, if he goes into it in his uncleanness, which it was not lawful for him to do: from the Jews the Assyrians seem to have borrowed some customs of theirs, as related by Lucian r, who upon burying a dead cock reckoned seven days, see

Numbers 19:11; and then went into the temple, for before they might not go in, nor perform holy service; such laws they use, that if anyone sees a dead carcass, he may not go that day into the temple; but he goes in the day following, after he has purified himself:

and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; either be excommunicated from the church, or die by the hand of the civil magistrate, or by the immediate hand of God; that is, if he knew he had touched a dead body, and wilfully neglected the means of his purification, and so sinned presumptuously; otherwise, if all this was done ignorantly, an atonement was made for it, Leviticus 5:3

because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; as all are who are not sprinkled with the blood of Christ:

his uncleanness is yet upon him; and will remain, nothing can remove it; as nothing can remove the stain and blot of sin but the blood of Christ; and where that is not applied it will remain marked before God, and will lie upon the sinner to his utter condemnation and ruin; see Jeremiah 2:22.

r De Dea Syria.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

One practical effect of attaching defilement to a dead body, and to all that touched it, etc., would be to insure early burial, and to correct a practice not uncommon in the East, of leaving the deal to be devoured by the wild beasts.