Charles Ellicott Commentary Leviticus 11:25

"And whosoever beareth [aught] of the carcass of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even." — Leviticus 11:25 (ASV)

And whosoever beareth. —But he who removed the carcass from the camp or city, or from one place to another, not only contracted defilement for the rest of the day, but also had to wash the clothes he was wearing, since the pollution from carrying is greater than that from touching.

During the time of the Second Temple, the administrators of the law declared that wherever the Law enjoins that a man should wash his clothes because of the legal defilement he contracted, this included the command of bathing the body. They further stated that bathing was omitted here, and in Leviticus 11:28 and Leviticus 11:40, only for the sake of brevity.

The Samaritan text and some Hebrew manuscripts actually have the whole phrase and wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, as in Leviticus 17:15 and Numbers 19:19.

In allusion to this, we are told that those who contracted pollution and have come out of the great tribulation washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14).

Ought of the carcass. —The uncleanness was contracted not only by carrying away the whole carcass, but also by removing any portion of it .

The expression ought is represented in the original and is rightly printed in ordinary type in the text of the Authorised Version of 1611. Printing it in italics is an unauthorized innovation, though it is followed in the Speaker’s Commentary, which professes to give the text of 1611.