Charles Ellicott Commentary Leviticus 11:32

"And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherewith any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; then shall it be clean." — Leviticus 11:32 (ASV)

And upon whatsoever any of them. —Better, and upon whatsoever anything of them, that is, the vessels in question were defiled not only if the whole carcass fell upon any of the specified vessels, but also if a portion of the carcass came into contact with the utensils, it made them unclean. . According to the law that was in effect during the Second Temple period, it was only when the portion of the carcass of an unclean animal had flesh on it that it defiled, but not otherwise.

Therefore, the skins, hair, bones, horns, hoofs, sinews, etc., of all unclean creatures were exempted. These were made into various domestic utensils and implements. This use of the parts in question also constituted one of the differences between the Pharisees and the Sadducees in the time of Christ. The Sadducees regarded every portion of every unclean animal, in whatever state, as defiling, and therefore prohibited it from being made into any vessel.

Vessel of wood. —That is, vessels made of bulrushes (Isaiah 18:2), reeds, wicker, shells of nuts, barks of trees, or of anything which grew out of the earth like wood.

Or raiment. —That is, any garment made of a woven material, such as wool, flax, hemp, or anything that grows on the dry land. Therefore, cloth made of a material that grows in the sea was not defiled, according to the canons that were in effect during the Second Temple period.

Or skin. —This also, according to the same authorities, only applied to the skins of land animals; skins of aquatic creatures received no defilement.

Or sack. —From the parallel passage in Numbers 31:20, we see that this expression here means garments made of fabrics of goats’ hair, in contrast to the textures from which other garments were made, denoted by the expression beged, “raiment.” . Skins that were not made into garments or vessels, or that were clearly unfinished vessels, received no defilement.