John Gill Commentary Numbers 31:20

"And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats` [hair], and all things made of wood, ye shall purify yourselves." — Numbers 31:20 (ASV)

And purify all your raiment
By washing them; and this may intend not so much their own wearing apparel, as the raiment they took off of the dead bodies of the Midianites, since the person that touched a dead body was not obliged to wash his clothes, but the clean person that sprinkled the water of purification on him, (Numbers 19:19Numbers 19:21), some render the words, "purify yourselves" ^F4, "together with the raiment" which seems to be the best version of them.

and all that is made of skins ;
of any sort of creatures, as the covering of tents, shoes, bottles see (Leviticus 11:32)

and all work of goats' hair ;
such as the covering of tents was also made of: and this, according to Jarchi and other Jewish writers ^F5 includes vessels made of the horns, hoofs, and bones of these creatures: and all things made of wood; as beds, cups, dishes all which might be purified by washing; see (Leviticus 15:12) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (wajxtt) "purgatote vos", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; Vid. L'Empereur, Not. ad Kimchii (odoiporia) , p. 130.
• F5: Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Celim, c. 2. sect. 1.