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But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of Yahweh: the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

Verse Takeaways

1

A Law for Public Health

Commentators like Albert Barnes and Charles Spurgeon highlight the practical wisdom of this law. By making contact with the dead a source of defilement, God's command ensured prompt and separate burials. This promoted public health and set Israel apart from nations like Egypt that kept their dead in homes or buried them within city walls.

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Commentaries

4

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes

On Numbers 19:11–22

18th Century

Theologian

One practical effect of attaching defilement to a dead body, and to all that touched it, etc., would be to ensure early burial, and to correct a pr…

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon

On Numbers 19:17–22

19th Century

Preacher

This ordinance was partly sanitary. The Egyptians were accustomed to keep their dead in their houses, preserved as mummies. No Jew could do that, b…

John Gill

John Gill

On Numbers 19:20

17th Century

Pastor

But the man that shall be unclean
By touching any dead body, bone, or grave:

and shall not purify…

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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry

On Numbers 19:11–22

17th Century

Minister

Why did the law make a corpse a defiling thing? Because death is the wages of sin, which entered the world through sin, and reigns by its power. Th…