Leviticus 11:31

Lev 11:31 These [are] unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even.

Ver. 31. Touch them, when they be dead.] There is no kind of living creature that is defiled while it is alive, or that defileth while it is alive, save man only, saith Maimony. Others note that there were more remarkable expressions of God’s anger upon man’s sin in the dead body of a man than of a beast. The one made unclean but till evening: the other seven days.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

whosoever doth touch them, when . . . dead, shall be unclean until the even--These regulations must have often caused annoyance by suddenly requiring the exclusion of people from society, as well as the ordinances of religion. Nevertheless they were extremely useful and salutary, especially as enforcing attention to cleanliness. This is a matter of essential importance in the East, where venomous reptiles often creep into houses and are found lurking in boxes, vessels, or holes in the wall; and the carcass of one of them, or a dead mouse, mole, lizard, or other unclean animal, might be inadvertently touched by the hand, or fall on clothes, skin bottles, or any article of common domestic use. By connecting, therefore, the touch of such creatures with ceremonial defilement, which required immediately to be removed, an effectual means was taken to prevent the bad effects of venom and all unclean or noxious matter.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(31) These are unclean.—Better, these are the most unclean, as Lev_11:29. That is, the eight animals thus enumerated are pre-eminently unclean of all the creeping things.

When they be dead.—The phrase, “whosoever doth touch them when they be dead,” is simply another expression for “whosoever toucheth the carcase of them,” which is used in Lev_11:24. Defilement is only contracted when their dead bodies are touched, but not if touched when alive. According to the canon which obtained during the second Temple, “there is no kind of living creature that becomes defiled while it is alive, or defiles when it is alive, save man only.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. creep] swarm.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These are unclean to you of all that creep,.... Unfit for food, and not to be touched, at least when dead, as in the next clause, that is, these eight sorts of creeping things before mentioned, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, and these only, as Maimonides says (r):

whosoever doth touch them when they are dead shall be unclean until the even; for touching them while alive did not defile, only when dead; and this the Jews interpret, while they are in the case in which they died, that is, while they are moist; for, as Ben Gersom says, if they are so dry, as that they cannot return to their moisture, they do not defile; for which reason, neither the bones, nor nails, nor nerves, nor skin of these creeping things, defile; but, they say (s), while the back bone is whole, and the bones cleave to it, then a creeping thing is reckoned moist, and while it is so it defiles. (r) Hilchot, Abot Hatumaot, c. 4. sect. 14. (s) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Niddah, c. 7. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Vers. 31-38. As the little animals just mentioned weasels, mice, and lizards are more likely than those of a larger size to be found dead in domestic utensils and clothes, a further warning as to their defiling character is added, with tales for daily use. The words translated ranges for pots (verse 35) should rather be rendered covered pots, that is, pots or kettles with lids to them. Seed which is to be sown, that is, seed corn, is not defiled by contact with these dead animals, unless it has been wetted by water being put on it, in which case the moisture would convey the corruption into the seeds.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Yahweh continues telling Moses and Aaron which animals the people are to consider unclean.

these are the animals which will be unclean to you

These animals that God declared to be unfit for people to touch or eat are spoken of as if they were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)

Whoever touches them ... will be unclean

A person who is unacceptable for God's purposes because he has touched one of these dead animals is spoken of as if he were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)

until evening

"until sunset"

that thing will be unclean

Something that God has declared to be unfit for people to touch because one of these dead animals has fallen on it is spoken of as if it were physically unclean. It is spoken of as physically clean after it has been washed. (See: Metaphor)

Then it will be clean

Something that God has declared to be fit for people to touch after it has been washed is spoken of as if it were physically clean. (See: Metaphor)

whatever it is used for, it must be put into water

This can be translated in active form. AT: "however you use it, you must put it into water" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

clean

die

sackcloth

clean

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.