Numbers 31:23

Num 31:23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make [it] go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.

Ver. 23. And all that abideth not the fire.] We must deal with every man, saith one from this text, according to his temper; indulge them what lawfully you may. Quod tamen accipiendum est cum grano salis.

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.

It shall be washed.

The third day and before it be molten.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 23. The water of separation] The water in which the ashes of the red heifer were mingled; See Clarke on Nu 8:7; "Nu 19:2", &c. Garments, whether of cloth or skins, were to be washed. Gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead, to pass through the fire, probably to be melted down.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. the water of impurity] Its preparation and use are described in ch. 19.

to go through water] i.e. ordinary pure water, not the ‘water of impurity’ as R.V. suggests. Objects which will stand the fire must pass through it, and then their purification must be completed by the application of the specially prepared mixture. Objects, on the other hand, which cannot stand the fire, must pass through ordinary water instead of fire. It is perhaps implied that their purification must afterwards be completed, as in the former case, by the special mixture.

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.

Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and beast,.... The number of the females that were taken captive and spared, and of the cattle, the sheep, oxen, and asses:

thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation; who were all men of authority and character, and fit to be employed in such service, and of whose capacity and fidelity there could be no doubt.

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

Expiation, with which even the vessels which had been through the fire, were to be purified, or washed, as the Hebrew, Septuagint, &c., observe. (Calmet) --- Moses perhaps gave this ordinance by word of mouth, on this occasion, (Menochius) though something similar be prescribed before, Leviticus vi. 28., xi. 33, and xv. 12.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Ye shall make it go through the fire. This was an addition to the general law of lustration in Nu 19 founded on the obvious fact that water does not cleanse metals, while fire does. The spoils of the Midianites required purification, not only as being tainted with death, but as having been heathen property.

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

כל דבר אשר יבא באש ANYTHING THAT COMES ON THE FIRE, to boil something in it,

תעבירו באש YE SHALL PASS THROUGH THE FIRE — according to the manner in which it is used so is the manner in which it is cleansed from what has been absorbed: that vessel the use of which is by means of hot water he shall cleanse with hot water, and that which is used for roasted meat, as for instance, a spit and a grill, he shall make it white hot in the flame (Avodah Zarah 75b).

אך מי נדה יתחטא NEVERTHELESS IT SHALL BE PURIFIED WITH THE WATERS OF SPRINKLING — According to its plain sense this purification is to cleanse it from the uncleanness caused by a corpse. He said to them: the vessels require גיעול (the ceremony by which whatever has been absorbed will be given up) to cleanse them from the effect of having contained forbidden food, and also purification to cleanse them from the uncleanness caused by a corpse. But our Rabbis derived from here the law that in order to make them fit for use (to cleanse them entirely) from being forbidden, it (Scripture) made immersion in a ritual bath a requirement for metal vessels, and they explained the words מי נדה which are written here as denoting “waters that are proper for a נדה to immerse herself in”. And how much is that? Forty Seahs (Avodah Zarah 75b).

וכל אשר לא יבא באש AND ALL THAT DOTH NOT COME IN THE FIRE — i.e., everything which is not used on fire, as for instance, cups and flasks which are used with cold articles, and which, therefore, absorb no forbidden food,

תעבירו במים YE SHALL PASS THROUGH WATER — He immerses them and that is sufficient. This refers only to metal utensils (Avodah Zarah 75b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

EVERY THING THAT MAY COME INTO THE FIRE YE SHALL PASS THROUGH THE FIRE AND IT SHALL BE CLEAN. A vessel which touched a human corpse or dead animal does not become purified by fire, since the immersion mentioned in the Torah is always in water. Therefore our Rabbis had to explain that this purification [mentioned here by Scripture] refers to remove from them [the traces of] the forbidden foods which they had absorbed whilst they were in the possession of the non-Jews. This is the true [explanation] without any doubt.

AND ALL THAT COMETH NOT INTO THE FIRE — “anything which is not [normally] used on fire, such as cups, flasks, and pitchers which are used [to contain] cold substances, and [therefore] have not absorbed [any of the traces of forbidden foods] ye shall pass through the water, meaning that it is sufficient to immerse them.” This is Rashi’s language. But it does not appear to me to be correct, for the term ta’aviru (ye shall pass through) does not refer to immersion; for [had this been the case], it would have said “tavi’u (ye shall put it) into water,” which is the expression used in connection with immersion, just as it says, it ‘yuva’ (must be put into) water, and it shall be unclean until the even, and then it shall be clean. Furthermore, even those vessels, which are only used for cold things [of forbidden foods] need purification from [the traces of] their forbidden foods in addition to this immersion [which Rashi mentioned], and how can it be that Scripture [here] does not mention the [method] of purification [for such vessels] as it did with reference to those vessels that come into the fire? And when the Sages deduced [the necessity for] this immersion they did not mention that the source for it was this [part of the] verse [quoted here by Rashi], but interpreted it [on the basis of that part of the verse which says]: “Nevertheless it shall be purified with the waters of ‘niddah’ — waters which are fit for a niddah (a menstruant woman) to immerse herself in.”But the meaning of ye shall pass through the water is that you should wash them and rub them thoroughly in water until you remove the deposit of forbidden foods which has formed on the vessels by being used for such foods, and this [process] constitutes their purification from the forbidden foods. Scripture is thus saying that [in order to purify a vessel from the forbidden food which it has absorbed] you must put into fire those [vessels] which are used on the fire, in exactly the same way that they were used for [cooking] the forbidden foods. Hence if it was used on the flame itself — such as [a vessel of] iron or copper, and also silver or gold — he must make it white-hot in a flame, and if it was used to contain hot substances, such as [a vessel made of] tin or lead, he cleanses it with boiling-hot water; and if it was not used on fire [or for hot substances] but only for cold foodstuffs, he scours it with water until it is properly cleansed, and then it becomes pure. And similarly the Sages said: “He scours them, and immerses them, and they are then pure.” In the language of the Sifre: 158. This language shows that the “passing through water” referred to here, means cleansing of the food deposits, and not, as Rashi explained, merely immersion. “Ye shall pass through the fire — such as knives, because they are [used as spits and] burned by the non-Jews. And all that cometh not into the fire, such as cups, ye shall pass through the water in order to remove the deposits of [the food of] the non-Jews.” And Scripture did not need to mention again [at this second part of the verse, i.e., and all that cometh ‘not’ into the fire], the necessity of immersion [in a ritual pool, which is required after cleansing the vessel before it can be used], because He had already mentioned [in the first part of the verse, concerning vessels that are used in the fire, stating]: nevertheless it shall be purified with the waters of ‘niddah’ [meaning, as explained above, “waters which are fit for ‘a menstruant’ woman to immerse herself in”], and [it is self-understood that] after the traces of forbidden foods have been removed from the vessels they are all alike with respect to the law [requiring] immersion [whether they were used in the fire or not].And I further take into consideration 17:5, who is also of the opinion that the requirement of immersion of vessels is an ordinance of the Rabbis. See also Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deiah Chapter 120, for the application of this law nowadays. that this immersion [of all vessels obtained from non-Jews, after they have been cleansed from the traces and absorption of forbidden foods prepared in them], is a law of the Rabbis, and they quoted the verse merely as a Scriptural support [for the Rabbinic ordinance]. And similarly Onkelos translated [the phrase, the waters of ‘niddah’] as meaning “the purification of ‘sprinkling’ of [the water containing] the ashes of the [Red] Heifer” [which was required in order to purify those who had come into contact with a dead body, and thus it does not refer at all to the requirement of immersion. The Rabbis [according to this explanation] only required immersion of metal vessels, because some of them are used on fire, either as a “first vessel” [used directly on the flame], or as a “second vessel” [i.e., those which are not actually used for cooking but into which a boiling substance has been put or poured], and [some metal vessels are used] for cold foodstuffs. But this matter needs further investigation.Now He warned them here to remove from the vessels of the Midianites the [traces and absorptions of the] forbidden foods [which they had absorbed when they were in the possession] of the non-Jews, but He did not tell them this [law] at the beginning — in connection with the vessels of [the Amorite peoples ruled by] Sihon and Og which they also took as spoil, as it is said, Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken. The reason for this is that Sihon and Og were Amorite kings, and their land was part of Israel’s inheritance, and therefore all spoil taken from them was allowed for the Israelites, including foods [usually] forbidden; for it is written, and houses full of all good things, which thou didst not fill, 6:11. and our Rabbis have said: “kadlei, the reading is “katlei of swine,” which Rashi interprets as “dried swine.” See also Ramban on Deuteronomy 6:10. of swine was [hereby especially] permitted for them.” But Midian was not part of their [inheritance], and they [the Israelites] did not capture their land from them; it was only to execute vengeance on them [as they were commanded to do as a punishment for causing the Israelites to sin] that they killed them and took their spoil, and therefore the [usual] prohibition of using their vessels [without removing from them the traces and absorptions of the forbidden foods] applied. Similarly, He [only] commanded them [now] about the law of impurity [conveyed by the dead, saying], And abide ye without the camp seven days etc. [and did not command them about it in the earlier war against Sihon and Og], because in the war against Sihon and Og all Israel participated, and when the [entire] public is involved, impurity is permitted, ], has engendered much discussion among later scholars. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 328. [whereas, as explained above in Verse 6, only a select few, and not the whole people, were sent to execute vengeance on Midian.] But according to the plain meaning of Scripture, He warned them [the twelve thousand men who fought against Midian], “And abide ye without the camp seven days and purify yourselves,” in order that they should not defile [the rest of] the people, but there [in the case of the wars against Sihon and Og] they were all equally impure [since they all went to fight; hence there was no point commanding them to abide without the camp, since they all required purification anyhow].

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.