Numbers 19:11

11 "Whoever touches the dead body of any human being will be unclean for seven days.

Numbers 19:11 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 19:11

He that toucheth the dead body of any man
A man and not a beast, as Aben Ezra observes; for he that touched the dead body of a beast was unclean only until evening, ( Leviticus 11:24 ) ; any man, Jew or Gentile, as the same writer notes: this is instanced in, as being the principal pollution, though not the only one, yet so some think, for which the water of purification made of the ashes of the burnt heifer was appointed:

shall be unclean seven days;
the reason of which is, because death is the fruit of sin, which is of a defiling nature, and to show that all that are dead in sins are defiled and defiling, and are not to be touched, or to have communion and fellowship held with them but to be abstained from.

Numbers 19:11 In-Context

9 "A man who is clean will collect the ashes from the cow and put them in a clean place outside the camp. They will be kept by the community of Israel and used in the water that takes away uncleanness. The cow is an offering for sin.

10 The person who collected the ashes from the cow must also wash his clothes. He will be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent law for the Israelites and for the foreigners who live with them.

11 "Whoever touches the dead body of any human being will be unclean for seven days.

12 The unclean person must use this water on the third day and the seventh day to take away his sin. Then he will be clean. But if he doesn't use this water on the third day and the seventh day, he will not be clean.

13 Whoever touches the dead body of a human being and doesn't use this water to take away his sin makes the LORD's tent unclean. That person must be excluded from Israel, because the water that takes away uncleanness wasn't sprinkled on him. He is unclean; his uncleanness stays with him.