What Does Leviticus 11:32 Mean?

(32) **And upon whatsoever any of them.**—Better, *and upon whatsoever aught of them, *that is, not only if the whole carcase fell upon any of the specified vessels were the vessels in question defiled, but if a portion of the carcase came in contact with the utensils it made them unclean. (See Leviticus 11:25.) According to the law which obtained during the second Temple it was only when the portion of the carcase of an unclean animal had flesh on it that it defiled, but not otherwise. Hence the skins, hair, bones, horns, hoofs, sinews, &c. of all unclean creatures were exempted. These were made into different domestic utensils and implements. The use thus made of the parts in question also constituted one of the differences between the Pharisees and the Sadducees in the time of Christ. The Sadducees regarded every portion of every unclean animal in whatever state as defiling, and hence prohibited its being made up into any vessel. **Vessel of wood.**—That is, vessels made of bulrushes (Isaiah 18:2), reeds, wicker, shells of nuts, barks of trees, or of anything which grew out of the earth like wood. **Or raiment.**—That is, any garment made of a woven material, such as wool, flax, hemp, or anything which grows on the dry land. Hence cloth made of a material which grows in the sea was not defiled, according to the canons which obtained during the second Temple. **Or skin.**—This also, according to the same authorities, only applied to the skins of land animals; skins of aquatic creatures received no defilement. **Or** **sack.**—From the parallel passage in Numbers 31:20, we see that by this expression here is meant garments made of stuffs of goats’ hair, in contradistinction to the textures of which the garments were made, denoted by the expression *beged, *“raiment.” (See also Isaiah 20:2.) Skins which were not made into garments or vessels, or which exhibited unfinished vessels, received no pollution.