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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Numbers 31:19 - 31:24
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The Purification of the Army
v. 19. And do ye abide without the camp seven days, because they had touched the bodies of slain people and must be purified, Num_19:11; whosoever hath killed any person and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day, Num_19:9.
v. 20. And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, the vessels and the coverings made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, garments woven out of this hair, and all things made of wood. Cf Numbers 19.
v. 21. And Eleazar, the priest, said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses, a further extension and application of the precepts of purification of Chapter 19;
v. 22. only the gold and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
v. 23. everything that may abide the fire, all metals that could withstand the power of the fire as they were placed in it for purposes of purification, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation, in addition to the outward cleansing by fire, for the Levitical cleansing was an essential part of the ceremony; and all that abided not the fire, such as wood, cloth, and skins, ye shall make go through the water.
v. 24. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, as was usually done in the ceremony of purification, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp. To this day God can bear no uncleanness, no sinfulness, and He is very earnestly concerned lest the believers become contaminated by contact with the world.