Numbers 9:6-7

9:6 It happened that some men ¹  who were ceremonially defiled ²  by the dead body of a man ³  could not keep ⁴  the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. 9:7 And those men said to him, “We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?”

Numbers 9:10

9:10 “Tell the Israelites, ‘If any ⁵  of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may ⁶  observe the Passover to the Lord.

Numbers 18:15

18:15 The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem, ⁷  and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem.

Numbers 19:13

19:13 Anyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. And that person must be cut off from Israel, ⁸  because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness remains on him.

Numbers 19:20

19:20 But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.

¹ tn In the Hebrew text the noun has no definite article, and so it signifies “some” or “certain” men.

² tn The meaning, of course, is to be ceremonially unclean, and therefore disqualified from entering the sanctuary.

³ tn Or “a human corpse” (so NAB, NKJV). So also in v.7; cf. v. 10.

⁴ tn This clause begins with the vav (ו) conjunction and negative before the perfect tense. Here is the main verb of the sentence: They were not able to observe the Passover. The first part of the verse provides the explanation for their problem.

⁵ tn This sense is conveyed by the repetition of “man” – “if a man, a man becomes unclean.”

⁶ tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive functions as the equivalent of an imperfect tense. In the apodosis of this conditional sentence, the permission nuance fits well.

⁹ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of the verb “to redeem” in order to stress the point – they were to be redeemed. N. H. Snaith suggests that the verb means to get by payment what was not originally yours, whereas the other root גָאַל (ga’al) means to get back what was originally yours (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 268).

¹³ sn It is in passages like this that the view that being “cut off” meant the death penalty is the hardest to support. Would the Law prescribe death for someone who touches a corpse and fails to follow the ritual? Besides, the statement in this section that his uncleanness remains with him suggests that he still lives on.