Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 11:35
And every [thing] whereupon [any part] of their carcass falleth shall be unclean; [whether it be] oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: [for] they [are] unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.
35. If the carcase of any swarming thing come in contact with an oven, of small cooking stove, the vessel becomes unclean and must be broken.
The Heb word kraim probably means a small cooking stove. LXX. translate ‘pots with feet.’ The dual form is used either because the vessel consisted of two parts, or because two portions could be prepared in it; somewhat like a modern egg-boiler for two.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See Lev 2:4. The word rendered ranges for pots has been conjectured to mean either an excavated fireplace, fitted to receive a pair of ovens, or a support like a pair of andirons.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 35. Ranges for pots] To understand this, we must observe that the Arabs dig a hole in their tent, about a foot and a half deep; three-fourths of this, says Rauwolff, they lay about with stones, and the fourth part is left open for the purpose of throwing in their fuel. This little temporary building is probably what is here designed by ranges for pots; and this was to be broken down when any unclean thing had fallen upon it. See Harmer, vol. 1., p. 464.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And everything whereupon [any part] of their carcass falleth shall be unclean,…. Before the Scripture seems to speak of anyone of the reptiles perfect, that falling upon anything should pollute it; but here of any part of them, though ever so small, which should, through any accident, fall and light upon anything, even that would render it unclean and unfit for use:
[whether it be] oven, [or] ranges of pots; the one to bake bread in, and the other to boil flesh in, as Aben Ezra observes:
they shall be broken down; and no more made use of for baking and boiling:
[for] they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you; were made hereby unfit for use, and should not be used: the Jewish writers x explain the phrase, “to you”, to your necessity, that which they had need of, but now should not use nor receive advantage from; even “to you”; all men, women, and children, as Hiskuni interprets it: all this was ordered to create in them an abhorrence of these creatures, and to make them cautious of eating and touching them, and careful that they come not nigh, or touched, or fell upon anything, since it would give them so much trouble, as well as occasion loss.
x Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Edaiot, c. 7. sect. 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(35) And every thing.That is, not only the above named garments and utensils become defiled by the said carcases, or any portion of them, falling on them, but also everything else is subject to the same pollution.
Oven, as the context shows, is an earthen vessel or baking-pot for making thin unleavened cakes, which, according to the ancient description of it, was wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, so formed to keep the heat in longer. (See Lev. 2:4.)
Or ranges for pots.According to the same ancient authorities this kind of oven was oblong, and was so made that two pots should be placed upon it, and that the fire should burn under both of them. Hence the rendering of the Authorised Version, Ranges for pots. This name, however, does not occur again in the Hebrew Scriptures.
They shall be broken down.Because earthen vessels could not be made clean by washing. (See Lev. 6:28.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 11:35. Ranges for pots The scarcity of fewel occasions a particular management among the Eastern people, of which Rauwolff gives us the following account: “They make in their tents or houses a hole about a foot and a half deep, wherein they put their earthen pipkins or pots, with the meat in them, closed up, so that they are in the half above the middle: three fourth parts thereof they lay about with stones, and the other fourth part is left open, through which they fling in their dried dung, and also some small twigs and straws, when they can have them, which burn immediately, and give so great a heat, that the pot groweth as hot as if it stood in the middle of a lighted coal-heap; so that they boil their meat with a little fire quicker than we do ours with a great one on our hearths.” Poole, in his Synopsis on the place, supposes the word translated ranges for pots, to signify an earthen pot to boil meat in, with a lid; and another commentator apprehends it to have had feet; but such vessels come under the direction given in the 33rd verse: nor does the original word, which requires its destruction, agree with these explications; for it does not signify to destroy by breaking to pieces as a vessel is broken, but by breaking down, as altars, houses, walls of cities, &c. are broken down; and perfectly suits with Rauwolff’s description of the Eastern apparatus for boiling a pot, which, though not expressed in the happiest manner by his translation, yet is thus far sufficiently clear. “Three fourth parts thereof,” says he, “they lay about with stones;” which little building this law required to be broken down. How clear is this! What idea our English translator of Leviticus designed to convey by the term ranges for pots, I do not well know; but something distinct from a pot was evidently designed: and though it might be thought strange that any thing of building should be used by those who lived such a flitting kind of life as the Israelites in the wilderness for the boiling of their pots, yet we find by Rauwolff, that the wandering Arabs at present make use of such an apparatus, and he gives us some description of it. See Observations, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 11:35 And every [thing] whereupon [any part] of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; [whether it be] oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: [for] they [are] unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.
Ver. 35. Whether it be oven, or ranges for pots. ] All this, to teach them how strict they were to be, in avoiding the least pollution of sin.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
they shall be: Lev 11:33, Lev 6:28, Lev 15:12, 2Co 5:1-7
Reciprocal: Lev 13:52 – burn