Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 15:23
And if it [be] on [her] bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.
And if it [be] on [her] bed, or on anything whereon she sitteth,…. That is, if any person or thing should be upon her bed or seat; a vessel on her bed, or a vessel upon a vessel, as Aben Ezra expresses it:
when he toucheth it; that person or thing that should be on her bed or seat, as well as touch her bed or seat:
shall be unclean until the even; in a ceremonial sense; so defiling was a woman in such circumstances, and to whom the Scriptures often compare unclean persons and things: and Pliny i speaks of menstrues as very infectious, or worse, to various creatures and things, in a natural way.
i Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(23) And if it be on her bed.Better, and if any object be on her bed, that is, if anything happen to lie on her bed.
When he toucheth it.Rather, if he toucheth it. Whilst the former two verses declare that if any one touches the bed itself, or the thing on which she sat, he contracts such a degree of defilement that he must wash his clothes, bathe his whole body, and remain in a state of pollution till sundown, the verse before us enacts that if he happens to touch any vessel, garment, or any other objects which are lying on the defiling bed or seat in question, he has only to remain unclean till sundown, without having to wash his garments. The defilement in this case is not primary, but secondary. It is no more the bed or seat which defiled by direct contact, but an object which the defiled bed or seat had defiled, the pollution in this case being indirect.