Contact With The Dead Bodies Of Unclean Animals Renders Unclean (Leviticus 11:24-28).
We now move on to dead carcasses. These are necessarily outside their proper sphere. They are always unclean apart from when offered when still alive, and then slain in sacrifice (when they are in their proper, God-given sphere) to God. This provision is now not a question of whether we can eat them, but of what should not even be touched and handled.
“And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches the carcase of them shall be unclean until the even; and whoever bears anything of their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. Every beast which parts the hoof, and is not clovenfooted, nor chews the cud, is unclean to you. Every one who touches them shall be unclean. And whatever goes on its paws, among all beasts that go on all fours, they are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcase shall be unclean until the even. And he who carries the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. They are unclean to you.”
The list of unclean animals is now extended to include those with paws. All these unclean animals and birds were not only not to be eaten, all their dead carcasses were to be strictly avoided. They would bring the taint of death, and the taint of death should not be transferred to the people of God. Thus any of the people who themselves did have contact with such must immediately afterwards (until the evening) avoid the tabernacle. They would not be fit to approach God until they were clean. They must not go directly to the tabernacle while unclean. Nor must they eat of holy meat. They have temporarily gone outside their sphere, the sphere of life. The taint of death must not be brought into contact with the holy. But it was only mild uncleanness, lasting until the evening. This would enable the ‘uncleanness' to wear off and give the opportunity to see if there were any ill effects. For avoiding the touching of carcasses was also hygienically wise. They could easily pass on disease.
It is never suggested that working with camels and asses renders men unclean, thus the emphasis here would appear to be on dead carcasses. Notice that it is only those who actually carry a carcase who also have to wash their clothes, for they will thereby have contracted defilement on their clothes which needs to be removed. Otherwise time is the cleanser. Water does not cleanse people (except for the water of purification which has been mixed with the ashes of the heifer), it merely washes from earthiness prior to cleansing. It is the passage of time that cleanses.
Included under this heading would be Samson's lion (Judges 14:8-9). Also included would be cats and dogs. But we have no evidence of cats among the Israelites, although they were well known as pets in Egypt. And while dogs were domesticated elsewhere, all references to dogs in Scripture tend to be of wild dogs which acted furtively and savagely and banded together in packs as scavengers, especially around cities (see Exodus 22:31; Deuteronomy 23:18; 1Ki 14:11; 1 Kings 16:4; 1 Kings 21:19; Psalms 22:16; Psalms 59:6; Isaiah 56:10-11; Jeremiah 15:3; Revelation 22:15).