a mans uncle shall take him up] The nearest of kinne, who for the duty of consanguinity, or to cleanse the house which is fallen to him by inheritance, shall take care of these dead bodies. to bring out the bones] To cause the house to be more easily and privately freed from this legall uncleannesse. Numbers 19:14. shall say unto him] He seems to mean him that had been imployed in burning of these dead bodies. Hold thy tongue] Chap. 5. 13. Tell no body what hath hapned unto us, for fear lest we be sequestred as unclean by the law. we may not] Or, they will not; or, have not. This extreme desolation doth dispense with us touching the lawes of God concerning these pollutions, and the purifying of them, which were not observed even by the most scrupulous consciences in the greatest extremities. See Lamentations 4:14-15.