If a clay vessel was used to cook the sacrifice, the vessel had to be smashed. Due to the clay’s porous characteristics, there is no way to clean it satisfactorily. If a bronze vessel was used, it needed to be cleaned as thoroughly as possible, but it did not have to be destroyed. The theme of holiness continues to run through this passage. The main point of these requirements was to highlight the distinction between the holy and the common. The sacrificial blood was to be set apart and not profaned.
28 And the earthenware vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken. But if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, that shall be scoured and rinsed in water.