Becoming unclean by touching a dead body was very serious. A person who was ceremonially defiled (not fit for worship) could also make the Lord’s tabernacle unclean (compare Leviticus 15:31).
Because of this danger, such impurity could lead to being “cut off” from the community of Israel. This meant being removed from the people, and in some cases, it could mean death (see Numbers 9:13; Exodus 12:15; Leviticus 7:20–21; Leviticus 17:4–14; Leviticus 20:17–18).