And expressions only come by way of division if they are alike in one matter (in the noun or in the verb) and different in another matter. And the sentences will never be fully divided, whether with a noun or with a verb.

And from this, it is proven that when it is written וכלי חרש אשר תבושל בו (But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden)²³⁵, it means אשר תבלע בו (wherein it is sodden) - that according to this, the garment and the earthenware vessel are similar in the verb, and differ only between the nouns; that a soiled garment shall be washed and a sodden earthenware vessel shall be broken. Not so if it would have meant תבושל (cooking) literally, as then they would also differ in the verb and not come by way of a division at all and it would be proper that the verb comes first, as with all expressions that stand on their own.

Leviticus 6:20-21 says,כל אשר יגע בבשרה יקדש ואשר יזה מדמה על הבגד אשר יזה עליה תכבס במקום קדש. וכלי חרש אשר תבשל בו ישבר ואם בכלי נחשת בשלה ומרק ושטף במים(Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy; and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, you shall wash that whereon it was sprinkled in a holy place. But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken; and if it be sodden in a brazen vessel, it shall be scoured, and rinsed in water), using the wordבגדfor “garment” and the wordsכלי חרסfor “earthen vessel”.

In both sentences, the noun comes before the verb; therefore, the two sentences come by way of division betweenבגדandכלי חרס*. Hence, by Rule 114, they must be alike in the verb. The only way in which this is possible is if the wordתבושלis interpreted as “sodden”²³⁶.*

footnotes: ²³⁵ Ibid. ²³⁶ Malbim, HaTorah v’HaMitzvah Tzav 68.