Read Numbers 19
The Water of Cleansing
19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 2 “This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heiferwithout defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
9 “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. 10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.
11 “Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12 They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean. 13 If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the Lord’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.
14 “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, 15 and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
16 “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
17 “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinklethe tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. 19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. 20 But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean. 21 This is a lasting ordinance for them.
“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening.22 Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”
Go Deeper
This section of Numbers is filled with rebellion outside the Promised Land, and its subsequent consequences. Will God’s promises prevail in the midst of sin? Despite Israel’s rebellion and discontentment, there is hope. We know that the Bible is ultimately the story of God and His rescue plan through Jesus. All throughout the Old Testament, we see glimpses of this Savior and a “shadow of the good things that are coming” (Hebrews 10:1). B.B. Warfield, an American theologian, famously described the Old Testament as a “richly furnished room, dimly lit.”
So, where do we see Christ in the book of Numbers? This chapter, and so many others, clearly point to Him. Numbers 19 is all about purification laws related to death. The purpose of this law was to remove the uncleanliness associated with death, especially after thousands perished as a result of Korah’s rebellion in Numbers 16. The terms “clean” and “unclean” cover this chapter.
Touching dead bodies would make someone ceremonial unclean. As a reminder, when God gave the Israelites the law at Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus, there were three parts of the law: moral, civil, and ceremonial. The moral law addressed things that are morally good or bad, civil laws dealt with disputes between the Israelites and their daily affairs, and ceremonial laws were concerned with what made them “clean” or “unclean.” In Numbers 19, the Lord spoke to Moses giving them a ceremonial instruction saying, “Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke” (v. 2). A red heifer is a female cow that has never been pregnant. This type of animal would have been valuable and rare. This introduces to us a different, and very specific type of sacrifice than we have seen in the Old Testament. It specified the color red, it had to be female, it was to be slaughtered not sacrificed, it was to be killed outside the camp and not at the altar, and its blood was to be sprinkled seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.
While the red heifer was being burnt, the priests were instructed to put cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet in the fire. All three together would produce ashes that were gathered and sprinkled in water to make for purification (v. 9). Each item had a purpose and pointed to a greater fulfillment in Christ. Many scholars say that the cross Jesus was crucified on was made of cedar. While He was on the cross, He was offered a drink from a hyssop branch. The veil that was torn in the temple when He died was scarlet. Jesus became unclean, not with sin but by taking our sin upon himself and dying on the cross for us.
Like the red heifer, Jesus was “without blemish,” sacrificed outside Jerusalem or “outside the camp,” and its ashes cleansed people of their uncleanliness like Jesus cleanses us of our unrighteousness. Hebrews 13:11-12 says, “The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.” He took on all our uncleanliness, so that we may be made clean. Even in Numbers, we see a picture that despite our sins like scarlet, God will make them white as snow.
Questions
- What stuck out to you on your first read through this chapter?
- Why did God care so much about instructions like He gave in this chapter?
- Where else have you seen Christ in the book of Numbers?
Keep Digging
Click here to read more about the significance of the red heifer in the Bible!
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7 thoughts on “Numbers 19”
You shall be holy as I am Holy
All of these laws had purpose but ultimatly the spiritual purpose was to teach the Jews the difference between holiness and sin and to encourage them to walk in holiness.
We today in the church do not have to worry about all this ritual clean or unclean. BUT GOD wants us to learn about how to be a holy people. 2 Cor 1:7 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is God’s promise to His children (us). An innocent animal died for ritual cleansing for the Jews, but the innocent Lamb of God had to die to provide for us.
God thank You for Holy Spirit and the conviction when I sin. God thank You for a greater striving for myself to be holy becuase that is what You require. God thank You that I can see past the world to see You. God thank You for today, these minutes of this day that I use them to glorify and edify You. God thank You forYour love goggles to see others as You see them in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening.
This basically describes how the priest offers sacrifices to atone for the people’s sins. The priest becomes unclean in the process. What a powerful picture of the Gospel of what Jesus has done on the cross for us. Jesus exposed Himself fully to the stain of my sin, our sin. He has taken on our uncleanliness upon Himself in order that we might become clean before God. Lord, Jesus, thank you, thank you!
When my kids were growing up, there was very popular object lesson going around to illustrate the significance of purity.
Clear water was poured from a pitcher into a glass, and then a handful of dirt and sand was added to the glass. Adding more water from the pitcher couldn’t remove the dirt … only dilute it.
How many water purification systems (think Brita pitcher) rely on a charcoal filter to remove the contaminants?
Charcoal = wood ash.
Did you know?
“Ashes, particularly from wood, are sometimes used to purify water because when mixed with water, they create an alkaline solution which can help to coagulate and settle suspended particles in the water, effectively clarifying it.”
Numbers 19 points us to Jesus as “the red heifer” — unique, pure and without spot, never under the yoke (of sin), and sacrificed outside the camp.
AND it points to Jesus as the “Divine Purifier,” the one who takes all of the contamination of sin upon himself.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’”
-1 Peter 2:24 NIV
Interesting!
10 “This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.”
Very interesting the frequent mention of “the foreigners residing among them”. Why would they join the Israelites? Why subject themselves to these rules? Would they consider embracing this religion?
Reading of the red heifer connected me to this verse in Hebrews 9:22,“And without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” A foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross would be necessary for the redemption of humanity. His blood was shed as a perfect and eternal atonement for the sins of all who believe in him.
what stuck out to me is that theres a story in the quran on the red heffer as well!
I didn’t understand much other than the israelites have to clean themselves after touching dead bodies… which i am sure was more common because of sickness and war at the time.