Again, the chapter begins with “the Lord spoke to Moses,” but now Aaron is added to the team, confirming Aaron’s importance to the concepts that involve worship. This is followed up in verses 2-3, where it states “This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.”
While the Lord has laid out detailed instructions for the offering of animals as burnt offerings (see Leviticus 1:3-9), this ceremony involving the red heifer is radically different. While the qualifying words, “without defect or blemish,” are familiar in the context of sacrificial worship in the Old Testament, the instructions here indicate that this is not the same kind of sacrificial animal described in Leviticus. It is a cow, not an ox; it is to be slaughtered, not sacrificed; and it is to be killed outside the camp, not at the holy altar. The ashes of the red heifer (see Numbers 19:9) are the primary focus of this act, for they will be used in the ritual of the water of cleansing. The burning of the animal with its “blood and intestines” (v. 5) is unprecedented in the Old Testament.
The key differences between the slaughter of this animal and the other temple sacrifices seem to relate to the use of this animal’s blood. To my knowledge, this is the only place where the COLOR of the animal to be sacrificed is specified. It must be red. Of course, blood is also red.
In all other animal sacrifices, the blood is drained from the carcass and applied to or splashed on the altar. Here, the blood is left in the animal’s body, along with all of its internal organs, and is burned down to the ashes with the entire sacrifice.
Verse 6 has the priest in charge of slaughtering the heifer to also add cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool (there’s the color red again!) to the offering to be burned with the carcass. In Leviticus 14:4-7, these three things serve as important ingredients in the cleansing ceremony for a leper. Each of these items therefore has special significance.
Cedar wood is resistant to disease and rot and was sought after in the ancient world for its quality, preciousness, and fragrant aroma. These properties may be the reason for including it here – as well as a notion that it is a symbolic reference to the wood of the cross of Christ. There is a legend accepted as part of church tradition by Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox that claims the cross Jesus was crucified on was made of cedar wood.
Because hyssop was used for the cleansing ceremony for lepers, when David asked God to “purge me with hyssop” in Psalm 51:7, he associated himself with the leper who needed cleansing. Jesus was also offered a drink from a sponge soaked in wine vinegar “on the stalk of a hyssop plant.” (see John 19:29).
Scarlet (the color of blood) was used in the veil and curtains of the tabernacle (Exodus 26:31), in the garments of the high priest (Exodus 28:5-6), and for the covering for the table of showbread (Numbers 4:8). Scarlet was the color of the sign of Rahab’s agreement with the Israelite spies in Joshua 2:21, and the color of the “king’s robe” mockingly set on Jesus by the Roman soldiers in Matthew 27:28.
According to Jewish tradition, the cedar wood used in this ceremony was taken in cut lengths, bound round with hyssop, and then the entire package was covered over in scarlet; so, what was seen by the people was the scarlet which was recognized as the emblem of sin and its punishment.
After the slaughtered heifer was completely consumed by the fire, the residue from the burning of the carcass, the cedar, the hyssop, and the scarlet fabric together would produce a lot of ash. This ash was gathered and sprinkled in water bit by bit to make a solution suited for purification ceremonies.
The water of purification was only made effective when the ash remains of the red heifer (along with the cedar, hyssop, and scarlet) were added to the water. The heifer’s body, blood, and these other purifying elements were therefore made an integral part of the purification ceremony.
This water of purification was necessary because of sin and its many effects. The most serious and obvious type of human uncleanness is highlighted here – the uncleanness caused by death. Anyone who touched a corpse or a human bone or a grave or entered the tent of a dead man became unclean (vv. 14-16). Furthermore, this uncleanness was viewed as contagious: anything the unclean person touched would itself become unclean and potentially infect others (v.22).
As we discussed back in my commentary on Numbers Chapter 5, I inferred the Book of Numbers often appears to be the refinement and practical application of the Mosaic Law in actual day-to-day practice. Prior to the Israelites’ collective migration into the desert/wilderness, the practical application of the laws laid out in Exodus and Leviticus had not yet been tried out. The book of Numbers appears to be the first time that violations of the law occur, and punishment is actually meted out. We’ve already seen how the practical application of the Levitical laws in action here in Numbers leads to what appears to be further development of the laws. The principles do not change. The law or regulation is still the same. But the working out of the situation has God making some further refinements. And in the specifics of each of these “refinements,” we see that God is being even more gracious and merciful that initially perceived.
Such is the case in the concept of the “water of purification” produced from the ashes of the red heifer. This ritual turns out to be a manifestation of God’s kindness and mercy in providing another way of cleansing from ritual impurity – to be honest, a concept that is simpler, easier, less expensive, and requires no effort on the part of the penitent person, but it does require complete reliance on the grace of God.
Leviticus gives a ritual for cleansing that included washing in water and waiting until evening (see Lev. 11:28, 39-40; 15:16-18). In more serious cases (such as contact with a dead body), the unclean person must wait seven days and then offer an animal sacrifice (Lev. 14:10-32). The red heifer provides an alternative to the long and expensive ritual described in Leviticus 14. With the water of purification, instead of being cleansed by a sin offering (which the unclean person would have to provide out of their own herds or purchase one out of their own pocket at great expense), the unclean person was sprinkled with water that included all the ingredients of the red heifer sin offering.
The red heifer ritual, together with the ashes produced from its burned carcass and the water of purification prepared in association with that offering, presents another powerful foreshadowing of the perfect sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. Consider the following specifics:
1. Like the red heifer, Jesus was “red,” covered in blood from the brutal beatings and scourging he had experienced leading up to His sacrifice on the cross.
2. The red heifer was “without defect or blemish, and that has never been under a yoke;” Jesus was sinless, therefore also without “defect or blemish,” was pure, no “spots” or “stains;” Jesus had also never been under the “yoke” or bondage of sin.
3. The red heifer was slaughtered outside the camp; Jesus was crucified outside the city.
4. Like the red heifer, the sacrifice of Jesus was unique – performed once, providing atonement for all.
5. The red heifer was completely consumed by the fire; Jesus was also completely consumed, the entirety of his being completely offered and consumed by death.
6. Like the red heifer, the sacrifice of Jesus is effective for all who claim it, including the stranger and sojourner (see Numbers 19:10).
The water of purification (made by mixing the water with the ashes of the red heifer) did not create a different purification from ritual uncleanness than the previous one the law of Moses established. In some sense, it accomplished the same thing as the longer, more costly, and more elaborate ceremony of Leviticus 14. But this was a streamlined version; this water of purification made a better way (more accessible and virtually instantaneous) to ritually purify even the most unclean persons among the Israelites. It did so by building on existing principles of sacrifice, but making a different offering, one that did not need to be constantly repeated, but only referred to again and again. In other words, the water of purification offered a better way to be made clean, something of a God-approved shortcut.
But the one thing involved in this ceremony that didn’t have an easier time was the red heifer. The red heifer and water of purification both are a wonderful illustration of the perfect work of Jesus Christ on the cross, as a substitute for His people (see Hebrews 9:13-14). In both cases, a better sacrifice replaced the previous system for cleansing – for finding a remedy for the worse kind of sin, and a way for a sinner to get back to rejoin God and His people after the uncleanness forced a separation.
Sometimes there are modern news stories about rabbis searching for and (perhaps) finding a perfect red heifer, suitable for this ceremony in a restored priestly service and temple. While this is an interesting thought, it is helpful to remember that in the Bible, there is nothing necessary about the water of purification made by the ashes of the burning of the red heifer. What it accomplished had already been made possible by a longer and more costly routine described in Leviticus 14. So it is with the sacrifice of Jesus – in the process of sanctification while walking with God, we find ourselves having to avail ourselves of Christ’s forgiveness and purification as we struggle with our flesh and our sin nature in order to grow ever close to Him; but all the necessary work was already accomplished by Jesus on the cross of Calvary.
Two other points I’d like to note:
The concept that the state of being “unclean” by coming into contact with a corpse could be “contagious” may seem superstitious and even ignorant. But there were often practical concepts and medical wisdom in the prohibitions of the law of Moses (for example, ancient practices had not perfected the concept of properly preparing/curing pork, so the ban on consuming pork had a great deal of wisdom and practical significance). But even more important from a spiritual standpoint, we begin to see a concept that reveals something about human nature.
I think we generally accept the concept of “original sin,” that is, the idea that since the fall of Adam and Eve at the beginning of Genesis, we have inherited a “sin nature” from Adam. We are already sinners at the time of our birth. But I don’t think many of us truly take that concept seriously.
In Numbers 19, contact with a dead body is so serious, even if you wandered into a tent where a corpse lay, you would end up ceremonially unclean. But to be ceremonially unclean was not “sin,” per se, like stealing something, or murder, or other offenses that violate the commandments. To be unclean in this sense meant that one was kept apart from the community of worship in Israel until they were ceremonially purified. Priests were made unclean by contact with the dead (Lev. 22:1-4), and Nazirites could not go near a dead body or their vow would be broken (Numbers 6:6). For those who were not priests or Nazirites, contact with a dead body made them unclean for seven days, requiring them to live outside the camp (see Lev. 5:2-3).
But it’s interesting to note that the time of uncleanness after touching a dead human body was longer than that of touching an animal carcass: A person who touched a dead animal was only unclean for a single day (Lev. 11:24, 27, 39), but a person who touched who a dead human is unclean for seven days! This had to be designed to mark the significance and peculiarity of the impurity of humanity, and to emphasize the hopeless depth of human depravity – human sin is seven times worse than the vilest animal! The very nature of the ritual emphasizes the inescapable concept of original sin.
Plus, this uncleanness was universal and infused every part of a human’s existence. Anyone who is near a corpse is affected – inside the tent, out in the open near a body on the battlefield, even anything sitting out on a table, inside a cup or goblet, or in an unsealed jar was equally infected with this “ceremonial uncleanness.”
I believe God designed all of this as imagery to clearly present the nature and seriousness of sin to us. I think some of us can tend to be dismissive of the “sin nature” because it feels better to excuse it in ourselves by commiserating with everyone else. “We’re all human. We all make mistakes. How bad can this really be?”
Sometimes, a physical symptom we suffer from may turn out to be nothing. If I have a headache, maybe I’ve been out in the sun too long. Or I’ve overexerted myself. Or I am under a lot of stress and tension. But – that headache could be the warning signs of a much deeper problem, like dangerously high blood pressure, or even a brain tumor! I think God used the principles of ceremonial uncleanness to teach his people that sin is not something to be trifled with. Instead of brushing off the warnings that transgressing the prohibitions of the law (in this case, contact with a corpse) will kill us (like the warnings during the pandemic to not socialize with people), God wants us to take our sin natures very seriously. It is like a deadly disease that inevitably will destroy us. Verse 20-22 show us that an unclean person must purify themselves or be excluded. Everything an unclean person touches ALSO becomes unclean! Even the most holy of places, the sanctuary in the tabernacle! A person who takes the water of purification for granted – that is, doesn’t take it seriously – also becomes unclean. How is it possible to escape this?
Sin is best compared to an invidious, infectious disease that will eat us from the inside out. Unchecked and unremedied, it surely leads to destruction.
We will see just how destructive it is in a few chapters – and see a foreshadowing of the ultimate remedy. The slaughter of the red heifer is therefore a foreshadowing of the undeserved grace of God through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ.
The second point is less obvious – but still noteworthy. The administration of the water of purification that provided the cure for uncleanliness had to be administered by a priest. Because contact with the ashes and the preparation of the water for the ceremony made the preparer unclean, and because the ritual required the priest to administer the water to the penitent person, there is no way to find redemption on our own. Another foreshadowing of Jesus’s unmerited grace, and the totality of how Christ’s sacrifice is all we need for redemption.
