Auxiliary 27: The Red Heifer Sacrifice
A27.1 The books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), contained the moral law of God (the ten commandments for example), and also the laws that came to be known as the ceremonial law - having to do with temple worship, temple sacrifices, and the seven feasts of Israel.
A27.2 In Numbers chapter nineteen God gave Moses the laws against touching a dead body of any kind. That was a ceremonial law. Anyone who touched a dead body would become "unclean." That meant he could not enter the temple to worship.
A27.3 God had given Moses many other ceremonial laws about touching "unclean" things - things that defiled people so they could no longer enter the temple. If they touched blood, or puss, or any other bodily fluid that could come from a dead body, they were ceremonially unclean.
A27.4 At the top of every stone arch there is a stone called the "keystone." The entire arch rests upon that one stone. Without it the arch would fall. When the sages of Israel said the law against touching a dead body was the keystone of the ceremonial law, they meant the rest of the ceremonial law rested upon it - since any fluid that could come from a dead body made people ceremonially unclean. For instance, a woman who just had a baby was ceremonially unclean because of the blood that comes with childbirth. Or a leper, for example, was always ceremonially unclean because his sores were open and oozing bodily fluids that could come from a dead body. That's why a leper was thought of as "the living dead."
A27.5 If they could not enter the temple, they were without hope. For it was in the temple that the sacrifices for sin took place. If they could not even enter the temple, there was no way their sins could be dealt with or "covered"!
A27.6 Why would the act of touching a dead body result in such severe punishment? God was teaching the people of Israel a spiritual lesson. Death is the penalty for sin - the result of sin. Therefore touching a dead body was like saying, "Sin is not so bad - we can handle it." But God wanted sin to be abhorrent to the people. He wanted them to know what He thought of it, and how terrible it was to Him.
A27.7 But of course there are times when people have to touch dead bodies. Somebody has to prepare them for burial, or remove them from the battlefield, etc... So what could be done? If a dead body had to be removed, the person who removed it would become ceremonially unclean. How could he become clean again?
A27.8 God made a provision called the red heifer sacrifice. A heifer is a young female cow. The cow would be burned completely to ashes. After it was burned, the ashes would be put into a stone water jar containing "living water." (Numbers 19:17) This kind of water (with the ashes of the red heifer in it), could be sprinkled on a person to (ceremonially), cleanse him after he had touched a dead body. Then he could enter the temple again. (The "living water" put into the stone water jars could be any pure water from a flowing stream. Water from a spring was thought to be the best water for this purpose.)
A27.9 This red heifer sacrifice was also called the "keystone of the law" since it was the only sacrifice that could cleanse a person after he had touched a dead body.
A27.10 The red heifer sacrifice was said to contain a great riddle which even Solomon could not solve. He puzzled over the fact that there was a sacrifice which made the people clean -- yet made the priest who offered it unclean! How could that be? The mystery was solved only after Jesus came.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying:
Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer (a young female cow) without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.
You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him;
and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting.
Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.
And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer.
Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp: the priest shall be unclean until evening.
Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin.*
And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.
Numbers 19:1-10*Notice that God said it was for "purifying from sin" - not from the act of touching a dead body. The dead body only represented the result of sin. Touching a dead body was like saying sin is O.K. and that would be the worst sin - the worst offense of all - to God.
A27.11 How strange! But the red heifer sacrifice was deeply significant to the Jews. It was the only sacrifice which could purify a person who had touched a dead body. A person who did not purify himself this way could not go into the temple! This is important for Christians to understand...
He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.
He shall purify himself with the water (containing some ashes from the red heifer sacrifice) on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.
Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him.
Numbers 19:11-13A27.12 Because of the seriousness of the red heifer sacrifice the Jews felt that it was the lynchpin or "keystone" of the law! (The key to the whole ceremonial law.) Their reasoning went something like this. A dead body represented the awful consequences of sin. That is why simply touching a dead body made a person spiritually unclean according to Old Testament law. Any such person would be unfit to attend services in the temple. Not only that, but if anyone touched him, that person would also become ceremonially unclean - at least for one day. The infection could spread throughout Israel!
Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening. Numbers 19:22
Worse than that...
All the other sacrifices of the Old Testament would not work for forgiveness of any sin -- unless the red heifer sacrifice took place first. That is because all other sacrifices had to be performed in the temple. And of course they could not be performed in the temple unless there was someone who was ceremonially clean. You see the problem.
Even the Passover sacrifice and the sacrifices on the day of atonement depended on the red heifer sacrifice.
A27. In order to be clean after touching a dead body a person had to be sprinkled with water containing some ashes from the red heifer.
And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel. Numbers 19:17
A27.5 The sprinkling had to be done by someone else -- who was a "clean" person (one who had not touched a dead body - children were usually chosen for the task).
A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on (the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or) the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave.
A27.6 All of this has tremendous spiritual significance for Christians as we shall see -- Jesus was the fulfillment of the red heifer sacrifice.
When Jesus died on the cross he made the only sacrifice that washes us clean from sin. We cannot enter into fellowship (enter the temple) with God the Father unless we have received this cleansing from sin by repenting and coming to faith in Christ as our Savior.
A27.7 But there is more. The riddle is solved. Remember that when Jesus died He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world. On that awful day He became unclean! He was a priest, taking away the sins of the whole world, and in so doing He made Himself unclean. The red heifer sacrifice of the Old Testament was a symbol or a type of the perfect sacrifice that Jesus would make when He came! That is why the priest who offered it became unclean -- but only until the evening. When Jesus died He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world -- but only for one day. The Jews said the day ended at sundown.
A27.8 When Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding of Cana, He used six stone water pots that probably had the ashes of the red heifer in them. (Since the ashes were put in first, and then the water was added - and these six water jars were sitting there for that purpose.)
Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim."
A27.9 The Bible records that the water then became wine. No one knows for sure exactly why Jesus turned water into wine, probably using the ashes of the red heifer, unless it would be to point to Himself as the Messiah - the fulfillment of that sacrifice.
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrew 9:11-14
Note: It is interesting to observe that the cleansing of the Old Testament was external - (with the sprinkling of water containing some ashes from the red heifer sacrifice) - while the cleansing of the New Testament is internal.
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