The Red Heifer
The water for the purification ceremony (19:9), prepared...
The water for the purification ceremony (19:9), prepared with ashes of the red heifer, may have been the same as the water of purification in 8:7; see also 31:19–24. This ceremony required the ashes of a red heifer; the color probably represented blood (cp. Heb 9:13–14).
This account considers the procedure by which ordinary...
This account considers the procedure by which ordinary Israelites defiled by contact with a corpse (see 9:4–12; Lev 17:15; 21:1–4, 11–12) could regain ceremonial purity and keep from defiling the Tabernacle. God’s holiness requires that the place where his presence dwells be kept pure and set apart from pollution (cp. 1 Cor 6:9–11, 18–20).
1Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 2“This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer that has no defect and has never been placed under a yoke.
The need to safeguard Aaron’s consecrated status (see...
The need to safeguard Aaron’s consecrated status (see Lev 21:10–12) required that Eleazar perform the offering of the red heifer, since it caused ritual impurity. The ceremony of the red heifer contrasted with the regular sacrifice (cp. Lev 4:3–12).
3Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.
4Eleazar 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. 5Then the heifer must be burned in his sight. Its hide, its flesh, and its blood are to be burned, along with its dung. 6The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.
Three people were needed to produce and collect...
Three people were needed to produce and collect the heifer’s ashes—Eleazar, the man who burned the animal, and the man who gathered its ashes. All three became ritually impure for a day because of this process. This was also true for the person who used the finished product, a potion made from the ash dust and water (cp. 19:21) that had the same defiling effect as blood associated with sacrifices (Lev 6:27–28).
7Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean until evening. 8The one who burned the heifer must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he too will be ceremonially unclean until evening.
9Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept by the congregation of Israel for preparing the water of purification; this is for purification from sin. 10The man who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he will be ceremonially unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the foreigner residing among them.
Purification of the Unclean
Coming into contact with a human corpse produced...
Coming into contact with a human corpse produced ritual impurity for seven days (cp. Lev 21:1–3). The remedy was the water of purification, applied on the third and seventh days.
11Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days. 12He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. 13Anyone who touches a human corpse and fails to purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person must be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean, because the water of purification has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him.
Death’s contagion could be transmitted to an object...
Death’s contagion could be transmitted to an object or to a place where death had occurred (cp. Lev 15:1–12).
14This is the law when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone already in the tent will be unclean for seven days, 15and any open container without a lid fastened on it is unclean.
16Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
To cleanse with the heifer’s ashes, a special...
To cleanse with the heifer’s ashes, a special purifying mixture was made by combining ashes from the burnt purification offering with fresh water (cp. 5:17).
17For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water† over them. 18Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain.
19The man who is ceremonially clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and that evening he will be clean. 20But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.
21This is a permanent statute for the people: The one who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. 22Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”