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Numbers 19

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The Ordinance of the Red Heifer 1–10

1
And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
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This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. ​
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And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: ​
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and Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. ​
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And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:
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and the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. ​
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Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
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And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.
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And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity: it is a sin-offering. ​
10
And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.

Purification from Contact with the Dead 11–22

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He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days: ​
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the same shall purify himself therewith on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
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Whosoever toucheth a dead person, the body of a man that hath died, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of Jehovah; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water for impurity was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. ​
14
This is the law when a man dieth in a tent: every one that cometh into the tent, and every one that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. ​
15
And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
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And whosoever in the open field toucheth one that is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
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And for the unclean they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin-offering; and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel: ​
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and a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave: ​
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and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify him; and he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
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But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of Jehovah: the water for impurity hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. ​
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And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them: and he that sprinkleth the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he that toucheth the water for impurity shall be unclean until even.
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And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Numbers 19

Verse 2

a red heifer without spot — 'Ordinance of the law' is chuqqat hattorah, the phrase Eleazar uses again in Num 31:21. Tamim, 'without spot', means whole or perfect, and the heifer must also be one 'upon which never came yoke'. Heb 9:13–14 sets 'the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean' beside 'the blood of Christ'.

Verse 3

unto Eleazar the priest — The heifer goes to Eleazar, Aaron's son, who took up the censers in 16:39. It is brought 'without the camp' and slain 'before his face'. The bullock of the sin offering is carried there too (Lev 4:12), and Heb 13:12 notes that Jesus 'suffered without the gate'.

Verse 4

seven times — The priest takes the blood 'with his finger' and sprinkles it 'directly before the tabernacle of the congregation'. Seven sprinklings toward the sanctuary are also commanded for the sin offering of the priest in Lev 4:6, 'before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary'.

Verse 6

cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet — The same three materials are taken to cleanse the leper (Lev 14:4). 'Scarlet' here is two words, tola'at shani. Hyssop is what David asks for, 'Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean' (Ps 51:7). They are cast into the fire of the heifer.

Verse 9

a water of separation — The ashes are kept by a clean man 'without the camp in a clean place' (mishmereth, a charge, as in 18:5). Niddah, 'separation', is also the word for uncleanness in Lev 15:19–26 and Ezek 36:17. The ashes are called 'a purification for sin' (chatta'th), the usual word for a sin offering.

Verse 11

the dead body of any man — The Hebrew says 'the dead of any soul of man', with nephesh, soul, the word that v.13 uses of the person cut off. The same seven days apply to those who killed or touched the slain (Num 31:19). Unclean men could not keep the passover (Num 9:6), and John 11:55 says many went up to Jerusalem 'to purify themselves'.

Verse 13

defileth the tabernacle of the LORD — 'Purifieth' is chata, in the form meaning to cleanse from sin. 'Sprinkled' here is zaraq, the verb of Ezek 36:25, 'Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you'. The person 'cut off' is the nephesh of v.11. Lev 15:31 gives the reason: uncleanness reaches 'my tabernacle that is among them'.

Verse 14

when a man dieth in a tent — The uncleanness fills the tent: 'all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent', and v.15 adds 'every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it'. Cleansing is on the third and the seventh day (vv.12, 19), and v.16 covers one slain in the open fields.

Verse 17

running water — The Hebrew is mayim chayyim, 'living water'. The same phrase is used of the cleansing of the leper (Lev 14:5, 'over running water'). The ashes of the 'burnt heifer of purification for sin' are put in a vessel and living water poured over them.

Verse 18

a clean person shall take hyssop — Hyssop is dipped here as it was dipped in the blood at the first Passover (Ex 12:22). The sprinkling covers the tent, the vessels, the persons there, and 'him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave'.

Verse 20

he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD — This repeats v.13, with 'sanctuary' (miqdash) in place of 'tabernacle' (mishkan). The one who does not purify himself 'shall be cut off from among the congregation', because 'the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him'.