Numbers19
New International Version
1The 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 heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.
3Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.
4Then 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.
5While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.
6The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.
7After 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.
8The 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.
10The 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.
12They 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.
13If 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,
15and 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.
18Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the 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.
19The 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.
20But 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.
21This 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.
22Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Numbers 19.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The ashes of a heifer. (1–10). Used to purify the unclean. (11–22).
vv1-10
The heifer was to be wholly burned. This typified the painful sufferings of our Lord Jesus, both in soul and body, as a sacrifice made by fire, to satisfy God's justice for man's sin. These ashes are said to be laid up as a purification for sin, because, though they were only to purify from ceremonial uncleanness, yet they were a type of that purification for sin which our Lord Jesus made by his death. The blood of Christ is laid up for us in the word and sacraments, as a fountain of merit, to which by faith we may have constant recourse, for cleansing our consciences.
vv11-22
Why did the law make a corpse a defiling thing? Because death is the wages of sin, which entered into the world by it, and reigns by the power of it. The law could not conquer death, nor abolish it, as the gospel does, by bringing life and immortality to light, and so introducing a better hope. As the ashes of the heifer signified the merit of Christ, so the running water signified the power and grace of the blessed Spirit, who is compared to rivers of living water; and it is by his work that the righteousness of Christ is applied to us for our cleansing. Those who promise themselves benefit by the righteousness of Christ, while they submit not to the grace and influence of the Holy Spirit, do but deceive themselves; we cannot be purified by the ashes, otherwise than in the running water. What use could there be in these appointments, if they do not refer to the doctrines concerning the sacrifice of Christ? But comparing them with the New Testament, the knowledge to be got from them is evident. The true state of fallen man is shown in these institutions. Here we learn the defiling nature of sin, and are warned to avoid evil communications.
Key Words
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
מֹשֶׁה: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver
אַהֲרוֹן: Aharon, the brother of Moses
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
חֻקָּה: {an enactment; hence, an appointment (of time, space, quantity, labor or usage)}
תּוֹרָה: a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch
צָוָה: (intensively) to constitute, enjoin
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
לָקַח: to take (in the widest variety of applications)
Cross References
Numbers 19Slaying the heifer outside the camp typified Christ suffering outside the gate.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Contrasts the ashes of a heifer purifying the flesh with Christ purifying the conscience.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Classifies these ceremonial washings as carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Red heifer without blemish typified Christ as a lamb without blemish or spot.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Heifer without blemish typified Christ who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Like the heifer's burning, those disposing of the scapegoat and sin offerings became temporarily unclean.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The priest's uncleanness typified Christ made sin for us, though He knew no sin.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallels the red heifer upon which never came yoke, signifying freedom from human servitude.
Voluntary offering typified by the heifer never under a yoke; Christ laid down His life voluntarily.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The whole bullock of the sin offering likewise burned outside the camp.
The same purification elements (cedar wood, hyssop, scarlet) used in cleansing lepers.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
David's plea to be purged with hyssop refers to these ceremonial cleansings.
Prophetic question regarding one unclean by a dead body, illustrating how defilement spreads.
Prophetic promise of clean water sprinkled to cleanse from all filthiness and idols.
Running (living) water mixed with ashes typifies Christ's gift of living water.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Our bodies washed with pure water, drawing near with sprinkled hearts.
A fountain opened to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness.
Supported by Matthew Henry
A corpse defiled because death entered the world through sin, reigning over all.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Jesus compares hypocrites to whited sepulchres, which ceremonially defiled those touching them.