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Numbers Chapter
Nineteen
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 19
This
chapter contains a law for making a water for purification for sin, the
ingredients of which are the ashes of a red heifer burnt, about which many
things are observed, Numbers 19:1; the
use of the water made of them, to purify such as were unclean by the touch of a
dead body, Numbers 19:11; some
rules are given, by which it might be known who were unclean on account of a
dead body, Numbers 19:14; the
manner of purifying such persons, Numbers 19:17; and
the punishment of those that should neglect purification, Numbers 19:20.
Numbers 19:1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron,
saying,
YLT
1And Jehovah speaketh unto
Moses, and unto Aaron, saying,
And the Lord spake unto
Moses, and unto Aaron,.... Not at this time, after the business of the spies, and the
affair of Korah, but before the children of Israel departed from Sinai; and so
Aben Ezra observes, that this was spoken in the wilderness of Sinai, when the
Lord commanded to put unclean persons out of the camp, and when some were
defiled with a dead body, and unfit for the passover, Numbers 5:2; and
mention is made of the "water of purifying", Numbers 8:7,
saying; as follows.
Numbers 19:2 2 “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 without blemish, in which there is no defect and
on which a yoke has never come.
YLT
2`This [is] a statute of the
law which Jehovah hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel, and
they bring unto thee a red cow, a perfect one, in which there is no blemish, on
which no yoke hath gone up;
This is the
ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded,.... By which
it appears, that this law was not of the moral, but of the ceremonial kind,
being called an ordinance, a statute, a decree of God, the King of kings; and
which was founded not on any clear plain reason in the thing itself, but in the
will of God, who intended it as a type and shadow of the blood and sacrifice of
Christ, and of the efficacy of that to cleanse from sin; and it also appears by
this, that it was not a new law now made, but which had been made already: "which
the Lord hath commanded": as is plain from what has been observed; see
Gill on Numbers 19:1; and
the JewsF17Seder Olam Rabba, c. 7. p. 22. say, that the red heifer
was slain by Eleazar the day after the tabernacle was erected, even on the
second day of the first month of Israel's coming out of Egypt; and it was now
repeated both on account of the priests and people, because of the priest to
whom it belonged, as Aben Ezra observes, Aaron being now established in the
priesthood; and because of the people, who were afraid they should die if they
came near the tabernacle; now hereby they are put in mind of a provision made
for the purification of them, when under any uncleanness, which made them unfit
for coming to it:
saying, speak unto the children of Israel; whom this law
concerned, and for whose purification it was designed; and it was at the
expense not of a private person, but of the whole congregation, that the water
of purifying was made; and that, as the Jews sayF18Misn. Shekalim,
c. 7. sect. 7. & Maimon, in ib. , that the priests might have no personal
profit from it:
that they bring thee a red heifer; or "young
cow", for so the word properly signifies; one of two years old, as the
Targum of Jonathan, and so says the MisnahF19Misn. Parah, c. 1.
sect. 1. ; though some of the Rabbins say one of three years, or of four years,
or even one of five years old, would do. This instance, with others, where
females are ordered to be slain, see Leviticus 3:1;
confutes the notion of such, who think the laws of Moses were made in
conformity to the customs of the Egyptians, this being directly contrary to
them; if they were the same in the times of Moses, they were in the times of
Herodotus, who expressly saysF20Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 41. , male
oxen the Egyptians sacrifice; but it is not lawful for them to sacrifice
females, for they are sacred to Isis. Indeed, according to PlutarchF21De
lside. and Diodorus SiculusF23Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 79. , the
Egyptians in their times sacrificed red bullocks to Typhon, who they supposed
was of the same colour, and to whom they had an aversion, accounting him the
god of evil; and because red oxen were odious to them, they offered them to
him; as red-haired men also were slain by them for the same reason, at the tomb
of Osiris, who they say was murdered by the red-haired Typhon; but these were
superstitions that obtained among them after the times of Moses, and could not
be retorted to by him; a better reason is to be given why this heifer or cow
was to be of a red colour:
without spot, wherein is no blemish; the first of
these, without spot, the Jews understand of colour, that it should have no
spots in it of any other colour, black or white, nor indeed so much as an hair,
at least not two of another colour; and so the Targum of Jonathan, in which
there is no spot or mark of a white hair; and Jarchi more
particularly,"which is perfect in redness; for if there were in it (he
says) two black hairs, it was unfit;'and so Ben Gersom, with which agrees the
MisnahF24Parah, c. 2. sect. 5. ; if there were in it two hairs,
black or white, in one part, it was rejected; if there was one in the head, and
another in the tail, it was rejected; if there were two hairs in it, the root
or bottom of which were black, and the head or top red, and so on the contrary;
all depended on the sight: and it must be owned, the same exactness was
observed in the red oxen sacrificed by the Egyptians, as Plutarch relatesF25Ut
supra. (Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 79.) ; for if the ox had but one hair black or
white, they reckoned it was not fit to be sacrificed; in which perhaps they imitated
the Jews: it being without blemish was what was common to all sacrifices, such
as are described in Leviticus 22:22,
and upon which never came
yoke; and so among the Heathens in later times, very probably in
imitation of this, they used to offer to their deities oxen that never had bore
any yoke; as appears from Homer, Horace, Virgil, Ovid, and Seneca, out of whom
instances are produced by BochartF26Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 33.
vol. 322. . Now, though this red cow was not properly a sacrifice for sin, yet
it was analogous to one, and was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all
these characters meet, and are significant. It being a female may denote the
infirmities of Christ's human nature, to which it was subject, though sinless
ones; he was encompassed with, and took on him, our infirmities; and may have
some respect to the woman, by whom the transgression came, which brought
impurity on all human nature, which made a purification for sin necessary; and
the red colour of it may point at the flesh and blood of Christ he partook of,
and the sins of his people, which were laid upon him, and were as crimson and
as scarlet, and the bloody sufferings he endured to make satisfaction for them;
and its being without spot and blemish may denote the perfection of Christ in
his person, obedience, and sufferings, and the purity and holiness of his
nature; and having never had any yoke upon it may signify, that though he was
made under the law, and had commands enjoined him by his father as man, yet was
free from the yoke of human traditions, and from the servitude of sin, and most
willingly engaged, and not by force and compulsion, in the business of our
redemption and salvation.
Numbers 19:3 3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may
take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him;
YLT
3and ye have given it unto
Eleazar the priest, and he hath brought it out unto the outside of the camp,
and hath slaughtered it before him.
And ye shall give her unto
Eleazar the priest,.... The son of Aaron; the Sagan of the priests, as the Targum of
Jonathan calls him, the second or deputy priest; it was not to be given to
Aaron, that he might not be defiled, though but for a small time, that so he
might not be hindered in his office at all; but to Eleazar, to inure him to his
office, and to confirm him in it:
that he may bring her forth without the camp; without the
camp of Israel; Jarchi says, without the three camps, as afterwards without
Jerusalem; it used in later times to be burnt on the mount of Olives; it was
brought forth as impure, and was a type of Christ, having the sins of his
people on him, and who in conformity to this type suffered without the gates of
Jerusalem, see Hebrews 13:11,
and one shall slay her before his face; the Targum of
Jonathan says, another priest; but it was not necessary that it should be slain
by a priest, any man might do it. Jarchi says, a stranger slew, and Eleazar
looked on; though it was not slain by him, yet it was slain before him, that it
might look like a sacrifice, though not offered on the altar; and slaying of it
denotes the putting of Christ to death, which was done in the presence, and
with the approbation, of the priests and elders of the people.
Numbers 19:4 4 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.
YLT
4`And Eleazar the priest
hath taken of its blood with his finger, and hath sprinkled over-against the
front of the tent of meeting of her blood seven times;
And Eleazar the priest
shall take of her blood with his finger,.... He took the blood in
his left hand, and sprinkled it with the finger of his right hand, as
Maimonides saysF1Hilchot Parah Adumah, c. 3. sect. 2. ; and so the
Targum of Jonathan, which says, he did not receive it into a vessel, but into
the palm of his hand, and from thence sprinkled it with his fingerF2Vid.
Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 7. : which Ainsworth thinks signified the Spirit of
Christ, our high priest, called "the finger of God", Luke 11:20; who
takes the blood of Christ, and sprinkles it on the hearts of his people,
whereby they are freed from an evil conscience:
and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the
congregation seven times; or "towards the tabernacle", so NoldiusF3P.
81. No. 379. ; as sprinkling of the blood was the principal action in
sacrifices, this was to be done directly before the tabernacle, from whence its
purifying virtue was expected, though it was not shed in it, that it might have
all the appearance of a sacrifice it could have; and being done seven times,
denotes the perfection of it: the priest, when he sprinkled, stood on the east
side, with his face to the west. When the temple was built at Jerusalem, this
affair was transacted on the mount of Olives, which was east of Jerusalem.
Jarchi says, the priest stood in the east of Jerusalem, and placed himself so
that he might see the door of the temple at the time of sprinkling the blood.
Now it appears, as Maimonides saysF4Hilchot Beth Habechirah, c. 6.
sect. 2. , that the floor of the temple was higher than the floor of the
eastern gate of the mountain of the house twenty two cubits, and the height of
the gate of the mountain of the house was twenty cubits; wherefore one that
stood over against the eastern gate could not see the door of the temple,
therefore they made the wall, which was over the top of this gate (the
battlement of it), low, so that he (the priest), that stood on the mount of
Olives, might see the door of the temple, at the time he sprinkled the blood of
the cow over against the temple; otherwise he could only have seen the eighth
step of the porch of the temple, as the same writer observesF5In
Misn, Middot, c. 2. sect. 4. , with which agrees the MisnahF6Misn.
ib. , that all the walls there (about the mountain of the house) were high,
except the eastern wall, that so the priest that burnt the cow might stand on
the top of the mount of Olives, and look and behold the door of the temple,
when he sprinkled the blood.
Numbers 19:5 5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide,
its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.
YLT
5and [one] hath burnt the
cow before his eyes; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, besides her dung,
he doth burn;
And one shall burn
the heifer in his sight,.... Another priest, as the Targum of Jonathan, Eleazar looking
on, as that expresses it; the Jews sayF7Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect.
7,8,9. , that when the priest came to the mount of Olives, accompanied by the
elders of Israel, before he burnt the cow, he dipped himself in a dipping place
there; and the wood being laid there in order, wood of cedar, ash, fir, and fig
trees, made in the form of a tower, with holes opened in it (to put in the
fire, and that it might burn the quicker), and its aspect being to the west, he
bound the cow, and laid her upon the pile, with her head to the south, and her
face to the west; and then having slain it, and sprinkled its blood, as before
related, he set fire to it by the help of some small wood: the burning of it
may signify the dolorous sufferings of Christ, when the wrath of God was poured
forth like fire upon him; the same was signified by roasting the passover lamb:
her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he
burn; which may denote the extent of Christ's sufferings, reaching to
all parts of his body, skin, flesh, and blood, and the shame and reproach that
attended them, signified by dung; as well as how impure and accursed he was
accounted when he was made sin for his people, bore their sins and suffered for
them, even not in body only, but in his soul also; for his soul as well as his
body were made an offering for sin.
Verse 5
And one shall burn the heifer in his sight,.... Another
priest, as the Targum of Jonathan, Eleazar looking on, as that expresses it;
the Jews sayF7Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 7,8,9. , that when the priest
came to the mount of Olives, accompanied by the elders of Israel, before he
burnt the cow, he dipped himself in a dipping place there; and the wood being
laid there in order, wood of cedar, ash, fir, and fig trees, made in the form
of a tower, with holes opened in it (to put in the fire, and that it might burn
the quicker), and its aspect being to the west, he bound the cow, and laid her
upon the pile, with her head to the south, and her face to the west; and then
having slain it, and sprinkled its blood, as before related, he set fire to it
by the help of some small wood: the burning of it may signify the dolorous
sufferings of Christ, when the wrath of God was poured forth like fire upon
him; the same was signified by roasting the passover lamb:
her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he
burn; which may denote the extent of Christ's sufferings, reaching to
all parts of his body, skin, flesh, and blood, and the shame and reproach that
attended them, signified by dung; as well as how impure and accursed he was
accounted when he was made sin for his people, bore their sins and suffered for
them, even not in body only, but in his soul also; for his soul as well as his
body were made an offering for sin.
Numbers 19:6 6 And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and
scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer.
YLT
6and the priest hath taken
cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and hath cast unto the midst of the
burning of the cow;
And the priest shall take
cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet,.... Another priest,
according to the Targum of Jonathan; but it seems to design Eleazar the priest,
and so, in later times, the same priest that burnt the cow took these things;
the Jews sayF8Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 10. , when he took them he
said, is this cedar wood? is this hyssop? is this scarlet? so he said three
times for everyone of them, and he was answered, yes, three times to each of
them: these were the same that were used at the cleansing of the leper, Leviticus 14:4,
and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer; these were
rolled or bound up together, as the Jews sayF9Misn. Parah, c. 3.
sect. 11. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. , and made one bundle of, that
they might the more easily be cast into the fire; the hyssop was wrapped about
the cedar wood with the scarlet wool: the true reason of the use of these,
Maimonides saysF11Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 47. , was never clear
to him; but the cedar wood, being durable, may denote the continued efficacy of
Christ's sufferings; the hyssop, being purgative and of a good smell, the
purging nature of Christ's sacrifice, who by himself purged away our sins, and
the sweet odour thereof ascended to the Lord; and the scarlet, the sins of his
people destroyed thereby.
Numbers 19:7 7 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.
YLT
7and the priest hath washed
his garments, and hath bathed his flesh with water, and afterwards doth come in
unto the camp, and the priest is unclean till the evening;
Then the priest shall wash
his clothes,.... The Targum of Jonathan has it,"he that slew the
cow,'and Aben Ezra, the priest that burnt it; but it seems to mean Eleazar, the
priest that sprinkled the blood, and by touching that was defiled and needed
washing; and so the JewsF12Misn. Parah, c. 4. sect. 4. say, all that
were employed about it, from the beginning to the end, were defiled in their
garments; not only he that slew it, and burnt it, and sprinkled its blood, but
he that took and cast in the cedar wood, &c. as we find also he that
gathered the ashes of it as well as burnt it: this creature was reckoned so
impure, though its ashes were for purifying, that whoever had anything to do
with it was unclean, as the scapegoat, which had the sins of all Israel on it;
and this as that was typical of Christ, made sin for his people, that he might
cleanse them from sin: it may point at the sin of the priests and people of
Israel, in putting Christ to death, and yet there was cleansing from that sin,
in the precious blood of Christ, as well as from all others:
and he shall bathe his flesh in water; in forty
seahs of water, as the Targum of Jonathan; not his clothes only, but his body
was to be dipped in water:
and afterward he shall come into the camp: when his
clothes and flesh are washed, but not before:
and the priest shall be unclean until the even; though
washed, and therefore, though he is said to go into the camp upon washing, this
is to be understood, after the evening is come: so Jarchi directs to interpret
the passage, transpose it, says he, and so explain it; and he shall be unclean
until the evening, and after that he may come into the camp, not only the camp
of Israel, but the camp of the Shechinah, as the same writer.
Numbers 19:8 8 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in
water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening.
YLT
8and he who is burning it
doth wash his garments with water, and hath bathed his flesh with water, and is
unclean till the evening.
And he that burneth her
shall wash his clothes in water,.... In forty seahs of water, as the Targum
of Jonathan: this shows that one different from this is designed in Numbers 19:7; and
that this is one distinct from him that sprinkled the blood, Numbers 19:4,
and bathe his flesh in water: in a like quantity, as
the above Targum:
and shall be unclean until the even: and, though washed,
might not go into the camp until that time: this may signify, as before, that
though the crucifixion of Christ was a very great sin, and done by wicked
hands, yet was pardonable through the very blood that was shed by them, Acts 2:23.
Numbers 19:9 9 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;[a] it is
for purifying from sin.
YLT
9`And a clean man hath
gathered the ashes of the cow, and hath placed at the outside of the camp, in a
clean place, and it hath become to the company of the sons of Israel a charge
for waters of separation -- it [is] a [cleansing];
And a man that is
clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer,.... A man, a clean
priest, as the Targum of Jonathan; in later times great care was taken that the
priest concerned in the burning of the red cow should be pure; he was separated
from his own house seven days before the time, and every day he was sprinkled
with the blood of all sin offerings then offered, that it might be sure he was
free from any pollution by a grave, or a dead body; and for the same reason
they made a causeway on double arches from the temple to the mount of Olives,
over the valley of Kidron, lest any unseen grave should be in the way; and when
he came thither he was obliged to wash or dip himself, as before observedF13Misn.
Parah, c. 3. sect. 1. 6. 7. ; and so he that gathered up the ashes was to be
clean from all ceremonial pollution: the Jews sayF14Ib. sect. 11. ,
that they pounded the ashes; if there were any black coal in them or bone, they
did not leave it in them, but sifted them in stone sieves; and not the ashes of
the heifer only they took, but the ashes of the cedar wood, &c. mixed with
them; and these they put, as the Targum of Jonathan says, into an earthen
vessel enclosed in a covering of clay:
and lay them up without the camp in a clean place; they were
divided into three parts, according to the Targum of Jonathan, one part was put
in the Chel (or the enclosure of the court of the tabernacle), another in the
mount of Olives, and the third part was divided among all the wards of the
Levites, with which the MisnahF15lbid. agrees; Jarchi makes mention
of the same division, and of the use of each; that the wards had was without
the court, that the citizens might take of it, and all that needed to be
purified; that in the mount of Olives was for the priests, to sanctify other
heifers with it; and that in the Chel was for a reserve:
and it shall be kept for a reserve for the congregation of
Israel; as ashes may be kept a long time, if well taken care of, because
they are not subject to any corruption or putrefaction; and so was, as Bishop
Patrick observes from Dr. Jackson, a figure of the everlasting efficacy of
Christ's blood: and, according to the Jews, these ashes of the first heifer must
last more than a thousand years; for they sayF16Ib. sect. 5. the
second that was burnt was in the time of Ezra, though they reckon seven more
afterwards before the destruction of the second temple, in all nine; and the
tenth they expect in the days of the Messiah, which are past; he, being come,
has put an end to this type by fulfilling it in himself: and the use of them
was
for a water of separation; being put into water,
and mixed with it, was for the cleansing of such as were separated from others for
their uncleanness, and was a purification of them for it, as follows:
it is a purification for sin: or "it is
sin"F17חטאת היא
"peccatum ipsa", Montanus; "peccatum enim est", Tigurine
version. , not an offering for sin, properly speaking; the heifer, whose ashes
they were, not being sacrificed in the tabernacle, nor on the altar, and wanted
other rites; yet it answered the purposes of a sin offering, and its ashes in
water were typical of the blood of Christ, which purges the conscience from
dead works, when this only purified to the sanctifying of the flesh, Hebrews 9:13; and
is the fountain set open for sin and uncleanness, Zechariah 13:1;
where both the words are used which are here, and in the preceding clause:
ashes are known to be of a cleansing nature, and so a fit emblem of spiritual
purification by Christ; and the duration of them of the perpetuity of it.
Numbers 19:10 10 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.
YLT
10and he who is gathering the
ashes of the heifer hath washed his garments, and is unclean till the evening;
and it hath been to the sons of Israel, and to the sojourner who is sojourning
in their midst, for a statute age-during.
And he that gathereth the
ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes,.... Whom the Targum of
Jonathan calls a priest, though it does not seem necessary he should be one:
and be unclean until the even; See Gill on Numbers 19:7,
and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger
that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever; until the
Messiah came, whose sufferings and death are for the expiation of, and
purification for the sins of Jews and Gentiles, of all the people of God
throughout the world, signified by the burning of this heifer; see 1 John 2:2.
Numbers 19:11 11 ‘He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be
unclean seven days.
YLT
11`He who is coming against
the dead body of any man -- is unclean seven days;
He that toucheth the dead
body of any man,.... A man and not a beast, as Aben Ezra observes; for he that
touched the dead body of a beast was unclean only until evening, Leviticus 11:24;
any man, Jew or Gentile, as the same writer notes: this is instanced in, as
being the principal pollution, though not the only one, yet so some think, for
which the water of purification made of the ashes of the burnt heifer was
appointed:
shall be unclean seven days; the reason of which is,
because death is the fruit of sin, which is of a defiling nature, and to show
that all that are dead in sins are defiled and defiling, and are not to be
touched, or to have communion and fellowship held with them but to be abstained
from.
Numbers 19:12 12 He shall 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 day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.
YLT
12he doth cleanse himself for
it on the third day, and on the seventh day he is clean; and if he cleanse not
himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he is not clean.
He shall purify himself
with it,.... That is, with the ashes of the water of purification made of
them: and this was to be done first
on the third day; from the time of his touching the dead
body. Aben Ezra intimates, that there is a secret or mystery in this and the
following number seven; it may respect the third day of Christ's resurrection,
who, as he shed his blood for the expiation and purification of sinners, so he
rose again the third day for the justification of them:
and on the seventh day he shall be clean; which may
denote the perfect state, or sabbath of rest, which remains for the people of
God, when all Christ's purified and justified ones shall be clear of all sin,
and be the spirits of just men made perfect:
but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day
he shall not be clean; whoever is not cleansed from his sins by the blood of Christ,
shed for the remission of them, and is not justified from them by him that rose
from the dead the third day, will never be cleansed in the world to come, or in
the eternal sabbath; but it will then be said, "let him that is filthy be
filthy still", Revelation 22:11.
Numbers 19:13 13 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.
YLT
13Any one who is coming
against the dead, against the body of man who dieth, and cleanseth not himself
-- the tabernacle of Jehovah he hath defiled, and that person hath been cut off
from Israel, for water of separation is not sprinkled upon him; he is unclean;
his uncleanness [is] still upon him.
Whosoever toucheth the
dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself,.... With the
ashes of the heifer, or water of purification, and so neglects the means which
God has appointed for his cleansing:
defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; that is, if he goes into
it in his uncleanness, which it was not lawful for him to do: from the Jews the
Assyrians seem to have borrowed some customs of theirs, as related by LucianF18De
Dea Syria. , who upon burying a dead cock reckoned seven days, see Numbers 19:11; and
then went into the temple, for before they might not go in, nor perform holy
service; such laws they use, that if anyone sees a dead carcass, he may not go
that day into the temple; but he goes in the day following, after he has
purified himself:
and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; either be
excommunicated from the church, or die by the hand of the civil magistrate, or
by the immediate hand of God; that is, if he knew he had touched a dead body,
and wilfully neglected the means of his purification, and so sinned
presumptuously; otherwise, if all this was done ignorantly, an atonement was made
for it, Leviticus 5:3.
because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he
shall be unclean; as all are who are not sprinkled with the blood of Christ:
his uncleanness is yet upon him; and will remain, nothing
can remove it; as nothing can remove the stain and blot of sin but the blood of
Christ; and where that is not applied it will remain marked before God, and
will lie upon the sinner to his utter condemnation and ruin; see Jeremiah 2:22.
Numbers 19:14 14 ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All
who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean
seven days;
YLT
14`This [is] the law, when a
man dieth in a tent: every one who is coming in unto the tent, and all that
[is] in the tent, is unclean seven days;
This is the law when a man
dieth in a tent,.... A tent is only mentioned, because the Israelites now dwelt
in tents, as Aben Ezra remarks; otherwise the law holds equally good of an
house as of a tent:
all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be
unclean seven days; the meaning of which is, that all persons that come into a tent
or house where a dead body is are equally unclean as those that were in it when
it died; and the same is to be supposed of all vessels brought into it, as well
as those that are in it, that is, open ones, as appears by what follows.
Numbers 19:15 15 and every open vessel, which has no cover fastened on
it, is unclean.
YLT
15and every open vessel which
hath no covering of thread upon it is unclean.
And every open vessel,.... An
earthen one, as the Targum of Jonathan; and so Jarchi interprets it; and
MaimonidesF18In Misn. Cholin, c. 1. sect. 6. observes, that this is
only to be understood of an earthen vessel:
which hath no covering bound upon it; a linen or a
woollen cloth wrapped and tied about it:
is unclean; the air of
the house getting into it by its being uncovered.
Numbers 19:16 16 Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by
a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven
days.
YLT
16`And every one who cometh,
on the face of the field, against the pierced of a sword, or against the dead,
or against a bone of man, or against a grave, is unclean seven days;
And whosoever toucheth one
that is slain with a sword in the open fields,.... That is killed by
another, that dies a violent death, either by the sword or other means; one
that touched such an one was unclean, or that touched the sword with which he
was slain, as the Targum of Jonathan adds: "or a dead body": that
dies a natural death, or suddenly, or in any way:
or a bone off a man; dug out of a grave, and
lying by itself:
or a grave; the Targum adds, either the covering or side of a grave:
shall be unclean seven days; all which has respect to
the defiling nature of sin, which is the cause of death and the grave.
Numbers 19:17 17 ‘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.
YLT
17and they have taken for the
unclean person of the ashes of the burning of the [cleansing], and he hath put
upon it running water unto a vessel;
And for an unclean person,.... Defiled
by any of the above means:
they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification
for sin; from the place where they were laid up for this use; See Gill on
Numbers 19:9 and
some have thought that they were laid up in various cities and places in the
country, as well as at Jerusalem, that they might be come at easily upon
occasion; otherwise they could not be had without great trouble and expense,
and in some places not so soon as the law required for their purification,
namely, on the third day after their defilement:
and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel; the Targum
Jonathan is,"fountain water in the midst of earthen vessel;'for no water
but fountain, spring, or river water, was made use of; and it should seem by
what is said that ashes were first put into the vessel, and then the running
water was put to them; and yet the Jewish writers sayF19Maimon.
Milchot, Parah Adumah, c. 9. sect. 1. , that if the ashes were put in first,
and then the water, it was not right; and the meaning of what is said here is,
that the water and ashes should be mixed together; for it is urged from the
words: "running water in a vessel", that it is plain, that the water
is put in the vessel and not to the ashes; and therefore that which is said,
"shall be put thereto", is to caution the person, that after he has
put the ashes upon the water, that he mixes them well with his finger, and
cause the water below to rise aboveF20Bartenora in Misn. Temurah, c.
1. sect. 5. .
Numbers 19:18 18 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 on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a
grave.
YLT
18and a clean person hath
taken hyssop, and hath dipped [it] in water, and hath sprinkled on the tent,
and on all the vessels, and on the persons who have been there, and on him who
is coming against a bone, or against one pierced, or against the dead, or
against a grave.
And a clean person shall
take hyssop, and dip it in the water,.... Three stalks of
hyssop bound together, as the Targum of Jonathan, and this man was to be a
clean priest, according to the same; but it does not seem necessary that he
should be a priest, but that anyone free from ceremonial pollution might do it:
and sprinkle it upon the tent; where there was a dead
body: but this, we are told, is to be understood not of a tent made of wood, or
stone, or clay, but made of anything woven, as linen: or of skinsF21Maimon.
in Misn. Sabbat, c. 2. sect. 3. :
and upon all the vessels; in such a tent, that is,
open ones, as before observed:
and upon the persons that were there: when the man
died in it, or came into it since, and while the dead body was in it:
and upon him that touched a bone; of a dead man, or, as
the Targum of Jonathan, the bone of a living man that is separated from him:
or one slain, or one dead; slain with a sword, or
dead of the pestilence, as the same Targum, or of any other disease, or in any
other way:
or a grave; or the covering or side of one, as the same Targum adds.
Numbers 19:19 19 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on
the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify
himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be
clean.
YLT
19`And the clean hath
sprinkled [it] on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day, and
hath cleansed him on the seventh day, and he hath washed his garments, and hath
bathed with water, and hath been clean in the evening.
And the clean person shall
sprinkle upon the unclean,.... The clean priest shall sprinkle upon
the unclean man, as the Targum of Jonathan; that is, he shall sprinkle the
water of purification upon him that is unclean in any of the above ways:
on the third day, and on the seventh day; See Gill on Numbers 19:12,
and on the seventh day he shall purify himself; either the
unclean person, who shall perfect his purification, as Jarchi interprets it,
that is, by doing what follows; or else the clean person, who becomes in some
measure unclean, by sprinkling and touching the water of separation, as appears
from Numbers 19:21 as
the priest that sprinkled the blood of the heifer, and the man that burnt it
and gathered its ashes, Numbers 19:7.
and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be
clean at even; in like manner as the man that let go the goat into the
wilderness, Leviticus 16:26.
Numbers 19:20 20 ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify
himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has
defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water
of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.
YLT
20`And the man who is
unclean, and doth not cleanse himself, even that person hath been cut off from
the midst of the assembly; for the sanctuary of Jehovah he hath defiled; water
of separation is not sprinkled upon him; he [is] unclean.
But the man that shall be
unclean,.... By touching any dead body, bone, or grave:
and shall not purify himself; with the water of
purification:
that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation: See Gill on Numbers 19:13.
because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: by going into
it in his uncleanness:
the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him, he is
unclean; and will remain so, for nothing else could purify him, see Numbers 19:13.
Numbers 19:21 21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who
sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches
the water of purification shall be unclean until evening.
YLT
21`And it hath been to them
for a statute age-during, that he who is sprinkling the water of separation
doth wash his garments, and he who is coming against the water of separation is
unclean till the evening,
And it shall be a
perpetual statute unto them,.... To the children of Israel, throughout
their generations, unto the coming of the Messiah, when the ceremonial law,
which stood in divers washings and purifications, was abolished:
that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his
clothes; the priest that sprinkled, according to the Targum of Jonathan,
or any other person that did it; so that the same purifying water, which made
an unclean person clean, defiled a clean one; for though it was purifying, it
had uncleanness in it; having the ashes not only of the cow itself, but of its
skin, blood, and dung; and so a lye made of ashes is impure in itself, and yet
serves to scour cloth: Ainsworth thinks this signifies the imperfection and
insufficiency of legal rites, which, in their greatest virtue, only sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, and left the purifier himself in uncleanness he
had not before; by consideration of which, the people might be led to Christ,
and his Spirit, for cleansing, Hebrews 9:13 but it
rather signifies, that the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, and
answers to this purifying water, that its cleansing virtue is owing to Christ
being made sin for his people; and that some may be instruments of directing
souls to the blood of Christ for cleansing, and yet be defiled themselves: it
does not appear that this man, thus unclean, was to have the water of
purification sprinkled on him, but was only to wash his clothes; see Revelation 7:14.
and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean
until even: but was not clean until he had washed, as Aben Ezra observes,
though not expressed; for if one that only sprinkled it had need to be washed,
much more one that touched it, and which was unavoidable, if, when he mixed the
water and ashes together, he stirred them with his finger; see Gill on Numbers 19:17,
though MaimonidesF20Hilchot Parah Adumah, c. 15. sect. 1.
understands this of sprinkling and touching the water when there was no
necessity for it, when a person was not employed in doing the duty of this law.
Numbers 19:22 22 Whatever the unclean person touches shall be
unclean; and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’”
YLT
22and all against which the
unclean person cometh is unclean, and the person who is coming against [it] is
unclean till the evening.'
And whatsoever the unclean
person toucheth shall be unclean,.... Not the person
unclean by sprinkling, or touching the water of purification, but the unclean
person spoken of throughout the chapter, that was unclean by touching a dead
body, bone, or grave; whatever that man touched, any vessel or thing, that was
unclean also; or "whomsoever", any person, man or woman, for it
respects both persons and things:
and the soul that toucheth it; that which the unclean
person hath touched; or "him", the unclean person, whether the
unclean person touched him, or he the unclean person, or touched anything he
had touched, he was unclean; denoting the spreading and infectious nature of
sin, and how much sin and sinners are to be avoided; see Leviticus 15:4.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)