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Numbers Chapter
Nineteen
Numbers 19
Chapter Contents
The ashes of a heifer. (1-10) Used to purify the unclean.
(11-22)
Commentary on Numbers 19:1-10
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.
Commentary on Numbers 19:11-22
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.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on
Numbers》
Numbers 19
Verse 2
[2] This
is the ordinance of the law which the LORD 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:
Red — A
fit colour to shadow forth the bloody nature of sin, and the blood of Christ,
from which this water and all other rites had their purifying virtue.
No blemish — A
fit type of Christ.
Upon which never came yoke — Whereby may be signified, either that Christ in himself was free from
all the yoke or obligation of God's command, till for our sakes he put himself
under the law; or that Christ was not forced to undertake our burden and cross,
but did voluntarily chuse it. He was bound and held with no other cords but
those of his own love.
Verse 3
[3] And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth
without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:
Eleazar —
Who was the second priest, and in some cases, the deputy of the high-priest. To
him, not to Aaron, because this service made him unclean for a season, and
consequently unfit for holy ministrations, whereas the high-priest was, as far
as possibly he could, to be preserved from all sorts of defilement, fit for his
high and holy work.
Without the camp —
Partly because it was reputed an unclean and accursed thing, being laden with
the sins of all the people; and partly to signify that Christ should suffer
without the camp, in the place where malefactors suffered.
Verse 4
[4] And
Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her
blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:
Before the tabernacle — Or, towards the tabernacle, standing at a good distance from it, even
without the camp, yet turning and looking towards it. For here is no intimation
that he went into the camp before this work was done, but rather the contrary
is implied, Numbers 19:7. And because being defiled by this
work he could not come near the tabernacle, it was sufficient for him to turn
and look towards it. This signified his presenting this blood before the Lord
by way of atonement for his and the people's sins, and his expectation of
acceptance and pardon only from God, and from his mercy-seat in the tabernacle.
And this typified the satisfaction that was made to God, by the death of
Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, and did
as it were sprinkle his own blood before the sanctuary, when he said, Into thy
hands I commend my spirit!
Verse 5
[5] And
one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood,
with her dung, shall he burn:
Burn the heifer — To
signify the sharp and grievous sufferings of Christ for our sins.
Her blood —
All of it, but what was spent in sprinkling.
Verse 6
[6] And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it
into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
Cedar-wood, hyssop, scarlet — All which are here burnt, and as it were offered to God, that they might
be sanctified to this holy use for the future; for of these kinds of things was
the sprinkle made wherewith the unclean were sprinkled, Leviticus 14:4.
Verse 7
[7] 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.
Shall be unclean —
Partly to teach us the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood, in which the
priest himself was defiled by some parts of his work, and partly to shew that
Christ himself, though he had no sin of his own, yet was reputed by men, and
judged by God, as a sinful person, by reason of our sins which were laid upon
him.
Verse 9
[9] 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 of separation: it is a purification for sin.
For a water —
Or, to the water, that is, to be put to the water, or mixed with it.
Of separation —
Appointed for the cleansing of them that are in a state of separation, who for
their uncleanness are separated from the congregation.
It is a purification for sin — Heb. a sin, that is, an offering for sin, or rather a mean for expiation
or cleansing of sin. And this was a type of that purification for sin, which
our Lord Jesus made by his death.
Verse 10
[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.
The stranger — A
proselyte.
Verse 12
[12] He
shall purify himself with it 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.
With it —
With the water of separation.
On the third day — To
typify Christ's resurrection on that day by which we are cleansed or
sanctified.
Verse 13
[13]
Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not
himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off
from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he
shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.
Whosoever toucheth — If
this transgression be done presumptuously; for if it was done ignorantly, he
was only to offer sacrifice.
Defiled — By
approaching to it in his uncleanness: for holy things or places were
ceremonially defiled with the touch of any unclean person or thing.
Is upon him — He
continues in his guilt, not now to be washed away by this water, but to be punished
by cutting off.
Verse 16
[16] And
whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead
body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
With a sword — Or
by any other violent way.
Verse 17
[17] And
for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of
purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
Running water —
Waters flowing from a spring or river, which are the purest. These manifestly
signify God's spirit, which is oft compared to water, and by which alone true
purification is obtained. Those who promise themselves benefit by the
righteousness of Christ, while they submit not to the influence of his spirit,
do but deceive themselves; for they cannot be purified by the ashes, otherwise
than in the running water.
Verse 20
[20] But
the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be
cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of
the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is
unclean.
That shall not purify himself — Shall contemptuously refuse to submit to this way of purification.
Verse 21
[21] And
it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of
separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation
shall be unclean until even.
Shall wash his clothes — Because he is unclean. It is strange, that the same water should cleanse
one person, and defile another. But God would have it so, to teach us that it
did not cleanse by any virtue in itself, or in the work done, but only by
virtue of God's appointment: to mind the laws of the imperfection of their
priesthood, and their ritual purifications and expiations, and consequently of
the necessity of a better priest and sacrifice and way of purifying; and to
shew that the efficacy of God's ordinances doth not depend upon the person or
quality of his ministers, because the same person who, was polluted himself
could and did cleanse others.
He that toucheth the water — Either by sprinkling of it, or by being sprinkled with it; for even he
that was cleansed by it, was not fully cleansed as soon as he was sprinkled,
but only at the even of that day.
Verse 22
[22] And
whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that
toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
The unclean person —
Not he who is so only by touching the water of separation, Numbers 19:21, but he who is so by the greater
sort of uncleanness, which lasted seven days, and which was not removed without
the use of this water of purification.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Numbers》
19 Chapter 19
Verses 1-22
A red heifer without spot.
The red heifer
I. It is
undoubtedly true that even the true Israelite, the true believer in Christ, is
the subject of daily defilement.
1. Some of our defilement arises from the fact that we do actually
come into contact with sin, here imaged in the corruption of death. The best of
men are men at the best, and while they are only men they will still sin. We
are in close connection with sin, because sin is in ourselves. It has dyed us
through and through, staining the very warp and woof of our nature, and until
we lay aside these bodies and are admitted to the Church of the first-born
above, we shall never cease very intimate connection with sin.
2. Moreover, we get defilement from companionship with sinners. This
dusty world must leave some mark upon our white garments let us travel as
carefully as we may. “I am black because the sun hath looked upon me,” must
ever be the confession of the bride of Christ. This world is full of the
spiritually dead, and since we live we must be often rendered unclean among the
sinful, and hence we need a daily cleansing to fit us for daily fellowship with
a holy God.
3. One reason why we are so constantly defiled is our want of
watchfulness. You will observe that everything in the tent of a dead man was
defiled except vessels that were covered over. Any vessel which was left open
was at once unclean. You and I ought to cover up our hearts from the
contamination of sin. It were well for us if we kept our heart with all
diligence, since out of it are the issues of life.
4. Sin is so desperately evil that the very slightest sin defiles it.
He who touched a bone was unclean. It was not necessary to put your hand upon
the clay-cold corpse to be defiled; the accidently touching with the foot a
bone carelessly thrown up by the grave-digger; even the touching it by the
ploughman as he turned up his furrow, even this was sufficient to make him
unclean. Sin is such an immeasurably vile thing that the slightest iniquity
makes the Christian foul--a thought, an imagination, the glancing of an eye.
5. Sin, even when it is not seen, defiles, for a man was defiled who
touched a grave. Oh, how many graves there are of sin--things that are fair to
look upon, externally admirable and internally abominable!
6. The Jew was not only in danger of defilement in his tent and when
he walked the roads, but he was in danger m the open fields; for you will
observe, it says, that if he touched a body that had been slain in the open
fields, or a bone, he should be unclean. Wherever you go you find sin!
II. A purification
has been provided. The ransomed Church of God need daily to be washed in the
fountain, and the mercy is that the precious blood shall never lose its power,
but its constant efficacy shall abide till they are, every one of them, “Saved
to sin no more.”
1. There is a propitiation provided for daily defilement, for first
of all, if it were not so, how melancholy were your case and mine!
2. The Lord must have provided a daily cleansing for our daily
defilement, for if not, where were His wisdom, where His love? He has provided
for everything else.
3. The work of our Lord Jesus Christ assures us of this. What is
there opened for the house of David, for sin, and for uncleanness? A cistern? A
cistern that might be emptied, a waterpot, such as that which stood at Cana’s
marriage feast, and might be drained? No; there is a fountain open for sin and
uncleanness. We wash, the fountain flows; we wash again, the fountain flows
still. From the great depths of the deity of Christ, the eternal merit of His
passion comes everlastingly welling up. Wash! wash! It is inexhaustible, for it
is fountain-fulness.
4. The work of the Holy Spirit also meets the case, for what is His
business but
constantly to take of the things of Christ and reveal them unto us; constantly
to quicken, to enlighten, and to comfort? Why all this but because we are
constantly in need, perpetually being defiled, and therefore wanting
perpetually to have the purification applied?
5. Facts show that there is a purification for present guilt. The
saints of old fell into sin, but they did not remain there.
III. The red heifer
sets forth in a most admirable manner the daily purification for daily sin.
1. It was a heifer--an unusual thing for a sacrifice to be a female;
and we scarcely know why it should be in this case, unless indeed, to make the
substitution more evident. This red heifer stood for all the house of
Israel--for the whole Church of God; and the Church is always looked upon and
considered in Scripture as being the spouse--the bride--always feminine.
Perhaps, to make the substitution obvious and complete, to show that this
heifer stood in the stead and place of the whole seed of Israel, it was chosen rather
than the customary bullock.
2. It was a red heifer--bringing to the mind of the Israelites the
idea of blood, which was always associated with atonement and putting away of
sin. Surely when we think of Christ, we always associate Him with the streaming
gore when we are under a sense of sin.
3. It was a heifer without spot--denoting the perfection of Christ’s
character.
4. Observe that the red heifer was one whereon never came yoke.
Perhaps this sets forth how willingly Christ came to die for us; not forced
from heaven, but freely delivering Himself for us all. An interesting
circumstance about this red heifer is that it was not provided by the priests;
it was not provided out of the usual funds of the sanctuary, nor yet by the
princes, nor by any one person.
5. The children of Israel provided it. What for? Why, that as they
came out of their tents in the desert, or their houses in Jerusalem, and saw
the priests leading the red heifer, every man, and every woman, and every child
might say, “I have a share in that heifer, I have a share in that victim which
is being led out of the city to be consumed.” I wish--oh! I would to God I dare
hope, that every man and every woman here could say, “I have a share in Jesus
Christ,” for that is the meaning of this national provision, to let us see how
Christ shed His blood for all His people, and they have all a part and all an
interest in Him.
6. As we noted what this victim was, there is yet to be observed what
was done with it. Again, let me beg you to refer to your Bibles to see what
became of this red heifer.
The law of the red heifer applied
The record of the law of the red heifer unfolds some traces of the
manner, times, and substance of God’s teaching in those days when the children
of Israel “could not steadfastly look to the end.”
1. His method was largely to use symbols, but not to the withholding
of words. As objects lying in darkness cannot be presented but must be
represented, so the truths suited to the manhood of our race were taught in
that method to earlier generations.
2. The symbols of the Jewish worship were instituted at special
times. God did not put it forth as a system. He did not place it as a
full-grown tree in a wood. It is like a house to which have been added rooms
and offices and hall as the growth of the family has demanded more scope in
which to maintain new and higher thoughts. Wider views of what they need
towards God cause Him to send out the beams of a light which is to dispel every
doubt and fear.
I. Liability for
social evil. What was there in the fact that a virulent disease had deprived so
many of life, to produce a conviction that God cannot be approached for
worship? Why should contact with a corpse, or entrance into a tent in which
human life had ebbed away, or even a bone, or a grave trod upon, be as a
barrier blocking up the way of the people to the sanctuary? Might the survivors
not reason thus: “If those who have died did wrong we have been equally wrong;
if we are not erased from the roll of the living there is, notwithstanding, an
evil chargeable to us; partakers in a like offence we are worthy of a like
condemnation; the evil has not exhausted itself on them, and we are liable in
some form for their calamities; we cannot in this state of pollution go into
the presence of God--is there not needed a purification from those social ills
whose last and most affecting sign is death?”
II. The ignominy of
death. The law recited in this chapter distinctly informs us that the presence
of, or contact with, the signs of the death of mankind, separated from
communion with God in His sanctuary. Would not thought be excited of some such
form as this--“It is clear that there is no moral defilement in mere closeness
to the signs of death, not to come into contact with them might be a sinful act--and
yet we are treated, as to our standing before God, just as if we had been
guilty of gross crimes. If God-appointed duties and circumstances render it
unbecoming, and even impossible, that we should keep free from those relations
to the dead mentioned by this law, why should we incur such a fearful result?
Surely there must be some virulent spreading poison rankling in men’s death. If
by its presence or touch an impassable gulf at once sinks between God and us,
what an offensive attitude against Him must death assume I Much more than mere
sensational shrinking should creep over us before it. How can we avoid
engraving deeply on our hearts the thought that it is dishonourable to die!”
What is in death to make it so? This: that death is the seal of a Divine curse
on man.
III. Freedom from
the consequences of sin is by application of a prepared remedy. The several
parts in the process of preparing the water of cleansing bear emblems to show
what God requires for freeing from sin. The slaying of the heifer and the
sprinkling of its blood laid bare the foundation principles, that “it is the
blood which maketh atonement for the soul”--that “without shedding of blood is
no remission of sins.” Everything that blocked up the way to the favour of the
Lord is removed by the appointed sacrifices. He is reconcileable, and ready to count the evils of
the congregation satisfied for. Were the Israelites, then, entitled to say,
“The offerings of atonement are made; sins are taken away; we are free from all
further hindrances to acceptance ; we need to care nothing more about what
happens to us”? No. If acceptable offerings have been made for the people, yet
events come to pass from which defilement will be caused to individuals, and,
if this personal unfitness be not removed, perilous consequences must follow.
Uncleanness incurred from the dead--the great sign of moral pollution--prevents
approach to the holy Lord God. Separated from His presence on earth is a
forecasting of an eternal separation--“that soul shall be cut off from Israel.”
But He has a remedy for this too. He provides means of purification, and thus
of renewed access to Himself. Not only is the blood of bulls and of goats shed,
but the ashes of a heifer is also to “ sprinkle the unclean, in order to
sanctify to the purifying of the flesh,” and render fit for all the privileges
of acceptable worship.
IV. To be without
fitness for standing before God acceptably is inexcusable and irretrievable.
Once purified did not do away with the necessity of being purified again, when
another defilement had been incurred. The new impurity must be removed by a new
application, and the cleansing remedy was constantly available (Numbers 19:9-10). God keeps in store that
odour which can counteract the poisoning air of death; that which will restore
to health at all times and never lose its efficacy; that which can be applied
for with the fullest confidence that it is provided against the renewed
impediments to serving God acceptably, and warrants “boldness to enter into the
holiest.” What could justify neglect of this remedy? What evasion was possible
when the uncleanness was so manifestly chargeable, and the provision for
removing it so easily procurable? Must not every trifler, delayer, or neglecter
be held guilty, without any palliation, of despising his Lord’s grace and
might? (D. G. Watt, M. A.)
The ordinance of the red heifer; a parable of the pollution of sin
and the Divine method of cleansing therefrom
I. The defiling
nature of sin.
1. Sin is defiling in its nature.
2. The defiling power of sin is of great virulence.
3. The defiling power of sin is widespread.
II. The necessity
of cleansing from sin.
III. The provision
of cleansing from sin.
1. It is Divine in its origin.
2. It involves the sacrifice of the most perfect life.
3. It is invariable in its efficacy.
IV. The application
of the provision for cleansing from sin. (W. Jones.)
The red heifer an analogue of the Christ
I. In its
characteristics.
1. Fulness of life.
2. Perfection of life.
II. In the
treatment to which it was subjected.
1. The heifer was sacrificed.
2. The heifer was sacrificed “without the camp.”
III. In the purpose
for which it was designed.
1. The red heifer was intended to cleanse from ceremonial defilement.
2. The ashes of the heifer were efficacious for this purpose: “How
much more shall the blood of Christ,” &c. (W. Jones.)
The ordinance of the red heifer
The special feature of the new ordinance is in the means taken to
make one sacrifice available for an indefinite number of cases. This was done
by the concentration, so to speak, of all the elements of the sacrifice in the
ashes which were to be preserved. Here we have the explanation of the casting
“into the midst of the burning of the heifer” of “cedar wood and hyssop and
scarlet” (Numbers 19:6). These represent the
appliances for sprinkling: the hyssop stalk with scarlet wool wrapped round it,
fastened on a piece of cedar wood, which was held in the hand. By the casting
of these into the burning the idea of sprinkling was, as it were, perpetuated
in the ashes which were the residuum of the whole. These ashes could of course
be preserved and used for an indefinite time; and each time they were used, the
ideas which had, so to speak, been burnt into them, would be impressed upon the
minds and hearts of the devout. The ashes then represented the power of a past
sacrifice; “even in its ashes live its former fires.” The use of the running water
with the ashes (Numbers 19:17) has the same significance as
in the ritual for the cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14:1-57. In making application
of the ordinance of the red heifer to ourselves, we find it specially
instructive in regard to the restoration of that communion with God which ought
to be the chief joy of the Christian, and which is too often broken by the
contracting of stains, so difficult to avoid, with sin “reigning unto death”
all around us. There are those who, under these circumstances, feel peculiarly
discouraged. They have the impression that it must be exceedingly difficult to
get back to their former position. They remember how long it took them at first
to be reconciled to God; and they think how much more difficult it must be now
that the evil has been allowed after the experience of God’s saving grace. It
seems a long and hard way back; and they have not courage to begin again. It is
a mistake The way back again is not long and hand. There are the ashes of the
heifer and the running water close at hand. There need be no delay, as if a new
animal must be obtained, and brought to the priest, and killed at the altar,
and so forth. There is a shorter way. Look back to the Sacrifice offered long
ago once for all. There is the running water of the Word, which has in it, as
it were in solution, the strong ashes of the Sacrifice. There for evermore is
stored the virtue of that blood which “cleanseth from all sin.” There need be
no delay. For the ashes and the water, we have the Cross and the Word; and all
that is wanted is the immediate use of God’s “perpetual statute for purifying
the unclean” (Hebrews 9:13-14). (J. M. Gibson, D. D.)
The red heifer a wilderness type
A thoughtful student of Scripture would naturally feel
disposed to inquire why it is that we get this type in Numbers and not in
Leviticus. In the first seven chapters of the latter book we have a very
elaborate statement of the doctrine of sacrifice; and yet we have no allusion
whatever to the red heifer. Why is this? We believe it furnishes another
striking illustration of the distinctive character of our book. The red heifer
is, pre-eminently, a wilderness type. It was God’s provision for defilements by
the way, and it prefigures the death of Christ as a purification for sin, to
meet our need in passing through a defiling world, home to our eternal rest
above. When, with the eye of faith, we gaze upon the Lord Jesus, we not only
see Him to be the spotless One, in His own holy Person, but also One who never
bore the yoke of sin. He speaks of “My yoke” (Matthew 11:29); it was the yoke of
implicit subjection to the Father’s will in all things. This was the only yoke
He ever wore; and this yoke was never off, for one moment, during the entire of
His spotless and perfect career--from the manger, where He lay a helpless babe,
to the Cross, where He expired as a victim. But He wore no yoke of sin. Let
this be distinctly understood. He went to the Cross to expiate our sins, to lay
the groundwork of our perfect purification from all sin; but He did this as One
who had never, at any time during His blessed life, worn the yoke of sin. He
was “without sin”; and, as such, was perfectly fitted to the great and glorious
work of expiation. “Wherein is no blemish, and whereon never came yoke.” It is
quite as needful to remember and weigh the force of the word “whereon,” as of
the word “wherein.” Both expressions are designed by the Holy Ghost to set
forth the perfection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who was not only
internally spotless, but also externally free from every trace of sin. Neither
in His Person, nor yet in His relationships, was He in any wise obnoxious to the claims of
sin or death. He--adored for ever be His name!--entered into all the reality of
our circumstances and condition, but in Him was no sin, and on Him no yoke of
sin. (C. H. Mackintosh.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》