The ashes of a heifer used to purify the unclean

Numbers 19:1–22
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Laws had been given whereby a person coming in contact with a corpse would be considered unclean and disqualified from religious life and service for a period of seven days. These regulations about “clean and unclean, for those under the law,’ are spelled out in detail in Leviticus 11-15, telling the Israelites what they could eat, how they should deal with bodily waste and infections, and what to do about dead bodies. Masses of dead bodies, whether dying from plague, war, or natural causes, were a common sight to the Israelites in their dessert wanderings. If the law as prescribed by Number 5:2-4 was to be fulfilled (and it had to be), the majority of the survivors would inevitably be defiled because of proximity to dead bodies, and would find themselves very often outside the fellowship.

As we read this passage we may ask, What is the significance of the red heifer’s ashes? When a person touched a dead body; he was considered unclean and unable to approach God in worship. This ritual purified the unclean person so that once again he could offer sacrifices and worship God. Death was the most major of defilements because it was the final result of sin. Thus a special sacrifice (of a red heifer) was required and must be offered by someone who was not unclean. When it was burned on the altar, its ashes were used to purify water for the ceremonial cleansing. The unclean person then washed himself, and often his clothes and belongings, with this purified water as an act of becoming clean again. An innocent animal had to die to provide ritual cleansing for the Jews, but the innocent Lamb of God had to die to provide cleansing for all of us (John 1:29).

Application

Today I don’t need to be concerned about external ritual cleansing, but I need to take to heart the lesson of this chapter that God wants me to be a holy person. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9).