The people of Israel were provided with the laws of purification. The Lord instructed Moses and Aaron as to the details which were spiritual as well as hygienic and pointed to the holiness of God and encouraged the people to holiness. They were to take a red heifer (v1,2) which was a cow which had never been pregnant and thus never given milk. Not only was it to be red but no defect or blemish and which had never been yoked with another. This would mean that it would be very rare. Maybe I am reading something into this, but is this a picture to remind us of Jesus?
They were to give it to Eleazar, the priest (v3-10). He was previously the leader of the Levites (3:32, 4:16). He was the third son of Aaron. You may recall that his older sons Nadab and Abihu had been slain by the Lord for offering strange fire. (Leviticus 10) Eleazar was now the priest in their place. The heifer was to be slain outside the camp on front of the priest and he was to take some of its blood and sprinkle it in front of the tabernacle. The whole animal including its blood was to be burned and cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet with it in the fire. Cedar was known as a high-quality wood, resistant to disease; hyssop was used in the cleansing of lepers and scarlet was used in the veil in the tabernacle, the garments of the high priest and the cord which Rahab placed in the window which saved her when they attacked Jericho.
The priest was to wash his clothes and bathe and enter the camp but was to be unclean until evening, likewise the one who burned it. Then someone who is clean had to gather up the ashes from the burning and store them in a clean place outside the camp to be mixed with water and kept for purification of the congregation. That person must also afterwards wash is clothes and bathe and be unclean until evening. This order applied to strangers dwelling among the Israelites as well as the Israelites themselves.
Other laws of purification.
Anyone who touches a dead body shall be unclean for seven days (v11-13). It was not a sin, but it made one ceremonially unclean, thus barred from fellowship and worship for seven days after which he will be clean. However, he must purify himself with water on the third and seventh day otherwise he would not be clean, and his uncleanness will remain. God’s instructions go further by giving instructions as to how to handle dead bodies (v14-16).
If a man died in a tent, all who are in the tent or come into it were unclean for seven days, and every open topped vessel was unclean because it could contain disease. In the days of coronavirus (2021) we were well acquainted with terms like quarantine. The laws then were dealing with similar situations, and it extended to someone touching a dead body in the open air, whether killed by the sword, or died, or a grave and even dead men’s bones, were unclean seven days. These were all to stop the spread of disease. The exception was touching the dead carcass of an animal (Leviticus 11:24-39) in such case the person was unclean for the rest of the day.
We are now told why the ashes of the red heifer were kept (v17-19). They were to be sprinkled into a bowl with running water and a clean person was to take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent, the vessels and the person who was unclean. It was to be done on the third day and the seventh day, he was also to wash his clothes and bathe on the seventh day and at evening he would be clean.
This was a picture of Jesus and in Hebrews 9:13,14 we read – “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
The man who is unclean and does not purify himself shall be cut off from among the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord (v20-22). For us to be clean we have to come God’s way through Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Note that the person who sprinkles the water had to wash his clothes and anyone who touched the water of purification, and whatever he touched, was unclean until evening.
