Numbers 19 -- The Ashes Of One Red Heifer

My commentary began:  “In their daily lives, the Jewish people had to be sensitive to what was clean and what was unclean for this determined their relationship to the Lord and the other people in the camp … there was a spiritual purpose behind these laws:  to teach the Jews the difference between holiness and sin and encourage them to walk in holiness.”

God gave an elaborate ritual to provide them with cleansing, involving the killing and burning of a red heifer.  I remember reading in another commentary that the ashes of that heifer provided enough material for cleansing for thousands of years, since God had mandated that Aaron’s son Eleazar was the only person God named to perform the task – no substitution was possible, even after his death.

“People who became ceremonially defiled … could be made clean again by using the ashes.  They would have to wait three days after their defilement and then go out of the camp with a ceremonially clean man to the place where the ashes were kept.  The man would mix some of the ashes with running water in a vessel, dip hyssop into the water and sprinkle it on the unclean person.  This would be repeated 4 days later… The cleansed persons would then wash themselves and their clothes and wait until evening to return to the camp.”

Most importantly, “unclean people who refused to be cleansed were cut off from the nation and stoned to death.”  If they missed the cleansing rituals on either the third or seventh day, it meant death!  That put a whole new twist on confessing the sin of uncleanness! 

My commentary summarized:  “God wants us to be a holy people.  We should cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  God promises forgiveness and cleansing to His children if they turn from their sins and confess to the Lord.”

Father, how serious this ceremonial uncleanness was to them!  And how lightly we seem to treat our own uncleanness today and how it affects our holiness.  Help me to never let sin go uncofessed in my own life.  Make me aware of it, and cause me to understand my need to confess it to You so that You may restore our relationship.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford