In Friday's study we began our look at the water that would be used for ritual cleansing. To make this cleansing water, a red heifer was to be carefully selected by the people and brought to the priest Eleazar. The priest would slaughter the animal, dip his finger in the blood and splatter the blood seven times toward the tabernacle, then burn the entire heifer to ashes. While the heifer is burning he is to do this: "The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer." (Numbers 19:6) These are the same items that were to be used in the cleansing ceremony for a healed leper. (Leviticus 14:4-6) Leprosy made the sufferer unclean; sin makes a person unclean too and I think that's why we find the same items used to make the ashes for the cleansing water as we found being used in the cleansing ceremony for lepers.
"After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean til evening. The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean til evening." (Numbers 19:7-8) In the book of Leviticus we learned that a person who touched the carcass of an unclean animal was unclean until evening. A heifer is not an unclean animal and none of the commentaries I consulted had anything to say about why contact with it rendered the priest and the man who burned it ceremonially unclean. Perhaps it's because of the nature of this sacrifice, because the only references I could find to it likened it to the crucifixion of Christ in which every person who has ever sinned had a hand in His redemptive, sacrificial death. In verses 7 and 8 we learn that both men involved with the slaughter and burning of the heifer (both had a hand in it, in other words) being rendered ceremonially unclean until evening. Partaking in this endeavor has perhaps symbolically identified the two men with sins which the heifer's ashes are intended to ceremonially cleanse. In similar manner we can say Christ identified Himself with the sin of mankind when He offered Himself on the cross. And in a similar manner we can say that every human being had a part in Christ's death, for all human beings have sinned and all human beings were represented at the crucifixion, for both Jews and Gentiles had a hand in His death.
A different man, who is not ceremonially unclean at this time, is to gather up the ashes. "A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification of sin. The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean til evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them." (Numbers 19:9-10) The ashes are made up of the entire heifer, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet wool. Before being cremated in this manner, a heifer would probably weigh anywhere from 800 pounds to 1400 pounds according to the information I found online. In a modern crematory, the ashes of a body that weighed around 1000 pounds would produce about 554.4 ounces of ashes, or 34.65 pounds. It is no small task for the man to gather up the ashes of the heifer and the ashes of the accompanying items. A very large amount of ash has been produced and it is enough to last for a very long time considering only a small amount will be used in a jar of water from which drops will be sprinkled onto the people using a hyssop branch dipped into the water. Ancient Jewish tradition states that only six red heifers have ever been slaughtered for the purpose of making this cleansing water.
The lasting nature of these ashes points to the lasting nature of the sacrifice of Christ. The blood He shed on our behalf is enough to cleanse us for all time. He doesn't have to come back to earth and give His life over and over again. As we discussed yesterday, there is no need for Christ to "offer Himself again and again" or to "suffer many times". (Hebrews 9:25-26) On the contrary, His sacrifice was so perfect and so holy that, "Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many", (Hebrews 9:28a) and we who believe on Him as Savior have been "made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all", (Hebrews 10:10) "for by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy". (Hebrews 10:14)
There is a portion of Numbers 19:10 we don't want to miss: the Lord says this practice of sprinkling water made with the ashes of the heifer is to be kept as a lasting ordinance "both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them". A person did not have to be a native-born Israelite to be made ceremonially clean in this manner. Any person who converted to the God of Israel was to take part in this cleansing ritual. The Lord didn't exclude anyone who wanted to be part of the body of believers and aren't we thankful for that? In the same way, the cleansing power of the blood of Christ is made available to every person on the face of the earth. It doesn't matter what our ethnic background is. It doesn't matter what's in our past. We are all invited to come to Christ and be made clean and whole. The same salvation offered to one is offered to all. Christ testified that no one who comes to Him will be turned away. (John 6:37)
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