Today we are concluding Chapter 19 which contains the instructions for making the water for ceremonial cleansing and the instructions for when and how this type of cleansing is to be used.
In Sunday's study we learned that anyone who came into physical contact with a deceased person was ceremonially unclean for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day the person was to undergo a ritual with the cleansing water. Only after the seventh day, and after the cleansing water had been applied properly, could the person go about all their normal public activities. Earlier in the Old Testament we studied a variety of things that would render a person ceremonially unclean for a time; having contact with a dead body was one of those things. I would imagine this was a frequent occurrence because medical care and funeral preparations were handled in the home in ancient times and in the not-so-ancient times. A terminally ill person would be cared for by the members of his household and his body would be prepared for burial by his family and he would be interred by his family. In those days the cause of a person's illness and death was not always obvious, since no tests could be run and no autopsies could be done, so a seven-day period of ceremonial uncleanness was important to observe in case the deceased person died of something contagious. This helped to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
Now we pick up with verses 14 and 15. "This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean." (Numbers 19:14-15) A person might die an unattended and unexpected death. Suppose a friend or family member stops by to visit with him or to check on him because they haven't seen him out and about and they find him deceased in his tent. Whoever finds him has become ceremonially unclean through no fault of their own but they still must observe the law regarding ceremonial uncleanness and the use of the purifying water. If any food containers without lids are present inside the tent with the dead body, the food inside the containers is rendered unfit for consumption. These regulations are to help prevent the spread of infectious disease since the cause of the person's unexpected death is not known.
"Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days." (Numbers 19:16) Even if someone dies outdoors in the fresh air, anyone who has contact with the body is rendered ceremonially unclean for seven days. A person who dies by the sword didn't have infectious disease as a cause of death but the body still might be harboring harmful pathogens. If someone comes across a body that has mostly decomposed down to skeletal remains, there's still a chance of those remains being able to transfer harmful bacteria to the living, so we find verse 16 stating that contact with bones or a grave renders the person ceremonially unclean.
Now we move on to how the cleansing water is to be used. "For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them." (Numbers 19:17) These ashes are made up of the entire red heifer along with cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool. A pinch of ashes is placed in a jar and water is poured over them. "Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean. This is a lasting ordinance for them." (Numbers 19:18-21a)
As we learned in yesterday's passage, the person who refuses to observe the cleansing ritual is to be excommunicated by the congregation. The community is to shun the person because the person is showing contempt for the Lord. The Lord has said what must be done to be clean. He sets the rules for cleansing; man doesn't set the rules. A person can only be clean in the eyes of the Lord by using the methods prescribed by the Lord. We come to the Lord on His terms, not ours. This is symbolic of our salvation through Christ. The Lord has told us how to be saved and there is no other way to obtain redemption than to come to Him through Christ because our salvation is by faith, not by works. We can never keep ourselves completely free of sin and we can never perform enough good works to earn salvation. The only thing we can do is come humbly to the Lord through the method He's prescribed for salvation. Just as a ceremonially unclean person in Numbers 19 could not be made ceremonially clean without following the Lord's prescription for cleanliness, we cannot be saved without following the Lord's prescription for salvation.
"The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean til evening. Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean til evening." (Numbers 19:21b-22) There is another reason why contact with a dead body renders the living person unclean, but this is more of a spiritual uncleanness than a physical uncleanness. Death is a result of sin. When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, the countdown to his death began. The Lord created the human body with the ability to live forever but when sin entered the world it was like a pollution that affected everything, including the human body. Adam lived for many years after he committed his first sin (he died at age 930) but no matter what physical ailment actually took his life, that physical ailment was the result of sin. If he'd had a death certificate, the medical examiner would not have been incorrect to list the direct cause of death as "sin" and to list the contributing cause of death as whatever illness actually shut Adam's body down. So we see that to have contact with a dead body is to have contact---symbolically speaking---with sin. Sin is the direct cause of death of every human being, no matter whether they died due to an accident or due to cancer or a heart attack or anything else.
As the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the church at Rome, death entered the world through one man: Adam. Adam brought sin into the world and sin brought death into the world. But just as one man brought sin and death into the world, one man---the Lord Jesus Christ---brought righteousness and life into the world. (See Romans 5:12-21) I want to close by pointing out that I think the "man who is ceremonially clean" who sprinkles the ceremonially unclean people with water in Numbers 19 symbolizes Christ. It took a ceremonially clean person to perform the cleansing ritual in order for the ritual to be recognized by God. The ceremonially unclean persons in the household couldn't sprinkle each other with the cleansing water and be purified. A ceremonially unclean person couldn't sprinkle himself with the cleansing water and be purified. An unclean person can't make himself or another person clean. And as we've just seen, we are all unclean because we have all sinned. Christ, who is perfect and sinless, is able to sprinkle us to purity. He sprinkles us not with the water and ash of a sacrificial heifer but with His own sacrificial blood. This is the means by which we are made clean in the eyes of a holy God. We can't be considered clean by God through any other method. He sets the terms for obtaining righteousness and He does not recognize man's terms for righteousness or man's puny attempts to obtain righteousness. This is why the Lord Jesus said, in no uncertain terms, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
No comments:
Post a Comment