Numbers 19

It’s probable that the instructions in chapters 18 and 19 were given by the Lord while Israel was still at Kadesh-Barnea. However, when you get to chapter 20, the nation has completed its thirty-eight years of wandering and is back at Kadesh (20:1, 16).

Very little is written in Numbers about Israel’s years of wandering, although a list of their camping places in found in Numbers 33. Miriam died in the first month of the fortieth year (20:1), when the nation had returned to Kadesh, and Aaron died in the fifth month of that same year (33:38). When Moses died at the end of the fortieth year (Deut. 1:3), the entire older generation had perished, except for Joshua and Caleb, who were permitted to enter Canaan.

God’s people had been stubborn and rebellious, and the Lord had chastened them for it, but in spite of their disobedience, the Lord had been faithful to care for them. “Nevertheless, he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known” (Ps. 106:8). Consider some of the Lord’s concerns on behalf of His people as expressed by the instructions and events found in these chapters.

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. God’s rule was, “You shall be holy for I am holy,” a statement found eight times in the Bible (Lev. 11:44–45; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 21:8; 1 Peter 1:15–16). The regulations about “clean and unclean” are spelled out in detail in Leviticus 11—15, telling the Israelites what they could eat, how they should deal with bodily discharges and infections, and what to do about dead bodies. Certainly there was a hygienic purpose behind these laws, but there was also a spiritual purpose: to teach the Jews the difference between holiness and sin and encourage them to walk in holiness.

The preparation (vv. 1–10). There are several unique features about this ritual. The animal chosen was not male; it was slain outside the camp, away from the tabernacle and the altar; it was slain by a layman and not a priest; the blood was not caught and poured out before God but burned with the carcass; and the ashes were gathered to be mixed with water and used for ceremonial purification.

First, the animal that was selected had to be without blemish, red in color, and never yoked for service. The red color may point to the blood being shed, but perhaps the color speaks of the red earth out of which the first man was made (Gen. 2:7). The name “Adam” comes from the Hebrew word adamah which means “red earth.”

Aaron’s son and successor Eleazar led the heifer outside the camp where a layman killed it in the presence of the priest. The word used for the slaughtering of the animal is not the word used for sacrificing an animal, and there is no altar involved. Eleazar caught some of the blood and sprinkled it toward the tabernacle seven times.

The carcass with the blood was then burned, and the word used here is not the normal word for “the burning of a sacrifice.” While the body was burning, Eleazar dropped three important items into the fire: cedar wood, hyssop (a porous plant that absorbs liquid), and scarlet wool, all of which were used in the cleansing ceremony for a healed leper (Lev. 14:4, 6, 49, 51–52; and see Ps. 51:7).

Because of their involvement with a dead body, Eleazar and the man assisting him were considered ceremonially unclean and had to wash themselves and their clothing before returning to the camp in the evening. A man ceremonially clean gathered up the ashes into a container and placed it in a clean place outside the camp, accessible to the people. He too had to wash before he could return to the camp.

The application (vv. 11–22). How were these ashes used? People who became ceremonially defiled from touching a dead body (vv. 11–13), being in a tent where somebody died (vv. 14–15), or touching anything that itself was defiled (v. 16), 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 four days later on the seventh day. The cleansed persons would then wash themselves and their clothes and wait until evening to return to the camp.

It was a very serious offense if a defiled person refused to be purified, because defiled people defiled the camp. God’s presence dwelt in the tabernacle (vv. 13, 20) and He walked among the people (Lev. 26:11–12; Deut. 23:12–14); therefore, the camp had to be kept holy. Unclean people who refused to be cleansed were cut off from the nation (Num. 19:20) and stoned to death.

The church today doesn’t worry about external ritual uncleanness, but we should take to heart the lesson of this chapter that 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” (2 Cor. 7:1). God promises forgiveness and cleansing to His children if they turn from their sins and confess them to the Lord (1 John 1:9). 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 us (John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18–23).