Numbers 19:1-12
ordinance <02708> [the ordinance.]
red heifer <06510 0122> [a red heifer.]
The following curious particulars have been remarked in this ordinance: 1. A heifer was appointed for sacrifice, in opposition to the Egyptian superstition, which held these sacred, and worshipped their goddess Isis under this form; and this appears the more likely, because males only were chosen for sacrifice. So Herodotus says, they sacrifice males, both old and young; but it is not lawful for them to offer females. 2. It was to be a red heifer, because the Egyptians sacrificed red bulls to the evil demon Typhon. 3. It was to be without spot, having no mixture of any other colour. Plutarch says, the Egyptians "sacrifice red bulls, and select them with such scrupulous attention, that if the animal has a single black or white hair, they reckon it [athuton,] unfit to be sacrificed." 4. Without blemish. (See note on Le 22:21.) 5. On which never came yoke: because an animal which had been used for a common purpose was deemed improper for sacrifice.
defect <03971> [no blemish. See on]
never <03808> [upon which.]
outside ... camp <02351 04264> [without the camp.]
sprinkle <05137> [sprinkle.]
clean ................. clean <02889> [clean.]
put <03240> [lay them up.]
water ... purification <05079 04325> [a water of separation.]
That is, water prepared by being mixed with the ashes of the heifer, and set apart for the special purpose of being sprinkled on those who had contracted any legal defilement. To this rite the apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews. (ch. 9:13, 14,) pointedly alludes: "For if," says he, "the blood of bulls and of goats," alluding, probably, to the sin-offerings and the scape-goat, "and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot unto God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God."
wash ... clothes <03526 0899> [wash his.]
Israelites <01121> [it shall be.]
touches ... corpse <04191 05060> [toucheth the dead.]
He who touched a dead beast was only unclean for one day, (Le 11:12, 27, 39;) but he who touches a dead man is unclean for seven days. This was certainly designed to show the peculiar impurity and sinfulness of man, and the hatefulness of sin, seven times worse than the vilest animal!
person <0120> [man. Heb. soul of man.]
purify ........................ purify <02398> [He shall purify.]
"Yithchatta," literally, "he shall sin himself," i.e., not add sin, but take it away, purify. So we say to fleece, and to skin, which do not signify to add a fleece, or a skin, but to take one away.
on ... third day ... on .... day .............. on ... third day ..... day <03117 07992> [third day.]
