Numbers 19

Numbers 19:1 Then Yahveh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said,

Numbers 19:2 “This is the prescription of the instruction that Yahveh has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a perfect red heifer, in which there is no flaw, and on which a yoke has never been placed.

Numbers 19:3 And you will give it to Eleazar, the priest, and it will be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in the sight of him.

Numbers 19:4 And Eleazar the priest will take some of its blood with his finger and spritz some of its blood toward the front of the conference tent seven times.

Numbers 19:5 And the heifer will be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, will be burned.

Numbers 19:6 And the priest will take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn and toss them into the fire burning the heifer.

Numbers 19:7 Then the priest will wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward, he may come into the camp. But the priest will be contaminated until evening.

Numbers 19:8 The one who burns the heifer will wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and will be contaminated until evening.

Numbers 19:9 And a man who is pure will gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a pure place. And they will be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a failure offering.

Numbers 19:10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer will wash his clothes and be contaminated until evening. And this will be a permanent prescription for the people of Israel and for the foreign guest who sojourns among them.

Numbers 19:11 “Whoever touches the dead throat of any human will be contaminated seven days.

Numbers 19:12 He will purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be pure. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, he will not become pure.

Numbers 19:13 Whoever touches a dead throat of any human who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of Yahveh, and that throat will be eliminated from Israel; because the water for impurity was not tossed on him, he will be contaminated. His contamination is still on him.

Numbers 19:14 “This is the instruction when a human dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent will be contaminated for seven days.

Numbers 19:15 And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is contaminated.

Numbers 19:16 Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally or touches a human bone or a grave will be contaminated for seven days.

Numbers 19:17 For the contaminated they will take some ashes of the burnt failure offering, and fresh water will be added in a vessel.

Numbers 19:18 Then a pure person will take hyssop and dip it in the water and spritz it on the tent and all the furnishings and on the throats who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave.

Numbers 19:19 And the pure person will spritz it on the contaminated on the third day and the seventh day. Thus, on the seventh day, he will purify him, and he will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and in the evening, he will be pure.

Numbers 19:20 “If the man who is contaminated does not purify himself, that throat will be eliminated from the midst of the collected assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of Yahveh. Because the water for impurity has not been tossed on him, he is contaminated.

Numbers 19:21 And it will be a permanent prescription for them. The one who spritzes the water for impurity will wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity will be contaminated until evening.

Numbers 19:22 And whatever the contaminated person touches will be contaminated, and any throat who touches it will be contaminated until evening.”

Numbers 19 quotes:

“But now, all the people — priests, Levites, and Nazirites included—find themselves in a camp with 14,700 corpses (Num. 16:49), plus the ashes of the 250 (16:35), and Korah and crowd underfoot (16:31-33)! How will any of them ever approach the Lord in this state, without making further additions to the casualties?”

Boyce Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 184.

“With such a recurrent emphasis on death it is natural that, at this point in the story, some instruction should be given to the Israelite people about how they should react to the presence of a dead body.”

Brown Raymond. The Message of Numbers : Journey to the Promised Land. InterVarsity Press 2002. p. 162.

“Many times people will wonder whether a person may be completely forgiven for having done wrong. Any person not only can be forgiven, but he can be completely cleansed, as was done here.

Gutzke, Manford George. Plain Talk on Leviticus and Numbers. Zondervan Pub. House., 1981. p. 109.

“A red heifer ritual cleansed the Israelites from ceremonial defilement.”

Martin, Glen, and Max E. Anders. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Broadman & Holman, 2002. p. 329.

“In chapter 19 God gives a standing ordinance for the purification of all uncleannesses, in the water of separation made of the ashes of a red heifer. By comparing Heb. 9:11-13 we see that this sacrifice, like all the others, pointed to Christ. This ceremony showed the purifying effect of the ashes of the sin-offering when applied to man by water, and typified the purifying effect which the remembrance of our Sin-offering (Christ) has, when applied by the Spirit.”

Saxe, Grace. Studies in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Grace Saxe, 1921. p. 43.