N
U M B E R S
CHAP. XIX.
This
chapter is only concerning the preparing and using of the ashes which were to
impregnate the water of purification. The people had complained of the
strictness of the law, which forbade their near approach to the tabernacle, ch.
xvii. 13. In answer to this complaint, they are here directed to purify
themselves, so as that they might come as far as they had occasion without
fear. Here is, I. The method of preparing these ashes, by the burning of a red
heifer, with a great deal of ceremony, ver. 1-10. II. The way of using them.
1. They were designed to purify persons from the pollution contracted by a
dead body, ver. 11-16. 2. They were to be put into running water (a small
quantity of them), with which the person to be cleansed must be purified, ver.
17-22. And that this ceremonial purification was a type and figure of the
cleansing of the consciences of believers from the pollutions of sin appears
by the apostle's discourse, Heb. ix. 13, 14, where he compares the efficacy of
the blood of Christ with the sanctifying virtue that was in "the ashes of
a heifer sprinkling the unclean."
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The
Ashes of Purification.
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B.
C. 1471.
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1 And the LORD
spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 2 This is the
ordinance of the law which the LORD
hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring
thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon
which never came yoke: 3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the
priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall
slay her before his face: 4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of
her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the
tabernacle of the congregation seven times: 5 And one shall
burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her
dung, shall he burn: 6 And the priest shall take cedar wood, and
hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the
heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall
bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the
priest shall be unclean until the even. 8 And he that burneth her
shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be
unclean until the even. 9 And a man that is clean shall
gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in
a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of
Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.
10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and
be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and
unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.
We have here the divine appointment concerning the solemn burning of a red
heifer to ashes, and the preserving of the ashes, that of them might be made,
not a beautifying, but a purifying, water, for that was the utmost the law
reached to; it offered not to adorn as the gospel does, but to cleanse only.
This burning of the heifer, though it was not properly a sacrifice of
expiation, being not performed at the altar, yet was typical of the death and
sufferings of Christ, by which he intended, not only to satisfy God's justice,
but to purify and pacify our consciences, that we may have peace with God and
also peace in our own bosoms, to prepare for which Christ died, not only like
the bulls and goats at the altar, but like the heifer without the camp.
I. There was a great deal of care employed in the choice of the heifer that
was to be burnt, much more than in the choice of any other offering, v.
2. It must not only be without blemish, typifying the spotless purity and
sinless perfection of the Lord Jesus, but it must a red heifer, because of the
rarity of the colour, that it might be the more remarkable: the Jews say,
"If but two hairs were black or white, it was unlawful." Christ, as
man, was the Son of Adam, red earth, and we find him red in his
apparel, red with his own blood, and red with the blood of his enemies. And it
must be one on which never came yoke, which was not insisted on in other
sacrifices, but thus was typified the voluntary offer of the Lord Jesus, when
he said, Lo, I come, He was bound and held with no other cords than
those of his own love. This heifer was to be provided at the expense of the
congregation, because they were all to have a joint interest in it; and so all
believers have in Christ.
II. There was to be a great deal of ceremony in the burning of it. The care of
doing it was committed to Eleazar, not to Aaron himself, because it was not
fit that he should do any thing to render himself ceremonially unclean, no,
not so much as till the evening (v. 8); yet it being an affair
of great concern especially in the significancy of it, it was to be performed
by him that was next to Aaron in dignity. The chief priests of that time had
the principal hand in the death of Christ. Now,
1. The heifer was to be slain without the camp, as an impure thing, which
bespeaks the insufficiency of the methods prescribed by the ceremonial law to
take away sin. So far were they from cleansing effectually that they were
themselves unclean; as if the pollution that was laid upon them continued to
cleave to them. Yet, to answer this type, our Lord Jesus, being made sin and a
curse for us, suffered without the gate, Heb. xiii. 12.
2. Eleazar was to sprinkle the blood directly before the door of the
tabernacle, and looking steadfastly towards it, v. 4. This made it
in some sort an expiation; for the sprinkling of the blood before the Lord was
the chief solemnity in all the sacrifices of atonement; therefore, though this
was not done at the altar, yet, being done towards the sanctuary, it was
intimated that the virtue and validity of it depended upon the sanctuary, and
were derived from it. This signified the satisfaction that was made to God by
the death of Christ, our great high priest, who by the eternal Spirit
(and the Spirit is called the finger of God, as Ainsworth observes, Luke xi.
20) offered himself without spot unto God; directly before the
sanctuary, when he said, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. It
also signifies how necessary it was to the purifying of our hearts that
satisfaction should be made to divine justice. This sprinkling of the blood
put virtue into the ashes.
3. The heifer was to be wholly burnt, v. 5. This typified the
extreme sufferings of our Lord Jesus, both in soul and body, as a sacrifice
made by fire. The priest was to cast into the fire, while it was burning,
cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet, which were used in the cleansing of lepers
(Lev. xiv. 6, 7), that the ashes of these might be mingled with the ashes of
the heifer, because they were designed for purification.
4. The ashes of the heifer (separated as well as they could from the ashes of
the wood wherewith it was burnt) were to be carefully gathered up by the hand
of a clean person, and (as the Jews say) pounded and sifted, and so laid up
for the use of the congregation, as there was occasion (v. 9), not only
for that generation, but for posterity; for the ashes of this one heifer were
sufficient to season as many vessels of water as the people of Israel would
need for many ages. The Jews say that this one served till the captivity,
nearly 1000 years, and that there was never another heifer burnt till Ezra's
time, after their return, to which tradition of theirs, grounded (I suppose)
only upon the silence of their old records, I see no reason we have to give
credit, since in the later times of their church, of which they had more full
records, they find eight burnt between Ezra's time and the destruction of the
second temple, which was about 500 years, These ashes are said to be laid up
here as a purification for sin, because, though they were intended to
purify only from ceremonial uncleanness, yet they were a type of that
purification for sin which our Lord Jesus made by his death. Ashes mixed with
water are used in scouring, but these had their virtue purely from the divine
institution, and their accomplishment and perfection in Christ, who is the
end of this law for righteousness. Now observe, (1.) That the water of
purification was made so by the ashes of a heifer, whose blood was sprinkled
before the sanctuary; so that which cleanses our consciences is the abiding
virtue of the death of Christ; it is his blood that cleanses from all sin,
1 John i. 7. (2.) That the ashes were sufficient for all the people. There
needed not to be a fresh heifer slain for every person or family that had
occasion to be purified, but this one was enough for all, even for the
strangers that sojourned among them (v. 10); so there is virtue enough
in the blood of Christ for all that repent and believe the gospel, for every
Israelite, and not for their sins only, but for the sins of the whole
world, 1 John ii. 2. (3.) That these ashes were capable of being preserved
without waste to many ages. No bodily substance is so incorruptible as ashes
are, which (says bishop Patrick) made these a very fit emblem of the
everlasting efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ. He is able to save, and, in
order to that, able to cleanse, to the uttermost, both of person and times.
(4.) These ashes were laid up as a stock or treasure, for the constant
purification of Israel from their pollutions; so the blood of Christ is laid
up for us in the word and sacraments, as an inexhaustible fountain of merit,
to which by faith we may have recourse daily for the purging of our
consciences; see Zech. xiii. 1.
5. All those that were employed in this service were made ceremonially unclean
by it; even Eleazar himself, though he did but sprinkle the blood, v.
7. He that burned the heifer was unclean (v. 8), and he that gathered
up the ashes (v. 10); so all that had a hand in putting Christ to
death contracted guilt by it: his betrayer, his prosecutors, his judge, his
executioner, all did what they did with wicked hands, though it was by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God (Acts ii. 23); yet some of
them were, and all might have been cleansed by the virtue of that same blood
which they had brought themselves under the guilt of. Some make this to
signify the imperfection of the legal services, and their insufficiency to
take away sin, inasmuch as those who prepared for the purifying of others were
themselves polluted by the preparation. The Jews say, This is a mystery which
Solomon himself did not understand, that the same thing should pollute those
that were clean and purify those that were unclean. But (says bishop Patrick)
it is not strange to those who consider that all the sacrifices which were
offered for sin were therefore looked upon as impure, because the sins of men
were laid upon them, as all our sins were upon Christ, who therefore is said
to be made sin for us, 2 Cor. v. 21.
11 He that toucheth the
dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. 12 He shall
purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be
clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he
shall not be clean. 13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man
that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD;
and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation
was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet
upon him. 14 This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent:
all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be
unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel, which hath no
covering bound upon it, is unclean. 16 And whosoever
toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or
a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17 And
for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer
of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a
vessel: 18 And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it
in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels,
and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one
slain, or one dead, or a grave: 19 And the clean person
shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and
on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe
himself in water, and shall be clean at even. 20 But the man that
shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off
from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD:
the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is
unclean. 21 And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he
that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that
toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. 22
And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the
soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
Directions are here given concerning the use and application of the ashes
which were prepared for purification. they were laid up to be laid out; and
therefore, though now one place would serve to keep them in, while all Israel
lay so closely encamped, yet it is probable that afterwards, when they came to
Canaan, some of these ashes were kept in every town, for there would be daily
use for them. Observe,
I. In what cases there needed a purification with these ashes. No other is
mentioned here than the ceremonial uncleanness that was contracted by the
touch of a dead body, or of the bone or grave of a dead man, or being in the
tent or house where a dead body lay, v. 11, 14-16. This I look upon to
have been one of the greatest burdens of the ceremonial law, and one of the
most unaccountable. He that touched the carcase of an unclean beast, or any
living man under the greatest ceremonial uncleanness, was made unclean by it
only till the evening, and needed only common water to purify himself
with; but he that came near the dead body of man, woman, or child, much bear
the reproach of his uncleanness seven days, must twice be purified with the
water of separation, which he could not obtain without trouble and charge, and
till he was purified must not come near the sanctuary upon pain of death.
1. This was strange, considering, (1.) that whenever any died (and we are in
deaths oft) several persons must unavoidable contract this pollution, the body
must be stripped, washed, wound up, carried out, and buried, and this could
not be done without many hands, and yet all defiled, which signifies that in
our corrupt and fallen state there is none that lives and sins not; we cannot
avoid being polluted by the defiling world we pass through, and we offend
daily, yet the impossibility of our being sinless does not make sin the less
polluting. (2.) that taking care of the dead, to see them decently buried, is
not only necessary, but a very good office, and an act of kindness, both to
the honour of the dead and the comfort of the living, and yet uncleanness was
contracted by it, which intimates that the pollutions of sin mix with and
cleave to our best services. There is not a just man upon earth that doeth
good and sinneth not; we are apt some way or other to do amiss even in our
doing good. (3.) That this pollution was contracted by what was done privately
in their own houses, which intimates (as bishop Patrick observes) that God
sees what is done in secret, and nothing can be concealed from the divine
Majesty. (4.) This pollution might be contracted, and yet a man might never
know it, as by the touch of a grave which appeared not, of which our Saviour
says, Those that walk over it are not aware of it (Luke xi. 44), which
intimates the defilement of the conscience by sins of ignorance, and the cause
we have to cry out, "Who can understand his errors?" and to pray,
"Cleanse us from secret faults, faults which we ourselves do not see
ourselves guilty of."
2. But why did the law make a dead corpse such a defiling thing? (1.) Because
death is the wages of sin, entered into the world by it, and reigns by
the power of it. Death to mankind is another thing from what it is to other
creatures: it is a curse, it is the execution of the law, and therefore the
defilement of death signifies the defilement of sin. (2.) Because the law
could not conquer death, nor abolish it and alter the property of it, as the
gospel does by bringing life and immortality to light, and so introducing a
better hope. Since our Redeemer was dead and buried, death is no more
destroying to the Israel of God, and therefore dead bodies are no more
defiling; but while the church was under the law, to show that it made not
the comers thereunto perfect, the pollution contracted by dead bodies
could not but form in their minds melancholy and uncomfortable notions
concerning death, while believers now through Christ can triumph over it. O
grave! where is thy victory? Where is thy pollution?
II. How the ashes were to be used and applied in these cases. 1. A small
quantity of the ashes must be put into a cup of spring water, and mixed with
the water, which thereby was made, as it is here called, a water of
separation, because it was to be sprinkled on those who were separated or
removed from the sanctuary by their uncleanness. As the ashes of the heifer
signified the merit of Christ, so the running water signified the power and
grace of the blessed Spirit, who is compared to rivers of living water; and it
is by his operation that the righteousness of Christ is applied to us for our
cleansing. Hence we are said to be washed, that is, sanctified and justified,
not only in the name of the Lord Jesus, but by the Spirit of our God, 1
Cor. vi. 11; 1 Pet. i. 2. Those that promise themselves benefit by the
righteousness of Christ, while they submit not to the grace and influence of
the Spirit, do but deceive themselves, for we cannot put asunder what God has
joined, nor be purified by the ashes otherwise than in the running water. 2.
This water must be applied by a bunch of hyssop dipped in it, with which the
person or thing to be cleansed must be sprinkled (v. 18), in allusion
to which David prays, Purge me with hyssop. Faith is the bunch of
hyssop wherewith the conscience is sprinkled and the heart purified. Many
might be sprinkled at once, and the water with which the ashes were mingled
might serve for many sprinklings, till it was all spent; and a very little
lighting upon a man served to purify him, if done with that intention. In
allusion to this application of the water of separation by sprinkling, the
blood of Christ is said to be the blood of sprinkling (Heb. xii. 24),
and with it were are said to be sprinkled from an evil conscience (Heb.
x. 22), that is, we are freed from the uneasiness that arises from a sense of
our guilt. And it is foretold that Christ, by his baptism, shall sprinkle
many nations, Isa. lii. 15. 3. The unclean person must be sprinkled with
this water on the third day after his pollution, and on the seventh
day, v. 12-19. The days were reckoned (we may suppose) from the
last time of his touching or coming near the dead body; for he would not begin
the days of his cleansing while he was still under a necessity of repeating
the pollution; but when the dead body was buried, so that there was no further
occasion of meddling with it, then he began to reckon his days. Then, and then
only, we may with comfort apply Christ's merit to our souls, when we have
forsaken sin, and cease all fellowship with the unfruitful works of
death and darkness. The repetition of the sprinkling teaches us often
to renew the actings of repentance and faith, wash as Naaman, seven times;
we need to do that often which is so necessary to be well done. 4. Though the
pollution contracted was only ceremonial, yet the neglect of the purification
prescribed would turn into moral guilt: He that shall be unclean and
shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off, v. 20.
Note, It is a dangerous thing to contemn divine institutions, though they may
seem minute. A slight wound, if neglected, may prove fatal; a sin we call
little, if not repented of, will be our ruin, when great sinners that repent
shall find mercy. Our uncleanness separates us from God, but it is our being
unclean and not purifying ourselves that will separate us for ever from him:
it is not the wound that is fatal, so much as the contempt of the remedy. 5.
Even he that sprinkled the water of separation, or touched it,
or touched the unclean person, must be unclean till the evening,
that is, must not come near the sanctuary on that day, v. 21, 22. Thus
God would show them the imperfection of those services, and their
insufficiency to purify the conscience, that they might look for the Messiah,
who in the fulness of time should by the eternal Spirit offer himself without
spot unto God, and so purge our consciences from dead works (that is,
from sin, which defiles like a dead body, and is therefore called a body of
death), that we may have liberty of access to the sanctuary, to serve the
living God with living sacrifices.
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