Perhaps the most obvious question to ask is “why is this offering in the book of Numbers?” Why is it not included in the book of Leviticus, along with the majority of the other offerings? The offering for purification is dealt with in Numbers 19 because Numbers is the ‘wilderness’ book, and it is as we journey through this barren terrain that we are exposed to the danger of defilement. Moses called it a “great and terrible wilderness” (Deut 8.15); the children of Israel were almost daily surrounded by the defiling influence of death. We need to be fully aware of the filthy influence of the world around us. In an age where every moral virtue is being trampled into the ground, the Christian is one whom God has delivered “from this present evil world” (Gal 1.4), and purified “unto himself” (Titus 2.14). Paul could instruct Timothy, along with every believer, to “keep thyself pure” (1 Tim 5.22).
The offering typically deals with the restoration of communion broken by defilement, and answers in many ways to the principles of the first epistle of John.
The Animal
Its Beauty
Without going over details which have been covered previously (that it was to be “without blemish and without spot”), there are some additional features in this sacrifice which are worthy of our consideration.
It was “a red heifer” (Num 19.2). This must have made it very distinguishable: it stood out from the herd. There is only One in Scripture whom God elevates above all others: “that in all things He might [must] have the preeminence” (Col 1.18). Our Lord Jesus is distinct in His sonship; angels may be sons by creation, Israel are sons by election, and we are sons by adoption, but He alone is the supreme and glorious Son from all eternity. He is also distinct in His sufferings. Job, Joseph, Jeremiah, Paul and many others endured hardships extreme in their nature, and yet our Saviour on the cross bore sufferings of the deepest and most profound nature, surpassing the very worst that man ever experienced. He suffered for sin! Truly He stands out, unique in His sufferings, typified by this ruddy animal.
Then it was a “heifer”; a female beast. The femininity of the creature would suggest a certain submissiveness; a sensitivity and feeling that is generally found in women. Passages like 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Timothy 2 would establish this principle. Paul could speak of “the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor 10.1). The Lord was the most sensitive of all men, so how He must have felt intensely grieved as He moved through a world of sin, yet He never distanced Himself from sinners. He felt for them, He reached out to them, He met their needs, and He wept for them as the sympathetic Saviour.
When we combine the redness and the femininity of the heifer, we think of One whose submissiveness to the will of God led Him to death. Paul tells us that He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil 2.8). The nature of that obedience was willing and free, as One who ever delighted in doing the will of God (Ps 40.8), hence of the heifer it says “upon which never came yoke” (Num 19.2). He never needed to be yoked; His will never had to broken or reined in to force Him into subjection. Although He learned obedience (Heb 5.8) as a man serving God’s will, and He learned the cost of obedience, He would never have to learn to obey! Oh, how beautiful is all of this, when we think of the perfect, willing, joyful subjection of Christ to His Father’s will!
The Blood
Outside the camp the priest would go and, as he looked towards the tabernacle of the congregation, he would sprinkle its blood seven times. In this instance, the blood was not directed towards the mercy seat (as in Leviticus 16), or even the brazen altar (Leviticus 4), but was sprinkled towards the place of communion, the tabernacle, and done so seven times, marking its completeness and perfection. When it comes to restoration of communion with God, John directs our thoughts to the abiding value and efficacy of the blood of Christ (1 Jn 1.7). This is not a reapplication of the blood, but a reappreciation of its worth. The blood maintains us in the sphere where grace has placed us and, upon confession of sin, God is “faithful” to its abiding value, and “just” because of its worth (v 9).
The Burning
The heifer was to be entirely consumed by fire; nothing was to be spared. I am struck by the statement “in his sight” (v 5), that is, in the sight of the priest. It suggests that it takes priestly discernment to understand how God views sin, and how His holy nature demands its total judgment. The burning of the heifer reminds us again of Calvary: the place of the fire of divine judgment. The priest would cast into the fire cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet, typifying all that is linked with nature from the greatest to the least, with all its accompanying glory (see Revelation 17-18). The cross has put an end to all that belongs to nature: “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal 2.20), “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal 5.24), and all the glory that is linked with the natural man has come under the sentence of death (see Philippians 3). This great doctrine is unalterably true as far as our standing is concerned. The “old man” (Romans 6) has been forever put out of sight, but how easy it is for us to display the characteristics which marked that old man, when we give way to the flesh and obey its lusts.
The Ashes
All that was left was ashes; “the memorial of an already accepted work” (F W Grant). These were to be gathered up and deposited in a clean place, with a view to future use. Could the clean place speak of Heaven, and our Saviour’s presence there as the One who has known the judgment of God for sin, now ascended and functioning as our Advocate with a view to our recovery? However we apply it, one thing is certain: the retained ashes tell us that the cross will never be forgotten.
The Application
The second part of Numbers 19 shows us how all concerning the offering for purification was put into practical effect. The gravity of defilement is clearly highlighted in the fact that if purification was wilfully rejected the person would come under divine governmental dealings. Disobedience would lead to discipline. “The sanctuary of the Lord” (Num 19.20) had been impinged on by sin, and the statements “holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever” (Ps 93.5), and “if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy” (1 Cor 3.17) are stark reminders of our need to tread carefully in relation to the house of God. And so, when the defiled person would seek restoration, the ashes mixed with running water were sprinkled by a clean person upon the unclean person and all that was linked with him. It must be applied by “a clean person” (Num 19.18); there must always be moral fitness to effect recovery in another. This is one reason why the elder “must be blameless” (1 Tim 3.2), and why “spiritual” men are engaged in the work of restoration (Gal 6.1). The psalmist said “Let the righteous smite me” (Ps 141.5).
The “running water” (Num 19.17) can be translated “living water” (Newberry¹), which can speak of the Holy Spirit (Jn 7.38), and of the Word of God (Eph 5.26). Perhaps we can combine both, and see that, in order to bring about the restoration of a defiled saint, it takes the Word of God to be applied in the power of the Spirit of God to their conscience. All of this takes time, which is why the defiled person was sprinkled on the third day, and not the first day. Then they had to wait until the seventh day to be deemed clean (Num 19.11-12). The gravity of defilement must sink in. Recovery is no knee-jerk reaction; there is a process involved, as the apostle Peter discovered. Mr Darby said “We do not get back into communion as quickly as we get out of it”, and John Douglas stated that “it is a costly thing to obey God, but it is a much more costly thing to disobey.”
¹ Thomas Newberry, The Newberry Reference Bible.
(Concluded)
