Series E -- God’s Laws

BIBLE STUDY LESSON 20

WATER OF CLEANSING

THE ASHES OF A RED HEIFER

From Numbers 19
“The Lord gave Moses and Aaron another law for the people of Israel: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a perfect red heifer without a blemish, which has never been yoked. Give it to Eleazar the priest, who will lead it outside the camp and watch while someone slaughters it. Eleazar shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the tabernacle. After another person burns the heifer’s skin, flesh, blood and waste before him, Eleazar will throw cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool in the midst of the fire. Before Eleazar returns to the camp, he must wash his clothes and bathe with water. Even so, he will remain unclean until evening. The man who burned the heifer will also wash his clothes and bathe with water and he too, will remain unclean until evening. Someone who is not ceremonially unclean shall gather the ashes and put them in a purified place outside the camp.

There they will be kept for use in the purification ceremonies, for the people of Israel to use for the cleansing from sin. The man who gathers the ashes must wash his clothes and he will remain unclean until evening. This will remain a law for the people of Israel and the foreigner who lives among them. Whoever touches the dead body of a person shall be considered defiled for seven days. He shall purify himself on the third and seventh days with water which has been filtered through the red heifer’s ashes. After that he will be considered pure. But if he fails to do this on the third day, he will remain defiled even after the seventh day. Whoever refuses to purify himself in this manner shall be cut off from the people, for he has defiled the tabernacle of the Lord. Since the cleansing water was not sprinkled on him, he remains un-clean. Now follow this law concerning a man who dies in a tent. Everyone who is in the tent and everyone who enters the tent shall be unclean for seven days. Every open vessel with no cover fastened upon it is un-clean.

Whoever touches a dead body lying in an open field, whether it is someone killed in battle or someone who has died in another way or even the remains of a person, such as a bone or a grave, that person shall remain defiled for seven days. The unclean person shall take some of the ashes from the red heifer and filter spring water through them into a basin. A person who is ceremonially clean shall dip hyssop branches into this water and sprinkle the water upon the tent, the furnishings of the tent and the people who became unclean by entering the tent or by touching the dead body or bone or by touching a grave. This ritual shall be followed on the third and seventh days of uncleanness. On the seventh day the unclean person shall wash his clothes, bathe and by evening he will be considered clean. Whoever refuses to cleanse himself in this way must be cut off from the congregation, for he has defiled the tabernacle of the Lord. Since the water for uncleanness has not been sprinkled on him, he shall remain unclean. This is a rule for all generations. Also, the man who sprinkles the water must wash his clothes. Any other person touching this water will remain unclean until evening. Whatever the unclean person touches becomes unclean and anyone else who touches that unclean thing shall be unclean until evening.”

COMMENTS

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE DEAD
Many people today die away from home in hospitals and rest homes. But in Bible times, death was frequent and usually at home with the family nearby. In Egypt, anyone who could afford it arranged to be embalmed. The priests who washed, cleaned, stuffed and embalmed the mummy had an unpleasant but respected job. But there was one exception. The man responsible for cutting the body so that the insides could be removed and cleaned; called the “cutter”; was considered unclean. That was because the Egyptians abhorred anyone who injured another, even if that person was dead. But it was a necessary step, for then the insides were removed, washed, embalmed and kept in special jars. For the Israelites, any contact at all with a dead body was considered polluting. Both the high priest and a person under a Nazirite vow could not go near or see the dead, even their own parents. A regular priest could touch a dead parent or relative, but he was defiled until sundown, when he would bathe to become ritually clean. An ordinary person who touched a dead body was defiled for seven days. Anything else touched by that person during the period was unclean until the evening of that day. On the third and seventh day of defilement, he was sprinkled with water run through the ashes of a sacrificed red heifer, which the priests kept for that purpose. The clean person who did the sprinkling then would have to wash his own clothes. On the seventh day after the defilement, the person who had touched the dead would wash himself and his clothes and would be considered clean again. Similar strict rules applied to a person who touched a non-kosher dead animal, one declared unfit to eat.

TEST YOURSELF

1.) What kind of animal was to be taken out of the camp and be slaughtered?
            A) A white lamb
            B) A black rabbit
            C) A pair of grey turtledoves
            D) A red heifer

2.) How many times was Eleazer to sprinkle the animal’s blood in the direction of the Tabernacle?
            A) Seven
            B) Once
            C) Thrice
            D) Twice

3.) In the entire process of making the ashes, how many people became unclean?
            A) Four
            B) One
            C) Three
            D) Two

4.) How long were they unclean for?
            A) Until the end of the week
            B) Forever
            C) Until evening
            D) Until the end of the month

5.) How long was one considered unclean after coming in contact with the remains of a dead person?
            A) Four days
            B) Thirty days
            C) Two weeks
            D) Seven days

6.) What did the unclean person have to have sprinkled on him, in order to be cleansed?
            A) Anointing oil
            B) Blood from a slaughtered goat
            C) Water that was filtered through the specially prepared ashes
            D) Water from the Jordan River

7.) In Egypt, which mortician’s job rendered him unclean?
            A) The sewer
            B) The dresser
            C) The embalmer
            D) The cutter

8.) How long was the regular priest unclean for, if he touched the dead body of a parent or relative?
            A) Until midnight
            B) Until the next Passover feast
            C) Until sundown
            D) Until the end of the week