Numbers 19 – The red heifer

This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come. – Numbers 19:2 (ESV)

Now that I am in Iowa, there is no need to describe what a heifer is. But the placement of this command forces us to ask the question – what is the purpose of this command and why are we being told about it now?

The purpose of this command is to reestablish ritual cleanliness to a person who has killed or touched a corpse. Now priests and Nazirites have their own way of dealing with touching a corpse. For the rest of the people, this ash/water mix is kept outside of the camp, providing easy access and keeping the uncleanliness from spreading.

We are told about the generational turnover that will happen because of the unwillingness of the people to take the land (Numbers 13-14). Now millions of people are going to die (Num 14:26-35). Not only that, but they will be attacked along the way and they will attack those that inhabit the land. Since our Lord is a God of life, death causes a person to be unclean. With all the death that is about to happen (and has happened), the Lord provides a way for the living to be restored to fellowship in the tabernacle. If someone fails to participate in the red heifer cleansing, they are cut off from everyone (Num 19:13, 20).

This is a familiar story – the Lord provides a way for people to be restored. Without the Lord there is no restoration: either to Himself or to the rest of his people.