וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל-אַהֲרֹן לֵאמֹר.
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Numbers
19:1-22
Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
19 Adonai
said to Moshe and Aharon, 2 “This is the regulation from the Torah
which Adonai has commanded.
Tell the people of Isra’el to bring you a young red female cow without fault or
defect and which has never borne a yoke. 3 You are to give it to
El‘azar the cohen; it
is to be brought outside the camp and slaughtered in front of him. 4
El‘azar the cohen is to take some of its blood with his finger and
sprinkle this blood
toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 The heifer is
to be burned to ashes before his eyes — its skin, meat, blood and dung is to be
burned to ashes. 6 The cohen is to take cedar-wood, hyssop
and scarlet yarn and throw them onto the heifer as it is burning up. 7 Then
the cohen is to wash
his clothes and himself in water, after which he may re-enter the camp;
but the cohen will remain unclean until evening. 8 The person
who burned up the heifer is to wash his clothes and himself in water, but he
will remain unclean until evening. 9 A man who is clean is to
collect the ashes of the heifer and store them outside the camp in a clean place. They are to be
kept for the community of the people of Isra’el to prepare water for purification from sin. 10
The one who collected the ashes of the heifer is to wash his clothes and
be unclean until evening. For the people of Isra’el and for the foreigner
staying with them this will be a permanent regulation.
11 “Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it
is, will be unclean for seven days. 12 He must purify himself with
[these ashes] on the third and seventh days; then he will be clean. But if he
does not purify himself the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. 13
Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it is, and does
not purify himself has defiled the tabernacle of Adonai. That person will be cut off from Isra’el,
because the water for purification
was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness is still
on him.
14 “This is the law: when a person dies in a tent, everyone who
enters the tent and everything in the tent will be unclean for seven days. 15
Every open container without a cover closely attached is unclean. 16
Also whoever is in an open field and touches a corpse, whether of someone
killed by a weapon or of someone who died naturally, or the bone of a person,
or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
17 “For the unclean person they are to take some of the ashes
of the animal burned up as a purification
from sin and add them to fresh water in a container. (LY: ii) 18 A clean
person is to take a bunch of hyssop leaves, dip it in the water and sprinkle it
on the tent, on all the containers, on the people who were there, and on the
person who touched the bone or the person killed or the one who died naturally
or the grave. 19 The
clean person will sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days.
On the seventh day he will purify him; then he will wash his clothes and
himself in water; and he will be clean at evening. 20 The person who
remains unclean and does not purify himself will be cut off from the community
because he has defiled the sanctuary of Adonai.
The water for purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. 21
This is to be a permanent regulation for them. The person who sprinkles
the water for purification is to wash his clothes. Whoever touches the water
for purification will be unclean until evening. 22 Anything the
unclean person touches will be unclean, and anyone who touches him will be
unclean until evening.”
We now have here one of the most difficult
passages in the Torah to explain –
Parasha Parah. (The portion of the Red Heifer)
·
What is the meaning of the Red Heifer? Our sages
and rabbis have struggled with this passage for ages…
According to
Chazal: “The law of the Red Cow is described by the Sages as the quintessential "Chuchat HaTorah", (i.e. a "decree of the Torah"), meaning that it is beyond human
understanding.”
The midrash
states: “These are laws or decrees of God and man has no right to question
them.”
A story from
the Midrash says:
“A non-Jew
said to R’ Yochanan ben Zakkai, “Your Divine service resembles sorcery. You take a cow, burn it, grind it and tather
the ash. When one of you becomes ritually
impure you sprinkle two or three drops on him, and declare him cleansed!” R’ Yochanan explained to him that it was not
sorcery, but a spiritual remedy against impurity. His students, unsatisfied by this, asked,
“Him you put off with a vague reply, but what say you to us?” Yet, he offered
them no answer, explaining that the mitzvah has no reason, and concluding,
“Hashem said, ‘I have laid down a decree.
Do not transgress it.’ According
to R’ Yochanan ben Zakkai, both the impurity of the dead and the purity of the
Red Cow are part of the "chok.” (i.e. "decree"). (Nachshoni, 1988)
·
Our Sages and rabbis debate and find no logical
explanation for this "chok". However,
there is nothing in the Torah that is meaningless, everything has a meaning,
and while some of our people still have the blinders on and cannot see what the
purpose is to this mitzvah; those of us who’ve had the veil removed and have
received Ruach Hakodesh, this mystery has been revealed. The Torah
itself says "do not say these mitzvoth are too far for us or too high for us,
but they are near us and in our hearts".
The mystery
of the Parah can be revealed to us if we open our hearts to the wisdom and the
Spirit, and the mind of Messiah.
I.
“Outside the Camp”
When solving
any mystery, we must first look for clues. The Torah as
well as all Scriptures always gives us the clue. The first
clue here in understanding the mystery of the Parah, is the fact that the Red
Heifer is burned “outside the camp”.
The Rambam
and other sages agree that the Red Heifer is a sin offering (chatas), atoning
for ritual impurity; therefore, it is identical to that of the Yom Kippur
scapegoat offering which was also taken outside the camp.
Furthermore,
the Yom Kippur scapegoat’s blood was sprinkled just as this Heifer’s blood was
also sprinkled…
Some sages see the "Chok" (i.e. decree) of the Red Heifer as a reaction to the sin of the Golden Calf. Just as the Heifer is ground up so too was the Golden Calf "ground up"…
Exodus 32: 19 But the moment Moshe got near the camp, when he saw the calf and the
dancing, his own anger blazed up. He threw down the tablets he had been holding
and shattered them at the base of the mountain. 20 Seizing the calf they had made,
he melted it in the fire and ground it to powder, which he scattered on the
water. Then he made the people of Isra’el drink it.
·
Now, the Torah states that when a person is put to
death it is always done “outside the city gates”…
Devarim 17: 5 then you are to bring the man or woman who has done this wicked thing
to your city gates, and stone that man or woman to death.
"The place of stoning was as the height of
two men. One of the witnesses pushed him down by his hips. If he turned over
face downward, he turned him on his back. If he died from the blow and the
fall, that was enough. But if not, the second witness took a stone and dropped
it on his chest. If he died from this, that was enough. But if not, his stoning
had to be carried out by all Israel, as it is said, 'The hand of the witnesses
shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hand of all the
people' ( Deuteronomy 17:7) ."
(Sanhedrin 6:4)
·
Here then is the first clue to understanding the
mystery of the Parah…
John 19: 17 Carrying the stake himself he went out to the place called Skull (in Aramaic, Gulgolta). 18
There they nailed him to the stake along with two others, one on either side,
with Yeshua in the middle. 19 Pilate also had a notice written and posted on
the stake; it read,
YESHUA FROM NATZERET
THE KING OF THE JEWS
20 Many of the Judeans read this
notice, because the place
where Yeshua was put on the stake was close to the city; and it had been
written in Hebrew, in Latin and in Greek.
·
This first clue that the Red Heifer was burned
“outside the camp” points us to Yeshua the Messiah, as He too was sacrificed
outside the camp…
Yeshua is the Sin-Offering!
Hebrews 13: 10 We have an altar from which those who serve in the Tent are not
permitted to eat. 11 For the cohen hagadol brings the blood of animals into the
Holiest Place as a sin offering, but their bodies are burned outside the
camp.[c] 12 So too Yeshua
suffered death outside the gate, in order to make the people holy through his
own blood. 13 Therefore, let us go out to him who is outside the camp
and share his disgrace. 14 For we have no permanent city here; on the contrary,
we seek the one to come. 15 Through him, therefore, let us offer God a
sacrifice of praise continually.[d] For this is the natural product of lips
that acknowledge his name.
Dr. David
Stern says, “Being outside the camp in
disgrace implies not only impurity but separation from the Jewish people.
Yeshua is indeed separated; however, his separation is in fact not from the
Jewish people, due to impurity, but unto God, due to his holiness; so that his
separation from the Jewish people is wrongful, illusory and not disgraceful.
Moreover, he can make the Jewish people holy through his own blood, ending
their very real and justified separation from God due to sin (as he also can
end the justified and real separation of Gentiles from God due to sin).
Messianic Jews, who go out to him who is outside the camp to share his
disgrace, remain, like him, part of the Jewish people, even though, like him,
we may not be so regarded. Like Yeshua, we experience the pain of exclusion;
but we must stand with him and not seek respect or inclusion on any terms
except God's. (4) Red heifer: The reference to Yeshua's making the people holy
through his own blood recalls 9:11- 14, which mentions the red heifer. The body
of the red heifer too was burned outside the camp; by suggestion, then, Yeshua is also our
"red heifer." See 9:13.” (Stern, 1992)
II.
Sprinkling “Blood &
Water”
Now I fully
realize that what I am teaching is very controversial in Rabbinic Judaism, but
the clues of Scripture all point us to the same conclusion. Rabbinic
Judaism says that God would never accept a Human sacrifice. And while it
is true that the Torah forbids us from taking our own children to be
sacrificed, there are many paradoxes within Scripture…
Just as the
rabbis say they cannot rationally, and intellectually understand the chukat of
the Red Heifer, so to can it be hard to understand how the Father could send
His Son to be an atoning sacrifice…because it seems to contradict Torah…
But consider
this…
“R’ Yehoshua of Sachnin, quoting R’ Levi,
describes the difficulty of understanding this law, and lists a number of other
mitzvos we are tempted to question…
The prohibition against marrying one’s late brother’s wife
Shatnez, combining linen & wool in one garment
The Yom Kippur scapegoat.
If one’s brother dies after being children, his wife is forbidden, Yet if he dies childless it is a mitzvah to marry her.
The Torah forbids shatnez yet to wear tzit-tzit of wool on a garment of linen, or vice versa is permitted.
One who touches the scapegoat becomes impure and must wash his clothing. Yet casting the animal over a cliff atones for the Jewish people. Those who deal with the Red Cow become ritually impure whereas the Cow itself purifies others. These contradictions cannot be answered.”(Nachshoni, 1988)
The prohibition against marrying one’s late brother’s wife
Shatnez, combining linen & wool in one garment
The Yom Kippur scapegoat.
If one’s brother dies after being children, his wife is forbidden, Yet if he dies childless it is a mitzvah to marry her.
The Torah forbids shatnez yet to wear tzit-tzit of wool on a garment of linen, or vice versa is permitted.
One who touches the scapegoat becomes impure and must wash his clothing. Yet casting the animal over a cliff atones for the Jewish people. Those who deal with the Red Cow become ritually impure whereas the Cow itself purifies others. These contradictions cannot be answered.”
Furthermore
the Midrash says:
“One paradox of the Read Cow is that it’s
ashes purify people who had become contaminated; yet those who engage in its
preparation become contaminated. On this theme the Midrash cites the
verse, “Who can draw a pure thing out of an impure one? Is it not the One God? (Job 14:4).” (Chumash Stone Edition, 2005)
·
Therefore we see another clue, that even the Midrash
cites this verse in Job that it is only God who can make something pure out of
something unclean…
The Messiah must be Divine then, and it must only be God who can
take something forbidden and make it Pure and atone for all of our sins…
In a similar vein, the Midrash notes
a number of such paradoxical cases of righteous people who descended from
wicked parents: Abraham from Terach, Hezekiah from Ahaz, and Josiah from
Ammon. The Talmud add the paradox that
it is forbidden to drink blood but an infant nurses from its mother, whose
blood is transformed into milk to become the source of life. (Niddah 9a)…
·
And ladies and gentlemen just as this is true with the
blood of a mother which becomes the source of life for her child so too is the
Blood of Messiah the source of our Eternal Life!!!
John 19: 28 After this, knowing that all things had accomplished their purpose,
Yeshua, in order to fulfill the words of the Tanakh, said, “I’m thirsty.” 29 A
jar full of cheap sour wine was there; so they soaked a sponge in the wine,
coated it with oregano leaves and held it up to his mouth. 30 After Yeshua had
taken the wine, he said, “It is accomplished!” And, letting his head droop, he
delivered up his spirit.
31 It was Preparation Day, and the
Judeans did not want the bodies to remain on the stake on Shabbat, since it was
an especially important Shabbat. So they asked Pilate to have the legs broken
and the bodies removed. 32 The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
man who had been put on a stake beside Yeshua, then the legs of the other one;
33 but when they got to Yeshua and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t
break his legs. 34 However, one of the soldiers stabbed his side with a spear,
and at once blood and
water flowed out.
·
And here we have the second clue to the mystery of the
Parah Just as with
the Heifer, both the blood was sprinkled on the people to make them clean, so
too was its ashes mixed with water and the water was sprinkled. The
sprinkling of the Blood and the Water is the clue to the mystery.
Yeshua the
Messiah is the meaning of the Red Heifer…
Hebrews 9: 13 For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons with the blood of goats
and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores their outward purity; 14 then how
much more the blood of the Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered
himself to God as a sacrifice without blemish, will purify our conscience from
works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God!
Yes it is a
paradox, and yes it is beyond logic and human understanding… but when you open
your heart and mind to the Ruach Hakodesh, He will illuminate your heart with
the Truth.
·
You need the Messiah’s Blood; you need His cleansing
Water sprinkled on you.
This is
Shabbat Parah, it is the time to prepare for the month of Nissan to prepare for
the Passover season, and this is the time to get clean before Hashem!
Hebrews 9: 18 This is why the first covenant too was inaugurated with blood. 19
After Moshe had proclaimed every command of the Torah to all the people, he
took the blood of the calves with some water and used scarlet wool and hyssop
to sprinkle both the scroll itself and all the people; 20 and he said, “This is
the blood of the covenant which God has ordained for you.” 21 Likewise, he
sprinkled with the blood both the Tent and all the things used in its
ceremonies. 22 In fact, according to the Torah, almost everything is purified
with blood; indeed, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of
sins.
23 Now this is how the copies of the
heavenly things had to be purified, but the heavenly things themselves require
better sacrifices than these. 24 For the Messiah has entered a Holiest Place
which is not man-made and merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven
itself, in order to appear now on our behalf in the very presence of God.
25 Further, he did not enter heaven
to offer himself over and over again, like the cohen hagadol who enters the
Holiest Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26 for then he
would have had to suffer death many times — from the founding of the universe
on. But as it is, he has appeared once at the end of the ages in order to do
away with sin through the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as human beings have to
die once, but after this comes judgment, 28 so also the Messiah, having been
offered once to bear the sins of many,[c] will appear a second time, not to
deal with sin, but to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Are you waiting for Him?
Are you ready to receive His forgiveness for your
sins?
Are you ready to have His Blood and Water sprinkled on
you?
Amen
Bibliography
Chumash Stone Edition. (2005). Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, Inc.
Nachshoni, Y. (1988).
Studies in the Weekly Parashah. Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah
Publications, Ltd.
Stern, D. D. (1992). Jewish
New Testament Commentary. Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament
Publications Inc.
