Numbers 19:2–3 “This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come. You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him.'”

January 29th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

What did these qualifications God was requiring mean?

1. Red: It was important to God that the cow be red. Red is the color of blood and the color of the clay of the earth, which the first man, Adam, was fashioned from.

2. Without blemish: It was to be without blemish. The rabbis would later write that this meant that “even three hairs of another color” disqualified an animal.

3. No defect: It was not just to be without blemish, but it was also to be without defect, or no defect, meaning it was never to have had a past injury or any kind of congenital fault. The sacrifice was to be as pure and perfect in every way as possible.

4. No yoke: It was to never have been used in harness, meaning being used for any kind of work. We could also say that no yoke on it meant that it had never been under slavery or bondage.

This reddish-brown cow would have to be young in order for no yoke to have yet been put on it. The high priest inspected the sacrifice, but he was not to be the one who slaughtered the animal, which was done outside the camp. Once it was slaughtered and burnt, the ashes would be used for the purification ceremony.

What an amazing foreshadowing we see here in Numbers of the ultimate sacrifice of the Messiah. It was not coincidence that Jesus was taken before the high priest, who examined him and then handed him over to others to kill. He was taken through the Damascus gate to Golgotha, which was outside the city walls. But unlike the sacrifices of the Old Testament, Jesus’ shed blood was able to cover not only the sins of a single nation but of the whole world. We need to occasionally stop and deeply ponder the wonder of the many prophecies set in writing by God, hundreds of years before the events happened. They were recorded both for those who would witness them, and for those of us who would look back and have our faith encouraged as we see how these crystal-clear predictions were fulfilled.

“Thank you, Lord; again we say thank you for Your great love displayed on Golgotha for humanity. May You empower us to take that message to others today.”

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Numbers 19 KJV

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. ⁹And 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. ¹¹ He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.  ¹²He 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. ¹⁶And 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 isunclean. 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 persontoucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.