“This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded. Tell the children of Israel to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no defect, and which was never yoked. You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face. Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times. One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn. The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Numbers 19:2-6 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded. Tell the children of Israel to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no defect, and which was never yoked. You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face. Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times. One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn. The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer. 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 evening. He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.
Parallel Translations
-
“This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded. Tell the children of Israel to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no defect, and which was never yoked.
You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face.
Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.
One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn.
The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer.
-
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:
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:
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:
And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:
And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
Show all 3 translations
-
This is the statute of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer, faultless, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.
And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, and she shall be brought forth without the camp, and she shall be slain before his face.
And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.
And the heifer shall be burnt in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall be burnt.
And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (45)
- Leviticus 14:4 (v6) then the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.
- Leviticus 22:20-25 (v2) But you shall not offer whatever has a defect, for it shall not be acceptable for you. Whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to…
- Deuteronomy 21:3 (v2) It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn’t been worked with…
- Exodus 29:14 (v5) But the meat of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp. It is a sin offering.
- Leviticus 4:12 (v3) —all the rest of the bull—outside of the camp to a clean place where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. It shall be…
Show all 42 cross-references
- Leviticus 4:17 (v4) The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before Yahweh, before the veil.
- 1 Samuel 6:7 (v2) “Now therefore take and prepare yourselves a new cart and two milk cows on which there has come no yoke; and tie the cows to the cart, and…
- Philippians 2:6-8 (v2) who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a…
- 1 Peter 1:19 (v2) but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ,
- Leviticus 4:21 (vv3, 5) He shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.
- Leviticus 4:6 (v4) The priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before Yahweh, before the veil of the sanctuary.
- Leviticus 4:11-12 (v5) He shall carry the bull’s skin, all its meat, with its head, and with its legs, its innards, and its dung —all the rest of the bull—outside…
- Leviticus 16:14 (v4) He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east; and before the mercy seat he…
- Leviticus 14:6 (vv2, 6) As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood…
- Isaiah 1:18 (vv2, 6) “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red…
- Leviticus 14:49 (v6) To cleanse the house he shall take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.
- Leviticus 16:19 (v4) He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and make it holy from the uncleanness of the…
- Psalms 51:7 (v6) Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
- Lamentations 1:14 (v2) “The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand. They are knit together. They have come up on my neck. He made my strength fail. The…
- Malachi 1:13-14 (v2) You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’ and you have sniffed at it”, says Yahweh of Armies; “and you have brought that which was…
- Luke 1:35 (v2) The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one…
- John 10:17-18 (v2) Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by…
- Hebrews 7:26 (v2) For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- Hebrews 9:10 (v2) being only (with meats and drinks and various washings) fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.
- 1 Peter 2:22 (v2) who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
- Revelation 1:5 (v2) and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and…
- Exodus 12:5 (v2) Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats.
- Leviticus 13:45-46 (v3) “The leper in whom the plague is shall wear torn clothes, and the hair of his head shall hang loose. He shall cover his upper lip, and…
- Leviticus 16:27 (v3) The bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be…
- Leviticus 24:14 (v3) “Bring him who cursed out of the camp; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
- Numbers 3:4 (v3) Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they offered strange fire before Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children.…
- Numbers 5:2 (v3) “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse.
- Numbers 15:36 (v3) All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Numbers 19:6 (v2) The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer.
- Numbers 31:21 (v2) Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, “This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded Moses:
- Psalms 22:14 (v5) I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.
- Isaiah 53:10 (v5) Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He…
- Hebrews 9:13-14 (v4) For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the…
- Hebrews 9:19-23 (v6) For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats,…
- Hebrews 12:24 (v4) to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
- Hebrews 13:11-13 (v3) For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside…
- 1 Peter 1:2 (v4) according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his…
42 distinct cross-references across this passage (45 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2–3 According to this law and ceremony ye shall sacrifice…
According to this law and ceremony ye shall sacrifice the red cow.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–6 Num 19:2 This [is] the ordinance of the law…
Num 19:2 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:
Ver. 2. This is the ordinance of the law, which.] An ordinance, a law, a commanded law: all this to show the peremptoriness of the Lord in this point, that unless we lay hold upon the blood of Christ, prefigured by this red heifer, we cannot escape the damnation of hell.
Read full note →
That they bring thee.] At a common charge, because for a common good. All the congregation must get them a bloody Saviour.
A red heifer.] Typing out Christum cruentatum, Christ covered with his own blood: {see Isa 63:1-2} white and ruddy, as the Church says of him: {Son 5:10} Tam recens mihi Christus crucifixus, ac si iam fudisset sanguinem. {a} The pressure of his sufferings made him sweat great drops, or rather clods of blood, in a cold night, besides what afterwards issued from his many wounds in his head and body.
Never came yoke.] Christ never bore the yoke either of sin or servitude. He laid down his life of himself. {Joh 10:17-18} See Heb 9:13-14. He was not subject to any command of man. {Luk 2:44 Joh 2:4}
{a} Luther.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2–6 The ordinance of the law, or, the constitution of…
The ordinance of the law, or, the constitution of the law, i.e. that which God hath ordained or established by law.
That they bring thee, at their common charge, because it was for the common good. Red; a fit colour to shadow forth both the bloody nature and complexion of sin, Isa 1:8, and the human nature, and especially the blood, of Christ, from which this water and all other rites had their purifying virtue.
Read full note →
Wherein is no blemish; a fit type of Christ, who was such, Heb 7:26; 1Pe 1:19.
Upon which never came yoke; whereby may be signified, either that Christ in himself was free from all the yoke or obligation of God’s command, till for our sakes he took up our yoke, and put himself under the law; or that Christ was not drawn or forced to undertake our burden and cross, but that lie did voluntarily choose it. See Joh 10:17,18.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–6 This is the ordinance of the law which the…
This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded,.... By which it appears, that this law was not of the moral, but of the ceremonial kind, being called an ordinance, a statute, a decree of God, the King of kings; and which was founded not on any clear plain reason in the thing itself, but in the will of God, who intended it as a type and shadow of the blood and sacrifice of Christ, and of the efficacy of that to cleanse from sin; and it also appears by this, that it was not a new law now made, but which had been made already: "which the Lord hath commanded": as is plain from what has been observed; see Gill on Num 19:1; and the Jews (q) say, that the red heifer was slain by Eleazar the day after the tabernacle was erected, even on the second day of the first month of Israel's coming out of Egypt; and it was now repeated both on account of the priests and people, because of the priest to whom it belonged, as Aben Ezra observes, Aaron being now established in the priesthood; and because of the people, who were afraid they should die if they came near the tabernacle; now hereby they are put in mind of a provision made for the purification of them, when under any uncleanness, which made them unfit for coming to it:
saying, speak unto the children of Israel; whom this law concerned, and for whose purification it was designed; and it was at the expense not of a private person, but of the whole congregation, that the water of purifying was made; and that, as the Jews say (r), that the priests might have no personal profit from it:
Read full note →
that they bring thee a red heifer; or "young cow", for so the word properly signifies; one of two years old, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so says the Misnah (s); though some of the Rabbins say one of three years, or of four years, or even one of five years old, would do. This instance, with others, where females are ordered to be slain, see Lev 3:1; confutes the notion of such, who think the laws of Moses were made in conformity to the customs of the Egyptians, this being directly contrary to them; if they were the same in the times of Moses, they were in the times of Herodotus, who expressly says (t), male oxen the Egyptians sacrifice; but it is not lawful for them to sacrifice females, for they are sacred to Isis. Indeed, according to Plutarch (u) and Diodorus Siculus (w), the Egyptians in their times sacrificed red bullocks to Typhon, who they supposed was of the same colour, and to whom they had an aversion, accounting him the god of evil; and because red oxen were odious to them, they offered them to him; as red-haired men also were slain by them for the same reason, at the tomb of Osiris, who they say was murdered by the red-haired Typhon; but these were superstitions that obtained among them after the times of Moses, and could not be retorted to by him; a better reason is to be given why this heifer or cow was to be of a red colour:
without spot, wherein is no blemish; the first of these, without spot, the Jews understand of colour, that it should have no spots in it of any other colour, black or white, nor indeed so much as an hair, at least not two of another colour; and so the Targum of Jonathan, in which there is no spot or mark of a white hair; and Jarchi more particularly,"which is perfect in redness; for if there were in it (he says) two black hairs, it was unfit;''and so Ben Gersom, with which agrees the Misnah (x); if there were in it two hairs, black or white, in one part, it was rejected; if there was one in the head, and another in the tail, it was rejected; if there were two hairs in it, the root or bottom of which were black, and the head or top red, and so on the contrary; all depended on the sight: and it must be owned, the same exactness was observed in the red oxen sacrificed by the Egyptians, as Plutarch relates (y); for if the ox had but one hair black or white, they reckoned it was not fit to be sacrificed; in which perhaps they imitated the Jews: it being without blemish was what was common to all sacrifices, such as are described in Lev 22:22,
and upon which never came yoke; and so among the Heathens in later times, very probably in imitation of this, they used to offer to their deities oxen that never had bore any yoke; as appears from Homer, Horace, Virgil, Ovid, and Seneca, out of whom instances are produced by Bochart (z). Now, though this red cow was not properly a sacrifice for sin, yet it was analogous to one, and was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all these characters meet, and are significant. It being a female may denote the infirmities of Christ's human nature, to which it was subject, though sinless ones; he was encompassed with, and took on him, our infirmities; and may have some respect to the woman, by whom the transgression came, which brought impurity on all human nature, which made a purification for sin necessary; and the red colour of it may point at the flesh and blood of Christ he partook of, and the sins of his people, which were laid upon him, and were as crimson and as scarlet, and the bloody sufferings he endured to make satisfaction for them; and its being without spot and blemish may denote the perfection of Christ in his person, obedience, and sufferings, and the purity and holiness of his nature; and having never had any yoke upon it may signify, that though he was made under the law, and had commands enjoined him by his father as man, yet was free from the yoke of human traditions, and from the servitude of sin, and most willingly engaged, and not by force and compulsion, in the business of our redemption and salvation.
(q) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 7. p. 22. (r) Misn. Shekalim, c. 7. sect. 7. & Maimon, in ib. (s) Misn. Parah, c. 1. sect. 1. (t) Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 41. (u) De lside. (w) Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 79. (x) Parah, c. 2. sect. 5. (y) Ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 79.) (z) Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 33. vol. 322.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2–6 Red - A fit colour to shadow forth the…
Red - A fit colour to shadow forth the bloody nature of sin, and the blood of Christ, from which this water and all other rites had their purifying virtue. No blemish - A fit type of Christ. Upon which never came yoke - Whereby may be signified, either that Christ in himself was free from all the yoke or obligation of God's command, till for our sakes he put himself under the law; or that Christ was not forced to undertake our burden and cross, but did voluntarily chuse it. He was bound and held with no other cords but those of his own love.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v2 Verse 2. Speak unto the children of Israel that…
Verse 2. Speak unto the children of Israel that they bring thee, c.] The ordinance of the red heifer was a sacrifice of general application. All the people were to have an interest in it, and therefore the people at large are to provide the sacrifice. This Jewish rite certainly had a reference to things done under the Gospel, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has remarked: "For if," says he, "the blood of bulls and of goats," alluding, probably, to the sin-offerings and the scape-goat, "and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God!" Heb 9:13-14. As the principal stress of the allusion here is to the ordinance of the red heifer, we may certainly conclude that it was designed to typify the sacrifice of our blessed Lord.
We may remark several curious particulars in this ordinance.
Read full note →
1. A heifer was appointed for a sacrifice, probably, in opposition to the Egyptian superstition which held these sacred, and actually worshipped their great goddess Isis under this form; and this appears the more likely because males in general were preferred for sacrifice, yet here the female is chosen.
2. It was to be a red heifer, because red bulls were sacrificed to appease the evil demon Typhon, worshipped among the Egyptians. See Spencer.
3. The heifer was to be without spot - having no mixture of any other colour. Plutarch remarks, De Iside et de Osiride, that if there was a single hair in the animal either white or black, it marred the sacrifice. See Calmet, and See Clarke on Nu 8:7.
4. Without blemish - having no kind of imperfection in her body; the other, probably, applying to the hair or colour.
5. On which never came yoke, because any animal which had been used for any common purpose was deemed improper to be offered in sacrifice to God. The heathens, who appear to have borrowed much from the Hebrews, were very scrupulous in this particular. Neither the Greeks nor Romans, nor indeed the Egyptians, would offer an animal in sacrifice that had been employed for agricultural purposes. Of this we have the most positive evidence from Homer, Porphyry, Virgil, and Macrobius.
Just such a sacrifice as that prescribed here, does Diomede vow to offer to Pallas. - Iliad, lib. x., ver. 291.
Ὡς νυν μοι εθελουσα παριστασο, και με φυλασσε·
Σοι δ' αυ εγω ῥεξω βουν ηνιν ευρυμετωπον,
Αδμητην, ἡν ουπω ὑπο ζυγον ηγαγεν ανηρ·
Την τοι εγω ῥεξω, χρυσον κερασιν περιχευας.
"So now be present, O celestial maid;
So still continue to the race thine aid;
A yearling heifer falls beneath the stroke,
Untamed, unconscious of the galling yoke,
With ample forehead and with spreading horns,
Whose tapering tops refulgent gold adorns."
Altered from POPE.
In the very same words Nestor, Odyss., lib. iii., ver. 382, promises a similar sacrifice to Pallas.
The Romans had the same religion with the Greeks, and consequently the same kind of sacrifices; so Virgil, Georg. iv., ver. 550.
Quatuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros
Ducit, et intacta totidem cervice juveneas.
"---------From his herd he culls
For slaughter four the fairest of his bulls;
Four heifers from his female stock he took,
All fair, and all unknowing of the yoke."
- DRYDEN.
It is very likely that the Gentiles learnt their first sacrificial rites from the patriarchs; and on this account we need not wonder to find so many coincidences in the sacrificial system of the patriarchs and Jews, and all the neighbouring nations.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2–5 Num 19:2. This is the law which the Lord…
Num 19:2. This is the law which the Lord hath commanded — Or rather, had commanded. For it is probable that the water of purification had been made before, although the manner of making it is here first described. That they bring thee a red heifer — Provided at the expense of the congregation, because they were all to have a joint interest in it; as all believers, the spiritual Israel, have in Christ, typified by it. Here a question arises, why this sacrifice (if it may be so called) must be a heifer, when in other cases bullocks are appointed, and, in general, the male is preferred to the female. According to St. Austin and Theodoret, the weaker sex was to signify that infirmity of the flesh wherewith Christ was clothed. But the reason which Dr. Spencer assigns seems to be more plausible, which is, that it was in opposition to the Egyptian superstition. For though the Egyptians offered bullocks in sacrifice, they had cows in great veneration; as Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Ælian, Porphyry, and others, unanimously declare. Porphyry says they would rather have eaten human flesh than that of cows. In order, therefore, to expose this folly of Egypt in the eyes of the Israelites, God directs Moses to appoint one solemn institution wherein a heifer was to be the victim. A red heifer — A fit colour to shadow forth the nature of sin, and the blood of Christ, from which this water and all other rites had their purifying virtue. The Jews say, that it was necessary the heifer should be entirely red, without the least mixture of any other colour, and that if but two hairs were black or white it was unfit for this sacrifice. Without spot — Hebrew, תמימה, temima, perfect; wherein is no blemish — Thus typifying the spotless purity and sinless perfection of the Lord Jesus. Upon which never came yoke — This was not necessary in other sacrifices; but may here be considered as signifying the perfect freedom of the Lord Jesus from every obligation to undertake our cause and die in our stead, save that which love laid him under. For when he said, Lo, I come, he was bound by no other cords than those of his great love to us.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6 A red heifer - Red, in order to shadow…
A red heifer - Red, in order to shadow forth man’s earthly body, even as the name Adam bears allusion to the red earth of which man’s body was fashioned.
Without spot, wherein is no blemish - As with sin-offerings generally Lev 4:3.
Read full note →
Upon which never came yoke - So here and elsewhere (see the marginal references), in the case of female victims.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6 Observance. Hebrew, "ceremony." Septuagint, "distinction, (diastole, St. Augustine, q.…
Observance. Hebrew, "ceremony." Septuagint, "distinction, (diastole, St. Augustine, q. 33,) or ordinance." (Calmet) --- Victim. Hebrew, "the ordinance of the law." (Du Hamel) --- A red cow, &c. This red cow, offered in sacrifice for sin, and consumed with fire without the camp, with the ashes of which, mingled with water, the unclean were to be expiated and purified; was a figure of the passion of Christ, by whose precious blood, applied to our souls in the holy sacraments, we are cleansed from our sins. (Challoner) --- Age, three years old. Some translate, "entirely red." They suppose, that these regulations are in opposition to the customs of the Egyptians, who never sacrificed the cow, esteeming it sacred to Isis, or to the moon. Spencer (Rit. ii. 15) adds, that the red colour was formerly in the highest estimation; and this victim represented the death of Christ, who expiated our defilements. The Egyptians immolated bulls of a red colour, in hatred of Typhon, and to appease that dangerous god, whom they depicted perfectly red. Plut.[Plutarch?] (Isis) observes, that they hate all animals of that colour; and the Copths precipitated a red ass down a precipice. The ancient kings of Egypt sacrificed red men on the tomb of Osiris or Dyphon; (Diodorus, Bib. 1,) and Manetho assures us, that they scattered their ashes in the wind. If this custom prevailed in the days of Moses, we need not wonder that he teaches the Hebrews to have so little dread of Typhon, as even to chose a red cow in preference, to purify themselves. --- Yoke. Such victims were generally chosen by the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians, as more delicate and respectful. Intacta totidem cervice juvencus. (Georg. iv.; Bochart, anim. 2. 33.) St. Jerome (ep. 27,) says, that a red cow was sacrificed every year, as in reality one would be requisite for all the people, though the Rabbins pretend that only seven, or ten at most, were treated in this manner, from Moses till the destruction of the temple by Titus. (Drusius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v3 ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest that…
ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest that he may bring her forth without the camp--He was the second or deputy high priest, and he was selected for this duty because the execution of it entailed temporary defilement, from which the acting high priest was to be preserved with the greatest care. It was led "forth without the camp," in accordance with the law regarding victims laden with the sins of the people, and thus typical of Christ (Heb 13:12; also Lev 24:14). The priest was to sprinkle the blood "seven times" before--literally, "towards" or "near" the tabernacle, a description which seems to imply either that he carried a portion of the blood in a basin to the door of the tabernacle (Lev 4:17), or that in the act of sprinkling he turned his face towards the sacred edifice, being disqualified through the defiling influence of this operation from approaching close to it. By this attitude he indicated that he was presenting an expiatory sacrifice, for the acceptance of which he hoped, in the grace of God, by looking to the mercy seat. Every part of it was consumed by fire except the blood used in sprinkling, and the ingredients mixed with the ashes were the same as those employed in the sprinkling of lepers (Lev 14:4-7). It was a water of separation--that is, of "sanctification" for the people of Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2. The ordinance of the law — This use…
2. The ordinance of the law — This use of two words, each of which signifies law or statute, occurs again only in Num_31:21, in connexion with purification. It is intended to give emphasis to the ordinance.
A red heifer — No reason is assigned for the sex and color of the victim. Hence all interpretations of this symbolry must be conjectural. The following particulars have been suggested: (1.) A heifer was taken as a rebuke to pagan Egypt, which regarded her as sacred, and worshipped her as the impersonation of the goddess Isis. Herodotus says that the Egyptians sacrifice male kine, both old and young, but it is not lawful for them to sacrifice females. (2.) It was to be red, or quite red, as the rabbins interpret it, because the Egyptians sacrificed red bulls to the evil demon Typhon. (3.)
Read full note →
Without spot — Because the Egyptians, in their selection of red bulls for sacrifice, regard as unfit the animal having a single white or black hair. See Lev_1:3; Lev_22:20-24, notes. (4.) The requirement that the heifer should be one upon which never came yoke harmonized with the ancient usage which deemed an animal which had been used for common purposes improper for sacrifice. The Homeric heroes vow to offer to Pallas “a yearling heifer which no man had yet brought under the yoke.” Il., 10:291; Od., 3:382.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6 2. a red heifer] a red cow. The Heb.…
2. a red heifer] a red cow. The Heb. word is that ordinarily used for the full-grown animal (e.g. Gen_41:2-4; 1Sa_6:7). The reason for the particular colour is not known. The red animal and the scarlet thread may both, perhaps, have had reference to blood as an instrument of purification.
without spot] perfect. Any blemish, such as lameness, blindness, or the malformation of a limb, would disqualify it.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 (4) And Eleazar the priest shall take of her…
(4) And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood . . . —The appointed rites were to be discharged by Eleazar, not by Aaron, who would otherwise have been temporarily disqualified by legal impurity from the discharge of his high-priestly functions.
Before the tabernacle of the congregation . . . —i.e., opposite to the entrance of the Tabernacle, but, as stated in the preceding verse, outside the camp, because the act had reference to the uncleanness of death.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–6 This is the ordinance of the law. hrwOTh tQju.…
This is the ordinance of the law. hrwOTh tQju. Law-statute: an unusual combination only found elsewhere in Num_31:21, which also concerns legal purifications. A red heifer. This offering was obviously intended, apart from its symbolic significance, to be studiedly simple and cheap. In contradiction to the many and costly and ever-repeated sacrifices of the Sinaitic legislation, this was a single individual, a female, and of the most common description: red is the most ordinary colour of cattle, and a young heifer is of less value than any other beast of its kind. The ingenuity indeed of the Jews heaped around the choice of this animal a multitude of precise requirements, and supplemented the prescribed ritual with many ceremonies, some of which are incorporated by the Targums with the sacred text; but even so they could not destroy the remarkable contrast between the simplicity of this offering and the elaborate complexity of those ordained at Sinai. Only six red heifers are said to have been needed during the whole of Jewish history, so far-reaching and so long-enduring were the uses and advantages of a single immolation. It is evident that this ordinance had for its distinguishing character oneness as opposed to multiplicity, simplicity contrasted with elaborateness. Without spot, wherein is no blemish. See on Lev_4:8. However little, comparatively speaking, the victim might cost them, it must yet be perfect of its kind. The later Jews held that three white hairs together on any part of the body made it unfit for the purpose. On the sex and color of the offering see below. Upon which never came yoke. Cf. Deu_21:3 1Sa_6:7. The imposition of the yoke, according to the common sentiment of all nations, was a species of degradation, and therefore inconsistent with the ideal of what was fit to be offered in rids ease. That the matter was wholly one of sentiment is nothing to the point: God doth not care for oxen of any kind, but he doth care that man should give him what is, whether in fact or in fancy, the best of its sort.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v2 red heifer
red heifer
The red heifer: Type of the sacrifice of Christ as the ground of the cleansing of the believer from the defilement contracted in his pilgrim walk through this world, and illustration of the method of his cleansing. The order is:
Read full note →
(1) the slaying of the sacrifice;
(2) the sevenfold sprinkling of the blood, typical public testimony before the eyes of all of the complete and never-to-be-repeated putting away of all the believer’s sin as before God. Heb 9:12-14; Heb 10:10-12.
(3) the reduction of the sacrifice to ashes which are preserved and become a memorial of the sacrifice;
(4) the cleansing from defilement (sin has two aspects--guilt and uncleanness) by sprinkling with the ashes mingled with water. Water is a type of both the Spirit and the Word. Joh 7:37-39. Eph 5:26. The operation typified is this: the Holy Spirit used the Word to convict the believer of some evil allowed in his life to the hindering of his joy, growth, and service. Thus convicted, he remembers that the guilt of his sin has been met by the sacrifice of Christ 1Jn 1:7. Instead, therefore, of despairing, the convicted believer judges and confesses the defiling thing as unworthy a saint, and is forgiven and cleansed; Joh 13:3-10; 1Jn 1:7-10.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v3 in his sight
in his sight
"in his view" or "so he could see it"
Read full note →
priest must take cedarwood
"The priest" refers to Eleazar.
scarlet wool
"red wool"
translationWords
Eleazar
priest
blood
tent of meeting
flesh
dung
cedar
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 6 19:3-5 The need to safeguard Aaron’s consecrated status (see…
19:3-5 The need to safeguard Aaron’s consecrated status (see Lev 21:10-12) required that Eleazar perform the offering of the red heifer, since it caused ritual impurity. The ceremony of the red heifer contrasted with the regular sacrifice (cp. Lev 4:3-12).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.