Numbers Chapter 19 — The Law of the Red Heifer
Numbers 19 describes the ritual sacrifice of a red heifer to create ashes for purification water. It outlines the laws for cleansing individuals who have come into contact with death.
1The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2“This is the statute of the law which the LORD 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.
3You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face.
4Eleazar 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.
5One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn.
6The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer.
7Then 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.
8He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.
9“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for use in water for cleansing impurity. It is a sin offering.
10He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. It shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.
11“He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
12He shall purify himself with water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean; but if he doesn’t purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
13Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn’t purify himself, defiles the LORD’s tabernacle; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet on him.
14“This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
15Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean.
16“Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17“For the unclean, they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be poured on them in a vessel.
18A clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave.
19The clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day. On the seventh day, he shall purify him. He shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.
20But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean.
21It shall be a perpetual statute to them. He who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.
22“Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.”
WEB Translation
Notable Verses
Numbers 19:2
““This is the statute of the law which the LORD 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.””
This verse introduces the unique requirement of a red heifer, which is the central element of the chapter's purification laws.
Numbers 19:11
““He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.””
This verse establishes the specific duration and cause of ritual uncleanness addressed by the red heifer ritual.
Numbers 19:17
““For the unclean, they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be poured on them in a vessel.””
This verse describes the practical application of the heifer's ashes in the purification process.
Chapter Summary
Numbers 19 provides specific instructions for the ritual of the red heifer. God instructs Moses and Aaron to have the Israelites provide a red heifer without defect that has never been yoked. The animal is slaughtered outside the camp and burned entirely along with cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet. A ritually clean person collects the ashes, which are then stored to be mixed with running water, creating the "water for impurity." This mixture is essential for the ritual cleansing of anyone who has touched a dead body, a bone, or a grave. The law states that contact with death results in seven days of uncleanness, requiring sprinkling with the purification water on the third and seventh days. Failure to complete this purification process results in the person being cut off from the assembly for defiling the sanctuary. The chapter concludes by establishing these purification procedures as a perpetual statute for the Israelites and the foreigners living among them.
Frequently Asked Questions
The red heifer was sacrificed and burned to produce ashes used for the 'water for impurity.' This water was required to ritually cleanse people or objects that had come into contact with death.
According to Numbers 19, any person who touched a dead body, a human bone, or a grave was considered ritually unclean for seven days and required specific purification steps.
The water for impurity was created by mixing running water with the ashes of a completely burned red heifer, which had been burned along with cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool.
The text states that anyone who remained unclean and did not purify themselves defiled the sanctuary of the LORD and would be 'cut off' from the assembly of Israel.
Study Note
The use of hyssop and cedar wood in the burning of the heifer mirrors the materials used in the purification ritual for those healed of skin diseases in the book of Leviticus.
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