Water for Impurity

Numbers 19 sits between stories of rebellion and death. The old generation was dying in the wilderness, and contact with the dead made people unclean. God provided a remedy. A red heifer without spot or blemish, which had never been yoked, was given to Eleazar, taken outside the camp, and killed. Eleazar sprinkled some of its blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.

The whole heifer was burned, and the priest cast cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet into the fire. A clean man gathered the ashes and laid them up outside the camp in a clean place for use in water for cleansing impurity. It is a sin offering. Everyone involved became unclean until evening, a reminder that dealing with sin and death affected even those who served.

Anyone who touched the dead body of a person was unclean seven days. If he would not purify himself, he defiled the tabernacle and was cut off. A clean person dipped hyssop in the water and sprinkled the unclean on the third and seventh days. Hebrews 9:13-14 reasons: if the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the cleanness of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Jesus also conquered death itself.