Numbers 19

AND the LORD spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying,

This is the ordinance of the law Or, The constitution of the Law, i. e. that which God has ordained or established by Law. which the LORD has commanded, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee At their common charge, because it was for the common good. a red A fit colour to shadow forth both the bloody nature and complexion of sin, Isa. 1. 8. and the humane nature, and especially the Blood of Christ, from which this water and all other Rites had their purifying virtue. heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish A fit Type of Christ, who was such, Heb. 7. 26. 1 P... t. 1. 19. and upon which never came yoke Whereby may be signified either that Christ in himself was free from all the yoke or obligation of Gods 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 he did voluntarily choose it. See Iohn 1.... 17, 18..

And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest Who was the second Priest, and, in some cases, the Vicegerent or Deputy of the High-priest. To him, not to, because this service made him unclean for a season, v... r. 7. and consequently unfit for Ministrations, whereas the Highpriest was, as far as he could to be preserved from all sorts of defilement, and constantly fit for his high and holy work., that he may bring her forth without the camp Partly because it was rep... ted an unclean and accursed thing, being ceremoniously laden with the sins of all the people, and partly to signifie that Christ should suffer without the Camp, as he did, Heb. 13. 12. in the place where malefactours suffered, Levit. 24. 14, and one A person appointed by Eleazar for this work. shall slay her before his face.

And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his singer, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle Or, Towards or over against the Tabernacle. either 1. Near to it, and so we must suppose that he took some of the blood in a basin and carried it from without the camp to the Tabernacle, and then returned to this place again: Which might be done though it be not here expressed. And this seems to agree best with other places, where this sprinkling seven times was performed in or near the Tabernacle, as Lev. 4. 17. Or 2. Standing at a good distance from it, even without the camp, yet turning and looking towards it. For here is no intimation that he went into the camp before this work was done, but rather the contrary is implyed, ver. 7. And because being defiled by this work he could not come near to the Tabernacle, it was sufficient for him to turn and look towards it. Either way this posture signified his presenting of this blood before the Lord by way of atonement and satisfaction for his and the peoples sins, and his expectation acceptance and pardon only from God and from his mercy-seat in the Tabernacle. of the congregation seven times.

And one shall burn the heifer To signifie the sharp and grievous sufferings of Christ for our sins. in his sight: her skin, and her flesh, and her blood All of it, but what was spent in sprinkling., with her dung, shall he burn.

And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet All which are here burnt and as it were offered to God, that they might be sanctified to this holy use for the future, for of these kinds of things was the sprinkle made wherewith the unclean were sprinkled, Levit. 14. 4., and cast it into the midst 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 even Partly to teach us the imperfection of the Levitical Priesthood, in which the Priest himself was defiled by some parts of his work, and the absolute necessity of a better and hosier Priesthood; and partly to show that Christ himself, though he had no sin of his own, yet was reputed by men and iudged by God, as an unclean and sinful person, by reason of our sins which were laid upon him,. 53. 12. 2 Cor. 5. 21..

And he that burneth her, shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.

And 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 (i. e.) For their use, and therefore in a fit place or places, whence any of them might easily procure it., for a water Or, To the water, i. e. to be put to the water, or mixed with it. of separation i. e. Appointed for the cleansing of them that are in a state of separation, who for their uncleanness are separated from the congregation.: it Either the Heifer this managed, or the water thus made and sprinkled. is a purification for sin Heb. A sin. i. e. a kind of an offering for sin, or rather a mean for the expiation or cleansing of sin. The name of sin is sometimes given to the punishment of sin, and sometimes to sacrifice or offering for sin..

And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer, shall wash his clothes, and be unclean untill the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them To wit, a Proselyte, not any stranger, as some understand it. For since it is confessed all the other ceremonial Laws do not oblige them, and that where the name of stranger is put as here it is, it generally speaks of a Proselyte, it is more reasonable to take it so here, than without any reason or evidence to make this a particular exception from the general rule. for a statute for ever.

He that toucheth the dead body of any man, shall be unclean seven days Whereas the touch of a dead beast made a man unclean only till even, Levit. 11. 24..

He shall purifie himself with it (i. e.) With the water of separation. on the third day To Typifie Christs resurrection on that day, by which we are cleansed or sanctified., and on the seventh day he shall be clean To teach us, that our purification in this life is gradual, and not perfect till we come to that eternal Sabbath which the seventh day respected.: but if he purifie not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean But was first to purifie himself and four days after that to be clean..

Whosoever toucheth To wit, if this transgression be done presumptuously, for if it was done ignorantly, he was only to offer sacrifice, Levit. 5. 3, 6, 17. the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself To wit, if this transgression be done presumptuously, for if it was done ignorantly, he was only to offer sacrifice, Levit. 5. 3, 6, 17., defileth the tabernacle of the LORD By approaching to it in his uncleanness: for Holy things or places were ceremonially defiled with the touch of any unclean person or thing. See Levit. 15. 31. and 16. 16. Hagg. 2. 13., 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 He continues in his guilt and filth, not now to be washed away by this water, but to be punished by cutting off..

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.

And every open vessel Because it receives the air of the tent, by which it is ceremonially polluted. Compare Levit. 11. 32, 33., which has no covering bound upon it, is unclean.

And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword Or by any other violent way. in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

And for an unclean person, they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water (i. e.) Waters flowing from a spring or River, which are the purest. These manifestly signifie Gods Spirit, which is oft compared to water, Ioh. 7. 38, 39. and by which alone true purification is obtained. shall be put thereto in a vessel Where they were to be mixed, and then the water was to be strained out and kept for this use..

And a clean person To wit, a Priest; for to such the work of cleansing was appropriated. See Levit. 13. shall take hysop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels Even those who were in part purified by the fire. See Numb. 31. 23., and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave.

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 purifie himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.

But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purifie himself (i. e.) Shall contemptuously refuse to submit to this way of purification., that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation: because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD, the water of separation has not been sprinkled upon him, he is unclean.

And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes Because he is unclean, as it here follows. It is strange, that the same water should cleanse one person, and defile another, but God would have it so, partly to teach us that it did not cleanse by any virtue in it or in the work done, but only by virtue of Gods appointment: partly to mind the Jews of the imperfection of their Priesthood and their ritual purifications and expiations, and consequently of the necessity of a better Priest and sacrifice and way of purifying, which these outward Rites did point at: and partly to show that the efficacy of Gods ordinances does not depend upon the person or quality of his Ministers, because the same person who was polluted himself could and did cleanse others.: and he that toucheth the water of separation Either by sprinkling of it, or by being sprinkled with it, for even he that was cleansed by it, was not fully cleansed as soon as he was sprinkled, but only at the even of that day, as is said here and above, ver. 19., shall be unclean until even.

And whatsoever the unclean person Not he who is so only by touching the water of separation, ver. 21. but he who is so by the greater sort of uncleanness, which lasted seven days, of which ver. 11, 16. and which was not removed without the use of this water of purification, as is manifest from the context and other places of Scripture, and from the nature of the thing: For the lesser sort of uncleanness, mentioned in the foregoing verse, lasted only till even, and was cleansed by the sole washing of his clothes and flesh in water, ver. 7. without any use of this water of purification, which, if it had been necessary, must have been used on the third, and on the seventh day, according to the rule, ver. 12, 19. and so the uncleanness of one day had been made an uncleanness of seven days, which is a contradiction. Besides it is unreasonable, that he who immediately touched the defiling thing should be no more and longer unclean, than he who touched that person only; and it is contrary to other rules in like cases, as Levit. 15. where the Man or Woman having an issue are thereby made unclean for seven days, ver. 13, 28. but he who toucheth them is made unclean only till even, ver. 7, 27. And therefore this cannot be meant of him who was unclean by touching this water, who himself was unclean only till even, ver. 21. as also he who toucheth him is in this place. toucheth, shall be unclean: and the soul that toucheth it, shall be unclean To signifie to us, the very infectious nature of sin and of sinfull company. until even Because as his defilement was less, so it was fit the duration of it should be shorter..