Numbers 19:6

_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:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

6_And the priest shall take cedar-wood. _That the sprinkling of the blood might be conjoined with that of the water, the cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, thread, with which the sprinkling was wont to be made, were cast into the fire; for, unless the Israelites had been admonished by this visible sign, they would not have so clearly known that they were not only washed with the water, but that by the offering of the sacrifice also their uncleanness was removed. But it was not enough that the blood should be poured forth, unless, as has been already seen, they were purified by its aspersion. But, for as much as the scent of cedar-wood is precious, and in hyssop there is a cleansing property, we gather from hence also that the victim was pure, although it bore their sins together with the curse and expiation. Peter teaches us how we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ, viz., through...

1-10 The heifer was to be wholly burned. This typified the painful sufferings of our Lord Jesus, both in soul and body, as a sacrifice made by fire, to satisfy God's justice for man's sin. These ashes are said to be laid up as a purification for sin, because, though they were only to purify from ceremonial uncleanness, yet they were a type of that purification for sin which our Lord Jesus made by his death. The blood of Christ is laid up for us in the word and sacraments, as a fountain of merit, to which by faith we may have constant recourse, for cleansing our consciences....

Compare Leviticus 14:4 note....

EXPOSITION THE ASHES OF AN HEIFER SPRINKLING THE UNCLEAN (Numbers 19:1). NUMBERS 19:1 AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES AND UNTO AARON. On the addition of the second name see on Numbers 18:1. There is no note of time in connection with this chapter, but internal evidence points strongly to the supposition that it belongs to the early days of wandering after the ban. It belongs to a period when death had resumed his normal, and more than his normal, power over the children of Israel; when, having been for a short time expelled (except in

AND THE PRIEST SHALL TAKE CEDAR WOOD, AND HYSSOP, AND SCARLET,.... Another priest, according to the Targum of Jonathan; but it seems to design Eleazar the priest, and so, in later times, the same priest that burnt the cow took these things; the Jews say h, when he took them he said, is this cedar wood? is this hyssop? is this scarlet? so he said three times for everyone of them, and he was answered, yes, three times to each of them: these were the same that were used at the cleansing of the leper, Leviticus 14:4; AND CAST [IT] INTO THE MIDST OF THE BURNING OF THE HEIFER; these were rolled or bound up together, as the Jews say i, and made one bundle of, that they might the more easily be cast into the fire; the hyssop was wrapped about the cedar wood with the scarlet wool: the true reason of the use of these, Maimonides says k, was never clear to him; but the cedar wood,

Numbers 19:1. _And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,_ This ordinance was not given to Moses on Mount Sinai, but in the wilderness of Paran, after the people had broken their covenant with God, and were condemned to die. You know that the 90 th Psalm that dolorous dirge which we read at funerals, called, «a prayer of Moses the man of God.» Well might he write that Psalm, for he lived among a generation of people who were all doomed to die within a short time, and to die in the wilderness. This ordinance was especially appointed to meet the cases of those who were rendered unclean by the frequent deaths which occurred. There was to be a simple and easy way of purification for them; and the teaching of this chapter to us is that, inasmuch as we dwell in a sinful world, there needs to be some simple and ready method of cleansing us, that we may be able to draw near to G

9. THE RED HEIFER AND THE WATER OF PURIFICATION CHAPTER 19 _ 1. The provision appointed: The red heifer and the ashes (Numbers 19:1)_ 2. The use of the water of purification (Numbers 19:11) This is a most interesting chapter. The ordinance of the red heifer and the water of purification is nowhere mentioned in Leviticus. The day of atonement, so prominent in Leviticus, is not referred to in Numbers at all. The provision of the water of purification is characteristic of the wilderness book. The people were dying by the thousands, and means had to be provided for the cleansing of those who became defiled by contact with the dead. The ashes of the red heifer used in the way as described in this chapter were for the cleansing of the defiled. Without following the details of th

THE PURIFICATION OF THE UNCLEAN THROUGH CONTACT WITH THE DEAD. This was effected by sprinkling the unclean person twice within seven days (Numbers 19:12 _mg._, Numbers 19:19) with running water, the virtue of which had been intensified by various ingredients, viz. the ashes of a red cow, cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet thread. The use of running water in such lustrations was doubtless based on the belief that springs and wells (pp. 100, 216) were the abodes of superhuman powers, and that a Divine quality pertained to water drawn from them, which was capable of neutralising impurity. Amongst the Greeks a vessel of spring water was placed at the door of a house where a death had occurred, for the purification of those who might become contaminated (_cf._ Eurip. _Alc._ 98- 100). But in the rit

_cedar wood, and hyssop_ The former, perhaps, for its durability, the latter for its cleansing qualities. It is doubtful, however, if -hyssop" is the true rendering of the Heb. _"çzôbh_, since the hyssop is not native to Palestine. The -cape" and the -marjoram" have been suggested. In the purification of the leper the same objects are employed, but with a different purpose. The cedar wood and _"çzôbh_, bound together by a scarlet thread, formed an instrument for sprinkling blood upon the recovered leper and his house (Leviticus 14:4; Leviticus 14:6; Leviticus 14:49; Leviticus 14:51). See...