Numbers 19:1-22

The Old Testament Book of Numbers

In the Desert

Numbers

Marion Adams

Chapter 19

The ceremony to make a person *clean – Numbers 19:1-10

v1 The *LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron. v2 He gave a law to them. He said, ‘Tell the *Israelites to bring to you a young red cow. It must not have anything wrong with it. People must have never used it to plough.

v3 You must give the cow to Eleazar the priest. Then, people must take the cow outside the camp. Eleazar must watch while they kill it. v4 Then Eleazar the priest must put his finger into the cow’s blood. He must splash some of this blood 7 times towards the front of *God’s Tent. v5 He must watch while people burn the whole cow. They must burn its body with the skin, meat, blood and everything inside its body.

v6 Then the priest must take some cedar wood, a branch of hyssop and some red wool. (Cedar is a type of tree and hyssop is a type of plant.) He must throw these things into the fire when the cow is burning. v7 After this, the priest must wash his clothes and he must bathe his body with water. Then he can enter the camp. But he will remain *unclean until evening. v8 Also, the man who burns the cow must wash his clothes. He must bathe his body in water. He will remain *unclean until evening, too.

v9 A man who is *clean must collect the cow’s ashes. He must put the ashes in a *clean place, outside the camp. The *Israelites will keep these ashes, so that they can mix the ashes with water. Then they will use this water in the ceremony to remove *sin. v10 The man who collects the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes. He will remain *unclean until evening. The *Israelites and the foreigners who live among them must obey this law always.’

In *Jewish *Law, *sin could be *unintentional, *intentional or *defiant. For example, a person could become *unclean in many ways (see Leviticus Chapter s 11 to 15). It was impossible to avoid this in daily life. So this *sin was *unintentional. But, because the first man Adam *sinned, his punishment was death. And Adam was every person’s *ancestor, so his punishment affected every person. Therefore, a person who became *unclean had to make themselves *clean by means of a special ceremony and a *sacrifice.

*Intentional *sins were *sins that people did on purpose. For example, to kill someone was an *intentional *sin. The person knew that it was wrong. A person had to ask God to forgive them. There was no *sacrifice for this type of *sin.

*Defiant *sin was *blasphemy. God could not forgive that person because they did not *repent. The punishment was death.

It is easy to understand why *intentional and *defiant *sins are wrong. God’s 10 rules are about these types of *sin (Exodus 20:1-17). They are commands that are for all people at all times. But *unintentional *sins are more difficult to understand. God gave rules about such *sin, but the rules did not have a natural explanation. They were for the *Jews only.

To touch a dead body was an *unintentional *sin. People who had touched a dead body had to make themselves *clean. This chapter describes what they had to do.

Verses 1-10 The first part of the chapter describes the first part of the ceremony. It was not a *sacrifice. Here are some of the differences between this ceremony and a *sacrifice:

1. This animal was female.

2. People killed it outside the camp. It was not like a *sacrifice that people killed in front of *God’s Tent. The *Hebrew word for ‘kill’ (verse 3) did not mean ‘to *sacrifice’.

3. An ordinary person, not a priest, killed the animal.

4. People did not collect the blood and pour it on the *altar. Instead, the people burned the blood with the rest of the cow’s body. The *Hebrew word for ‘burn’ (verse 5) was not the same word that people used about *sacrifices.

The priest put cedar wood, hyssop and red wool into the fire. They offered them to God. Cedar is a type of tree and hyssop is a type of plant. People used these things to make people and houses *clean (Leviticus 14:1-7 and 14:48-53).

This ceremony was very important. So the priest and his helper had to wash themselves afterwards. Also, they had to wash their clothes. The *Hebrew word for ‘wash clothes’ (verses 7, 8 and 10) meant also ‘wash away *sins from oneself’ in Psalms 51:2 and Jeremiah 2:22.

Someone put the ashes outside the camp. The ashes were ready then for the *Israelites to mix with water. They used the ashes for the ceremony that God described to Moses next (verses 11-22).

What people must do after they have touched a dead body – Numbers 19:11-22

v11 ‘Any person who touches a dead body will be *unclean for 7 days. v12 That person must wash with the special water that people have mixed with the red cow’s ashes. That person must wash on the third (3^rd) day and again on the seventh (7^th) day. Then, that person will be *clean. Otherwise, that person will not be *clean.

v13 So a person who touches a dead body must wash with the water and ashes. If that person refuses to do this, he or she makes *God’s Tent *unclean. He or she is guilty of this. Therefore he or she will not be one of my people, the *Israelites, any longer.

v14 A person may be in a tent when someone dies there. That person will be *unclean for 7 days. Anyone who enters the tent will be *unclean too. v15 Any open pot in the tent is *unclean also.

v16 Outdoors, a person might have died because someone killed him or her. Anyone who touches that person’s dead body will be *unclean for 7 days. Or a person might have died because of natural causes. Anyone who touches that person’s dead body will be *unclean for 7 days. Also, anyone who touches a human bone or a grave will be *unclean for 7 days.

v17-18 People who have touched dead bodies must make themselves *clean in this way. Take some ashes from the cow that you burned. Put these ashes into a pot and mix them with fresh water. A *clean person must take a branch of hyssop (a type of plant). That person must put the end of the branch in the water and ashes. He must splash this water over the tent and everything that is in it. He must splash this water over everyone who was inside the tent. He must splash this water over anyone who has touched a human bone, a grave or a dead body. v19 This must happen on the third (3^rd) day and the seventh (7^th) day after the person touched it. Then that person will be *clean. Afterwards, the person must bathe and wash his clothes. In the evening, that person becomes *clean.

v20 If an *unclean person refuses to become *clean in this way, he makes *God’s Tent *unclean. That person is guilty because he has made it *unclean. Therefore, he will not be one of the *Israelites any longer.

v21 These laws will never change. The person who splashes the water and ashes on the *unclean person must wash his clothes also. Whoever touches this water is *unclean until evening.

v22 Anything that an *unclean person touches becomes *unclean, too. And anyone who touches that *unclean thing becomes *unclean too, until evening.’

Verses 11-22 The first part of chapter 19 gives instructions about how to prepare special water and ashes. If a person touched a dead body, they became *unclean. Of course, the *Israelites had to touch dead bodies. There were thousands of people in the camp, including both young and old people.

But anyone who touched a dead body had to follow these instructions. It was a very serious matter if anyone refused to do this. That person was *unclean. Anything that an *unclean person touched became *unclean, too. Therefore that person made the camp *unclean. So if the person refused to follow the instructions, he or she could not remain with the other *Israelites. The punishment might be death. Or it might be that the person had to leave the *Israelites permanently.

Also, these instructions were for people who had been in a tent with a dead body. People who had touched a human bone or a grave had to follow these instructions, too. Even the person who had splashed water on the *unclean person became *unclean. That person had to wash his or her clothes also. Afterwards, that person had to wait until evening to be *clean.

We do not have to wash in a special way in order to come near to God. After Jesus died as a *sacrifice on our behalf, these instructions were not necessary any longer. His blood makes us *clean inside our hearts and our spirits. But we must *believe in Jesus as our *Lord. We must believe that he died on our behalf. We must be sorry for our *sins. We must not want to *sin again. And we must invite Jesus into our lives.

clean ~ in the Jewish religion, this means something or someone that God accepts. People had to be clean in order to approach *God’s Tent. People had to be clean to be in the Israelites’ camp. There is no human way to explain what was clean or unclean. We know only because God has shown us, in the Bible.

Jewish ~ the word that describes a *Jew or anything that belongs to the *Jews.

Israel ~ the Israelites and their nation.

unclean ~ in the Jewish religion, an unclean person could not go near to *God’s Tent or into the Israelites’ camp, depending on the type of uncleanness. There is no human way to explain what was clean or unclean. We know only because God has shown us, in the Bible.

uncleanness ~ the state of something that is unclean.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. In Hebrew, it is Yahweh. This name means something like ‘I am’ or ‘always alive’.

Lord ~ one who rules. God is the Lord who rules everyone.

Hebrew ~ the language of the *Jews.
Israel ~ the Israelites and their nation.
unclean ~ in the Jewish religion, an unclean person could not go near to *God’s Tent or into the Israelites’ camp, depending on the type of uncleanness. There is no human way to explain what was clean or unclean. We know only because God has shown us, in the Bible.

Jewish ~ the word that describes a *Jew or anything that belongs to the *Jews.

Israel ~ the Israelites and their nation.

uncleanness ~ the state of something that is unclean.

clean ~ in the Jewish religion, this means something or someone that God accepts. People had to be clean in order to approach *God’s Tent. People had to be clean to be in the Israelites’ camp. There is no human way to explain what was clean or unclean. We know only because God has shown us, in the Bible.
sin ~ the nature of all people since Adam chose not to obey God. People’s lives are not acceptable to God because of sin. ‘Sins’ are states, attitudes and acts that are not acceptable to God. A person sins whenever that person is guilty of a sin.
Jewish ~ the word that describes a *Jew or anything that belongs to the *Jews.
Law ~ the rules that God gave to Moses for the *Jews.
unintentional ~ when someone does something by accident, this is unintentional. They do not realise whether they are doing something wrong.
intentional ~ when someone does something on purpose, this is intentional. They know what they are doing. And they mean to do it.
ancestor ~ a previous member of a family, especially someone who was important during a past century.
intentional ~ when someone does something on purpose, this is intentional. They know what they are doing. And they mean to do it.
blasphemy ~ an insult against God.
repent ~ to decide not to do bad things that you did before. To decide to do what God wants.
Hebrew ~ the language of the *Jews.
altar ~ a special table where the priests burned animals or other gifts as a *sacrifice to God (or, to a false god).
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. In Hebrew, it is Yahweh. This name means something like ‘I am’ or ‘always alive’.

Lord ~ one who rules. God is the Lord who rules everyone.

Hebrew ~ the language of the *Jews.