Page 92 - Pentateuch

The provision of the ashes of a red heifer is remarkable. In all
other sacrifices, the sin is committed first, and the sacrifice
follows. Here, the sacrifice is made first to provide for later sin.
“It is as though the pollution is transmitted back through time
and space to the cow’s incineration, where the evil is destroyed.
As with the disposal of the purification offering carcasses on the
Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:27-28), incineration of the cow takes
place outside the camp. It destroys a ritual “sponge” that is
polluted because part of the same animal is applied in liquid
form (blood/ash/water) to something/someone to remove
contamination, and one or more persons who participate in the
burning are rendered impure.” 107

The Israelites are learning spiritual lessons. Cleansing moves Fig. 67: Qalal urn used to store ashes
through time. Cleansing moves through space. Someone not
yet born might be cleansed by the premature death of a heifer. A sacrifice outside the camp could affect
cleansing inside the camp. In addition, the nation was learning about the need to apply the remedy
personally. An unclean person had to be sprinkled. The altar was not sprinkled. The person was.

Let’s Practice…

1. Give an example of a man named after God and tell what his name means.

2. What tribe was camped closest to the tabernacle?

3. How many fighting men were in Israel? How many Israelites were there altogether?

4. What is the name of the special vow a person could make?

5. How did Israel know it was time to move from one place to another?

6. When the people complained about the manna, what did God give them?

7. What happened to Miriam when she questioned Moses’ authority?

8. What happened to Israel when they refused to enter the Promised Land?

9. What happened to Korah and his friends for questioning Moses’s authority?

107 Gane, Leviticus, Numbers, 663.
90