Sin in God’s sight is a far more serious matter than it often appears to man. God views it in the light of His nature, man generally in the light of the consequences to himself. God judges that to be sin which man would often pass over or excuse; hence, whilst sins committed needed a sacrifice to put them away, a sacrifice was required ere a person could be cleansed, who became unclean by defilement from without. This is the characteristic of that special sin-offering set forth in the book of Numbers, chap. 19.
It was an offering for sin, (see vv. 9, 17) yet the one to be sprinkled might have done nothing that he could have avoided, and, indeed, have only acted aright. That, however, was not the question here, and all reasonings on such ground must have been silenced at once, for the Holy One of Israel had spoken to Moses and to Aaron, and communicated this ordinance of the law, that none in Israel, whether of the seed of Jacob, or a stranger that sojourned among them, should defile the tabernacle of the Lord. He who is light was alone competent to say what would defile the sanctuary. Great was the privilege of Israel to have Jehovah’s tabernacle in their midst, but great was the responsibility resting on all within the camp, because that tabernacle was the sanctuary. Defilement permitted in them would have tarnished the purity of the sanctuary, and compromised. the character of Him who was pleased to inhabit it; so, whilst the sin and trespass offerings were needful where sin had been committed, this was absolutely requisite because Jehovah dwelt among them. Thus, in Leviticus we see God providing against the breaking out of sin in those whom He had redeemed out of Egypt, and in Numbers we read of His gracious provision for putting away defilement contracted by contact from without.
In accordance with the laws of the offerings, those for whom the sacrifice was needed brought the victim, “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer, without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.” As the ashes were to be kept for the use of any in the camp who might need the water for separation, none could say (the high priest excepted) he would never require it; so all are concerned in the bringing of the animal.
And here as elsewhere God decides what the animal should be, for it is His holiness that has to be thought of and maintained. Unmixed in color, unblemished in person, unbroken by the yoke so as to be subservient to man’s bidding, such are the characteristics to be sought for and found in the victim God could accept, conditions answering to Him who unvaryingly did His Father’s will, in whom is no sin, d who, as the faithful and true witness, suffered death the hand of His creatures.
The heifer was brought to Eleazar, not to Aaron. The High Priest could not defile himself for the dead, though the priests could for those of their family (Lev. 21:2,112But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother, (Leviticus 21:2)
11Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother; (Leviticus 21:11)). Eleazar, therefore, officiates here, and is found with the heifer outside the camp. Slain by someone (not by the priest), the priestly work of sprinkling the blood began, after which the whole animal—its flesh, blood, skin, and dung, were set fire to before his eyes. Again the priest came forward, and cast cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet into the, midst of the burning of the heifer. Having sprinkled of the blood seven times towards the face of the tabernacle of the congregation, and, having cast into the fire the symbols of nature and worldly glory to be consumed with the heifer, his part in the work of preparing the ashes was done. Another person had already set fire to the animal, whilst a third collected the ashes, and laid them up without the camp in a clean place, to be mixed with water for use as often as occasion required.
Very simple was the rite, but very telling. In common with other sacrifices of the Mosaic ritual the blood had a prominent place; but, differing from all other offerings, the blood of the heifer was sprinkled towards the front of? the tabernacle of the congregation. It did not reach the altar, for it was sprinkled outside the camp, though in the direction of the entrance to the tabernacle of the congregation. In common with the offerings at the cleansing of the leper we have mention of cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, but then they were dipped in the blood of the bird that was slain, here they were consumed with the animal itself. Like the sin-offering, whose blood was brought inside the sanctuary, the heifer was burnt outside the camp; but then the inwards were burnt on the altar, here they were consumed with the vest of the heifer, for it was not an act of sin, done even in ignorance, with which the perfect obedience of the Lord was contrasted, which was here to be set forth in its true character, but the terrible nature of sin so contrary to the nature of God. And, as in the day of atonement, the priest had to wash his flesh in water after he had concluded the special rites of that day; and the man who burnt the sin-offering, and he that let the scapegoat away, had both to wash their clothes in water, and bathe themselves, and after that re-enter the camp; so, the priest who sprinkled the blood of the red heifer, and the man who burnt her carcass, as well as he who gathered up the ashes, had to wash their clothes in water, and the two first to bathe their flesh as well; but, differing from the special ordinance of the day of atonement, all those who were concerned with the preparation of the ashes of the red heifer were unclean until the evening. How all this tells of the holiness of God, and the character of sin in His eyes.
An offering for purification for sin as this was, all the rites connected with it took place outside the camp, inside of which was God’s dwelling-place on earth. Without the camp was the leper’s place till healed in the goodness of, God. Without the camp every one that had any issue, and all that were defiled by the dead, both male and female, were to be put in accordance with God’s command (Num. 5:22Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: (Numbers 5:2)). So here, to mark what sin is in God’s sight, without the camp was the heifer killed, and without the camp were the ashes kept. Holy was the sacrifice, else it could not have been a sacrifice fitted for His acceptance; clean were the ashes, and they were to be kept in a clean place, for both the heifer and the ashes spoke of One in whom is no sin; the heifer of Him who offered up Himself, the ashes of the fiery judgment of God He has endured; but, as connected with sin in any way, God would mark by the words “without the camp” what sin really is in the eyes of the High and Holy One, and those concerned with the preparation of the ashes had themselves to acknowledge it. Ceremonially clean when they began their work, they were ceremonially unclean when they had properly done it.
(To be continued, D. V.)