Have you ever felt like echoing the Israelites by crying out, "Oh Lord, how much longer . . . ?"

Numbers Chapter 21: Victories, More Complaints, God’s Judgment with Serpents, the Bronze Serpent, and Journey to Moab

Numbers 21:1-35

Day 74. Violent protests last night all over America; quieter ones also in Toronto and London. About six years ago someone predicted that what the ruling class needs next were curfews and quarantine. Well, now they have both. What remains to be seen is how the authorities react. Things are very tense. Will America even be able to have its next election without first going through some form of mass civil unrest, if not another civil war. Some have been predicting that as well. I’m so glad I’m a believer in God Almighty. He’s got this. And His record is great as we find out again from our study in Numbers. Read on.

The Passage

Verses 1-3 describe a battle with the king of Arad that took some of the Israelites captive. The people then promised God that if He would deliver them into their hand, they would destroy them. And God delivered the Canaanites to them, and the Israelites utterly destroyed them and their cities. And they called the place Hormah.

Verses 4-5 describe how Israel travelled from Mount Hor, via the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. This journey caused the people to be very impatient. They spoke against God and Moses again, with the usual complaints.

Verse 6-9 describe how God sent fiery serpents to bite the people to the point where many died. The people then run to Moses again, indicate their remorse for sinning, and asking him to intercede for them so that God would remove the serpents. Moses did, and God instructed him to make a serpent, set it on a standard. When the Israelites that were bitten looked at it, they would live. Moses did just that using bronze, and God kept His word.

Verses 10-20 describe how the Israelites moved on to Oboth and then to Iye-abarim, in the wilderness opposite Moab. From there to Wadi Zered, then the other side of the Arnon (near the border of the Amorites and the border of Moab. In verse 14, we have a quote from the Book of the Wars of the Lord which also describes their route. And then they move to Beer where God give the people water, and Israel sang a song as recorded in verses 17-18. From there to Mattanah, on to Nahaliel, then Bamoth, and then the valley that is the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah which overlooks the wasteland.

Verses 21-35 describe more victories over kings they had to encounter on the way. First Sihon, king of the Amorites who refused them and actually went out to battle with them, only to lose to the Israelites who took possession of his lands and lived in the various cities. And this included Heshbon which Sihon had taken from the king of the Amorites.

Verses 27-30 quote the account of that as given in the prophets in verse 15, then later in Numbers 32:3,24; Jeremiah 48:18, 22, & 46; and Isaiah 16:2.

Verse 31-35 tell us Israel continued to live in the land of the Amorites; Moses sent spies to Jazer which they conquered; and then they went via Bashan where Og the king of Bashan was preparing to battle with them at Edrei. God tells Moses not to fear him and that He had given these enemies into their hands as well. And so it happened that they killed them all and possessed that land too. 

Thoughts on the Passage

It appears that the Israelites never really learned. No wonder God found ways to eliminate more and more of them along the way as He had promised none of the originals who left Egypt would see the promised land.

Chuck Smith says that there are two types of people – ones that can easily find something to complain about in every aspect of their lives; and ones that can easily find something to be thankful about in every aspect of their lives. We know what the Israelites were. We know what kind of people God wants. The only left to ask ourselves is “What kind of person am I?”

We know that the children of Israel were tired; they had been travelling in the desert for over 37 years by now. Getting frustrated would be understandable – it was such a long time. Some Christians today, you may be one of them, can rightfully say with the Israelites, “How long oh Lord will I need to put up with this pain or this hurt or this situation?” There’s no doubt about it – you are in a difficult space. And many of us may have been there or will be there one day. I need us to see that God has not changed. He will still answer our prayers. And He will still deal with our sins as we utter those complaints. But as we see in the next few verses, He will provide a way out if we’re willing to keep on trusting Him.

And thus, in this chapter we have the great story of God sending fiery serpents to bite and kill the Israelites. [First note that they were sent by God – sometimes we forget that God can send challenges and tests our way.  And fiery because they may have been a red color or because their bite produced a burning sensation. If Isaiah 14:29 is relating this event here in Numbers, then we could also assume that these fiery serpents were also the flying type.] But God also provides a way for them to be saved. We will note that in verse 7, the people actually wanted Moses to pray and ask God to “remove the serpents” from them. But God did not. Sometimes, God does not solve our problems our way – just ask the Apostle Paul and his thorn in the flesh.

Now, I have to admit I find this account most interesting as it relates, or compares, to what Christ has done for us. It is a foreshadowing of that. (Many seem to think it is indeed an image of how Christ can save us.) If that is the case, notice two things here: First, God does not, to my knowledge, eliminate the fiery serpents. Instead, He has Moses build a bronze serpent and put it on a standard or staff to which the people can look at and be saved. To me, this says God does not always eliminate our problems (those serpents were still around) but He provides a way out for us, a way of safety and security. Second, please notice the people actually had to do something to be saved – they had to look up at the bronze serpent. I’ll say no more, but I think when we argue about man’s role in salvation and call it absolutely ‘nothing’, we are quibbling over ideas such as whether actually “accepting the gift of salvation” is doing something or it’s not doing something. Who really cares except those two factions that like to argue over everything? Salvation, is indeed, a free gift of God, but its effect as a gift becomes operable when I accept it. We can choose to live or to die. If the Israelites wanted to live, they had to look up. They had to do something. [It’s like a proposal for marriage – the power of that proposal can change one’s life, but only if it is accepted. Enough said here.]

The other thing we note about this event is that Jesus refers to it in John 3:14-15 where His words clearly make the story a foreshadowing of His own sacrifice. This symbol is also the source for the ancient figure of healing and medicine that we still see today. And by the way, David Guzik tells us that Charles Spurgeon was so impacted by this story in Numbers, that he used this symbol for all his publications. Unfortunately, later on, in 2 Kings 18:4 during Hezekiah’s reign we see this symbol being made into an idol that had to be destroyed.

In verse 14 we have reference to some writing referred to as The Book of the Wars of the Lord. This is ancient literature lost to history, but it is not a missing part of the Bible just as the reference quoted by Paul in Acts 17:28 from a pagan poet does not make it a missing part of the Bible.

The song recorded in verses 17 and 18 are passages of poetry which Guzik says, “are meant to show what a mighty people the Amorites were, and in contrast, how glorious Israel's victory over them was.

The rest of the chapter mainly deals with various battles that the Israelites are engaged in and their victories over their enemies. All with God’s enabling. It’s one thing for us to simply review this chapter and skim over all the historical events of battle; it’s another thing to have lived through them all and died in one of them. Can you imagine how those left behind felt? Was their future to be like that of their parents and grandparents?

Guzik ends his thoughts on this chapter as follows:

“The new generation of the children of Israel are making wonderful progress to the Promised Land, and experiencing victory after victory. Yet their challenges are not over, as the subsequent chapters will show.” Stick with us.

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Christian, Misrepresent God at Your Own Peril and Lose Your Dream.

Numbers Chapter 20: A Big Chapter in which Miriam & Aaron Die; Israel & Moses Sin; God Commands; and Edom Refuses Passage to the Israelites

Numbers 20:1-29

Day 73. Minneapolis is “burning”, and a police officer was charged with 3^rd degree murder and manslaughter. Murder is either first degree or second degree, except in three states (Florida, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota). There were violent riots last night in Atlanta, New York, Washington, and Minneapolis. The world is no longer a safe place. Racism is still rampant. Love is still missing big time. I can’t speak for others, but I feel the church is silent. It was, for all intent and purposes, silent as Hitler was implementing his “final solution”.  The Church of Jesus Christ has the only true “final solution” that works for mankind and it needs to take bigger risks to share it these days. I recently was asked on social media if I was prepared to actually admit that I “talk with God daily, etc.” I said “yes, I do” and the person proceeded to ridicule me. That’s okay. But the message got out there. Franklin Graham of the Billy Graham Association is using this Covid-19 experience as an opportunity to share the Gospel – clearly and simply.  I congratulate him. We need to put our money where our mouths are. Let’s be a blessing to someone today.

On a positive note, today NASA/SPACEX (the latter being owned by Elon Musk who owns brought us Tesla cars) has successfully launched American astronauts into space again, after nearly one whole decade. We wish them godspeed.

Thank you for joining us in our study of Numbers. Chapter 20 is a chapter with lots of events. Read on.

The Passage

20 Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.

² There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. ³ The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴ Why then have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die ^[a]here?⁵ Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of ^[b]grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.”⁶ Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to them;

⁷ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸ “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.”

⁹ So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; ¹⁰ and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. ¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”¹³ Those were the waters of ^[c]Meribah, ^[d]because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.

¹⁴ From Kadesh Moses then sent messengers to the king of Edom: “Thus your brother Israel has said, ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us; ¹⁵ that our fathers went down to Egypt, and we stayed in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly. ¹⁶ But when we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out from Egypt; now behold, we are at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the king’s highway, not turning to the right or left, until we pass through your territory.’” ¹⁸ Edom, however, said to him, “You shall not pass through ^[e]us, or I will come out with the sword against you.” ¹⁹ Again, the sons of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if I and my livestock do drink any of your water, then I will ^[f]pay its price. Let me only pass through on my feet, ^[g]nothing else.” ²⁰ But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against him with a heavy ^[h]force and with a strong hand.²¹ Thus Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.

²² Now when they set out from Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. ²³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, ²⁴ “Aaron will be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My ^[i]command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up to Mount Hor; ²⁶ and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be gathered to his people, and will die there.” ²⁷ So Moses did just as the Lord had commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ²⁸ After Moses had stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.²⁹ When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Footnotes

1. Numbers 20:4 Lit there
2. Numbers 20:5 Lit seed
3. Numbers 20:13 I.e. contention
4. Numbers 20:13 Or where
5. Numbers 20:18 Lit me
6. Numbers 20:19 Lit give
7. Numbers 20:19 Or no great thing
8. Numbers 20:20 Lit people
9. Numbers 20:24 Lit mouth

Thoughts on the Passage

A packed chapter indeed. Verse 1 tells us where they are and when they got there and simply that Moses’ sister, Miriam, died there. Miriam was the first of the three siblings to die (Aaron and Moses were to follow). This was in keeping with God’s promise that none of the original generation of those who left Egypt, save Joshua and Caleb, would enter the promised land.

In verses 2-6, we find out that the people grumble again, this time for water. They approach Moses and ask the same questions, “why, why, why”. And of course, Moses and Aaron go towards the doorway of the tent of meeting, fall on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appears to them and God speaks to Moses. He instructs Moses on how to deal with the situation. Let’s look at the instructions carefully because this event is a lead-up to the most critical or key verse of the entire book of Numbers.

David Guzik says the need was real, but the reaction of Israel smacked of unbelief and a bad attitude. Sometimes, as we all know, we overact to what we think is a pressing need in our lives rather than to take the matter to God.

God says: i) take the rod; ii) you and Aaron assemble the congregation; and iii) speak to the rock before their eyes, so that it would yield water. Simple. Three requests. Nothing else was needed. The rod that Moses was to take, according to Robert Jamieson, was the one that had been deposited in the tabernacle as we are told in Numbers 17:10. It was the rod of Aaron. There was no request to ‘use’ the rod to strike the rock as God had instructed Moses to do back in Mount Sinai when there was a similar need. Just talking to the rock this time would produce the water needed and the congregation and their animals would have their thirst satisfied. But what happened?

Moses i) takes the rod (so far, so good); ii) Moses and Aaron gather the assembly before the rock (even better); and iii) – oh oh, Moses doesn’t speak to the rock! He speaks to the people (verse 10) and he calls them rebels. He asks them if he and Aaron were to give them water out of the rock. And then, only then, does Moses strike the rock twice without speaking to it. The water gushes forth and the people and their animals drink as much as they want.

What was Moses guilty of from a human perspective? First, he added his own approach to the process that God had given him to deal with the situation. Second, he chided the people and was angry at them. His emotions or attitude took over his heart. And finally, as Guzik says, he over-magnified his part or potential part in the solution – “shall we give you water?” Who’s “we” Moses?  You can’t do anything. Did you forget that?  That’s our lesson here. When God wants us to do something – stick to what He tells us to do and we must not exaggerate in our minds or with our words, our role in that. And then he strikes the rock not once, as if he were a magician, but twice, out of shear anger and frustration.

We need to note how gracious God was to the Israelites. Even though Moses didn’t follow the instructions, God didn’t deny His people what they needed. The thought that comes to mind is how we often see God taking care of His people in local church when their leaders are not following God’s exact instructions. God loves us and He will take care of us regardless of leadership. And then He will deal with the leadership.

And the God speaks to Moses and Aaron, and here comes the most critical or key verse in the whole book, verse 12, “Because you guys did not believe me and you did not treat Me as holy in the sight of the people, you both will not have the privilege of leading them to the promised land.”  The rock did not need to be struck; it only needed to be spoken to. Come on, God. We’re talking about Moses and Aaron here. These are you chosen servants.  They have gone through so much in obedience to you. One little mistake and that’s it, they’re out?  That’s it, they are out. And not only that, they, or at least Moses, still has a lot of work to do for God. No exceptions, not even for Moses.

We have to understand what God was upset about here. It was the fact that He was misrepresented to the people by Moses and Aaron. He says, “because you did not believe me.” Because God said that, we can know that Moses did in fact have a problem at that very moment with his belief in God being able to deliver the water by Moses simply speaking to the rock. And as a result, Moses lost out on his life’s dream – the promised land. The lesson? Don’t ever misrepresent God. Don’t ever doubt God. Don’t stop believing in what God tells you directly. Leaders, pastors, elders, deacons, church staff take note – don’t ever do that. And that goes for the rest of us, too.

Now, here’s the comparison to Christ the Rock. In order for Christ to accomplish His work for the Father, He only needed to be struck once – to be crucified. He did not need, in order to save us all from sin, to be struck twice. Guzik says Moses in striking the rock twice, “defaced a beautiful picture of Jesus' redemptive work through the rock which provided water in the wilderness”.

Verses 14-21 relate the account of Moses sending messengers to the king of Edom requesting permission to pass through his land on their journey. Notice these messengers referred to themselves, to Israel, as “Edom’s brother”. Guzik says, “The nation of Israel was brother to the nation of Edom, because the patriarch Israel (also known as Jacob) was brother to Esau (also known as Edom), as related in Genesis 25:19-34.

They give him the story about all the hardships they’ve been through and that they will not harm their land at all. The king of Edom says no, and if they try anyway, he would go after them in battle. They tried again asking if they could even just go by one highway and again, he said no, at which point the Israelites turned to travel away from Edom’s territory and they got to Mount Hor (verse 22). The refusal was truly unnecessary. It would have cost Edom nothing to agree. But what was the lesson for the Israelites? It was the same as it is for us today: when people do not support our work or cause and set up barriers for our service to God, leave them to God and don’t try to avenge their actions. In my own life, I’ve seen God take care of those kind of uncooperative sorts appropriately soon after their refusal to help.

God once again speaks to Moses and Aaron. This is important because now God is telling them that it is time for Aaron to die because they both rebelled against God at Meribah (where the water miracle took place). And Moses was to take Aaron and his son Eleazar up to Mount Hor. God uses the phrase “bring them up” so we could assume that He was going to be there as well. Moses was to strip Aaron of this high priestly garments and put them on Eleazar. And then Aaron was to die there. And that’s exactly what happened. Then Moses, after supposedly burying Aaron (we don’t know for sure), along with Eleazar went back down.  The whole congregation connected the dots and realized that Aaron had died, and they all wept and mourned for 30 days.

Several things to note here. Aaron’s death had been announced prior to the trip up Mount Hor. So, there was time for an orderly and appropriate transition from Israel’s first High Priest to their second. Also, we must remember that as good as Aaron was, he was also involved negatively in the whole situation with the Golden Calf. He, like sister Miriam, and later Moses, could be said to have had a mixed record in serving God. What’s the lesson? Guzik suggests that many times the office and the work is more important than the man (or woman) carrying it out. [I can’t but think of how so many Christians today complain about the personal sins of a president but fail to see what that president may be doing that God wants done. We need to think about that as we verbalize our opinions.]

What is not lost on us and Matthew Henry is that these same people who time and again came out and complained about Aaron, now mourn 30 days for his loss. That is human nature. That is the fickleness of people. That is the hypocrisy of people. I can go on.  I won’t. Our job is to work and live throughout our lives for an audience of one – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is my prayer for you and me today.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Test Blog to Our Subscribers.

This is a test blog -- at 2:25 p.m. on May 29th.  We are having trouble with the subscriber notification service.  So, if you get notified about this -- please leave me a comment or something.  Thank you.  Ken.

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TESTING Blog:  This is a test to see if my subscribers are receiving a notification that I have posted a blog.  If you get this, please comment and let me know somehow.  If not, I'll keep working on it.

Ken.  -- Friday, May 29, at 10:32 a.m. EST.

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And you thought a four-leaf clover is hard to find; try looking for a Perfect Red Heifer

Numbers Chapter 19: Purification of the Red Heifer

The Guardian 2015,  James Martin/Getty Images

Numbers 19:1-22

Day 71. Getting lots done around the house. And after many days and many trips we were able to get a hold of some tomato and cucumber plants for our garden. Noticing that fewer and fewer people are wearing masks. No news on further ease-ups in Ontario, especially for meeting together.  So, we go on living our “on-line” lives. We now tackle a very significant topic. Read on.

The Passage

19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never ^[a]been placed. ³ You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. ⁴ Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. ⁵ Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. ⁶ The priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet material and cast it into the midst of the ^[b]burning heifer. ⁷ The priest shall then wash his clothes and bathe his ^[c]body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening. ⁸ The one who burns it shall also wash his clothes in water and bathe his ^[d]body in water, and shall be unclean until evening. ⁹ Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and ^[e]the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it as water to remove impurity; it is ^[f]purification from sin. ¹⁰ The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; and it shall be a perpetual statute to the sons of Israel and to the alien who sojourns among them.

Verses 11-22 are once again the details with respect to instructions of someone touching a corpse and how they are to become clean. And really, it is a repeat of some earlier instructions God had given Moses.

Footnotes

1. Numbers 19:2 Lit come up
2. Numbers 19:6 Lit burning of the heifer
3. Numbers 19:7 Lit flesh
4. Numbers 19:8 Lit flesh
5. Numbers 19:9 Lit it shall be to the congregation...Israel, for a guarding as water of impurity
6. Numbers 19:9 Or a sin offering

Thoughts on the Passage

We do not always know the exact order or timing of these various times that God spoke to Moses and/or Aaron. But here God introduces the offering that involves an “unblemished red heifer” with no defect and which has never been put to work in the field under a yoke. A heifer is a young female cow that has not borne a calf and thus could not yet give milk. And of course, they had to find a ‘red’ which would be rare. David Guzik quotes Wenham as saying the color was needed to resemble the blood to be shed.

And Moses was instructed that this animal be taken specifically to Eleazar the priest to deal with. To put Eleazar in context, we note that he has a son of Aaron and he succeeded his father as the second High Priest of the Israelites. He was also a nephew to Moses.

This animal was to be taken “outside the camp” and slaughtered in the presence of Eleazar. He was to take some of the blood from the slaughtered animal with his finger and sprinkle it “toward the front of the tent of meeting”. And he was to do this seven times.

The heifer was then to be burned. Eleazar was to add cedar wood, hyssop, and some scarlet material into that fire which was consuming the heifer. Guzik says the following about these three items:

i. In Leviticus 14:4-6, each of these three items are used in the cleansing ceremony for a leper. Each of these items has a special significance.

ii. Cedar is extremely resistant to disease and rot, and is well known for its quality and preciousness. These properties may be the reason for including it here - as well as a symbolic reference to the wood of the cross. Some even think the cross Jesus was crucified on was made of cedar.

iii. Hyssop was used not only with the cleansing ceremony for lepers, but also Jesus was offered drink from a hyssop branch on the cross (Matthew 27:48), and when David said purge me with hyssop in Psalm 51:7, he was admitting he was as bad as a leper.

iv. Scarlet, the color of blood, pictures the cleansing blood of Jesus on the cross. Scarlet was used in the veil and curtains of the tabernacle (Exodus 26:31), in the garments of the high priest (Exodus 28:5-6), the covering for the table of showbread (Numbers 4:8), the sign of Rahab's salvation (Joshua 2:21), and the color of the mocking "king's robe" put on Jesus at His torture by the soldiers (Matthew 27:28).

Now the meaning of the ‘red heifer’ is starting to be understood.

Eleazar was then to wash his clothes, bathe his body, and then enter the camp, remaining ‘unclean’ until evening.

The person who was helping in the burning of the heifer had to do the same thing and he was unclean until evening.

Another person who was clean was to gather up all the ashes and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. He too would be required to wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And the next part is a little difficult – the text says the congregation was to keep ‘it’ (one assumes the ashes just mentioned) as ‘water’ to remove impurity; impurity from sin. Guzik explains this as follows:

The residue from the burning of the carcass, the cedar, the hyssop, and the scarlet fabric together would produce a lot of ash, and the ash was to be gathered and sprinkled in water bit by bit to make water fit for purification.

So the ashes of the red heifer, stirred in with water became a source of purification or purifying water.

Matthew Henry puts it this way:

This burning of the heifer, though it was not properly a sacrifice of expiation, being not performed at the altar, yet was typical of the death and sufferings of Christ, by which he intended, not only to satisfy God's justice, but to purify and pacify our consciences, that we may have peace with God and also peace in our own bosoms, to prepare for which Christ died, not only like the bulls and goats at the altar, but like the heifer without the camp.

This whole exercise was to be a perpetual statute to the sons of Israel and any alien who sojourned among them. Chuck Smith says, “Now there are those who see in this red heifer analogies to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the washing that we have through His Word and the through the Spirit.” I can see that.

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We end this study by tying in the meaning of the red heifer today for orthodox Jews.  Back in 2015, the Guardian had a most interesting article on this very topic. You may remember hearing about it.  It ties together the Red Heifer, the Temple to be built, and the end days. Anyway, here is the article – just click Looking for a Red Heifer. I’d appreciate and value your thoughts. And by the way, if you have been able to breed one, keep it a secret and make sure it is well insured. You may be playing a bigger part in God’s plan for mankind than you think.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.