The Red Heifer
There are passages in Torah which seem so foreign to my experience that my brain has a hard time absorbing them. It is not that the words are difficult; my head simply objects to the effort required for imagining rituals from a far distant past. Many rites described in Torah were lost to the Jews when the Temple was destroyed. Without a Temple they simply cannot be practiced. One example is the cleansing by water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer described in Numbers 19. No red heifer has been sacrificed for ritual cleansing since 70 AD.
The practice was rather straightforward. A red heifer without blemish was to be sacrificed and burned completely, along with cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool. The ashes were then taken outside the camp to a ceremonial site, mixed with water and used to purify any person who came in contact with a dead body or a grave. The tent in which a person died was also to be sprinkled with the water. This sprinkling was not a sin offering but a purification rite which was performed on the third day after contact with the dead, and again on the seventh day. If any Israelite refused to be cleansed in this manner, he or she would be cut off from the people.
It is easy for my Christian brain to classify these laws as irrelevant and move on. But Paul assures us that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” - 2 Tim 3: 16-17 The scripture to which Paul refers is the Old Testament, for there was no New Testament at the time. This means that Numbers 19 remains profitable for us today. We know that Father does nothing without reason. He is the original Author writing a a great drama which plays out over the course of human history. So when a passage of Torah puzzles us, He is One to ask. Today I asked Him what He wanted to say about the red heifer and the cleansing water?
When I ask the Lord such questions, I know the answers are primarily for me. The connections and applications in my own mind are not meant to be doctrine. They are windows, most often, into my own soul and my own need. Sometimes the Lord gives me glimpses into His heart or His intentions as well - but these are just glimpses which must be understood in the light of the fullness of scripture and the wisdom of Church teaching. For this reason, I am hesitant to share new thoughts. But I committed to writing weekly about Torah, and I have nothing else to say, so here goes!
It occurred to me while reading this passage that there is no moral failure involved in attending the dead. On the contrary, it is a beautiful and necessary service. Neglecting to prepare a body for burial or failing to attend a family member in her final days to avoid uncleanness would be a moral failure for anyone except the high priest on ordained days. Nevertheless, such service renders one ritually unclean. The Lord is reminding His people that He is the God of the living, not the dead, by putting constraints around death. Restricting people who visit graves or mourn their dead from worship in the assembly had the practical effect of putting the brakes on our human fascination with death.
I wondered how this might apply to Christians who live in two worlds - the sacred assembly of the Church and the world with all its forms of death? It is inevitable, I think, that we are weighed down by the death around us - the hatred and contempt, the anger and pride, the lust and lewdness of our culture. We cannot escape it. At times, we are even morally bound to enter situations which make us feel tainted. We do not need to sin in order to find our souls, in some sense, unclean or weighed down by the culture of death around us. How is it, Lord, that you intend to cleanse us? How is that we prepare ourselves to enter the sacred assembly?
The words of Ephesians 5 come to mind. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” I am coming to realize how much I need this washing by the word - the word of Christ in scripture, and in worship. The word of Christ washes me when I hear it in the mouths of my brothers and sisters.
Lately I have felt the reality of “walking through the valley of the shadow of death.” My heart has been heavy. I know the same is true for many. This is not a matter of sin, but when my heart is cast down, my eyes are downcast as well. I cannot enter into worship with all the faith that I should. I need cleansing with the water of Christ’s word. And I need it more than once! Sometimes the same interaction, or the same worry, will cloud my heart again and again. It is good and right to seek prayer, to turn on music, to read the word, to seek fellowship and counsel at such times. We all need cleansing! And if we refuse these disciplines, we may find ourselves avoiding the sacred assembly by our own choice.
Even rabbis have a hard time explaining why the ashes of a heifer could cleanse a person from uncleanness incurred from death. We Christians may rightly see Jesus as the sacrifice, the ashes, which cleanse us. But we still have to come to the cleansing waters entrusted to the Church. We have to press into the disciplines of confession, study, fellowship and praise. These practices are given for our help and for the protection of the sacred assembly.