Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)

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N U M B E R S

CHAP. XIX.

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This chapter is only concerning the preparing and using of the ashes

which were to impregnate the water of purification. The people had

complained of the strictness of the law, which forbade their near

approach to the tabernacle,

ch. xvii. 13.

In answer to this complaint, they are here directed to purify

themselves, so as that they might come as far as they had occasion

without fear. Here is,

I. The method of preparing these ashes, by the burning of a red heifer,

with a great deal of ceremony,

ver. 1-10.

II. The way of using them.

1. They were designed to purify persons from the pollution contracted

by a dead body,

ver. 11-16.

2. They were to be put into running water (a small quantity of them),

with which the person to be cleansed must be purified,

ver. 17-22.

And that this ceremonial purification was a type and figure of the

cleansing of the consciences of believers from the pollutions of sin

appears by the apostle’s discourse,

Heb. ix. 13, 14,

where he compares the efficacy of the blood of Christ with the

sanctifying virtue that was in “the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the

unclean.”

The Ashes of Purification.	B. C. 1471.

     

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

  2 This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath

commanded, saying, 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:

  3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may

bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before

his face:

  4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his

finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle

of the congregation seven times:

  5 And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and

her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:

  6 And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and

scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the

heifer.

  7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe

his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp,

and the priest shall be unclean until the even.

  8 And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and

bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.

  9 And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the

heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and

it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel

for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.

  10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his

clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the

children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among

them, for a statute for ever.

     

We have here the divine appointment concerning the solemn burning of a

red heifer to ashes, and the preserving of the ashes, that of them

might be made, not a beautifying, but a purifying, water, for that was

the utmost the law reached to; it offered not to adorn as the gospel

does, but to cleanse only. 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.

     

I. There was a great deal of care employed in the choice of the heifer

that was to be burnt, much more than in the choice of any other

offering,

v. 2.

It must not only be without blemish, typifying the spotless purity and

sinless perfection of the Lord Jesus, but it must a red heifer, because

of the rarity of the colour, that it might be the more remarkable: the

Jews say, “If but two hairs were black or white, it was unlawful.”

Christ, as man, was the Son of Adam, red earth, and we find him

red in his apparel, red with his own blood, and red with the blood of

his enemies. And it must be one on which never came yoke, which was not

insisted on in other sacrifices, but thus was typified the voluntary

offer of the Lord Jesus, when he said, Lo, I come, He was bound

and held with no other cords than those of his own love. This heifer

was to be provided at the expense of the congregation, because they

were all to have a joint interest in it; and so all believers have in

Christ.

     

II. There was to be a great deal of ceremony in the burning of it. The

care of doing it was committed to Eleazar, not to Aaron himself,

because it was not fit that he should do any thing to render himself

ceremonially unclean, no, not so much as till the evening

(v. 8);

yet it being an affair of great concern especially in the significancy

of it, it was to be performed by him that was next to Aaron in dignity.

The chief priests of that time had the principal hand in the death of

Christ. Now,

     

1. The heifer was to be slain without the camp, as an impure thing,

which bespeaks the insufficiency of the methods prescribed by the

ceremonial law to take away sin. So far were they from cleansing

effectually that they were themselves unclean; as if the pollution that

was laid upon them continued to cleave to them. Yet, to answer this

type, our Lord Jesus, being made sin and a curse for us, suffered

without the gate,
Heb. xiii. 12.

     

2. Eleazar was to sprinkle the blood directly before the door of the

tabernacle, and looking steadfastly towards it,

v. 4.

This made it in some sort an expiation; for the sprinkling of the blood

before the Lord was the chief solemnity in all the sacrifices of

atonement; therefore, though this was not done at the altar, yet, being

done towards the sanctuary, it was intimated that the virtue and

validity of it depended upon the sanctuary, and were derived from it.

This signified the satisfaction that was made to God by the death of

Christ, our great high priest, who by the eternal Spirit (and

the Spirit is called the finger of God, as Ainsworth observes,

Luke xi. 20)

offered himself without spot unto God; directly before the

sanctuary, when he said, Father, into thy hands I commit my

spirit. It also signifies how necessary it was to the purifying of

our hearts that satisfaction should be made to divine justice. This

sprinkling of the blood put virtue into the ashes.

     

3. The heifer was to be wholly burnt,
v. 5.

This typified the extreme sufferings of our Lord Jesus, both in soul

and body, as a sacrifice made by fire. The priest was to cast into the

fire, while it was burning, cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet, which were

used in the cleansing of lepers

(Lev. xiv. 6, 7),

that the ashes of these might be mingled with the ashes of the heifer,

because they were designed for purification.

     

4. The ashes of the heifer (separated as well as they could from the

ashes of the wood wherewith it was burnt) were to be carefully gathered

up by the hand of a clean person, and (as the Jews say) pounded and

sifted, and so laid up for the use of the congregation, as there was

occasion

(v. 9),

not only for that generation, but for posterity; for the ashes of this

one heifer were sufficient to season as many vessels of water as the

people of Israel would need for many ages. The Jews say that this one

served till the captivity, nearly 1000 years, and that there was never

another heifer burnt till Ezra’s time, after their return, to which

tradition of theirs, grounded (I suppose) only upon the silence of

their old records, I see no reason we have to give credit, since in the

later times of their church, of which they had more full records, they

find eight burnt between Ezra’s time and the destruction of the second

temple, which was about 500 years, These ashes are said to be laid up

here as a purification for sin, because, though they were

intended to purify only from ceremonial uncleanness, yet they were a

type of that purification for sin which our Lord Jesus made by his

death. Ashes mixed with water are used in scouring, but these had their

virtue purely from the divine institution, and their accomplishment and

perfection in Christ, who is the end of this law for

righteousness. Now observe,

(1.) That the water of purification was made so by the ashes of a

heifer, whose blood was sprinkled before the sanctuary; so that which

cleanses our consciences is the abiding virtue of the death of Christ;

it is his blood that cleanses from all sin,
1 John i. 7.

(2.) That the ashes were sufficient for all the people. There needed

not to be a fresh heifer slain for every person or family that had

occasion to be purified, but this one was enough for all, even for the

strangers that sojourned among them

(v. 10);

so there is virtue enough in the blood of Christ for all that repent

and believe the gospel, for every Israelite, and not for their sins

only, but for the sins of the whole world,
1 John ii. 2.

(3.) That these ashes were capable of being preserved without waste to

many ages. No bodily substance is so incorruptible as ashes are, which

(says bishop Patrick) made these a very fit emblem of the everlasting

efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ. He is able to save, and, in order

to that, able to cleanse, to the uttermost, both of person and times.

(4.) These ashes were laid up as a stock or treasure, for the constant

purification of Israel from their pollutions; so the blood of Christ is

laid up for us in the word and sacraments, as an inexhaustible fountain

of merit, to which by faith we may have recourse daily for the purging

of our consciences; see

Zech. xiii. 1.

     

5. All those that were employed in this service were made ceremonially

unclean by it; even Eleazar himself, though he did but sprinkle the

blood,

v. 7.

He that burned the heifer was unclean

(v. 8),

and he that gathered up the ashes

(v. 10);

so all that had a hand in putting Christ to death contracted guilt by

it: his betrayer, his prosecutors, his judge, his executioner, all did

what they did with wicked hands, though it was by the determinate

counsel and foreknowledge of God

(Acts ii. 23);

yet some of them were, and all might have been cleansed by the virtue

of that same blood which they had brought themselves under the guilt

of. Some make this to signify the imperfection of the legal services,

and their insufficiency to take away sin, inasmuch as those who

prepared for the purifying of others were themselves polluted by the

preparation. The Jews say, This is a mystery which Solomon himself did

not understand, that the same thing should pollute those that were

clean and purify those that were unclean. But (says bishop Patrick) it

is not strange to those who consider that all the sacrifices which were

offered for sin were therefore looked upon as impure, because the sins

of men were laid upon them, as all our sins were upon Christ, who

therefore is said to be made sin for us,
2 Cor. v. 21.

     

11 He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean

seven days.

  12 He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the

seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the

third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.

  13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead,

and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD;

and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of

separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his

uncleanness is yet upon him.

  14 This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come

into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean

seven days.

  15 And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it,

is unclean.

  16 And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the

open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave,

shall be unclean seven days.

  17 And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of

the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall

be put thereto in a vessel:

  18 And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the

water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels,

and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a

bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:

  19 And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on

the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he

shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in

water, and shall be clean at even.

  20 But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify

himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation,

because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of

separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.

  21 And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that

sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he

that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until

even.

  22 And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be

unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until

even.

     

Directions are here given concerning the use and application of the

ashes which were prepared for purification. they were laid up to be

laid out; and therefore, though now one place would serve to keep them

in, while all Israel lay so closely encamped, yet it is probable that

afterwards, when they came to Canaan, some of these ashes were kept in

every town, for there would be daily use for them. Observe,

     

I. In what cases there needed a purification with these ashes. No other

is mentioned here than the ceremonial uncleanness that was contracted

by the touch of a dead body, or of the bone or grave of a dead man, or

being in the tent or house where a dead body lay,

v. 11, 14-16.

This I look upon to have been one of the greatest burdens of the

ceremonial law, and one of the most unaccountable. He that touched the

carcase of an unclean beast, or any living man under the greatest

ceremonial uncleanness, was made unclean by it only till the

evening, and needed only common water to purify himself with; but

he that came near the dead body of man, woman, or child, much bear the

reproach of his uncleanness seven days, must twice be purified with the

water of separation, which he could not obtain without trouble and

charge, and till he was purified must not come near the sanctuary upon

pain of death.

     

1. This was strange, considering,

(1.) that whenever any died (and we are in deaths oft) several persons

must unavoidable contract this pollution, the body must be stripped,

washed, wound up, carried out, and buried, and this could not be done

without many hands, and yet all defiled, which signifies that in our

corrupt and fallen state there is none that lives and sins not; we

cannot avoid being polluted by the defiling world we pass through, and

we offend daily, yet the impossibility of our being sinless does not

make sin the less polluting.

(2.) that taking care of the dead, to see them decently buried, is not

only necessary, but a very good office, and an act of kindness, both to

the honour of the dead and the comfort of the living, and yet

uncleanness was contracted by it, which intimates that the pollutions

of sin mix with and cleave to our best services. There is not a just

man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not; we are apt some way

or other to do amiss even in our doing good.

(3.) That this pollution was contracted by what was done privately in

their own houses, which intimates (as bishop Patrick observes) that God

sees what is done in secret, and nothing can be concealed from the

divine Majesty.

(4.) This pollution might be contracted, and yet a man might never know

it, as by the touch of a grave which appeared not, of which our Saviour

says, Those that walk over it are not aware of it

(Luke xi. 44),

which intimates the defilement of the conscience by sins of ignorance,

and the cause we have to cry out, “Who can understand his errors?” and

to pray, “Cleanse us from secret faults, faults which we ourselves do

not see ourselves guilty of.”

     

2. But why did the law make a dead corpse such a defiling thing?

(1.) Because death is the wages of sin, entered into the world

by it, and reigns by the power of it. Death to mankind is another thing

from what it is to other creatures: it is a curse, it is the execution

of the law, and therefore the defilement of death signifies the

defilement of sin.

(2.) Because the law could not conquer death, nor abolish it and alter

the property of it, as the gospel does by bringing life and immortality

to light, and so introducing a better hope. Since our Redeemer was dead

and buried, death is no more destroying to the Israel of God, and

therefore dead bodies are no more defiling; but while the church was

under the law, to show that it made not the comers thereunto

perfect, the pollution contracted by dead bodies could not but form

in their minds melancholy and uncomfortable notions concerning death,

while believers now through Christ can triumph over it. O grave!

where is thy victory? Where is thy pollution?

     

II. How the ashes were to be used and applied in these cases.

1. A small quantity of the ashes must be put into a cup of spring

water, and mixed with the water, which thereby was made, as it is here

called, a water of separation, because it was to be sprinkled on

those who were separated or removed from the sanctuary by their

uncleanness. As the ashes of the heifer signified the merit of Christ,

so the running water signified the power and grace of the blessed

Spirit, who is compared to rivers of living water; and it is by his

operation that the righteousness of Christ is applied to us for our

cleansing. Hence we are said to be washed, that is, sanctified and

justified, not only in the name of the Lord Jesus, but by the Spirit

of our God,
1 Cor. vi. 11; 1 Pet. i. 2.

Those that promise themselves benefit by the righteousness of Christ,

while they submit not to the grace and influence of the Spirit, do but

deceive themselves, for we cannot put asunder what God has joined, nor

be purified by the ashes otherwise than in the running water.

2. This water must be applied by a bunch of hyssop dipped in it, with

which the person or thing to be cleansed must be sprinkled

(v. 18),

in allusion to which David prays, Purge me with hyssop. Faith is

the bunch of hyssop wherewith the conscience is sprinkled and the heart

purified. Many might be sprinkled at once, and the water with which the

ashes were mingled might serve for many sprinklings, till it was all

spent; and a very little lighting upon a man served to purify him, if

done with that intention. In allusion to this application of the water

of separation by sprinkling, the blood of Christ is said to be the

blood of sprinkling

(Heb. xii. 24),

and with it were are said to be sprinkled from an evil

conscience

(Heb. x. 22),

that is, we are freed from the uneasiness that arises from a sense of

our guilt. And it is foretold that Christ, by his baptism, shall

sprinkle many nations,
Isa. lii. 15.

3. The unclean person must be sprinkled with this water on the third

day after his pollution, and on the seventh day,
v. 12-19.

The days were reckoned (we may suppose) from the last time of his

touching or coming near the dead body; for he would not begin the days

of his cleansing while he was still under a necessity of repeating the

pollution; but when the dead body was buried, so that there was no

further occasion of meddling with it, then he began to reckon his days.

Then, and then only, we may with comfort apply Christ’s merit to our

souls, when we have forsaken sin, and cease all fellowship with the

unfruitful works of death and darkness. The repetition of

the sprinkling teaches us often to renew the actings of repentance and

faith, wash as Naaman, seven times; we need to do that often

which is so necessary to be well done.

4. Though the pollution contracted was only ceremonial, yet the neglect

of the purification prescribed would turn into moral guilt: He that

shall be unclean and shall not purify himself, that soul shall

be cut off,
v. 20.

Note, It is a dangerous thing to contemn divine institutions, though

they may seem minute. A slight wound, if neglected, may prove fatal; a

sin we call little, if not repented of, will be our ruin, when great

sinners that repent shall find mercy. Our uncleanness separates us from

God, but it is our being unclean and not purifying ourselves that will

separate us for ever from him: it is not the wound that is fatal, so

much as the contempt of the remedy.

5. Even he that sprinkled the water of separation, or

touched it, or touched the unclean person, must be

unclean till the evening, that is, must not come near the

sanctuary on that day,

v. 21, 22.

Thus God would show them the imperfection of those services, and their

insufficiency to purify the conscience, that they might look for the

Messiah, who in the fulness of time should by the eternal Spirit offer

himself without spot unto God, and so purge our consciences from

dead works (that is, from sin, which defiles like a dead body, and

is therefore called a body of death), that we may have liberty

of access to the sanctuary, to serve the living God with living

sacrifices.

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