Numbers 19:1-22
Laws of Purification
1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come. 3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; 4 and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. 5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. 9 Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.
11 He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. 12 He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. 13 Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him.
14 ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; 15 and every open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. 16 Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17 ‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel. 18 A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. 19 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.
20 ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. 21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. 22 Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’”
This word of the Lord, “the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD” holds for us today in the truest sense as intended in what appeared to be ritualistic only then. We are to keep these temples of our bodies holy, clean in spirit and heart and mind (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19-20, ) to avoid disconnection with the rest of the body who are the living stones (1 Peter 2:4-5) where God lives in us both individually and collectively. This is where church discipline comes into play, where repeated attempts fail to stop unrepentant sins that defile the body of the individual so that the rest are not tarnished and God’s name is not continued to be defiled. Our purification from sin is no longer animal sacrifices as in these days of ancient Israel, but is in the already purifying sacred of Jesus Christ whose lifeblood covers all our sins forever; we are, however, still required to repent or turn from them as we ask forgiveness (1 John 1:9) and then receive cleansing and restoration to fellowship with Him and one another. We are to purify ourselves through avoiding sin and then confessing and forsaking it in true repentance for continuing restoration and forgiveness for our sanctification that is well-pleasing (2 Corinthians 5:9-10) to the Lord through (Philippians 2:12-13, Hebrews 13:20-21) His working in and through us as we avoid and forsake sin as we encounter it along the way towards conformity (2 Corinthians 3:18) to Christ. Like in the days of old, we are to wash clean both the outside behaviors as their clothing was required in this passage, yet see further to cleanse the inside heart and mind (Matthew 23:25-26, 2 Corinthians 7:1, James 4:8) through righteous thoughts and matching actions. If we do not pursue holiness, we lose sight of our Lord (Hebrews 12:14) and remain unclean until confession, repentance, and forgiveness are given. Even those we touch in our words and deeds may be defiled if affected to join us, so repentance and restoration is essential for the health of both the individual and the greater body of Christ (Romans 14:7-8, 12-13) of whom we all who are in Christ are a part. This is true purification of the unclean.
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