Chukat

Compilation of thoughts from:  Ben Ehrhardt, Thomas Bradford, Ketriel Blad, & Ardelle

Intent:  The Red Heifer Sacrifice is a picture of the death of the body (bride) of Messiah and the head (Yeshua) together.  Every single item associated with this sacrifice points to this fact.  We are cleansed by His blood and the water which is the word.

Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the assembly; as he is the head and first-born from among the dead, that he might be the first in all things.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Messiah also loved the assembly and gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

Numbers 19:1 Now YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² "This is the ordinance of the Torah which YHVH 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.

Generally it is written:  This is the Law of the burnt offering, this is the Law of him who has an issue, This is the Law of the Passover Lamb….  Because it is worded differently, it would appear that the Ordinance of the Red Heifer is somehow related to the whole of Torah.

Ø      Killed outside the camp

Ø      The unclean person is made clean from these ashes of the Red Heifer, but the clean persons who perform the ritual and applies the ashes are made unclean

Ø      Clean man who sprinkles on the 3^rd & 7^th days  - Numbers 19:18 – rAhj' vyai Literally – clean/pure husband. 

Husband vya, pictograph is “the strong hand of El Shaddai” – this is Yeshua!

Ø      The Red Heifer sacrifice is called a chata’at 2403 ha'J'x;, a purification offering in Numbers 19:9, but all other places referred to as a “sin offering.”  

Red Heifer

·        Compare with golden calf – male represents strength

·        Mercy and forgiveness – in the feminine form

Blood

·        Sprinkled 7 times in the direction of the sanctuary (must have view of door to the Holy Place).  See how this is pointing to the chata’at of Yom Kippur -

Leviticus 16:15 " Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering (purification offering), which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.

·        To be burnt in the fire, as opposed to being either poured on the altar or out on the ground

·        To remain with the sacrifice

·        Life is in the blood

·        The word is “dam” ~D', and is connected to red Adam , and earth .

Hyssop

·        Medicinal plant used for healing, even today

·        Used to sprinkle the blood around the doorpost in Mitzrayim

·        Used in the cleansing from “tzaraat”, which symbolizes sin

Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

·        Used during the crucifixion to give Yeshua a drink (John 19:29)

Scarlet Thread

·        Literally scarlet worm

·        Worm produces the color scarlet

·        Worm represents Yeshua’s humility

Psalm 22:6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Messiah Yeshua, ⁶ who, being in the form of Elohim, did not consider it robbery to be equal with Elohim, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

·        Isaiah 1:18 " Come now, and let us reason together," Says YHVH, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.

Wool yarn comes from a sheep.

Cedar Wood

·        Speaks of one of the tallest trees, hyssop is smallest of plants

1 Kings 4:33 Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall;

·        Most likely was the horizontal beam that Yeshua was hung on (may have hung on a fig tree in the same place where Adam and Chavah took leaves from and in the place where sin entered the world.

Ashes

·        Defiled the man who gathered them

Must wash his clothes, take a bath and wait for the sun to go down

·        Combined with water to make the special purification liquid

Sprinkling procedure occurred twice – 3^rd day and 7^th day

3^rd day – positionally clean (related to resurrection) If we wash ourselves with “water” on the 3^rd day, we will be declared clean on the 7^th day

7^th day – spiritually clean (related to return) If we do not cleanse ourselves on the 3^rd day, we cannot be clean…

·        Hebrew word-   Numbers19:17, - this is the same word for dust, compare with (0665 Numbers 19:9)

Genesis 2:7 And the YHVH Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

 Genesis 13:16 "And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.

So we have Yeshua as the Son of Adam (from the dust) and by His sacrifice, we become part of Avraham’s seed, the “dust of the earth” who cannot be counted.  Now to this dust we add “Living Water”!

Living Water

·        Yeshua declared Himself to be this - John 4:14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

·        Jeremiah 2:12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this, And be horribly afraid; Be very desolate," says YHVH. ¹³ "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns -- broken cisterns that can hold no water.

·         Jeremiah 17:13 O YHVH, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. "Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken YHVH, The fountain of living waters."

Ezekiel 36:24 "For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes (;qx), and you will keep My judgments and do them. ²⁸ "Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your Elohim. ²⁹ "I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. ³⁰ "And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.

These verses are about sanctification, not salvation!

NOW…. The key to understanding the Red Heifer ritual is to notice that the Torah calls this sacrifice, in Hebrew a Chata’at - 2403  Most of the time this is translated as “sin offering”, but in Numbers 19:9 it is called “purification from sin.”  It is a far better translation to be called “purification offering”.  In other words, while it may well be a sin that eventually leads to the need for this Chata’at, the effect of the Chata’at is to decontaminate, to purify.

Let’s compare the purification offering (sin offering/chata’at) in Exodus with the Red Heifer chata’at in Numbers 19.

Exodus 29:14 "But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering (purification offering).

Exodus 29:20 "Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar.

Exodus 29:36 "And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering (purification offering) for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it.

Leviticus 16:9 "And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the YHVH's lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering (purification offering)….¹² "Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before YHVH, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. ¹³ "And he shall put the incense on the fire before YHVH, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he die. ¹⁴ "He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. ¹⁵ " Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. ¹⁶ "So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins…. ¹⁸ "And he shall go out to the altar that is before YHVH, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. ¹⁹ "Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. ²⁰ " And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. ^{….. 24} "And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, put on his garments, come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people.

·        Blood of the Red Heifer is NOT sprinkled on the altar (compare with Exodus 29:20)

·        Blood of the Red Heifer remains IN the cow for the most part

·        Purpose is to sanctify the Tabernacle (Lev. 16:19-20)  Red Heifer sacrifice sanctifies the people.  Yeshua purifies us!

·        Effects of the purification/sin offering is that it makes it’s handler’s unclean (Lev. 16:24)

Sacrificial animal purifies by means of effectively absorbing the defiled person or object’s impurities.  The animal behaves like a spiritual sponge.

Thus it must be destroyed “away from the camp”.  The fire it is burned with is meant to destroy.

In summary….the foundational purpose of the purification offering is to use the blood of the animal for the purpose of purifying the SANCTUARY….the Tabernacle or Temple or our bodies which are now the dwelling place of the Holy One.

Numbers 19:5 '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.

In the chata’at offering (purification offering) of Exodus 29, these things are burnt outside the camp – flesh, hide, and offal….NOT the blood.  Conclusion – the chata’at was a picture of the perfect sacrifice to come.  Only the blood of the perfect sacrifice could purify.  Until then it was pictured by the sprinkling toward the veil and the altar (Lev 16:14, 19).  The connection is made in Numbers 19:4 (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.)

Now to look again at what was burned along with the blood (life) of the bull, the hyssop, cedar, and the scarlet thread:

1.  flesh - Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your YHWH reigns!"

2.  skin  - Genesis 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the YHVH Elohim made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

3.  offal  - Malachi 2:3 "Behold, I will rebuke your descendants And spread refuse on your faces, The refuse of your solemn feasts; And one will take you away with it.  Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

As you can see, absolutely EVERYTHING points to Messiah and to the bride who was “crucified with Him”!   

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of YHWH in Him.

Romans 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin   

Seraphim

Intent:  To show why the serpent lifted up on the pole was a picture of Yeshua lifted up on the tree/cross.  The connection is made through satan’s former position as a seraph.

John 3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ "For YHWH so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Numbers 21:8 Then YHVH said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent (8314 saraph), and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live."

 Isaiah 6:2 Above it stood seraphim (8314 saraph); each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

8314  saraph {saw-rawf'}

Meaning:  1) serpent, fiery serpent 1a) poisonous serpent (fiery from burning effect of poison) 2) seraph, seraphim 2a) majestic beings with 6 wings, human hands or voices in attendance upon YHWH

Origin:  from 08313; TWOT - 2292a,2292b; n m

Usage:  AV - fiery serpent 3, fiery 2, seraphim 2;

8313 saraph {saw-raf'}

Meaning:  1) to burn 1a) (Qal) to burn 1b) (Niphal) to be burned 1c) (Piel) burner, burning (participle) 1d) (Pual) to be burnt up, be burned

Origin:  a primitive root; TWOT - 2292; v

Usage:  AV - burn 112, burn up 2, kindled 1, made 1, utterly 1; 117

The Hebrew word for serpent or snake is nachash.  And, in neither Numbers 21:8, nor in Isaiah 6:2, is the word nachash used….only seraph.  But look at 2 Kings….

2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.

The Hebrew used here for bronze serpent was nechosheth nachash …nechosheth means bronze and nachash means serpent.

Seraphim (from Isaiah 6:1-7)

·        The are heavenly spirit beings

·        They have several wings

·        They STAND above YHVH who sits on His throne

·        They are so holy they are allowed to take the very coals from the Heavenly altar, coals from the heavenly altar fire that take away iniquity and forgive sin

·        Therefore seen as fiery creatures

·        Perhaps meant to be a description, a characteristic of Cherubim

·        Special and higher order of heavenly beings typically called Angels

·        Guardians of YHWH’s throne and His personal holiness

Now for how this all connects with satan.

Revelation 12:7-9

And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels:  and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven.  And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

·        Serpent = satan

·        Satan = angel of high ranking

Isaiah 14:12 " How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! ¹³ For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of Elohim; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' ¹⁵ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

·        Satan fits the description of a seraphim from Isaiah 6

Genesis 3:14 So the YHVH Elohim said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.

·        Cursed to crawl on his belly from this day forward

·        Implies that he was upright before

·        Could speak

·        Will eat dust

Adam was formed from the dust

Abraham’s descendents  will be like the dust of the earth

Living Water was added to the dust of the Red Heifer in order to purify

·        Eat (0398 lk;a' 'akal) is also translated as consume

Deuteronomy 28:42 "Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.

Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire is kindled by my anger, And shall burn to the lowest hell; It shall consume the earth with her increase, And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Deuteronomy 9:3 "Therefore understand today that the YHVH your Elohim is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as YHVH has said to you.

2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then the lawless (Torahless) one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

 Ezekiel 22:15 "I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and consume your filthiness completely from you.

Revelation 12:7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, ⁸ but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

·       Satan is a serpent

·       Satan is a dragon

·       What is a dragon? 

Was he half YHWH/ half man like mythical YHWHs of the Middle East?

Are dragons known for breathing fire?

This dragon was all beast (Rev 13:17)

He was a fiery creature

What is the connection between the:

·        Winged Seraph that stood erect in heaven (Isa. 14:12-14)

·        Earthly serpent in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:14)

·        Seraph that was put high on the pole (Num. 21:8)

·        Dragon identified with satan (Rev)

Luke 10:18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

In the Bible, lightning is but another representation of fire.  Remember one of the definitions of seraph is “fiery”?  Lightning is fire from heaven.  We know that a seraph was a fiery heavenly being.  And, as Numbers 21 states, it was a seraph put up on a pole of Moses, and held up high.  The dragon of Revelation, identified as satan, has all the characteristics of a fiery serpent.

Conclusion:  Healing from the bites of the serpents came about through repentance and faith in Numbers 21, however sin was symbolized by the fiery serpent being nailed onto a pole and lifted up into the air.  This would prophecy the body of Yeshua, who took man’s sin and rebellion on Himself, and was lifted up and nailed to the cross.  By looking to Him with repentance and faith, we are healed.