Chukat
“Statute”
Bamidbar
(Numbers) 19:1- 22:1
23June200
The Red
Heifer
The rabbis
have for years admitted that they do not fully understand this ritual; thus it
is referred to as a Chukat (Chet,
Kof, Tav), which is a commandment that is given without any explanation.
They are to be done simply out of obedience and not from understanding.
Death is
not a natural part of life. Death is the opposite of life. Death has
no part in
life. Death is something introduced to creation by fallen man. Death was an
addition to life. Death is unnatural and contrary to the will of the Creator.
Death was not found in the fruit of the tree of life, but in the forbidden mixed
fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis
2:16 And YHWH ELOHIM commanded the man, saying, Of every
tree
of
the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and
evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely
die.
Genesis
3:17 And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened
unto the
voice
of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou
shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat
of
it all the days of thy life; 18thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to
thee;
and
thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread,
till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou
art,
and unto dust shalt thou return.
YHWH
has made it clear that He takes no delight in death, not even in the death of
the
wicked.
Instead, the Holy One desires that all men would return to the tree of life and
live.
Ezekiel
18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that
the wicked should die? saith Adonai
YHWH:
and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
Ezekiel
18:32 For I have no pleasure in the
death of him that dieth, saith Adonai
YHWH:
wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
Ezekiel
33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith
Adonai YHWH, I have no pleasure
in
the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn
ye,
turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Deuteronomy
30:19 I call heaven and earth to record
this day against you, that I
have
set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that
both
thou and thy seed may live.
In
the teaching of the red heifer we again witness the truth that death is part of
the
defilement
of natural life. We have seen this teaching earlier concerning the cohanim
and
the Cohen Gadol.
Leviticus
21:1 And YHWH said unto Moses, Speak unto the cohanim the
sons of
Aaron,
and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his
people.
Leviticus
21:10 And he that is the Cohen Gadol
among his brethren, upon whose
head
the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments,
shall
not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes; 11neither shall he go in to any
dead
body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother.
Clearly
death belongs to the realm of tamei.
Numbers
19:11 He that toucheth the dead body of
any man shall be unclean
seven
days.
The state
of tamei
separates a person from the altar and the sacrifices. Remembering
that the purpose of the altar is to demonstrate and proclaim our desire to draw
near to YHWH, we may safely state that being in a state of tamei
prevents us from drawing near unto YHWH. This is especially true
of death. Death is the ultimate state of tamei.
Death has no place in the image of the living Elohim. Death prevents us from
drawing near to YHWH.
To overcome
this separation due to contamination by a corpse, YHWH instituted the
ritual of
the red heifer. There are numerous
questions to be answered in this portion, but before we attempt to answer them,
let me reiterate the idea that all of the sacrifices and rituals of the Torah
are primarily proclamation. In other words, the various rituals and sacrifices
of the Torah are VISIBLE WORDS. Therefore as we seek to answer some of the
questions concerning the ritual of the red heifer, let us also look and listen
for the proclamation that is being made. Let us now see if we can answer a few
of the primary questions concerning the red heifer ritual, and in the process
come to a deeper understanding of the significance of this particular chukat.
In Hebrew
the heifer is referred to as being adumah (Aleph,
Dalet, Mem, Hey), meaning “red.” These are the same letters, albeit with one
different vowel, which spell the word adamah,
or “earth,” out of which Adam was created.
H120
אדם
'âdâm
aw-dawm'
From H119; ruddy, that
is, a human being (an individual or the species, mankind,
etc.): - X another, + hypocrite, + common sort, X low, man (mean, of low
degree), person.
H127
אדמה
'ădâmâh
ad-aw-maw'
From H119; soil (from
its general redness): - country, earth, ground, husband [-man] (-ry),
land.
Adam and adamah
come from the same root word.
H119
אדם
'âdam
aw-dam'
To show blood
(in the face), that is, flush or turn rosy: - be (dyed, made) red
(ruddy).
There are
several Hebrew words that share this common root.
ADAMAH
– Red clay or earth
ADOM
- Red, masculine gender
ADUMAH
- Red, feminine gender
ADAM
- Adam or man
EDOM
- Esau, also called Edom
DAM
- Blood
DAMAM
– Death
Isn’t it
interesting that Adam and Edom use the same root word but are in conflict with
their religious beliefs!
By
commanding that this heifer (female) be adumah
(red), we are instantly taken back to Adam in the
Garden of Eden and to the fall that brought death into the world. We are
also
reminded that the consequence of this fall is that our bodies shall return to
the
adamah
(earth) from which they came. But the adumah (red) color should also remind
us of dam (blood).
We
should also note that in all of the other sin sacrifices the blood is placed
upon the altar, but in this slaughtering the blood is burned with the rest of
the animal. A total sacrifice of
the animal.
Numbers
19:5 And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin,
and her flesh,
and
her blood, with her dung, shall he burn.
Did
you notice that the blood was burned and not placed upon the altar?
Many
Christian
and even Messianic believers have missed the fact that Messiah’s
blood
was not placed upon the altar of the Temple. In fact, some have rejected the
Messiah’s sacrifice because his blood was not placed upon the altar.
We
have already noted that everyone involved in the process of creating the ashes
or in the application of the ashes becomes unclean. Those who apply the ashes to
cleanse those who are contaminated by death proclaim the reality that the one
who would remove our sins would himself be contaminated.
2
Corinthians 5:21 For He hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin; that
we
might be made the righteousness of Elohim in him.
The
ashes had no effect until they were mixed with living water. The
sacrifice of
Messiah
(ashes) will do us no good unless we mix them with our living water (i.e. a
living faith in the Torah). In order to be restored to
a state of tahor, the living Word of the Torah must be applied to one’s
life.
Referenced
Works:
Torah
Portion Chukat
Glenn McWilliams
Parashah
114
Tim Hegg
The Chumash ArtScroll Series Mesorah Publications