Matthew Poole and continuators on Numbers 19

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 .

Or, The constitution of the Law, i. e. that which God hath ordained or established by Law.

At their common charge, because it was for the common good.

A fit colour to shadow forth both the bloody nature and complexion of sin, Isa. 1. 8. and the humane nature, and especially the Blood of Christ, from which this water and all other Rites had their purifying vertue.

A fit Type of Christ, who was such, Heb. 7. 26. 1 P[illegible: 1+ letters]t. 1. 19.

Whereby may be signified either that Christ in himself was free from all the yoke or obligation of Gods Command, till for our sakes he took up our yoke, and put himself under the Law; or that Christ was not drawn or forced to undertake our burden and cross, but that he did voluntarily chuse it. See Iohn 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 17, 18.

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.

Who was the second Priest, and, in some cases, the Vicegerent or Deputy of the High-priest. To him, not to [illegible: 1 word], because this service made him unclean for a season, v[illegible: 1+ letters]r. 7. and consequently unfit for [illegible: 1 word] Ministrations, whereas the Highpriest was, as far as [illegible: 1 word] he could to be preserved from all sorts of defilement, and constantly fit for his high and holy work.

Partly because it was rep[illegible: 1+ letters]ted an unclean and accursed thing, being ceremoniously laden with the sins of all the people, and partly to signifie that Christ should suffer without the Camp, as he did, Heb. 13. 12. in the place where malefactours suffered, Levit. 24. 14

A person appointed by Eleazar for this work.

Marginal references: Heb. 13. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his singer, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times.

Or, Towards or over against the Tabernacle. either 1. Near to it, and so we must suppose that he took some of the blood in a basin and carried it from without the camp to the Tabernacle, and then returned to this place again: Which might be done though it be not here expressed. And this seems to agree best with other places, where this sprinkling seven times was performed in or near the Tabernacle, as Lev. 4. 17. Or 2. Standing at a good distance from it, even without the camp, yet turning and looking towards it. For here is no intimation that he went into the camp before this work was done, but rather the contrary is implyed, ver. 7. And because being defiled by this work he could not come near to the Tabernacle, it was sufficient for him to turn and look towards it. Either way this posture signified his presenting of this blood before the Lord by way of atonement and satisfaction for his and the peoples sins, and his expectation [illegible: 1 word] acceptance and pardon onely from God and from his mercy-seat in the Tabernacle.

Marginal references: Heb. 9. 13.

5 And one shall burn the heifer in his sight: her skin, and her flesh, and her blood , with her dung, shall he burn.

To signifie the sharp and grievous sufferings of Christ for our sins.

All of it, but what was spent in sprinkling.

Marginal references: Exod. 29. 14. Lev. 4. 11, 12.

7 And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet , and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

All which are here burnt and as it were offered to God, that they might be sanctified to this holy use for the future, for of these kinds of things was the sprinkle made wherewith the unclean were sprinkled, Levit. 14. 4.

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 .

Partly to teach us the imperfection of the Levitical Priesthood, in which the Priest himself was defiled by some parts of his work, and the absolute necessity of a better and hosier Priesthood; and partly to shew that Christ himself, though he had no sin of his own, yet was reputed by men and iudged by God, as an unclean and sinful person, by reason of our sins which were laid upon him, [illegible: 1 word]. 53. 12. 2 Cor. 5. 21.

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 .

(i. e.) For their use, and therefore in a fit place or places, whence any of them might easily procure it.

Or, To the water, i. e. to be put to the water, or mixed with it.

i. e. Appointed for the cleansing of them that are in a state of separation, who for their uncleanness are separated from the congregation.

Either the Heifer this managed, or the water thus made and sprinkled.

Heb. A sin. i. e. a kind of an offering for sin, or rather a mean for the expiation or cleansing of sin. The name of sin is sometimes given to the punishment of sin, and sometimes to sacrifice or offering for sin.

Marginal references: Heb. 9. 13.

10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer, shall wash his clothes, and be unclean untill the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them for a statute for ever.

To wit, a Proselyte, not any stranger, as some understand it. For since it is confessed all the other ceremonial Laws do not oblige them, and that where the name of stranger is put as here it is, it generally speaks of a Proselyte, it is more reasonable to take it so here, than without any reason or evidence to make this a particular exception from the general rule.

11 He that toucheth the dead body of any man, shall be unclean seven dayes .

Whereas the touch of a dead beast made a man unclean onely till even, Levit. 11. 24.

Marginal references: Lev. 21. 1. chap. 5. 2. Lam. 4. 14. Hag. 2. 13.; Heb. soul.

12 He shall purifie himself with it on the third day , and on the seventh day he shall be clean : but if he purifie not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean .

(i. e.) With the water of separation.

To Typifie Christs resurrection on that day, by which we are cleansed or sanctified.

To teach us, that our purification in this life is gradual, and not perfect till we come to that eternal Sabbath which the seventh day respected.

But was first to purifie himself and four dayes after that to be clean.

Marginal references: chap. 31. 19.

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 .

To wit, if this transgression be done presumptuously, for if it was done ignorantly, he was onely to offer sacrifice, Levit. 5. 3, 6, 17.

To wit, if this transgression be done presumptuously, for if it was done ignorantly, he was onely to offer sacrifice, Levit. 5. 3, 6, 17.

By approaching to it in his uncleanness: for Holy things or places were ceremonially defiled with the touch of any unclean person or thing. See Levit. 15. 31. and 16. 16. Hagg. 2. 13.

He continues in his guilt and filth, not now to be washed away by this water, but to be punished by cutting off.

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

Because it receives the air of the tent, by which it is ceremonially polluted. Compare Levit. 11. 32, 33.

Marginal references: chap. 31. 20.

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 dayes.

Or by any other violent way.

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 .

(i. e.) Waters flowing from a spring or River, which are the purest. These manifestly signifie Gods Spirit, which is oft compared to water, Ioh. 7. 38, 39. and by which alone true purification is obtained.

Where they were to be mixed, and then the water was to be strained out and kept for this use.

Marginal references: Heb. dust.; Heb. the burning.; Heb. living water shall be given.

18 And a clean person shall take hysop, 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.

To wit, a Priest; for to such the work of cleansing was appropriated. See Levit. 13.

Even those who were in part purified by the fire. See Numb. 31. 23.

20 But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purifie 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.

(i. e.) Shall contemptuously refuse to submit to this way of purification.

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.

Because he is unclean, as it here follows. It is strange, that the same water should cleanse one person, and defile another, but God would have it so, partly to teach us that it did not cleanse by any vertue in it or in the work done, but onely by vertue of Gods appointment: partly to mind the Jews of the imperfection of their Priesthood and their ritual purifications and expiations, and consequently of the necessity of a better Priest and sacrifice and way of purifying, which these outward Rites did point at: and partly to shew that the efficacy of Gods ordinances doth not depend upon the person or quality of his Ministers, because the same person who was polluted himself could and did cleanse others.

Either by sprinkling of it, or by being sprinkled with it, for even he that was cleansed by it, was not fully cleansed as soon as he was sprinkled, but onely at the even of that day, as is said here and above, ver. 19.

22 And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth, shall be unclean: and the soul that toucheth it, shall be unclean until even .

Not he who is so onely by touching the water of separation, ver. 21. but he who is so by the greater sort of uncleanness, which lasted seven days, of which ver. 11, 16. and which was not removed without the use of this water of purification, as is manifest from the context and other places of Scripture, and from the nature of the thing: For the lesser sort of uncleanness, mentioned in the foregoing verse, lasted onely till even, and was cleansed by the sole washing of his clothes and flesh in water, ver. 7. without any use of this water of purification, which, if it had been necessary, must have been used on the third, and on the seventh day, according to the rule, ver. 12, 19. and so the uncleanness of one day had been made an uncleanness of seven days, which is a contradiction. Besides it is unreasonable, that he who immediately touched the defiling thing should be no more and longer unclean, than he who touched that person onely; and it is contrary to other rules in like cases, as Levit. 15. where the Man or Woman having an issue are thereby made unclean for seven days, ver. 13, 28. but he who toucheth them is made unclean onely till even, ver. 7, 27. And therefore this cannot be meant of him who was unclean by touching this water, who himself was unclean onely till even, ver. 21. as also he who toucheth him is in this place.

To signifie to us, the very infectious nature of sin and of sinfull company.

Because as his defilement was less, so it was fit the duration of it should be shorter.