SEV Biblia, Chapter 19:12
Este se purificará al tercer día con aquella agua , y al séptimo día será limpio; y si al tercer día no se purificare, no será limpio al séptimo día.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Numbers 19:12
Verse 12. He shall purify himself with it] wb afjty yithchatta bo, literally, he shall sin himself with it. This Hebrew form of speech is common enough among us in other matters. Thus to fleece, to bark, and to skin, do not signify to add a fleece, another bark, or a skin, but to take one away; therefore, to sin himself, in the Hebrew idiom, is not to add sin, but to take it away, to purify. The verb afj chata signifies to miss the mark, to sin, to purify from sin, and to make a sin-offering. See the note on "Gen. xiii. 13". THE Hebrews generally sacrificed males, no matter of what colour; but here a heifer, and a heifer of a red colour, is ordered. The reason of these circumstances is not very well known.
"The rabbins, with all their boldness," says Calmet, "who stick at nothing when it is necessary to explain what they do not understand, declare that the cause of this law is entirely unknown; and that Solomon, with all his wisdom, could not find it out." Several fathers, as well modern as ancient, profess to understand the whole clearly. 1. The red heifer with them signifies the flesh of our Lord, formed out of an earthly substance. 2. Being without spot, &c., the infinite holiness of Christ. 3. The sex of the animal, the infirmity of our flesh, with which he clothed himself. 4. The red colour, his passion. 5. Being unyoked, his being righteous in all his conduct, and never under the yoke of sin. 6.
Eleazar's sacrificing the heifer instead of Aaron, ver. 3, signifies the change of the priesthood from the family of Aaron, in order that a new and more perfect priesthood might take place. 7. The red heifer being taken without the camp (ver. 3) to be slain, points out the crucifixion of our Lord without the city. 8. The complete consuming of the heifer by fire, the complete offering of the whole body and soul of Christ as a sacrifice to God for the sin of man: for as the heifer was without blemish, the whole might be offered to God; and as Christ was immaculate, his whole body and soul were made a sacrifice for sin. 9. As the fire of this sacrifice ascended up to God, so it points out the resurrection and ascension of our blessed Lord.
10. And as the ashes of this victim communicated a legal purity to those who were defiled, so true repentance, signified by those ashes, is necessary for the expiation of the offenses committed after baptism. A great part of this is true in itself; but how little evidence is there that all these things were intended in the ordinance of the red heifer? See on "chap. viii. 7".
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 12. He shall purify himself with it , etc.] That is, with the ashes of the water of purification made of them: and this was to be done first on the third day ; from the time of his touching the dead body. Aben Ezra intimates, that there is a secret or mystery in this and the following number seven; it may respect the third day of Christ’s resurrection, who, as he shed his blood for the expiation and purification of sinners, so he rose again the third day for the justification of them: and on the seventh day he shall be clean ; which may denote the perfect state, or sabbath of rest, which remains for the people of God, when all Christ’s purified and justified ones shall be clear of all sin, and be the spirits of just men made perfect: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean ; whoever is not cleansed from his sins by the blood of Christ, shed for the remission of them, and is not justified from them by him that rose from the dead the third day, will never be cleansed in the world to come, or in the eternal sabbath; but it will then be said, “let him that is filthy be filthy still”, ( Revelation 22:11).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 11-22 - Why did the law make a corpse a defiling thing? Because death is the wages of sin, which entered into the world by it, and reigns by the power of it. The law could not conquer death, nor abolish it, as the gospel does, by bringing life and immortality to light, and s introducing a better hope. 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 work that the righteousness of Christ is applied to us for our cleansing. Those who promise themselves benefit by the righteousness of Christ, while they submit not to the grace an influence of the Holy Spirit, do but deceive themselves; we cannot be purified by the ashes, otherwise than in the running water. What us could there be in these appointments, if they do not refer to the doctrines concerning the sacrifice of Christ? But comparing them with the New Testament, the knowledge to be got from them is evident. The true state of fallen man is shown in these institutions. Here we lear the defiling nature of sin, and are warned to avoid evi communications __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
הוא 1931 יתחטא 2398 בו ביום 3117 השׁלישׁי 7992 וביום 3117 השׁביעי 7637 יטהר 2891 ואם 518 לא 3808 יתחטא 2398 ביום 3117 השׁלישׁי 7992 וביום 3117 השׁביעי 7637 לא 3808 יטהר׃ 2891
