What is all the talk about the red heifer…

a cow with red-brown hair in Israel?

Readers may have seen the news reports from Israel about the ancient ceremony that requires the sacrifice of a red heifer.

In Hebrew parah adumah. פָּרָה אֲדֻמָּה

What is behind the mystery of the

red heifer – parah adumah – פָּרָה אֲדֻמָּה

What is it exactly

and

why is it important?

First of all we should remember that this sacrificial ritual given to Moses was applicable before Messiah came and when the Temple still existed. As Messiah was, and remains, the perfect eternal sacrifice for all sin and everything connected to that sacrificial system; these laws are unnecessary for Messianic Jewish believers in Yeshua/Jesus and also for all those who are the born again from above believers/ecclesia.

The attention to this red heifer and the need for one, is connected to the Torah directives/laws governing the Temple and for the covering of sin until Messiah came. The red heifer/cow was specifically needed in a ceremony whose ashes were used in the purification rites, for one who had been contaminated through having come into contact with a dead body; and to purify the priests before they served at the Temple to conduct the sacrificial rituals on behalf of the people. Since the Temple was destroyed in 70AD, there would have to be a new Temple built in order for these ceremonies to be performed; and the red heifer would be needed as a sacrifice to complete the preparedness of the priests who would serve in that 3rd Temple.

According to Jewish tradition, these instructions were given to Moses in the 2nd year of the Exodus on Nisan 1, the day that the Mishkan was first erected. However the instructions appear here at this point in the scripture because of the need to purify the people after Miriam’s death, which is mentioned in the following chapter.

This ritual is considered chok- חֹק- within the Hebrew/Jewish tradition, which basically means that it makes no rational sense.

It is an incomprehensible Mitzvah that could not be understood, a law with an unspoken reasoning, and is supposed to be followed with blind faith.

In fact the Jewish literature states that of all of the 613 commandments in the Torah, this is the only one that King Solomon could not understand, because this sacrifice is the most paradoxical of all the sacrifices found in the Torah.

However the symbolism of the red heifer is a clear foreshadowing of the sacrifice for the Messiah Yeshua/Jesus to deliver us from spiritual death.

 

The red heifer-parah adumah, had to be a perfect specimen that was completely red, without blemish in which there is no defect. The rabbis interpreted the meaning of being without blemish, as referring to the color of the animals hair, that is, without having so much as a single white or black hair anywhere on its body.

This is the only sacrifice in the Torah where the color of the animal is absolutely necessary as required by scripture. The parah adumah was never to have had a yoke upon it, meaning that:

it must never have been used for any profane purposes.

Unlike all of the sacrifices that were offered at the brazen altar, the parah adumah was taken outside the camp to be slaughtered before the priest, who then took some of its blood and sprinkled it seven times before the Mishkan; thereby designating it as a purification offering, in this case it was Eliezer, Aaron son.

‘Outside the camp’, meant:

beyond the city boundaries or walls;

and during the second Temple era, the Kohen haGadol-High Priest performed this ceremony from the top of the Mount of Olives while facing the Temple.

Then the red heifer would be burned in its entirety, it’s hide, flesh, blood and even dung were to be burned in the fire, unlike other Levitical sacrifices.

Recall the blood from the other sacrifices had to be sprinkled on the altar.

Also a hyssop,

a scarlet thread and

a cedar stick

would then be thrown up on to the burning parah adumah; these were the same items used to cleanse leprosy/tzara’at. In this process, the blood was assimilated into the ashes of the sacrifice, which would’ve been gathered and mixed with water to create the water of separation for the Israelite community.

The purification procedure took seven days using small twigs of hyssop dipped into the water with the ashes mixed in. Then it was shaken over the ritually defiled person both on the third day, then again on the seventh day. After the second sprinkling, the person undergoing the purification process would be immersed in a mikveh, and then be clean until the following evening.

 

Note that the word separation refers to menstrual impurity spoken of in Leviticus, and also to Zechariah 13:1. On the day that shall be a fountain open for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and from niddah.

Niddah (Heb. נִדָּה “menstruating woman”; literally, “one who is excluded” or “expelled”) is the practice according to Jewish law where a man is forbidden to maintain sexual relations with his wife.

Numbers 19:1-22

 water of separation — that is, of “sanctification” for the people of Israel.

Anyone or anything that came into contact with a corpse, a dead body whether human or otherwise, it was the physical embodiment of sin and death. Every individual thus contaminated, was required to be purified using the water of separation.

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.

In order to prepare for their God-ordained purpose of being a kingdom of priests and ministers of God, they would need to confess their sins and avail themselves of the waters of separation.

It underscores the Holiness of YHVH and the necessity for His people to be Holy before Him.

The water of separation could be said to be symbolized in other places in the scriptures, food for thought as possible examples:

The main creation work of YHVH, on the 2nd day of His Creation, was the separation of waters by putting a vault or expanse between them. And God separated water above the sky and water below.

Genesis 1:6-7 
6 Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7 And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens.

Exodus 14:15-22

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.
22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Joshua 3:5-17 through 4:1-18 (NKJV)
5 And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.”  So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

The uniqueness of the sacrifice and the purification procedure took 7 days, a type and shadow of the creation in Genesis/Bereshit and of the 7000 year Salvation/Redemption plan of our Creator.

 

This sacrificial ceremony of the parah adumah is entirely unique for the following reasons:

It was the only sacrifice that specifically required an animal of a particular color.

This animal was an extremely rare and entirely unique.

Maimonides wrote: “9 parah adumah were prepared from the time the commandment was given until the destruction of the second Temple. Moses our teacher prepared one. Ezra prepared one and seven more were prepared until the destruction of the Temple. The 10th will be prepared by the Messiah.”

We would say… was prepared by the Messiah Yeshua/Jesus, as Himself.

It was the only sacrifice where all the rituals were carried out outside of the camp and later outside the Temple precinct. That means, the applying of blood from this sacrifice took place away from the altar. Jewish historians state that the high priest performed the blood applications of the red heifer while gazing at the Temple mount and at the Holy of Holies from a mountain opposite the temple mount.

It was the only sacrifice with a paradox, meaning that:

it contaminated the priest who offered it,

but made the one who was sprinkled by it clean.

It was the only sacrifice where the ashes were preserved and used for a specific purpose, when all of the other sacrifices required that the ashes be disposed of outside the camp.

Messiah Yeshua/Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the parah adumah since:

He was completely without sin or defect. 2 Corinthians 5:21; John 8:46.

He was sacrificed outside the camp. Hebrews 13:13.

He made Himself sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21.

The sprinkling of His blood makes us clean. 1 Peter 1:2; Hebrews 12: 24; Revelation 1:5.

And the water of separation that His sacrifice created, is the means by which we are made clean from the impurity of sin. Ephesians 5:25/26; Hebrews 10:22.

Further reading in Hebrews clearly shows Messiah’s sacrifice is superior to the parah adumah – red heifer.

Who is the fulfillment of the types and shadows of the Torah?

Hebrews 10:1-2.

For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctified for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

The truth is that

for sanctification, redemption and salvation,

a red heifer

is no longer needed and neither is a third Temple.

Messiah Yeshua/Jesus fulfilled all the Torahs sacrificial requirements. He said Himself in Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to do away with or undo the Law [of Moses] or the [writings of the] Prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill, complete them.”

And in 1Cor. 3:16 Paul confirms that, every born from above believer is an individual Temple /Sanctuary of His Holy Spirit.

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Do you not know and understand that you [the church] are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells [permanently] in you [collectively and individually]? Amp.

The belief of the need for a red heifer and a third Temple in Jerusalem Israel, is what the orthodox Jewish people understand is necessary because they have not yet accepted Yeshua/Jesus as their Messiah.

Shalom shalom

‘Mishpachah’

‘Family/Tribe’

משפחה

Mish-pa-KHa,

friends, visitors and every reader…

Please don’t leave this page before making certain you are His

and are truly born again from above.

Know of a certainty that Jesus/Yeshua is

your Redeemer, Savior, Lord

and soon returning King

and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.

NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry.

I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus.  Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.