Removing the Uncleanness of Death/Key Deaths

Numbers 19-20

            The ritual of the red heifer flows out of the previous few chapters, in which there has been plenty of death. Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their 250 followers died in chapter 16. When the whole community gathered in opposition afterward, a plague struck down 14, 700 of them. With that kind of exposure to dead bodies and the uncleanness that comes from them, the Lord offers a way to purification. A heifer was not a sacrificial animal; it was a work animal. In this rite, it is a work animal that has never worked. The heifer is not sacrificed in the tabernacle but slaughtered outside the camp. It’s as if the animal’s whole possible productive life is snuffed out, just as death ends the productive life of a human. The addition of cedar wood, hyssop and yarn point towards the cleansing properties of the rite. It’s one more instance where death is answered by death.

            A commentator I enjoy reminds that this rite is referenced in Hebrews 9:13-14, “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” As all the animal sacrifices, so the red heifer: they are but shadows of the greater thing, namely, the once for all sacrifice of Jesus for the forgiveness of all humanity.

            That God is forgiving is not immediately apparent sometimes. In chapter 20, Miriam dies in verse 1 and Aaron’s death is recounted in verses 22-29. Aaron outside of the promised land because of the incident in the middle of the chapter. The people were once again complaining to Moses: no fruit, no water! The Lord tells Moses to speak to a rock and water will come out. Instead, Moses strikes the rock with his staff instead and water does indeed come out. But the Lord says that Moses and Aaron have failed to honor Him by striking the rock instead of speaking to it. The consequence is that neither one will enter the land of promise.

            Here’s the thing: in Exodus 17, there was a very similar situation and the Lord told Moses to strike the rock. It’s not like Moses’ actions were without precedent! They even named both places the same thing—Meribah. It is difficult to understand what Moses did that was so terrible, yet Aaron dies for it and Moses will die for it.

            Let’s make another Christological point: Moses was Israel’s great intercessor, but who will intercede for Moses? It turns out there is no one. In a similar way, this seeming injustice looks forward to Jesus, for whom, though innocent, “None would intervene to save” (LSB #451, v. 2). It is not that Moses was somehow the Savior of Israel, but his case helps us understand Jesus—more innocent even than Moses and yet killed as a sinner for sinner’s sake.