MPV Commentary

The Water of Separation.

2 This ordinance was an institution ordained by law for the purification of sin and was provided at the public expense because it benefited the entire community.

Speak to the Israelites that they bring you a red heifer without spot or blemish. The choice of this animal was likely intended to eradicate from their minds a favorite Egyptian superstition regarding two objects of their animal worship. In Egypt, a red bull was always sacrificed as an annual offering to Typhon, their evil being.

3-6 You shall give the heifer to Eleazar the priest that he may bring it forth outside the camp. He was selected for this duty because executing it entailed temporary defilement from which the acting high priest was to be preserved with great care. The priest would sprinkle the blood seven times before the tabernacle, indicating an expiatory sacrifice, and every part of the heifer would be consumed by fire except the blood used in sprinkling.

7 The priest would remain unclean until evening. This ceremony typifies the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood while foreshadowing Christ's condition when expiating our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21).

11-22 He who touches a dead body shall be unclean, and this law is mentioned here to show the uses to which the water of separation was applied. The case of death was one instance, and as in every family that sustained a bereavement, the members became defiled, so in an immense population where instances of mortality would occur daily, the water of separation must have been constantly required.

12 He shall purify himself with the water on the third day. This regulation has been generally supposed to have had a typical reference to Christ's resurrection and the sanctification of His people. The process of ceremonial purification was extended over seven days, showing that sanctification is progressive and incomplete until the arrival of the eternal Sabbath.

14 When a man dies in a tent, or outside it, the instances adduced appear very minute and trivial; but important ends were promoted by carrying the idea of pollution from contact with dead bodies to such an extent. This ensured a speedy interment for all, keeping burial places at a distance and removing from habitations the corpses of persons who died from infectious disorders.

21 He who sprinkles the water of separation shall be unclean until evening; and he who touches it shall also be unclean. The opposite effects ascribed to the water of separation – cleansing one person and defiling another – are very singular, but an important lesson was thus taught: its purifying efficacy arose from divine appointment, not from any virtue in itself or in the one administering it, but solely through the grace of God communicated thereby.