¹sn In the last chapter the needs of the priests and Levites were addressed. Now the concern is for the people. This provision from the sacrifice of the red heifer is a precaution to ensure that the purity of the tabernacle was not violated by pollutions of impurity or death. This chapter has two main parts, both dealing with ceremonial purity: the ritual of the red heifer (vv. 1-10), and the purification from uncleanness (vv. 11-22). For further study see J. Milgrom, “The Paradox of the Red Cow (Num 19),” VT 31 (1981): 62-72.
²tn Heb “speak to.”
³tn The line literally reads, “speak to the Israelites that [and] they bring [will bring].” The imperfect [or jussive] is subordinated to the imperative either as a purpose clause, or as the object of the instruction—speak to them that they bring, or tell them to bring.
⁴tn The color is designated as red, although the actual color would be a tanned red-brown color for the animal (see the usage in Isa 1:18 and Song 5:10). The reddish color suggested the blood of ritual purification (see J. Milgrom, VT 31 [1981]: 62-72).
⁵sn Some modern commentators prefer “cow” to “heifer,” thinking that the latter came from the influence of the Greek. Young animals were usually prescribed for the ritual, especially here, and so “heifer” is the better translation. A bull could not be given for this purification ritual because that is what was given for the high priests or the community according to Lev 4.
⁶tn Heb “wherein there is no defect.”
⁷tc The clause is a little ambiguous. It reads “and he shall slaughter it before him.” It sounds as if someone else will kill the heifer in the priest’s presence. Since no one is named as the subject, it may be translated as a passive. Some commentators simply interpret that Eleazar was to kill the animal personally, but that is a little forced for “before him.” The Greek text gives a third person plural sense to the verb; the Vulgate follows that reading.
⁸tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav consecutive; it functions here as the equivalent of the imperfect of instruction.
⁹sn Seven is a number with religious significance; it is often required in sacrificial ritual for atonement or for purification.
¹⁰tn Again, the verb has no expressed subject, and so is given a passive translation.
¹¹tn The imperfect tense is third masculine singular, and so again the verb is to be made passive.
¹²sn In addition to the general references, see R. K. Harrison, “The Biblical Problem of Hyssop,” EvQ 26 (1954): 218-24.
¹³sn There is no clear explanation available as to why these items were to be burnt with the heifer. Snaith suggests that in accordance with Babylonian sacrifices they would have enhanced the rites with an aroma (p. 272). In Lev 14 the wood and the hyssop may have been bound together by the scarlet wool to make a sprinkling device. It may be that the symbolism is what is important here. Cedar wood, for example, is durable; it may have symbolized resistance to future corruption and defilement, an early acquired immunity perhaps (R. K. Harrison, Numbers, 256).
¹⁴tn The sequence continues with the perfect tense and vav consecutive.
¹⁵tn Heb “his flesh.”
¹⁶tn This is the imperfect of permission.
¹⁷sn Here the text makes clear that he had at least one assistant.
¹⁸tn Heb “it will be.”
¹⁹tn The expression l^eme niddah (hD`n] ym@l=) is “for waters of impurity.” The genitive must designate the purpose of the waters—they are for cases of impurity, and so serve for cleansing or purifying. The word “impurity” can also mean “abhorrent” because it refers to so many kinds of impurities. It is also called a purification offering; Milgrom notes that this is fitting because the sacrificial ritual involved transfers impurity from the purified to the purifier (pp. 62-72).
<sup>20</sup>sn The ashes were to be stored somewhere outside the camp to be used in a water portion for cleansing someone who was defiled. This is a ritual that was enacted in the wilderness; it is something of a restoring rite for people alienated from community.
<sup>21</sup>tn The form is the participle with the article functioning as a substantive: “the one who touches.”
<sup>22</sup>tn Heb “the dead.”
<sup>23</sup>tn The expression is full: l<sup>e</sup>kol-nefesh ‘adam (<d`a* vp#n\-lk*l=)—of any life of a man, i.e., of any person.
²⁴tn The verb is a perfect tense with vav consecutive; it follows only the participle used as the subject, but since the case is hypothetical and therefore future, this picks up the future time.
²⁵tn The verb is the Hitpael of hata’ (aFj), a verb that normally means “to sin.” But the Piel idea in many places is “to cleanse; to purify.” This may be explained as a privative use (“to un-sin” someone, meaning cleanse) or denominative (“make a sin offering for someone”). It is surely connected to the purification offering, and so a sense of purify is what is wanted here.
²⁶sn It is in passages like this that the view that excision meant the death penalty is the hardest to support. Would the Law prescribe death for someone who touches a corpse and fails to follow the ritual? Besides, the statement in this section that his uncleanness remains with him suggests that he still lives on.
²⁷tn The word order gives the classification and then the condition: “a man, when he dies….”
²⁸tn The expression for “in the open field” is literally “upon the face of the field” (‘al p^ene hassadeh [hd\C*h^ yn}P=-lu^]). This ruling is in contrast now to what was contacted in the tent.
²⁹sn See Matt 23:27 and Acts 23:3 for application of this by the time of Jesus.
³⁰tn The verb is the perfect tense, third masculine plural, with a vav consecutive. The verb may be worded as a passive, “ashes must be taken,” but that may be too awkward for this sentence. It may be best to render it with a generic “you” to fit the instruction of the text.
³¹tn The word “heifer” is not in the Hebrew text, but it is implied.
³²tn Here too the verb is the perfect tense with vav consecutive; rather than make this passive, it is here left as a direct instruction to follow the preceding one. For the use of the verb natan (/tn) in the sense of “pour,” see S. C. Reif, VT 20 (1970): 114-16.
³³tn The expression is literally “living water.” Living water is the fresh, flowing spring water that is clear, life-giving, and not the collected pools of stagnant or dirty water.
³⁴tn The construction uses a simple Piel of hata’ (aFj), “to purify,” with a pronominal suffix—“he shall purify him.” Some commentators take this to mean that after he sprinkles the unclean then he must purify himself. But that would not be the most natural way to read this form.
³⁵tn The form has the conjunction with it: u-mazzeh (hZ}m^W). The conjunction subordinates the following as the special law. It could literally be translated “and this shall be…that the one who sprinkles.”
³⁶sn This gives the indication of the weight of the matter, for “until the evening” is the shortest period of ritual uncleanness in the Law. The problem of contamination had to be taken seriously, but this was a relatively simple matter to deal with—if one were willing to obey the Law.