Numbers 19-20: Learning to trust that ‘all things work together for good’

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“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8:28 NASB

The Creator of Heaven and Earth can make what appears good and bad to exchange places, shuffled like a deck of cards based on the circumstances. This isn’t to say that what’s bad actually becomes good. Rather, that a bad situation or person can be part of a something bigger. In the Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Khuqat/Chukat (“statute of,” Numbers 19:1-22:1), Moses saved the second generation of Israel from dying of thirst, but they entered the Promised Land, while he didn’t. In a parallel account, the bandit Yiftakh (Jephthah) lost his daughter to a rash vow made after gaining something great.

Through these accounts and the strange ritual of the red heifer to “decontaminate” those who touch the dead, we see shadows of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), Who took on death to bring rebirth to all of us who are “dead in our transgressions.”

Numbers 19: Red heifer

There is a strange sequence in this section. We are introduced to the ceremony of the red heifer as well as an explanation as to how to use its ashes.

It is not common to offer a female cow as a sacrifice. (The Hebrew word here — פָרָהparah, H6510 — means “cow,” but the Greek word used in Heb. 9:13 — δαμάλεως damaleōs, G1151 — to compare this offering to that of the Messiah specifically refers to a heifer.) A steer is a far more common sacrificial animal. The only other commanded sacrifice that used a cow is the one called for when someone discovers the body of a murdered individual and the elders of the nearest town haven’t been able to discover the murderer.

There is no other sacrifice that is offered by a priest that makes the priest himself unclean except this one.

Although the red heifer is a clean animal, the process of slaughtering the animal, burning the animal, as well as the sprinkling, transporting and storage of its ashes makes those who participate unclean. This is very odd, considering that the point of this sacrifice is to make those who are made unclean due to contact with a corpse.

This is the paradox: If you are clean, the processing of the red heifer will make you unclean. If you are unclean due to any sort of contact with a corpse, the red heifer will make you clean. And this fits with apostle Paul’s teaching on God’s mercy for us

Everything used in this sacrifice was either the red or used for purification: cedar, red thread, spring water and hyssop.

What do the red heifer, leprosy, Yom Kippur and Passover have in common?

Symbol	Purpose
Red heifer	Cleanse people and things contaminated by contact with a corpse.
Leprosy	Makes a person equivalent to a living corpse.
Passover	Cover those yearning to be free but don’t really know who God is.
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)	Cover all departures from God’s way, including the worst.

Those symbols point to the work of the LORD’s Anointed (Messiah):

“Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

Isaiah 53:12 NASB (cf. Eph. 2:1–7; Col. 2:13–14)

Numbers 20: Rebellious water

This also is an odd account. It’s hard for us to know exactly what Moses and Aaron did to make God so angry. Exodus 17 tells us of an almost identical miracle performed by Moses in the previous generation, about 40 years earlier. In both instances, God told Moses and Aaron to take a staff with them. They are even appearing at the exact rock in both instances.

There is a subtle difference in the two stories though. The first time, he was told to strike the rock, which in the second instance, God told Moses to speak to the rock, not to strike it.

The closer you get to God, the more scrutiny you receive. God doesn’t want us to die, He wants us to live.

It isn’t the case that God doesn’t respect Moses. God actually respects him very much. Moses was able to tell God to His face when he felt God was in error and God actually relented.

God knew 40 years before that Moses and Aaron were not going into the Promised Land because at the time of the 10 spies, God specifically says that only Caleb and Joshua would enter the Promised Land out of the entire first generation.

In this strange scenario, the people were looking for a type of salvation. They were looking for water to save their lives. When you are in the desert and you realize you are out of water, your thirst mechanism rises up and you feel far more thirsty than you actually are.

In the process of delivering the children of Israel from Egypt to receive their inheritance, Moses and Aaron lost their inheritance and were not delivered.

In a sense, the people became clean while Moses and Aaron became unclean. Just like with the red heifer, those who sacrifice it become unclean while those who need the red heifer became clean.

The stories of the red heifer and Moses’ and Aaron’s sin are put next to each other for a reason. We learn that the innocent suffer for the guilty, the clean for the unclean.

Aaron died shortly thereafter, losing his inheritance to his son Eleazar.

At the end of this parashat, we see that the children of Israel take some territory on the east side of the Jordan, which is inherited by Reuben, Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh.

We see this more fully in Haftarat Chukat haftarah (parallel passage).

Judges 11: Sacrificial daughter

We learn about the account of Yiftakh (Jephthah) of Gilead. He was the eldest son of his father Gilead, but after his father died, his brothers kicked him out of the family because Yiftakh’s mother was not his father’s wife, but a harlot he had co-habitated with.

After he was kicked out of his family, he became a thief and a bandit. Yet these qualities are exactly what God used to help deliver the people of Gilead from the Ammonites.

Yiftakh of Gilead pointed out to the Ammonites that they didn’t take the land from them, but they took it from the Amorites. The Ammonites could have tried to take it from the Amorites but they did not. Israel has had possession of this land for 300 years since then so for the Ammonites to decide that the land is theirs doesn’t impress Yiftakh much.

The savior the Gileadites need in this time was not a peaceable, mild-mannered man, but a ruthless, battle-hardened man. God can accomplish His will even while using some pretty bad characters. He used Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh and other brutal men to accomplish His plans on earth.

We see later, after Yiftakh beat the Ammonites in battle, he ended up having to give up his only child, his beloved daughter. She paid the price for his victory.

Yiftakh was an eldest son who became an outcast. Later, God brought about a situation that helped to restore Yiftakh’s status as an elder in Gilead, but he lost his daughter as a result.

The likely outcome of his faithfully fulfilling his vow is that he presented his daughter to the priesthood, who would not have offered something unclean on the altar but rather had her spend the rest of her days dedicated to the Tabernacle service. In a similar vein, Anna dedicated herself to the Temple after being widowed, and many years later in life she prophesied over the infant Messiah (Luke 2:36–38).

Ultimately, God decides what is good and what is bad, and He uses His tools as He sees it. Do we trust Him with them? With us?

Summary: Tammy