Numbers 19–21; 1Corinthians 15: Death is the enemy, so choose life!

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The underlying question of Torah reading חֻקַּת Chukat/Khuqat (Numbers 19–21) is, “How do we end well?” For us, death seems normal, because we see it all around us, but a major message of the Bible is death is not normal. It’s a stain on God’s perfect world. Death is out of place in the order God created.

The mysterious ritual of the red heifer sacrifice takes up about one-third of Khuqat. The red heifer is a pattern of what Heaven had planned for the healing mission of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ).

On the other side is not death, but life. The Scriptures reveal to us Heaven’s plans to reverse the reign of death, making life reign eternally. What is normal now was not normal in Eden and it will NOT be normal in the world to come.

Commandments, statutes and judgments are not synonyms, just as sins, transgressions and iniquities are not synonyms.

מִצְוָה mitzvah is the Hebrew word for “commandment,” such as the Ten Commandments. A mitzvah gives us the principle. They lead us to the חֻקָּה chukah/khuqqah, or “statute”, which are the case law or application. A “judgment,” translated from מִשְׁפָּט mishpat in Hebrew, is a more specific application of the case law and principle of the law.

I have to issue a warning here: A judgment is not universal. If a judgement takes one away from the original commandment it’s based upon, it needs to be revised. A righteous judgement will take one back to the commandment, not deviate from it.

One of the main topics of today’s reading is the Red Heifer. We are told it is supposed to be “unblemished” and it’s supposed to be red (Numbers 19:2). However, there are some traditions that have sprouted up around the red heifer as well:

No two hairs next to each other that aren’t red.
Even the hooves are red.
The 10th red heifer is a harbinger of final redemption.
Cedar and hyssop were burned with the red heifer.
- Both are red and both are known for keeping items from getting by bugs, larvae and germs.
A scarlet thread was also burned with it.
- These “preservatives” were thrown into the red heifer fire in a bundle.
Bible symbolism: Red = dirt = blood = life

The deeds of the flesh, the body, are the adamah or Edom, Hebrew words that derive from דם dam, or “blood.” We need to be careful that we are to think of our temporary needs, we need to think of our long term, spiritual needs.

Mystery of the red heifer

A holocaust of a red heifer, with its ashes preserved in water was used to cleanse people who had made contact with a dead body and for ritual items used in Temple worship. (Photo by Rennett Stowe via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)

One can’t simply waltz into the Temple after processing a dead body. Torah tells us that death is toxic waste for the people of God; we have to be decontaminated from it. That is the purpose of the red heifer.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’” (Leviticus 17:11 NASB)

The red heifer is symbolic of a particular life who will die to cleanse people from death: Messiah Yeshua.

““Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18 NASB)

Even today, when clothes get stained with blood, it’s a difficult stain to remove from clothing. God possesses the only sin remover.

The red heifer is an unusual offering:

Offerings were to be presented only at the Sanctuary.
But the red heifer specifically was to be offered outside the camp (Numbers 19:3).
It’s required for sanctifying the Sanctuary.
But it makes those who come in contact with it unclean (Num. 19:7–8):
- High priest
- Attendant who burns it.

The red heifer was offered outside the camp but it was a crucial element for everything that happened inside the camp and within the temple itself. Burning the heifer isn’t the last step. Those ashes are put into water to clean and purify the priests and anyone who enters the temple from any hint of death that might cling to them.

Red heifer	Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement)
“Seven sprinklings of blood” Num. 19:4	“Seven sprinklings of blood” Lev. 16:14-19 (cf. Lev. 4:1-21; 14:7, 16)
Ashes from the red heifer cleanses from contact with the dead.	Blood of the goat for the LORD covers sins, transgressions and iniquities.

Maimonides talks about the idea that the High Priest only was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place by the ashes of the red heifer. The sacrifices of Yom Kippur and the red heifer are closely related.

Hebrews 9: Power in the blood

The Letter to the Hebrews reveals the mystery of the red heifer:

“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

“For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:11–15 NASB)

What is this “eternal inheritance”? Eternal life. A long life without purpose and meaning becomes torture. It is only with God that life has real purpose. We can live as though God is always watching or we can live as though He doesn’t notice.

Is Yom Kippur only about being really hungry once a year? What spiritual lessons are we learning as we fast (Isaiah 58)?

This passage has one of many rabbinical kal v’khomer (“light and heavy”) arguments in Hebrews. This is one of the reasons many people believe the apostle Paul wrote the Letter to the Hebrews. He frequently uses this form of rabbinic argumentation.

Yom haKippurim (Day of Coverings, i.e., Day of Atonement) brings cleansing of sins, transgressions and iniquities for all the people, but the high priest has to call upon a greater cleansing to prepare him to serve.

◦ The Yom haKippurim offerings for the high priest before he could enter the Tabernacle. The High Priest had a lot of cleansing to do before he could perform his Yom Kippur duties.

The sage Maimonides suggested that the high priest was cleansed by the red heifer also leading up to Yom haKippurim. That tradition may be preserved in this argument in Hebrews, says commentator David Stern.

Yom haKippurim brings cleansing of sins, transgressions and iniquities for all the people, but the high priest has to call upon a greater cleansing to prepare him to serve.

But Yeshua didn’t need an outside cleansing from the stain of death. Heaven anointed Yeshua to take on the death penalty required by the Torah, and He died. Heaven raised Him and offers cleansing from the wages of sin by trust in Yeshua as the ultimate high priest Who offers us cleansed before the Father.

Humanity’s deal with death since Eden can only be broken by the death and resurrection of the Messiah. When we “take up [our] cross daily,” we are acknowledging that the old life has to die. Not many of us understand how important that is and that all of us must die to our old life, not just people we consider seriously sinful, such as drug addicts or alcoholics.

This chain of events can be broken. It’s what Heaven wants to do. That is why Heaven sent the Messiah to earth.

Even though God promises to remember our sins no more, we get stuck thinking about our old way of life. If we trust what Messiah says, we will not remember them anymore either.

Are we the people we used to be? Not according to Messiah. I can give you a long list of ways I have screwed up but I trust that God doesn’t remember them anymore. I have to train myself and remind myself that I am not that person anymore.

Love conquers death

The Zgornji Hrastnik cemetery in Slovenia is the final resting place of 69 deceased Slovenian partisans who died during World War II. (Photo found on Wikimedia Commons, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

1Corinthians 13 is called the “love chapter,” but 1Corinthians 15 is what love really looks like: resurrection. It tells us how God will reverse the stain of death.

“The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” (1Corinthians 15:26 NASB)

Hopefully, you recall you have read this before:

“And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:12–14 NASB)

Hallelu Yah! Death will die! The new heavens and the earth will not happen without Messiah Yeshua.

“But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?”” (1Corinthians 15:54–55 NASB)

Quotations in 1Corinthians 15 from the Bible books Isaiah and Hosea:

• “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.” (Isaiah 25:8)

• “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” (Hosea 13:14)

Going under the hood: Isaiah 25

▪ “swallow up death for all time” (Isaiah 25:8 New American Standard Bible Update)

▪ “wipe tears away from all faces” (Isaiah 25:8 New American Standard Bible Update)

▪ Apostle Yokhanan (John) was told this would be fulfilled in the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 7:17; 21:4).

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.‘” (Revelation 21:2–4 NASB)

This is why it’s important for death to die. It’s not moving to another address, it’s gone. Death is the enemy, the final enemy and God conquers ALL His enemies.

Victory over the ‘gates of Hades’

In Matthew 16:18, Yeshua told Kefa (Peter) that He would build the assembly of the Mashiakh on the rock, and the “gates of Hades wouldn’t prevail against it” (Matthew 16:13-20).

Some have noted that the Greek word Hades is used to refer to the Hebrew word She’ol, rather than to Gehenna (Ga-Hinnom).¹ “Gates of She’ol” appears in Isaiah 38:10, and “gates of death” in Psalm 107:18. This is a metaphor for the grave.

So, Mashiakh was telling Kefa that one of the hallmarks of the Assembly of Mashiakh is that those in it do not have to fear the grave, because Yeshua would usher the vanquishing of the kingdom of death.

We have a message of life in a culture of death. A life that the creator is looking to restore. That is the consistent message from Genesis to Revelation.

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Corinthians 15:56–57 NASB)

What did we learn from the Torah today? If we don’t humble ourselves, if we don’t want to be delivered, we will be cut off. The Kingdom of God sends out a lot of invitations, with memorials throughout the year encourage those to want to come in to enter, but the only way to enter is through Messiah Yeshua.

When God asks us to choose life or choose death, what does He want us to choose? Does He implore us to choose death so He can smite us? No, He pleads with us to choose life so we can live with Him.