Bible Commentaries
Numbers 19

Verse 2

19:2 {a} This [is] the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein [is] no blemish, [and] upon which never came yoke:

(a) According to this law and ceremony you shall sacrifice the red cow.

Verse 3

19:3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and {b} [one] shall slay her before his face:

(b) Another priest.

Verse 7

19:7 Then the {c} priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.

(c) Meaning, Eleazar.

Verse 8

19:8 And he that {d} burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.

(d) The inferior priest who killed her, and burned her.

Verse 9

19:9 And a man [that is] clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay [them] up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a {e} water of separation: it [is] a purification for sin.

(e) Or, the water of separation because they that were separate due to their uncleanness, were sprinkled with it and made clean, Numbers 8:7. It is also called holy water, because it was ordained for a holy use, Numbers 1:17.

Verse 12

19:12 He shall purify himself {f} with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.

(f) With the sprinkling of water.

Verse 13

19:13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be {g} cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness [is] yet upon him.

(g) So that he should not be esteemed to be of the holy people, but as a polluted and excommunicated person.

Verse 17

19:17 And for an unclean [person] they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for {h} sin, and {i} running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:

(h) Of the red cow burnt for sin.

(i) Water of the fountain or river.

Verse 18

19:18 And a {k} clean person shall take hyssop, and dip [it] in the water, and sprinkle [it] upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:

(k) One of the priests who is clean.

Verse 19

19:19 And the clean [person] shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and {l} wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.

(l) Because he had been among them that were unclean: or else had touched the water as in Numbers 19:21.

Verse 22

19:22 And whatsoever the unclean [person] toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth {m} [it] shall be unclean until even.

(m) That is, unclean.