“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 חֻקַּת‎Chukat (“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; 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,