Today’s passage: Numbers 19
Helpful thoughts:
- With the Priests and Levites assigned and organized, the laws for the cleanness of the people to approach the Lord at the tabernacle for worship needed to be covered.
- The killing and burning of the red heifer (along with the cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn provided the Priests and Levites with all the ash they would need for the year to produce the cleansing water for the ceremonial act of cleansing the people for worship.
- Israel was to take their worship seriously. That which God considered to be unclean was to be heeded and kept apart from His holy place.
- Through the shed blood of Christ, we now have access to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:14-16)!
Questions to consider:
- What things are mentioned in this passage that particularly made people “unclean” in a way that required this kind of cleansing? What would the associations be between sin, the curse, and what was considered “unclean?”
- What would the requirements for washing (beyond the ceremonial sprinkling) have helped the people to do after being in contact with dead corpses? How would that have been a blessing to the whole nation as they gathered for worship (out in the wilderness) in that time?
- What seems to be a difference between “uncleanness” and sin? Was it a sin to become unclean in this way? How might it even have been sinful (Or at least unhelpful) to refuse to become unclean when someone in your family perished?