What about that Red Heifer?

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 'This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. Give it to Eleazer the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence....' 

The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw onto the burning heifer....a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonial clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin... Numbers 19

This requirement about the 'red cow' has puzzled me for a long time. It is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament.


One Bible scholar writes that there is evidence that this ceremony has been performed 7 times in the history of the Jews - maybe 9 - but no other evidence that is was performed regularly. He is talking about the period of time between the building of the Temple under King Solomon through 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans - a span of almost 1000 years.

I looked for information from the ancient rabbis in the Chumash:

     The law of the Red Cow as described by the Sages is the quintessential decree of the Torah. It was to be performed outside the camp during the wilderness days, and later...In the Land, it was to be performed outside the walls of Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives....

...The Midrash to this chapter focuses primarily on one paradox in the law of the Red Cow: Its ashes purify people who had become contaminated, yet those who engage in its preparation become contaminated themselves...

         One should not try to explain this precept (the Red Cow
         Commandment)  because God gave us His best and most
         sacred commands in the form of a "divine kiss," as it were,
         like the intimacy of a lover to his beloved....



The notes continue:

The quintessence....

The underlying message of all of the above, as well as the many other mysteries of the Torah, is that the Supreme Intelligence has granted man a huge treasury  of spiritual and intellectual gifts, but none is more precious that the knowledge that God is infinite, both in existence and in wisdom, while man is as limited in his ability to comprehend as he is in his physical existence.....

Our most precious gift is the awareness that God is infinite!

Red cows were rare. And they had to be perfect, without blemish, and very few, or no, black or white hairs. Just red. They would have been very expensive. They would have had to be bred specifically for the purpose of this 'Red Cow' law.

As Christians - "completed Jews" -- it brings us back to Hebrews 9:

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.

How much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so they we may serve the living God.

So many insights in this ceremony...outside the camp...Mount of Olives...
preparing the sacrifice contaminates the one performing it....I'm going to revisit this again and glean some more...



Note: I looked up quintessence.  It means: (1) In ancient and medieval philosophy, the fifth essence, or ultimate substance, of which the heavenly bodies were thought to be composed: distinguished from the four elements--
air, fire, water, earth, (2) the pure, consecrated essence of anything, (3) the most perfect manifestation of a quality or thing.....


So it looks like the ancient rabbis are saying that the most pure and most perfect manifestation of God is the knowledge He has given us that He is infinite.....

The Ark - How big was the Ark?

Wonder -- what if we really did find the Ark of the Covenant?

Some years ago the "Nazis" and Indiana Jones made movie history in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It caused trouble for them, too. Something about that Ark grabs our attention--all of us--and, even today, focuses our thoughts on God and His relationship with His creatures.

The Ark was a wooden box, or chest, about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide and 2 feet high. It had a thick, gold cover. Inside were the tablets upon which the Law was written. Jewish thought is that
both the remnants of the broken tablet and the second inscription that Moses was given were in the Ark. As well as a golden jar of manna and Aaron's staff that budded.

Above the Ark, seated on the ends of the gold cover, were the two cherubim of Glory, overshadowing the cover.

We read about the Ark in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 10 and Exodus 25, as well as other places. In the New Testament we read about it in the book of Hebrews. When that book was written the Ark had already been missing for 600 years or so.


Jewish tradition also says that the cover could never be placed on the Ark unless the tablets of the Law were inside.

There were 4 rings on the corners through which the poles were to be placed to carry it. No one was to touch the Ark, for the penalty was death.

This Ark was to symbolize Yahweh Elohim's visible throne on earth. Yahweh stated He would dwell in a cloud between the wings of the cherubim above the gold cover, which was called the Mercy Seat. This is where He would commune with Moses and the High Priest who would hear His voice. Perhaps today the cloud represents, to us, the Holy Spirit that speaks to us in our minds. The purpose of the Ark, and the Tabernacle/Temple, was to symbolize that Elohim would dwell among the Israelites, His people.

And it will be that way in the future, too, but not just symbolically. John's Revelation tells us,

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Rev. 21).

It was on the Mercy Seat that the High Priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice for the sins of the nation once a year on the Day of Atonement.

So this is the picture: God, looking down from His cloud between the two cherubim would see the sprinkled blood over the broken Law.

It's the best picture of what Christ did in the entire Old Testament. And it is, without a doubt, the most important symbol in all of world history. Until the Cross.

Every once in a while historians publish their list of "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World." Always at the top of that list is the Great Pyramid of Giza, the only "wonder" still standing. It was already several centuries old when Abraham left Ur.

The next on the list is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, then the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. This took 120 years to build and its craftsmen at Ephesus, who made shrines and models of the temple to sell to tourists and pilgrims, became enraged when Paul and his companions began preaching and converting the citizens of Ephesus.

Rounding out the list is the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes (statue of the Greek god Helios, the sun god) and the Lighthouse at Alexandria, the tallest structure in the world for many centuries.

But none of these "wonders" have any importance when compared to that small chest, carried on the shoulders of ancient Hebrew priests, because it spoke of the redemptive plan of our great God and Savior, and how He would rescue His people from their sins and gather them from all the nations of the world to be His people.

It reminds me of the final book of C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. The Last Battle. The children are gathered at the end of the battle at a small stable, where the battle had begun.

Tirian, peering through a crack between the planks of the stable, saw darkness inside the stable. But when he walked through the stable door there was an immense blue sky, and grassy meadows spreading as far as he could see. And all his friends were there, playing and laughing. It was a place of great beauty and joy and peace.

"Fair Sir," said Tirian to the High King. "This is a great marvel....It seems then that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places."

"Yes," said Lord Digory. "Its inside is bigger than its outside."


"Yes," said Queen Lucy. "In our world, too, a stable once held something inside that was bigger than our whole world."

The inside was bigger than the outside.

I think it is that way with the Ark of God's Covenant. It is so much bigger than it appears to those on the outside.

Jesus' Close Friends - Lesson 3 - Andrew - Challenge

Jesus' Close Friends - Andrew - Lesson 3 - Quiz/Project Challenge (covering Lessons 1 and 2)


1. Who was the first disciple to recognize and announce who Christ really was?

     ____A. Judas
     ____B. Peter
     ____C. Thomas
     ____D. Andrew


2. Why was John the Baptizer so certain Jesus was
God's Son? (John 1:32-34)

_______________________________________

_______________________________________


3. When John the Baptizer saw Jesus walking by, he
said, "Behold (Look), the__________of__________.


4. Andrew and Peter (and Philip) were from a small
fishing village on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee called (John 1:44):

    ____A. Capernaum
    ____B. Nazareth
    ____C. Bethsaida
    ____D. Galilee


5. When Jesus called Andrew and Peter He was ministering in a section of Israel called:

    ____A. Judea
    ____B. Galilee
    ____C. Samaria
    ____D. Perea


6. According to Mark 1:29, Peter and Andrew lived in the same house. Who lived with them?
__________________________________________

What happened to her?__________________________


7. According to Mark 1:14-17 Jesus called Andrew and Peter to become His disciples while they were casting a net fishing. Jesus told them, "____________ me, and I will make you __________________of ___________."


Jesus had already met both Andrew and Peter (John 1), where John the Baptizer was preaching at the Jordan River.

Fill in the following blanks with Peter or Andrew's names:

_______________was a disciple of John the Baptizer
and_____________was his brother. John the Baptizer pointed out Christ to Andrew, who followed Jesus back to where he was staying.  After spending a number of hours with Christ, ________went to
find his brother_________and told him, "We have found the Messiah!"


8. Who told John the Baptizer how to recognize the Messiah? (John 1:32-34).

_________________________________________


9. What was one of the differences between the baptisms of John and Jesus? (John 1:32-34)

__________________________________________

10. Another name for the Sea of Galilee is

_________________________(Luke 5:1)


11. Luke tells us exactly when the ministry of John began. (Luke 3:1-2)

_____________  was emperor of the Roman Empire;
_________________ was governor of Judea;
_______________ was tetrarch of Galilee;
___________and _________ were the Jewish High
Priests


12. What was John the Baptizer's message: (Luke 3:3)

______________________________________


13. When Jesus was baptized by John, what did the voice from heaven say? (Matthew 3:17)________

________________________________________

What was the visible sign?___________________


14. Put these events in proper chronological order:

(1) Christ spends 40 days in wilderness
(2) John goes to prison
(3) Christ baptized by John
(4) Andrew finds his brother and tell him he is the
     Messiah
(5) Andrew and John follow Jesus to where he is
     staying
(6) Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee and calls his
     first disciples - Peter, Andrew, James and John

List in order by number:

_____,_____,_____,____ ,_____,____



15. How did John the Baptizer describe himself? (John 1:19-23)

________________________________________________________________________

Who did he say he was not?________________

______________________________________


[Note: The Prophet probably refers to Moses' words in Deuteronomy 18:

     The LORD your God will raise up for you a
     prophet like me from among your brothers.
     You must listen to him.

     For  this is what you asked of the LORD your
     God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when
     you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD
     our God nor see this great fire anymore or we
     will die."

     The LORD said to me: "What they say is good. I
     will raise up for them a prophet like you, from
     among their brothers; I will put my words in his
     mouth, and he will tell them everything I
     command him....

                       Deuteronomy 18:15-18

The religious leaders took this to be an ever-lasting promise from God - that He would always have a spokesman for them so they would hear from God.
They referred to this man as "The Prophet."



16. What does "make straight the way for the Lord" mean?  Think of roads in ancient times and how travelers (by foot or donkey) moved from place to
place.  What kind of roads would facilitate the movement of the Roman armies?

Look at Isaiah 40:3-5:

     A voice of one calling in the desert:
     Prepare the way for the LORD
     Make straight in the wilderness
        a highway for our God.
     Every valley shall be raised up,
     Every mountain and hill made low;
        the rough ground shall become level,
        the rugged places a plain,
     And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
     And all mankind together will see it.
     For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.