ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Falaite Me 5, 2023

The Ashes of a Red Heifer   פרה אדמה 

KO E EFUEFU ‘O E PULU FEFINE KULOKULA

NUMBERS 19:2-3

"TELL THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL TO BRING YOU A RED HEIFER WITHOUT DEFECT, IN WHICH THERE IS NO BLEMISH, AND ON WHICH A YOKE HAS NEVER COME. AND YOU SHALL GIVE IT TO ELEAZAR THE PRIEST, AND IT SHALL BE TAKEN OUTSIDE THE CAMP AND SLAUGHTERED BEFORE HIM."

NOMIPA 19:2-3

2 Ko eni ‘a e tu‘utu‘uni fakalao ‘a ia kuo fokotu‘u ‘e Sihova, ‘o pehē, Tala ki ha‘a ‘Isileli ke nau ‘omi kiate koe ha pulu fefine kulokula, pea haohaoa ‘o ‘ikai hano ‘ila, ha taha kuo te‘eki ke ‘ai ‘ioke ki ai. 3 Pea te mou tuku ia kia ‘Eliesa ko e taula‘eiki, pea ‘e ‘ave ia ki he tu‘a ‘apitanga, pea ‘e tāmate‘i ia

For Israel, impurity was contagious. Just like we catch a virus by contact with a sick person, so God's people "caught" impurity by touching unclean things, like a corpse. This was unavoidable, of course, since the bodies of loved ones were to be buried with dignity. So God provided an unusual means of purifying those made unclean by death-he put the remains of death on them. A parah adummah ("red heifer") was killed, her body burned to ashes, and the ashes mixed with water and kept outside the camp. When Israelites were made impure by death, this ash-soaked water was sprinkled on them. Death overcame death.

Hebrews directly connects these ashes to the Messiah: "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (9:13-14). His death "outside the gate" (13:12) overcomes the death inside us.

Sprinkle on us, Lord Jesus, your cleansing blood of life.