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Numbers 19:9-11

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

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 water of separation: it [is] a purification for sin. 10. And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever. 11. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.

Numbers 19:9-11 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Numbers 19:9

Theological / Devotional

A man that is clean. That is, free from ceremonial impurity. He must be another person than the man who burned the heifer.

Gather up the ashes. That is, of the heifer, the cedar, the hyssop, and the scarlet thread, blended together.

Lay them up. For mixing with running water, as needed, to supply water for the cleansing of ceremonial impurity (v. 17). Compare this with the ashes of the golden calf (Ex. 32:20).

It shall be kept. That is, the ashes. The Hebrew word is singular in number.

For a water of separation. That is, for the purification of men who, having become unclean, were separated or banished, as it were, from the congregation. The Hebrew word translated “separation” signifies anything loathsome, such as idolatry or immorality. It is also rendered “filthiness” (2 Chron. 29:5) and “uncleanness” (Ezra 9:11; Zech. 13:1).

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