Chuqat: Statute, custom, ordinance; Balak: Devastator
B’midbar (Numbers) 19:1 – 25:9; Shoftim (Judges) 11:1-33; Micah 5:6 – 6:8 John 3:9-21; Romans 11:1-36
Why would YHWH command the mysterious red heifer ritual to be performed after a series of rebellions in the camp of Israel? Can the keys be found for rebellion to be turned around into humble submission before Elohim?
Rebellion and the Red Heifer
From golden calf worship to offering strange fire, to the evil reports of the ten spies, to Korah’s rebellion, to the sexual sins of Baal-Peor, and all the grumbling and complaining in between, the children of Israel acted out in rebellious and stiff-necked behavior. Over and over again Israel rebelled against their Master, regardless of severe consequences.
Is our attitude that much better today? What could the red heifer ceremony have to do with reforming a stubborn people bent on backsliding and doing their own thing? No man or government has ever been able to do that. Of all places, why does this ceremony come between Korah’s rebellion and Israel joining themselves to Ba’al Pe’or in adultery?
Throughout history, rabbis have had to admit they have no clue as to what the strange ceremony means. The whole thing has been a big mystery for many Torah scholars.
How then could such an inexplicable ceremony be some customary ordinance that Israel is to keep doing forever? In our day, what does the Chuqat, the custom, or the habit, mean to believers following the Messiah about the red heifer ceremony?
The Messiah Crucified Outside the Camp
First, let’s look for a common thread. A scarlet thread reaches out to the outside world in this portion. The red heifer was sacrificed outside the camp; outside where the rebels and the unclean had to go …
…and she (the red heifer) shall be brought forth outside the camp, and she shall be slaughtered before his (the priest’s) face. Numbers 19:3
Why was Yeshua crucified outside the Temple courts? I’ve wondered why our Messiah had to be crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives and not in the temple courtyard at the altar. Wouldn’t that have been closer to fulfilling the Torah?
Perfectly fulfilling the red heifer ritual, the blood of the second Adam was shed outside the camp for rebels, for willful sinners, for the ungodly and wicked who were cut off, exiled, and even sentenced to die outside the camp. During the first temple period, the red heifer was sacrificed on the Mount of Olives. The red heifer sacrifice had to be fulfilled, its deeper meaning revealed by the crucifixion of the Messiah on the Mount of Olives.
The great love of Elohim took Yeshua out there where the outcasts were sent. The Messiah loved His rebellious enemies so much so that He went outside the camp to pay the death penalty for them, as well as for all of us who have broken His commandments.
Yeshua went outside of the camp where He had sent away His adulterous Bride out of His House for her rebellious infidelity. There He made the Way through the torn veil of His flesh to restore her into His House. There He was buried and there the Spirit rose Him up out of the grave like a dove set free from a cage. There He went to save His exiled Bride, to cleanse her with the living waters of the the Spirit, restoring the relationship.
At the time we were without Messiah, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without Elohim in the world (Eph 2:12), every one of us had been banished outside His camp:
But now in the Messiah Yeshua, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of the Messiah. For He is our shalom, Who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making shalom; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Ephesians 2:13-16
Good News! He abolished enmity and hostility that not only separated us from Him but also separated us from one another. We were twain, the number of separation and division, but now we are one, united as ‘one new man’ in Messiah! HalleluYah!
Ephraim and the Ashes of the Red Heifer
The paleo-Hebrew words ‘the ashes of the red heifer’ give us word pictures to show how the Messiah joins His scattered people among the goyim (nations) back together again.
The Hebrew word for red heifer is ‘parah adumah,’ which comes from the root words for fruit (par) and blood (dahm). The word ‘ashes,’ in Hebrew, ‘aphar,’ also comes from the same root word for fruit (par). So ‘par’ shows up twice. ‘Double fruit’ is the meaning of the name ‘Ephrayim,’ the tribe representing the house of Israel exiled among the goyim.
The name Adam (red man) is the root word for adumah (red). The letter ‘hey’ at the end of ‘adumah’ indicates a revelation. The scarlet thread again shows up in this word.
So by extension, the phrase ‘ashes of the red heifer’ can mean – ‘the double fruitfulness of Ephraim is by the blood of Adam revealed,’ not by the blood of the first, but that of the second Adam. We know that Yeshua is the second and final, the perfect Adam:
So also it has been written, “The first “man,” Adam, “became a living soul;” (Genesis 2:7) the last Adam a life-giving Spirit. But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual. The first man was out of the earth, earthy. The second Man was Adonai out of Heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:45-47
The good news is that in His suffering and death, the second and final Adam, Yeshua, took upon Himself the uncleanness of sin and death that separates the sinner from YHWH, which resulted from the first Adam through his sin and exile. Yeshua is the great High Priest Who sprinkled His precious blood before the Tabernacle of the soul seven times, representing the completion of the plan of salvation.
And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes (aphar) of the heifer (parah) and shall lay them up outside the camp in a clean place. And it shall be kept for the congregation of the sons of Israel for a water of impurity; it is a sin offering. Numbers 19:9
Our Messiah is that clean Man Who took up aphar (ashes) of the parah adumah (red heifer). The two Hebrew words for ashes and heifer have the same root – par, and the root word for fruit – p’riy. Through His life-giving and cleansing blood, scattered and exiled Ephraim is redeemed and made doubly fruitful by the Life of the Spirit.
Paradoxically, by making the waters of purification, the clean man became unclean to make others clean (Num 19:10). In like manner, Messiah took on our sins and curses (Deuteronomy 21:23, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 3:13), becoming unclean for us, to make us clean.
Yeshua and the Three Elements in Two Mysterious Ceremonies
And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop and scarlet, and shall cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. Numbers 19:6, LITV
- Cedar in Hebrew is ‘erez,’ in paleo, it means – the Mighty (alef) Man lifted (Resh) was cut off, and crucified (zayin). Yeshua is the Son of Man, Who took the cross beam of cedarwood to be lifted up to be crucified and cut off from the living (Isa 53:8).
2. Symbolized by the scarlet thread, the blood of the Lamb was spilled on the adumah, the red earth, picturing the second Adam (same root word) shedding His blood.
3. Hyssop in the Torah was used to apply dahm, the blood (Exodus 12:22). By faith, we apply the blood of the Lamb to our souls (Romans 3:25), as the Messiah weaves the scarlet thread of the new covenant into the tapestry of our souls and lives.
So where else in the Torah do we see the unique elements where a priest takes the ‘cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop?’ It’s in the ceremony of the cleansing of the leper found in Leviticus 14:3-6. What do they have in common? How are they connected?
And the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. And the priest shall look; and, behold if the plague of leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command, and he shall take for him who is to be cleansed two clean living birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. Leviticus 14:3-4
Both ceremonies used the same three elements and were performed again outside of the camp. That’s where the rebels were stoned and the unclean, including the lepers, were sent to – exiled outside the camp. Outside of the camp is where Yeshua had to die for the rebel sinner, who was like a leper quarantined from the community of the righteous.
If only the snake-bitten soul would realize the venom of sin was killing him! If only the hopeless leper would go to the Priest who took ‘for him who is to be cleansed two clean living birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.’ (Leviticus 14:4) If only the outcast rebel would just turn to the Messiah, Who was lifted up there outside the camp on an execution stake, taking the curse of the outcast upon Himself!
Our Savior would then cleanse him of his sin, heal him, and set him as free as a dove! His Spirit, like the waters of purification, cleanses His royal priesthood for serving in His house. The waters of baptism into the Name and very character of Adonai Yeshua are pictured by the living water flowing over the dove, representing baptism in the Holy Spirit.
There she can be double fruitful! How great the love and mercy of our Messiah Yeshua!
Outside the Camp with Messiah
Many Hebrews out there call people to repent, turn to the Torah, and keep the commandments of YHWH Elohim. True, that’s all a part of repentance, but where we often fall short is when we do not include turning to the Messiah, Who was slain outside the camp for the rebel who needs to repent. There is no true repentance, even according to the Torah, without turning to the priest. Believers in Yeshua turn to the High Priest of the highest order – Malchi-Tsedek, my King of Righteousness, our Kohen Ha’Gadol.
Every time we sin and we attempt to turn others from their sin, we must make it our chok, our custom, our habit even, to turn to the Messiah crucified outside the camp.
That’s why Yeshua sent His disciples to do as He did – to go outside of the camp to bring Good News to the outcasts of Israel – to the rebels, the lepers, the snake-bit sinners of the world for them to be healed, delivered, and saved. Then as one new man in Messiah with us, we can bring them into our customary place of fellowship in our community.
Paul was so habitual about turning to Messiah that when he approached the Corinthians about their carnality, he didn’t use persuasive words appealing to the intellect. Instead,
‘When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery of God. For I decided not to know about anything among you except Yeshua the Messiah – and Him crucified.’ 1 Corinthians 2:1-2
Amazingly, Paul was ‘proclaiming to you the mystery of Elohim,’ when he proclaimed ‘Messiah and Him crucified,’ the key to unlocking one of the greatest mysteries of the Torah.
Yeshua said He didn’t come for the righteous who had it figured out, but for those who desperately need a doctor. He came for those who cannot save themselves or make themselves clean and fit enough to be allowed back into His camp. Sentenced to die in outer darkness and barrenness, all the outcast had to do was turn, do teshuvah, and turn to the One lifted up in the wilderness outside the camp. The snake-bitten just had to look upon the brazen serpent, to look to the Messiah Who died on the cross, taking the curse of the outcast upon Himself and substituting Himself to pay the sentence of death for us.
No coincidence the portion Chukat is the 39th, eluding to the 39 families of diseases that Yeshua bore stripes for healing. And by His stripes, we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
Yeshua is our red heifer sacrifice and the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness!
The Bride is becoming one with her King again under a renewed covenant, written on her heart, after a long separation in an unclean, niddah state exiled outside the camp.
Once the revelation of the Gospel of our Messiah begins to unfold from the profound mysteries of the Torah, the questions and answers flow like a river in the Ruach HaQodesh, cleansing and reviving the soul.
In the Name of Yeshua, the Great High Priest,
David Klug
