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Message 6-28-14
Chukkat-Ordinance of
Bamidbar-Numbers 19:1-22:1
Ivrit-Hebrews 9:11-14

Introduction
In this weeks portion we have a unique and confusing statute the Lord gives to Moses for the
Children of Israel the instruction about the Red Heifer.

Numbers 19:1-10
1 ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon, 2 "This is the regulation from the Torah which ADONAI
has commanded. Tell the people of Isra'el to bring you a young red female cow without fault or
defect and which has never borne a yoke. 3 You are to give it to El'azar the cohen; it is to be
brought outside the camp and slaughtered in front of him. 4 El'azar the cohen is to take some
of its blood with his finger and sprinkle this blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven
times. 5 The heifer is to be burned to ashes before his eyes- its skin, meat, blood and dung is to
be burned to ashes. 6 The cohen is to take cedar-wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them
onto the heifer as it is burning up. 7 Then the cohen is to wash his clothes and himself in water,
after which he may re-enter the camp; but the cohen will remain unclean until evening. 8 The
person who burned up the heifer is to wash his clothes and himself in water, but he will remain
unclean until evening. 9 A man who is clean is to collect the ashes of the heifer and store them
outside the camp in a clean place. They are to be kept for the community of the people of Isra'el
to prepare water for purification from sin. 10 The one who collected the ashes of the heifer is to
wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. For the people of Isra'el and for the foreigner
staying with them this will be a permanent regulation. (CJB)

From the Jewish Study Bible: This particular rite renders this ritual unique in Biblical practices,
one reason being that those officiating at the cleansing contract a measure of impurity in the
process of performing it. Failure to undergo this process is subject to karet divine retribution.

<02708> chuqqah )349d(
Meaning: something prescribed, an enactment, statute

The ritual of the Red Heifer is one that has puzzled scholars, sages and the people down
through the ages and yet in being puzzling it is simplicity to its maximum. What I mean is this is
a very special ceremony meant for purification from sin. The Red Heifer is slain outside of the
camp before the Priest and the Priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it
towards the front of the tent of meeting seven times. Then the Heifer is to be burned to ashes,
all of it, and the ashes will be collected and stored in a clean place outside of the camp. The
Heifer is not sacrificed within the Tabernacle but outside of it indicating that it is used for
something special as though it were kept in waiting for that special moment when it would

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protect Israel and cleanse them from their sins. In the Red Heifer we can see our Messiah Yeshua
who was taken outside the camp which in His day was the city of Jerusalem and there He was
sacrificed on the tree for each and every one of us. Out of His side flowed water and blood
cleansing both the earth and mankind because man had sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God and the earth from which man had been created had been stained with the sin of mankind.

In an act of selflessness that defies imagination Yeshua offered Himself up as a redeeming
sacrifice sprinkling His blood mixed with clean water upon mankind. In the Red Heifer, as with
all sacrifices we see a picture, a typology of Messiah Yeshua. In its mystery the Red Heifer
actually reveals what it is meant for. Its ashes stood as protection for the camp of Israel. It would
protect Israel after the Ruach of the Lord was removed from the midst of the camp where it had
resided until the sin of the people of Israel had been so great the Lord would no longer contend
with Israel and so left the camp and would only meet with Moses outside the camp. In this act
we see the Holy One did not abandon Israel entirely. He remained close by showing us a picture
of His protection in Messiah Yeshua who will not force Himself on us but waits patiently for us
to invite Him in.

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will
come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (ESV)

The beauty of this is He is waiting for us to make the decision and at the same time He says that
those He loves He corrects to bring about repentance. Forgiveness comes from repentance and
where there is no repentance how can there be forgiveness? Often I hear people say you must
love and forgive and forgiveness is given but if the person to whom forgiveness is given does
not repent or acknowledge they have the possibility have acted in an ungodly way against
someone how do they expect to be taken back into fellowship? If others listen to only one side
of the problem and do not take the time to hear the other side they have failed in
understanding the whole of the problem but yet they sit in judgment of the party they have not
heard from. This happens so much in the Body of Messiah you would not believe it. If people
want to see forgiveness in action all they have to do is look. Forgiveness can be given without
being able to return to fellowship with the individuals involved because there is no repentance.
There is a system the Lord put into place for brethren to be reconciled to one another and we
have failed to follow it.

Titus 3:10 Warn a divisive person once, then a second time; and after that, have nothing more
to do with him. (CJB)

If a divisive person does not repent of what they are doing you are to warn them once and then
twice and then after that you are to have nothing more to do with them but this seems to be
overlooked by the Body in their desire to point the finger at someone and say they are
unforgiving. Forgiveness is a given but if the other people involved do not repent what do they
think is supposed to happen? It is not a lack of love but an act of love for the Body they serve in
to protect them from the attack of the enemy but the enemy will still come at them and the
attack is not always from outside of the camp but more than likely it comes from within.

Mark 8:33 But, turning around and looking at his talmidim, he rebuked Kefa. "Get behind me,
Satan!" he said, "For your thinking is from a human perspective, not from God's perspective!"
(CJB)

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I say to those who would call for forgiveness to first see Satan in the camp and tell him to get
behind and leave the camp. Until you deal with the root of the problem you will not be able to
bring unity, forgiveness and love. Love can triumph over all things but when the turmoil of life
threatens to snuff out the light of love what can one expect? Messiah stands at the door and
knocks when are you going to open the door and invite Him in? Once you do then maybe true
forgiveness and repentance can happen.

Hebrews 9:11-14
11 But when the Messiah appeared as cohen gadol of the good things that are happening
already, then, through the greater and more perfect Tent which is not man-made (that is, it is
not of this created world), 12 he entered the Holiest Place once and for all. And he entered not
by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus setting people
free forever. 13 For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons with the blood of goats and bulls
and the ashes of a heifer restores their outward purity; 14 then how much more the blood of
the Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to God as a sacrifice without
blemish, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living
God! (CJB)

The Red Heifer was more about the outward effects of sin than the inner problem. So is the rest
of the sacrificial system, it deals with outward sin not whats on the inside. It takes Messiah to
deal with the inner struggles and this is just as true for Believers as it is for unbelievers. There is
so much turmoil in the Body of Messiah and it is getting worse brought on by the judgmental
attitude of the people of God.

2 Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge you before God and the Messiah Yeshua, who will judge the
living and the dead when he appears and establishes his Kingdom: 2 proclaim the Word! Be
on hand with it whether the time seems right or not. Convict, censure and exhort with
unfailing patience and with teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not have
patience for sound teaching, but will cater to their passions and gather around
themselves teachers who say whatever their ears itch to hear. (CJB)

This is happening and has been happening for quite a long time now. As we multiply the
teachers the problem grows because each interprets what the Word has to say without a
common denominator. The common denominator is Torah and Messiah. Messiah is Torah and
Torah is Messiah but you would not believe it based on what many teachers are going around
saying today. If a teacher proclaims the word, no matter what, if they convict, censure and
exhort the people will not listen just as Israel did not listen in the Wilderness and they will be
sentenced to die as Israel was. A lost generation is the lesson we need to learn but we go
forward unafraid of the consequences proclaiming love and forgiveness but have really, truly
listened to some of the teachers we have placed ourselves under today?

The prophetic gift is more than prophesying about the future. The future is taken care of, all you
have to do is read the Bible my friends. God has it all taken care of. The prophetic gift is about
exhortation of the Body of Messiah in such a way as to cause them to examine themselves and
watch what they are saying and doing. Exhortation is tough to listen to at times but the gift
exists for a reason to call the people of Israel back to their God through their Messiah Yeshua. It
is to convict the people so they understand they can be sprinkled with the water mixed with the

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ashes of the Red Heifer, the Red Heifer that is Messiah to cleanse them if they wander outside
the camp for even a brief moment.

Blessings, love and forgiveness through Messiah Yeshua,

Mordecai Silver

Torah Man says: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
nothing.




Tree of Life Messianic Ministries
PO Box 467
Organ, NM 88052
866-874-7250 (toll free)
866-800-2390 (fax-toll free)
www.etz-chayim.org * tolmm@etz-chayim.org