Treasury of Scripture
The ordinance
Numbers 31:21 And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses...
Hebrews 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
a red heifer. The following curious particulars have been remarked in this ordinance:
1. A heifer was appointed for sacrifice, in opposition to the Egyptian superstition, which held these sacred, and worshipped their goddess Isis under this form; and this appears the more likely, because males only were chosen for sacrifice. So Herodotus says, they sacrifice males, both old and young; but it is not lawful for them to offer females.
2. It was to be a red heifer, because the Egyptians sacrificed red bulls to the evil demon Typhon.
3. It was to be without spot, having no mixture of any other colour. Plutarch says, the Egyptians `sacrifice red bulls, and select them with such scrupulous attention, that if the animal has a single black or white hair, they reckon it, unfit to be sacrificed.'
4. Without blemish.
5. On which never came yoke: because an animal which had been used for a common purpose was deemed improper for sacrifice.
Numbers 19:6 And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer.
Leviticus 14:6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop...
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, said the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...
Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth...
no blemish
Exodus 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
Leviticus 22:20-25 But whatever has a blemish, that shall you not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you...
Malachi 1:13,14 You said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and you have snuffed at it, said the LORD of hosts; and you brought that which was torn...
Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Ghost shall come on you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you...
Hebrews 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
1 Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1 Peter 2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
upon which
Deuteronomy 21:3 And it shall be, that the city which is next to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer...
1 Samuel 6:7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milk cows, on which there has come no yoke, and tie the cows to the cart...
Lamentations 1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up on my neck: he has made my strength to fall...
John 10:17,18 Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again...
Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God...
