Parashat Chukat ~ regulation

Parashat Chukat ~ regulation                                 Shelley Wood Gauld
Num 19:1 ~ 22:1, Judges 11:1-33, Heb 9:11-28 & John 3:10-21

Parashat Chukat opens with rulings concerning the ritual sacrifice of the red heifer. This is one of the most enigmatic and paradoxical teachings in the entire Torah. The rabbis label it a ‘chok’, because it defies reason. They say that even wise King Solomon could not fathom its meaning...

Carefully peruse the details of this most unusual sacrifice:

* The ‘parah adumah’ (red heifer) had to be a perfect ‘unblemished’ specimen and every hair on its body had to be red. This is the only Torah sacrifice where the colour of the animal is specified.
* This sacrifice was therefore unique. Maimonides stated that only nine red heifers were ever prepared ~ and that the tenth would be prepared by Mashiach before the rebuilding of the Temple.
* A red heifer was never to bear a yoke; that is, do commonplace work.
* Unlike ALL other sacrifices, the ‘parah adumah’ was taken to a hill outside the camp and slaughtered before the priest ~ as he gazed back towards the Holy of Holies.
*The “blood applications” therefore occurred in a location apart from the Levitical altar ~ and then some blood was taken and sprinkled seven times before the Mishkan or Temple (thereby designating it as a purification offering).
* Unlike other sacrifices, the entire animal was subsequently burnt to ashes: hide, flesh, blood and dung. And unlike other sacrifices, the animal’s blood was not drained from the body. This is the only instance of ‘sacrifice of blood’ in the Torah.
* Hyssop, scarlet yarn and a cedar stick were thrown onto the burning animal. The same items were used to cleanse Israelites from tsara’at. That is, this sacrifice incorporated the means of cleansing from defilement.
* Ashes of Levitical sacrifices were always disposed of outside the camp, but never the ashes of the Red Heifer. These were mixed with water to create the ‘waters of separation’ (mei niddah) ~ which were sprinkled on those who were ritually unclean because of their contact with the dead. (Note that the word ‘niddah’ also refers to menstrual impurity.)
* Any person or object that came into contact with a corpse was required to be purified using the ‘mei niddah’ ~ the ‘waters of separation’.
* The purification procedure took seven days. Stalks of hyssop dipped into the water were shaken onto the ritually defiled person on the third and seventh days.
* After the second sprinkling, the defiled person was immersed in a mikvah (ritual bath) and declared ‘tahor’ (clean) the following evening. 
* This was the only sacrifice that ritually contaminated the priest who offered it, while cleansing the one who was sprinkled with the ‘mei niddah’.

Believers in Messiah Yeshua see Him as the fulfillment of the ‘parah adumah’:

* Yeshua was our Red Heifer: unique, unblemished and sinless.
* He was offered on our behalf on that hill outside of the walled city of ancient Jerusalem.
* And he was ‘burnt whole’. Not a bone of His body was broken.
* He became so ‘red’ with our sin that the presence of God left Him ~ and He cried out; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!”
* Yeshua was also our ‘Cohen Gadol’, our high priest ~ and became contaminated by the act of offering Himself. He could only be cleansed from our sin by going through the portal of death... And this He did, but rose on the third day, ‘tahor’ (ritually clean) and full of power and majesty...
* As the ashes of parah adumah were circumspectly used in order to conserve the supply of ashes for making the ‘waters of separation’ that would sanctify those contaminated by death, so too does the sacrifice of Yeshua never cease to sanctify defiled humanity. The ‘sprinkling’ of Yeshua’s ‘waters of separation’ has been experienced by countless saints over the past 2000 years...

John Parsons writes: “The sages of the Talmud had it partly right.... Yeshua’s sacrifice as our “Red Heifer” indeed preceded the “rebuilding” of the temple - though this temple is one made “without human hands” by the power of the Holy Spirit. The followers of Messiah are now part of the Temple of His Body and are called “living stones”. The sacrifice of the tenth Red Heifer -- Yeshua -- instituted a new priesthood after the order of Malki-tzedek that replaces the older Levitical priesthood of Aaron.”

This colourful Torah portion paints two more vivid images: the striking of the rock at Meribah and Moses’ bronze serpent on the pole. These also have strong Messianic undertones... Deep, challenging and edifying are the precepts and pictures of Torah........... Baruch HaShem.