Numbers 19:3 - Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments

The Red Heifer To Be Brought Outside the Camp by Eleazar and Slain Before Him (Numbers 19:3).

Numbers 19:3

“ And you shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her forth outside the camp, and one shall slay her before his face,”

Here was one full of life and without imperfection, brought to the priest. But she was to be brought by the priest outside the camp, for all procedures related to death had to be dealt with there. They must not involve the camp. And there she was to be slain by a member of the congregation of Israel. The sinless life was taken in the shedding of blood, in a life poured out in death, poured out by one whom she represented. Here we have one being the substitute for, and representing, the many. The resulting combined sprinkling, the sprinkling of her shed blood, and then its application through the sprinkling of the water of uncleanness, is indicated in both Isaiah 52:15 and Ezekiel 36:25.

Numbers 19:3

3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: