Numbers 19:5

5 And one shall burn the heifer before his eyes; its skin and its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall he burn.

Numbers 19:5 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 19:5

And [one] shall burn the heifer in his sight
Another priest, as the Targum of Jonathan, Eleazar looking on, as that expresses it; the Jews say F7, that when the priest came to the mount of Olives, accompanied by the elders of Israel, before he burnt the cow, he dipped himself in a dipping place there; and the wood being laid there in order, wood of cedar, ash, fir, and fig trees, made in the form of a tower, with holes opened in it (to put in the fire, and that it might burn the quicker), and its aspect being to the west, he bound the cow, and laid her upon the pile, with her head to the south, and her face to the west; and then having slain it, and sprinkled its blood, as before related, he set fire to it by the help of some small wood: the burning of it may signify the dolorous sufferings of Christ, when the wrath of God was poured forth like fire upon him; the same was signified by roasting the passover lamb:

her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn;
which may denote the extent of Christ's sufferings, reaching to all parts of his body, skin, flesh, and blood, and the shame and reproach that attended them, signified by dung; as well as how impure and accursed he was accounted when he was made sin for his people, bore their sins and suffered for them, even not in body only, but in his soul also; for his soul as well as his body were made an offering for sin.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 7, 8, 9.

Numbers 19:5 In-Context

3 and ye shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring it outside the camp, and one shall slaughter it before him.
4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of its blood with his finger, and shall sprinkle of its blood directly before the tent of meeting seven times.
5 And one shall burn the heifer before his eyes; its skin and its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall he burn.
6 And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
7 And the priest shall wash his garments, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterwards he shall come into the camp; and the priest shall be unclean until the even;
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.