Numbers 19:12

Num 19:12. He shall purify himself with it — With the water of separation. On the third day — To typify Christ’s resurrection on that day, by which we are cleansed or sanctified.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With the sprinkling water.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

He shall purify himself . . . the third day--The necessity of applying the water on the third day is inexplicable on any natural or moral ground; and, therefore, the regulation has been generally supposed to have had a typical reference to the resurrection, on that day, of Christ, by whom His people are sanctified; while the process of ceremonial purification being extended over seven days, was intended to show that sanctification is progressive and incomplete till the arrival of the eternal Sabbath. Every one knowingly and presumptuously neglecting to have himself sprinkled with this water was guilty of an offense which was punished by excommunication.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. He shall purify himself with it] יתחטא בו yithchatta bo, literally, he shall sin himself with it. This Hebrew form of speech is common enough among us in other matters. Thus to fleece, to bark, and to skin, do not signify to add a fleece, another bark, or a skin, but to take one away; therefore, to sin himself, in the Hebrew idiom, is not to add sin, but to take it away, to purify. The verb חטא chata signifies to miss the mark, to sin, to purify from sin, and to make a sin-offering. See Clarke on Ge 13:13.

THE Hebrews generally sacrificed males, no matter of what colour; but here a heifer, and a heifer of a red colour, is ordered. The reason of these circumstances is not very well known.

"The rabbins, with all their boldness," says Calmet, "who stick at nothing when it is necessary to explain what they do not understand, declare that the cause of this law is entirely unknown; and that Solomon, with all his wisdom, could not find it out."

Several fathers, as well modern as ancient, profess to understand the whole clearly.

1. The red heifer with them signifies the flesh of our Lord, formed out of an earthly substance.

2. Being without spot, c., the infinite holiness of Christ.

3. The sex of the animal, the infirmity of our flesh, with which he clothed himself.

4. The red colour, his passion.

5. Being unyoked, his being righteous in all his conduct, and never under the yoke of sin.

6. Eleazar's sacrificing the heifer instead of Aaron, Nu 19:3, signifies the change of the priesthood from the family of Aaron, in order that a new and more perfect priesthood might take place.

7. The red heifer being taken without the camp (Nu 19:3) to be slain, points out the crucifixion of our Lord without the city.

8. The complete consuming of the heifer by fire, the complete offering of the whole body and soul of Christ as a sacrifice to God for the sin of man: for as the heifer was without blemish, the whole might be offered to God and as Christ was immaculate, his whole body and soul were made a sacrifice for sin.

9. As the fire of this sacrifice ascended up to God, so it points out the resurrection and ascension of our blessed Lord.

10. And as the ashes of this victim communicated a legal purity to those who were defiled, so true repentance, signified by those ashes, is necessary for the expiation of the offences committed after baptism. A great part of this is true in itself; but how little evidence is there that all these things were intended in the ordinance of the red heifer? See Clarke on Nu 8:7.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(12) He shall purify himself . . . —The verse may be rendered thus: He shall purify himself with it on the third day and on the seventh day; so shall he be clean; but if he purify not himself on the third day and on the seventh day, then he shall not be clean: so the LXX. and Vulg. (See Num_19:19.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. therewith] with the ‘water of impurity.’

It is clear that the writer of Num_19:19 understood the sprinkling to have been performed twice. But in this verse, according to R.V. , it is performed only on the third day. R.V. marg. is probably, therefore, to be preferred in both its renderings; and the verse means that the polluted man must purify himself on the third day and the seventh day; he shall be clean in that case, but not otherwise.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He shall purify himself with it,.... That is, with the ashes of the water of purification made of them: and this was to be done first

on the third day; from the time of his touching the dead body. Aben Ezra intimates, that there is a secret or mystery in this and the following number seven; it may respect the third day of Christ's resurrection, who, as he shed his blood for the expiation and purification of sinners, so he rose again the third day for the justification of them:

and on the seventh day he shall be clean; which may denote the perfect state, or sabbath of rest, which remains for the people of God, when all Christ's purified and justified ones shall be clear of all sin, and be the spirits of just men made perfect:

but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean; whoever is not cleansed from his sins by the blood of Christ, shed for the remission of them, and is not justified from them by him that rose from the dead the third day, will never be cleansed in the world to come, or in the eternal sabbath; but it will then be said, "let him that is filthy be filthy still", Rev 22:11.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Seventh. If he neglect to be sprinkled on the third day, his purification will be protracted till the 10th. As this was the only means of removing the legal uncleanness contracted by touching a dead body, some of the ashes must have been reserved in various parts of the country, after the Israelites were dispersed. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

With it, i.e. with the water of separation.

On the third day, to typify Christ’s resurrection on that day, by which we are cleansed or sanctified.

On the seventh day he shall be clean, to teach us that our purification in this life is gradual, and not perfect till we come to that eternal sabbath, which the seventh day respected.

He shall not be clean; but was first to purify himself, and four days after that to be clean.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. The third… the seventh day — The selection of these days was determined by the significance of the numbers themselves. The other numbers for which there is a partiality in Levitical symbolry are four, twelve, forty, and seventy. See Lev_4:6, note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With it. wB i.e., as the sense clearly demands, with the water of separation.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With it - With the water of separation. On the third day - To typify Christ's resurrection on that day by which we are cleansed or sanctified.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

הוא יתחטא בו HE SHALL PURIFY HIMSELF WITH IT — with this ash.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.