Red heifer: Difference between revisions
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The Bible tells the people of Israel in Numbers 19:2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:” | The Bible tells the people of Israel in Numbers 19:2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:” | ||
We are to believe that somehow God wanted the people to kill a heifer and burn it up outside the camp. And that it was important that the heifer was red. They also had to gather the ashes and sprinkle blood in a special way. If they did all this | We are to believe that somehow God wanted the people to kill a heifer and burn it up outside the camp. And that it was important that the heifer was red. They also had to gather the ashes and sprinkle blood in a special way. If they did all this bizarre “rituals and ceremonies” their nation would be blessed by God. | ||
Were these strange bloody and | Were these strange bloody and bizarre “rituals and ceremonies” or were they really practical instructions to a nation that was to be a priest to all nations?<Ref>Ex 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These [are] the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. | ||
Ge 18:18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? | Ge 18:18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? | ||
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In Matthew 21:43<Ref>Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. </Ref> we see Christ is going to take the kingdom from men because they were not bearing fruit. | In Matthew 21:43<Ref>Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. </Ref> we see Christ is going to take the kingdom from men because they were not bearing fruit. | ||
How are these | How are these bizarre “rituals and ceremonies” bearing fruit? Have the gullible and superstitious been led to believe that they were to kill some young cow and set it on fire unmooring the practice from the purpose? Had the Pharisees mistranslated their own Torah and the modern Christian fallen into their trap? | ||
What if I told you that Numbers 19 was not describing a | What if I told you that Numbers 19 was not describing a bizarre blood observance? What if it was a detailed instruction about charity outside the nation? What if I told you that the sacrifice of the red heifer was nothing more than the description of how the “Church in the wilderness” as a government of the people, was to distribute foreign aid to the need of other nations? | ||
If they were really speaking of foreign aid how would we follow those instructions today? | If they were really speaking of foreign aid how would we follow those instructions today? | ||
Revision as of 17:25, 26 July 2014
Red Heifer or Red Herring
The Bible tells the people of Israel in Numbers 19:2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:”
We are to believe that somehow God wanted the people to kill a heifer and burn it up outside the camp. And that it was important that the heifer was red. They also had to gather the ashes and sprinkle blood in a special way. If they did all this bizarre “rituals and ceremonies” their nation would be blessed by God.
Were these strange bloody and bizarre “rituals and ceremonies” or were they really practical instructions to a nation that was to be a priest to all nations?[1]
Pharisees were trying to do all that modern Christians think these verse say but Jesus said they did not even know Moses or they would have known him. Jesus did not do these things and for the most part neither did some other religious groups who were using the same instruction book, the Torah.
So what did they get wrong?
The truth is the Hebrew word "red" found in this verse is the same word for "Adam"[2] and also for the word we see as “man”[3]. The word for "heifer"[4] is the same Hebrew word for “to bear fruit” and "increase"[5].
In Matthew 21:43[6] we see Christ is going to take the kingdom from men because they were not bearing fruit.
How are these bizarre “rituals and ceremonies” bearing fruit? Have the gullible and superstitious been led to believe that they were to kill some young cow and set it on fire unmooring the practice from the purpose? Had the Pharisees mistranslated their own Torah and the modern Christian fallen into their trap?
What if I told you that Numbers 19 was not describing a bizarre blood observance? What if it was a detailed instruction about charity outside the nation? What if I told you that the sacrifice of the red heifer was nothing more than the description of how the “Church in the wilderness” as a government of the people, was to distribute foreign aid to the need of other nations?
If they were really speaking of foreign aid how would we follow those instructions today?
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== Footnotes ==
- ↑ Ex 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These [are] the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Ge 18:18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? Ga 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, [saying], In thee shall all nations be blessed.
- ↑ 0121 ^םדא^ ‘Adam the same as 0120, Greek 76 ~Αδαμ~; n pr m; AV-Adam 9; 9 Adam= "red" 1) first man
- ↑ 0120 ^םדא^ ‘adam \@aw-dawm’\@ from 0119; AV-man 408, men 121, Adam 13, person(s) 8, common sort + 07230 1, hypocrite 1; 552 1) man, mankind 1a) man, human being 1b) man, mankind (much more frequently intended sense in OT)1c) Adam, first man
- ↑ 06510 ^הרפ^ parah \ from 06499; n f; AV-kine 18, heifer 6, cow 2; 26 1) cow, heifer
- ↑ 06509 ^הרפ^ parah a primitive root; v; AV-fruitful 19, increased 3, grow 2, beareth 1, forth 1, bring fruit 1, make fruitful 1; 29 1) to bear fruit, be fruitful, branch off 1a) (Qal) to bear fruit, be fruitful
- ↑ Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.