Heifer

How Nave’s arranged it

• When used as sacrifice, must be without blemish and must not have come under the yokeNumbers 19:2Deuteronomy 21:3
• An atonement for murderDeuteronomy 21:1–9
• The red heifer used for the water of separationNumbers 19Hebrews 9:13
• Used for pullingJudges 14:18
• Used for treading out wheatHosea 10:11
• TractableHosea 10:11
• IntractableHosea 4:16
• See Kine
• See Offering
• FIGURATIVE
• Of backslidersHosea 4:16
• Of the obedientHosea 10:11

The passages, in Bible order (8)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 8 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Numbers 19:1

   Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

   ›Commentary on Numbers 19:12 voices

   “And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron,.... Not at this time, after the business of the spies, and the affair of Korah, but before the children of Israel departed from Sinai; and so Aben Ezra observes, that this was spoken in the wilderness of Sinai, when the Lord commanded to put unclean persons out of the camp, and when some were defiled with a dead body, and unfit for the passover, Num 5:2; and mention is made of the "water of purifying", Num 8:7, saying; as follows.

   “The principle that death and all pertaining to it, as being the manifestation and result of sin Gen 2:17, are defiling, and so lead to interruption of the living relationship between God and His people, is not now introduced for the first time, nor is it at all peculiar to the Mosaic law.

   Everything gathered on Numbers 19:1→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Numbers 19:2

   “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer that has no defect and has never been placed under a yoke.

   ›Commentary on Numbers 19:22 voices

   “This is the ordinance of the law--an institution of a peculiar nature ordained by law for the purification of sin, and provided at the public expense because it was for the good of the whole community. Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, &c.--This is the only case in which the color of the victim is specified.

   “Now [Moses] declares that the ashes of the victims (which ought to be taken as a great mystery) are "the sprinkled ashes of a red heifer," which (as the apostle also bears witness) sanctified "those who have been defiled, so that [their] flesh is made …

   Everything gathered on Numbers 19:2→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Deuteronomy 21:1–9

   If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 21:1–91 voice

   “According to Jewish writers, the Sanhedrin, taking charge of such a case, sent a deputation to examine the neighborhood. They reported to the nearest town to the spot where the body was found. An order was then issued by their supreme authority to the elders or magistrates of that town, to provide the heifer at the civic expense and go through the appointed ceremonial.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 21:1–9→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Deuteronomy 21:3

   Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work,

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 21:32 voices

   “According to Jewish writers, the Sanhedrin, taking charge of such a case, sent a deputation to examine the neighborhood. They reported to the nearest town to the spot where the body was found. An order was then issued by their supreme authority to the elders or magistrates of that town, to provide the heifer at the civic expense and go through the appointed ceremonial.

   “The requirements as regards place and victim are symbolic. The heifer represented the murderer, so far at least as to die in his stead, since he himself could not be found. As hearing his guilt the heifer must therefore be one which was of full growth and strength, and had not yet been ceremonially profaned by human use. The Christian commentators find here a type of Christ and of His sacrifice for man: but the heifer was not strictly a sacrifice or sin-offering. The transaction was rather figurative, and was so ordered as to impress the lesson of Gen 9:5.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 21:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Judges 14:18

   Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to Samson: “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” So he said to them: “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle!”

   ›Commentary on Judges 14:182 voices

   “If ye had not &c. - If you had not employed my wife to find it out, as men plough up the ground with an heifer, thereby discovering its hidden parts; he calls her heifer, because she was joined with him in the same yoke.

   “If ye had not ploughed with my heifer - If my wife had not been unfaithful to my bed, she would not have been unfaithful to my secret; and, you being her paramours, your interest was more precious to her than that of her husband. She has betrayed me through her attachment to you. Calmet has properly remarked, in quoting the Septuagint, that to plough with one’s heifer, or to plough in another man’s ground, are delicate turns of expression used both by the Greeks and Latins, as well as the Hebrews, to point out a wife’s infidelities.

   Everything gathered on Judges 14:18→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Hosea 4:16

   For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn heifer. Can the LORD now shepherd them like lambs in an open meadow?

   ›Commentary on Hosea 4:162 voices

   “As a back-sliding heifer - Which when grown lusty, and wanton, will neither endure the yoke nor be confined in her allowed pastures. In a large place - In a large place or wilderness, where is no rest, safety or provision; such shall be the condition of the ten tribes.

   “Israel slideth back - They are untractable, like an unbroken heifer or steer, that pulls back, rather than draw in the yoke. Will feed them as a lamb in a large place - A species of irony. Ye shall go to Assyria, and be scattered among the nations; ye may sport yourselves in the extensive empire, wither ye shall be carried captives.

   Everything gathered on Hosea 4:16→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Hosea 10:11

   Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground.

   ›Commentary on Hosea 10:112 voices

   "Ephraim likes to tread his grain, as a trained cow; and I passed over his beauty in the hill and climbed over Ephraim: Judah will plow; Jacob will break up the land for himself." LXX: "Ephraim is a cow" (or "heifer:" for what is called Egla in Hebrew means both a calf and heifer), so "Ephraim is a trained cow that loves to thresh; but I will come over his beautiful hill; I will set upon Ephraim, and Judah will be silent. Jacob will again be strengthened."

   “And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn,.... Like a heifer taught to bear the yoke, and to plough; but learned it not, as the Targum; does not like it; chooses to tread out the corn where it can feed upon it, its mouth not being then muzzled, according to the law; oxen or heifers were used both in ploughing and treading out corn, to which the allusion is.

   Everything gathered on Hosea 10:11→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Hebrews 9:13

   For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,

   ›Commentary on Hebrews 9:131 voice

   “For if the blood of bulls and of goats - Referring still to the great day of atonement, when the offering made was the sacrifice of a bullock and a goat. And the ashes of an heifer - For an account of this, see Num 19:2-

   Everything gathered on Hebrews 9:13→

   Verse page →Original language →