Numbers 19:3
in Numbers 19Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:
KJV
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:
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This verse in Numbers 19
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The work would necessarily require a priest; yet as it rendered him unclean for the day Num 19:22, the high priest was relieved from performing it. Without the camp - The defilement was viewed as transferred to the victim that was to be offered for its removal. Under these circumstances the victim, like the defiled persons themselves, would be removed outside the camp. The particular pollution to be remedied by this ordinance was the indirect one resulting from contact with tokens and manifestations of sin, not the direct and personal one arising from actual commission of sin.
This site's exposition
ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest
on Numbers 19:3-4
The heifer is handed to Eleazar rather than to Aaron, and Barnes gives the reason that the work defiles the man who performs it, which the high priest could not carry. She is killed outside the camp and burned there, and Hebrews 13:11-13 takes up that pattern when it says Jesus suffered without the gate. Her blood never reaches the altar. Eleazar sprinkles it seven times toward the front of the tent from where he stands, and Henry reads that sprinkling toward the sanctuary as the thing that gives the rite its standing.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Without the camp -Partly because it was reputed an unclean and accursed thing, being laden with the sins of all the people; and partly to signify that Christ should suffer without the camp, in the place where malefactors suffered.
And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
By this attitude he indicated that he was presenting an expiatory sacrifice, for the acceptance of which he hoped, in the grace of God, by looking to the mercy seat. Every part of it was consumed by fire except the blood used in sprinkling, and the ingredients mixed with the ashes were the same as those employed in the sprinkling of lepers (Le 14:4-7).
THE true heading of all the books of Moses is to be found in the words of Jesus, "Moses wrote of Me." Take the Lord Jesus Christ with you as a key, and however difficult the riddles of Leviticus or Numbers may at first sight appear, there is not one enigma in the whole collection which will not speedily open and yield instruction. To the Israelites themselves, these rites and ceremonies must have been rather an exercise of faith, than a means of instruction.
THE true heading of all the books of Moses is to be found in the words of Jesus, "Moses wrote of Me." Take the Lord Jesus Christ with you as a key, and however difficult the riddles of Leviticus or Numbers may at first sight appear, there is not one enigma in the whole collection which will not speedily open and yield instruction. To the Israelites themselves, these rites and ceremonies must have been rather an exercise of faith, than a means of instruction. "I cannot perfectly understand why this heifer is slain, or why yonder lamb is offered," said the pious Israelite, "but though I cannot understand, I believe there is virtue in it all and I reverently do, even to the smallest particular, that which God, through His servant Moses, has commanded me to do." To us, the types are not a dark mystery to perplex our faith, but an open vision to delight our eyes. Having believed in Christ Jesus, having received Him as the Father's Sent One and being reconciled unto God by His death, we look back to the ceremonies of the old Law as the patterns of heavenly things. We endeavor to discover some new light in which the Savior's beauties may be set and to behold Him from some different point of view, so that we may love Him the better and may trust Him more. Now, the particular point to which the red heifer referred, concerning Christ and His work, is just this—the provision which is made in Christ Jesus for the daily sins and failings of Believers. In order to bring out our point clearly, we shall remark, first, that even true Israelites are in daily danger of defilement. Secondly, that there is a provision made in the Covenant of Grace for the removal of the daily defilement of sin.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּנְתַתֶּ֣ם | unetatem | and you will give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֹתָ֔הּ | ʾotah | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֶלְעָזָ֖ר | ʾelazar | Eleazar | H499 → | 72 times |
| הַכֹּהֵ֑ן | hakohen | the priest | H3548 → | 750 times |
| וְהוֹצִ֤יא | vehotzi' | and he will take out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| אֹתָהּ֙ | ʾotah | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מִח֣וּץ | michutz | from [the] outside | H2351 → | 164 times |
| לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה | lamachaneh | of the camp | H4264 → | 215 times |
| וְשָׁחַ֥ט | veshachat | and someone will slaughter | H7819 → | 81 times |
| אֹתָ֖הּ | ʾotah | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לְפָנָֽיו׃ | lefanav | <to> before him | H6440 → | 2123 times |
וּנְתַתֶּ֣םand you will give
unetatemH5414 →2011 times
אֹתָ֔הּ<obj.> it
ʾotahH853 →10935 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֶלְעָזָ֖רEleazar
ʾelazarH499 →72 times
הַכֹּהֵ֑ןthe priest
hakohenH3548 →750 times
וְהוֹצִ֤יאand he will take out
vehotzi'H3318 →1067 times
אֹתָהּ֙<obj.> it
ʾotahH853 →10935 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מִח֣וּץfrom [the] outside
michutzH2351 →164 times
לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔הof the camp
lamachanehH4264 →215 times
וְשָׁחַ֥טand someone will slaughter
veshachatH7819 →81 times
אֹתָ֖הּ<obj.> it
ʾotahH853 →10935 times
לְפָנָֽיו׃<to> before him
lefanavH6440 →2123 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 16:27The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; and their hides,…
it leads to
- Leviticus 4:11–12
But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, with its head and legs and its entrails and dung—
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 6:30
But no sin offering may be eaten if its blood has been brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it must be burned.
- Leviticus 4:21
Then he is to take the bull outside the camp and burn it, just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.
- Leviticus 4:11–12
Through
Leviticus 4:12all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place where the ashes are poured out, and there he must burn it on a wood fire on the…
it leads to
- Hebrews 13:11
Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp.
- Leviticus 6:10–11
And the priest shall put on his linen robe and linen undergarments, and he shall remove from the altar the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed and place them beside…
- Exodus 29:14
But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
- Hebrews 13:11
Through
Numbers 3:4Nadab and Abihu, however, died in the presence of the LORD when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD in the Wilderness of Sinai. And since they had no sons, only Eleazar and Ithamar…
it leads to
- Leviticus 10:1–2
Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense, and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to His command.
- Numbers 26:61
but Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD.
- Leviticus 10:1–2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 527: “The Red Heifer” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.