19:2a 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:
(a) According to this law and ceremony you shall sacrifice
the red cow.
19:3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may
bring her forth without the camp, and b [one] shall slay
her before his face:
(b) Another priest.
19:7 Then the c priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall
bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into
the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
(c) Meaning, Eleazar.
19:8 And he that d burneth her shall wash his clothes in
water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean
until the even.
(d) The inferior priest who killed her, and burned her.
19:9 And a man [that is] clean shall gather up the ashes of the
heifer, and lay [them] up without the camp in a clean
place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the
children of Israel for a e water of separation: it [is] a
purification for sin.
(e) Or, the water of separation because they that were
separate due to their uncleanness, were sprinkled with
it and made clean, (Nu 8:7). It is also called holy
water, because it was ordained for a holy use,
(Nu 1:17).
19:12 He shall purify himself f with it on the third day, and
on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not
himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not
be clean.
(f) With the sprinkling of water.
19:13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead,
and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the
LORD; and that soul shall be g cut off from Israel:
because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon
him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness [is] yet upon
him.
(g) So that he should not be esteemed to be of the holy
people, but as a polluted and excommunicated person.
19:17 And for an unclean [person] they shall take of the ashes
of the burnt heifer of purification for h sin, and i
running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
(h) Of the red cow burnt for sin.
(i) Water of the fountain or river.
19:18 And a k clean person shall take hyssop, and dip [it] in
the water, and sprinkle [it] upon the tent, and upon all
the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and
upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead,
or a grave:
(k) One of the priests who is clean.
19:19 And the clean [person] shall sprinkle upon the unclean on
the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh
day he shall purify himself, and l wash his clothes, and
bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
(l) Because he had been among them that were unclean: or
else had touched the water as in (Nu 19:21).
19:22 And whatsoever the unclean [person] toucheth shall be
unclean; and the soul that toucheth m [it] shall be
unclean until even.
