Numbers 19-20
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 19
The Red Heifer. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is a statute of the law which the Lord has commanded saying, ‘Tell the people of Israel to bring you an unblemished red heifer that has no defect and upon which a yoke has never been placed. 3 You will give it to Eleazar the priest. Take it outside of the camp and slaughter it in front of him. 4 Eleazar the priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle its blood seven times directly in front of the tent of meeting. 5 Then the heifer will be burned before him; its skin, its meat, its blood, and its dung will be burned. 6 The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them upon the burning heifer. 7 The priest is then to wash his clothes and bathe himself. He can then enter the camp, but he will be unclean until the evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes in water and bathe in water, but he, too, will be unclean until the evening. 9 A man who is clean is to gather up the ashes from the heifer and place them in a clean place outside of the camp. They will be kept by the assembly of the people of Israel for the water of purification, for removal of sin. 10 The man who gathers the ashes of the heifer will wash his clothes, and he will be unclean until the evening. This is the way it will be for the people of Israel and the foreigner dwelling among them, a statute forever.
11 Water of Purification.“ ‘Whoever touches a person’s dead body will be unclean for seven days. 12 He will purify himself with the water on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean; but if he does not cleanse himself on the third day, then he will not be clean on the seventh day. 13 Whoever touches a dead body, the body of someone who died and then does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He will be unclean because the water of purification was not sprinkled upon him; he will be unclean.
14 “ ‘This is the law for when a man dies inside of a tent. Everyone who comes inside the tent and everything that is in the tent will be unclean for seven days. 15 Every open uncovered container will be unclean. 16 Anyone who is out in the open fields and touches someone who has been killed with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a person, or a grave, that person will be unclean for seven days.
17 [a]“ ‘For the unclean, take the ashes from the burnt purification from sin and put them into a vessel and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a person who is clean will dip hyssop into the water and sprinkle it upon the tent and upon its belongings and upon all the people who were there, upon anyone who touched a bone, or a person who was killed, or a dead body, or a grave. 19 The clean person will sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. On the seventh day he will purify himself. He will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and then he will be clean in the evening. 20 But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself will be cut off from the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification was not sprinkled upon him and he is unclean. 21 It will be an everlasting statute that the one who sprinkles the water of purification will wash his clothes. The one who touches the water of purification will be unclean until the evening. 22 Whatever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the person who touches it will be unclean until the evening.’ ”
Chapter 20
Death of Miriam.[b] 1 The people of Israel, the whole assembly, came into the Desert of Zin in the first month,[c] and the people stayed in Kadesh. It was there that Miriam died and was buried.
The Need for Water. 2 The community had no water, and they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3 They argued with Moses and said, “Would that we would have died when our brothers fell before the Lord. 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness so that we die here, both we and our cattle? 5 Why have you made us come out of Egypt to this evil place? It has no grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates. There is no water to drink!”
Moses and Aaron Sin. 6 Moses and Aaron went from in front of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting. They fell upon their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.
7 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and you and Aaron your brother are to gather the assembly together. Speak to the rock in their sight and it will pour forth water. You will bring forth water from the rock for the assembly and their animals to drink.”
9 Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had been commanded. 10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring forth water out of this rock for you?” 11 [d]Then Moses lifted up his arm and he struck the rock with his staff twice. Water came gushing out, and the community and their animals drank.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not trusted and hallowed me in the eyes of the people of Israel, you will not lead this community into the land that I have given them. 13 This is the water of Meribah, because the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and he showed himself to be bold among them.”[e]
14 Israel Denied Passage.[f] Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom saying, “Thus says Israel, your brother, ‘You know all the hardships that have come upon us. 15 Our ancestors went down to Egypt and lived there for many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers. 16 When we cried out, he heard our voice and sent an angel to bring us out of Egypt. We are now in Kadesh, a town at the edge of your territory. 17 Please, let us pass through your land. We will not walk through the vineyards nor drink from the wells. We will pass along the King’s Highway, and we will not turn to the right nor to the left until we have crossed over your borders.’ ”
18 But Edom said, “You will not pass through. Otherwise, I will come out against you with the sword.”
19 The people of Israel replied, “We will go along the main road. If my cattle drink from your water, I will pay for it. Only let me pass through on foot, nothing else.” 20 But he said, “You will not pass through.” Edom came out against the people with a great and powerful force. 21 Since Edom refused to let Israel pass through its territory, Israel turned away from it.
22 The Death of Aaron. When they left Kadesh, the whole assembly of the people of Israel came to Mount Hor. 23 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor near the border of Edom and said, 24 “Aaron is going to be gathered to his people.[g] He will not enter the land that I have promised to the people of Israel because you disobeyed my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and his son Eleazar up Mount Hor. 26 Take Aaron’s garments off and put them on Eleazar, his son. Aaron is to be gathered to his people; he will die there.”
27 So Moses did as the Lord had commanded. They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the assembly. 28 Moses removed Aaron’s garments and he put them upon Eleazar, his son. Aaron died on top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar then came down the mountain. 29 The whole assembly learned that Aaron had died. The whole house of Israel mourned for Aaron for thirty days.
Footnotes
- Numbers 19:17 Throughout history water has been used for cleansing in religious ceremonies. Here is a detailed account of water being used in a cleansing ritual to purify persons who have come into contact with dead bodies. In the New Testament (Heb 9:13-14), the cleansing power of the blood of Christ is the ultimate means of being made clean.
- Numbers 20:1 God will rebuke Moses for not having faith, probably because his act of striking the rock with his staff may have looked too much like an act of magic. But it may also be that the editor was taking into account other traditions of which traces can be found in the Bible (Ex 17; Deut 1:37; Ps 106:32), in order to conceal a greater act of distrust on the part of the head of the community. The rock is an image for God and a symbol of Christ (Ps 18:2; Jn 7:38; 1 Cor 10:4).
- Numbers 20:1 First month: according to verses 22-29, this chapter covers the last of the 40 years in the desert after the Exodus. By this time there would have been a complete turnover of those 20 years and older who had been in the desert for the whole time.
- Numbers 20:11 The miraculous issue of water from the rock is accomplished by Moses apart from the Lord’s instruction to speak to the rock. Moses is immediately chastised for his disobedience—both he and Aaron being denied entrance into the Promised Land.
- Numbers 20:13 Hebrew allows the word Meribah and the word meaning quarrel to be interchanged.
- Numbers 20:14 According to the Fathers of the Church, the king of Edom is a prefiguration of those who do not accept the gospel.
- Numbers 20:24 Gathered to his people: this phrase indicated Aaron’s impending death. Both he and Moses having rebelled against God (v. 12) would die.
