Bible study · Numbers 19:1-22
Numbers 19: The ashes of a heifer
Read Numbers 19:1-22 before you meet.
In a few lines
Whoever touched the dead was unclean seven days (19:11) and was made clean by water with a red heifer's ashes, sprinkled on the third and seventh day (19:19); those who prepared the ashes, and whoever touched the water, were unclean until evening (19:7-10, 19:21). Hebrews sets these ashes, which cleansed "the flesh", beside the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:13-14).
The verse to carry
“The clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day. On the seventh day, he shall purify him. He shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.”
Numbers 19:19
To talk about
1. Those who prepared the ashes were made unclean (19:7-10), whoever touched the water was unclean until evening (19:21), and the one they sprinkled was made clean (19:19). Who has taken on something costly so that you could be helped? How could you thank them this week?
2. Everyone in the tent was affected when someone died there, whether they touched the body or not (19:14). Where has death or loss touched your life, and what has helped you bring it before God?
3. The one who stayed unclean was the one on whom the water was not sprinkled (19:13, 19:20). Hebrews says the blood of Christ will "cleanse your conscience" (Hebrews 9:14). What does your conscience still hold on to that you could bring to him?