Numbers 19

Waters of Impurity (2004) (3 1/2" x 4 1/4" x 12 1/4")

mixed media construction in wood box

This chapter contains the regulations and rites concerning the purification of a person who has come into contact with a dead body. As with many of the other laws concerning ritual purity, the means of counteracting it may seem to be arbitrary. However, the major import of these rules was to stress the gap between man and God--a gap that was only removed by Jesus shedding his blood on the cross. This sacrifice is prefigured in Numbers 19 by the killing of a perfect heifer and sprinkling its blood toward the tent of meeting.