Many people point to the sacrifice of the red heifer, detailed in Numbers 19, as a key sign of the end times, the rebuilding of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and the return of Christ. But the Temple Mount, the site of the Temple is currently occupied by the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, considered the third most holy place in Islam. There is no room for both.
By Mark D. Harris
Many Christians are concerned about or fascinated by the end times, which in the Bible is the time when Jesus Christ comes back to earth to perform the last judgment and usher in His final kingdom. For Muslims and Jews, the end times also involve the final judgment (the Day of the Lord) and the restoration of all things. Traditions about sacrificing cattle to usher in prosperity now and the end times to come exist in many cultures. In ancient Chinese religion, the emperor sacrificed a bull in an annual ceremony in the Temple of Heaven to give man the blessing of Shang Di, the creator god.[1]
This article will look at the red heifer ceremony from the perspective of the Christian Bible. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 2:12, Joel 2:31, Amos 5:18-20, Zephaniah 1:8, and Daniel 12:12 mention the Day of the Lord. In the New Testament, Matthew 24:29-31, Acts 2:20, 2 Corinthians 1:14, and 2 Peter 3:8-10 expand on the earlier revelation.
The Basics of the Ceremony
The primary ceremony of the red heifer sacrifice is detailed in Numbers 19. The Hebrews were to take a red heifer without blemish and which had never been yoked, to the high priest of Israel. The heifer, only one is required, would be taken outside of the Israelite camp and slaughtered.[2] The high priest would anoint the tent of meeting, the place where God met with the people, with the blood of the heifer. The heifer was then burned. The high priest would put cedar, hyssop, and scarlet on the burning carcass and burn it to ashes. Having been made unclean by touching death (the heifer), the high priest would bathe himself and wash his clothes. The heifer ashes would be mixed with clean, flowing water to make a solution to remove impurities.
Adding rabbinical tradition, the ceremony was a little different. A bridge was supposed to be built from the Temple in Jerusalem over the Kidron Valley and up to the Mount of Atonement, also known as the Mount of Olives. The heifer was bound to the altar with cords made from reed-grass, which do not become impure.[3] The heifer was placed on top of the wood arrangement with its head on the south side, and its face westward – towards the Temple. The kohen stood on top of the altar on the eastern side, also facing west. The priest killed the heifer by cutting the carotid artery in its neck. He used his right hand for the killing and his left to gather the blood. He then sprinkled the blood towards the front of the tent of meeting.[4]
The heifer was burned and the priest added cedar, hyssop, and crimson dye to the flames. Once the fire burned out, the Hebrews had to pulverize everything and sift out any larger pieces. The resultant ash would be divided into three parts and kept in three places:[5]
- The Temple
- The burning station on the Mount of Anointment
- With the priests serving in the Temple.
The ceremony of the red heifer was markedly different than the ceremony of burnt offerings as commanded by God (Leviticus 3:1-9). The burnt offering sacrifice had the following requirements:[6]
- Must be male
- Was presented at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
- Was touched by the priest as a sign of the act of atonement.
- Was sacrificed at the altar, not outside the camp.
- Had its blood sprinkled on the carcass. The priest collected the blood of the slaughtered animal and sprinkled it back on the dead animal.
- Was skinned and cut into pieces.
- Had its head and fat burned separately.
- Had various parts cleaned and washed before burning.
The first task of any historical researcher is to discern what a certain ceremony or event meant to those who experienced it at the time. When God gave these instructions to Moses, what did He want Moses and his contemporaries to think and do? Only once we have a good understanding of the original meaning can we ask what it means to us.[7]
What did it mean to them?
The Book of Numbers dates from around 1400 BC and Solomon built the first temple around 960 BC, so this passage cannot refer to then-current practices in the Temple. The Tabernacle did exist, and cleansing rituals were necessary for the high priest to be clean for his work. The solution of water and ash was kept in a clean and secure place outside the Hebrew camp. The solution was then used to cleanse those who were ritually unclean due to, for example, touching a dead body.
Only nine red heifers have been sacrificed according to these instructions since the time of Moses. The Jewish scholar Maimonides (1135—1204) taught that the tenth red heifer would be sacrificed by the Messiah Himself.[8] Though he wrote more than 1,000 years after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in AD 70, Maimonides provides useful facts about how the red heifer ceremony was performed.
What does it mean to us?
Now that we have identified what the red heifer ceremony most likely meant to Hebrews at the time, we can ask what it should mean to Christians today. The possibilities are as follows:
- Nothing – such an ancient ceremony has no bearing on life in Christ today.
- Historical interest only – the passage reveals important information about the ancient Hebrew religion.
- A “type” revealing Christ – an Old Testament event serving as a prefiguration of a New Testament event.[9]
- A prophecy for something in the future which we do not know and haven’t considered
- A requirement for the end times and the return of Christ.
For Christians, option 1 is not acceptable. God put this passage in the Bible both for those at the time and for us in the future. It would not be there if He didn’t intend us to use it. Option 2 is not acceptable for the same reason. It is certainly appropriate for modern Christians to see the red heifer sacrifice as a type leading to Christ. Options 4 and 5 are debatable.
While sacrifices such as that of the red heifer provided an Old Testament preview of the atonement of man by the blood of Christ in the New Testament, Jesus Christ alone is our atonement today. No slaughter of a red heifer, or anything else, can pay the price for our sins. If people expect the heifers to save them, they will be disappointed. If they place their eternal hope in Jesus, they will be satisfied (Hebrews 9:13-14).
One modern Christian school of thought sees the red heifer ceremony not as a means of atonement but as a crucial milestone in the journey for the return of Christ. Their expected sequence is as follows:
- The red heifers are found in Israel. This was fulfilled in 2022, when five red heifers were flown from a cattle farm in Texas to Israel. The heifers are currently at a farm in Shiloh, the ancient seat of the Judges in Israel.
- There is no high priest in Israel at this time, so one will arise. Perhaps this will be the Messiah.
- The preparations for the sacrifice must be done. These are already in progress.
- The Jewish Temple must be rebuilt on the Temple Mount. This means that the Muslim Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock must be destroyed.
Once these conditions are met, in this interpretation, the Day of the Lord will come. While these conditions are not clearly stated in the Bible or other Jewish scripture, they are implied by sources such as Maimonides.
Personal caveat
I am not highly concerned with the end times. As a teenager, I loved studying Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation and devoured Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth. With time, I internalized the truth that whether Christ returns to earth for the Day of the Lord in 2025 or 2525, the end of time for me will come in the next few decades. My task is to glorify God and enjoy Him in this life.
Conclusion
The ceremony of the red heifer is a small but important part of the ancient Hebrew sacrificial system. It is useful for historical information and can be seen as a type for the sacrifice of Christ. It may speak to events surrounding the end times, but it may not. Christians should study Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation just as we study Genesis, Habakkuk, and James. Our focus is on the glory of God in this life. God is not constrained by man in any way, and He is not constrained by man’s interpretations of Scripture and end times. We must beware of limiting God in our minds.
Admittedly, thinking about God’s work at the end of time can be useful, and fun. In the fires of life, reminders that God is in control and will guarantee the best for His glory and our good can be so encouraging.
References
[1] The pronunciation of Shang Di is similar to Shaddai in the Jewish El Shaddai, God almighty.
[2] Compare this with Hebrews 13:11-12, which states that as animals were sacrificed outside the camp, Jesus suffered outside the gate of Jerusalem.
[3] https://templeinstitute.org/red-heifer-the-ceremony/.
[4] https://templeinstitute.org/red-heifer-the-ceremony/.
[5] https://templeinstitute.org/red-heifer-the-ceremony/.
[6] Frank E Gaebelein, J D Douglas, and Dick Polcyn, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary : With the New International Version of the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1990).
[7] I use a hermeneutic of authorial intent, which asks what did the author intend to communicate in his writing. The alternative, reader response, disregards what the author says and asks only how an “interpretive community of readers” perceives what was written. If we are to “do unto others as we would have them do unto you,” we must consider primarily what the author means to say.
[8] Parah Adumah, ch. 3, § 4,
[9] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/type.
