After reading chapter 19:
*In this chapter Moses and Aaron get a new everlasting ordinance from Yahweh. This time they are told how to slaughter and burn an unblemished red heifer in great detail. Its ashes were to be gathered and kept in a ceremonially clean place outside of the camp. They were to be used in water when a ritual cleansing was to be done, for purification of sin. The water with heifer ashes in it is the "water of cleansing." The water was to be used to purify a person who has touched a dead human body, even old bones.
*The person who touched the dead body was unclean. He had to put some of the heifer ashes in a jar with water and a clean person had to sprinkle the water on him and on everyone and everything else associated with the body, on the third and seventh days of their uncleanness. Then they had to wash themselves and thier clothes. If they don't do this they will remain unclean and will be excommunicated. The weird part, if this isn't wierd enough, is that the clean sprinkler becomes temporarily unclean and anyone else who touches the water of cleansing becomes unclean til evening!
*Here you have it: Magic heifer ashes make unclean people clean and clean people unclean.
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