 |  |
C
-13. Sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh.
A
14 -.
How much more.
Superiority assumed.
B
-14 -.
The blood of Christ.
C
-14.
Purge conscience from dead works.
The argument cannot be appreciated fully without a knowledge of Numbers
19.
There the Lord commands Israel to bring:
(1)
A red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish and upon which
never yoke came.
(2)
The heifer was slain, and the blood sprinkled before the
Tabernacle.
(3)
The remaining carcase, together with cedar wood, hyssop and
scarlet, was burned, and the ashes gathered and laid up without
the camp, with which the water of separation was made.
(4)
The defilement which necessitated the application of this water
of separation is particularly connected with death.
(5)
A person was rendered unclean by touching a dead body, being in a
tent wherein a man died, touching a bone or a grave.
It will be seen that some defilement was unavoidable. God would not
have been pleased with that man who, for the avoidance of ceremonial
defilement, withdrew himself from ministering to the dead or the dying. Yet
this presses upon us the absolute necessity for the provision for
uncleanness, for at times our very duties carry with them defilement, and
though 'not of the world', we are nevertheless still 'in the world', and
though we are cleansed completely in one sense, we shall, till our pilgrimage
is over, be under the necessity to 'wash the feet' continually (John 13:10).
The emphasis upon death and the dead in Numbers 19 provides the argument of
Hebrews 9:14.
In concluding this section of our subject we append a revised
translation of Hebrews 9:15 -17 with which the apostle clinches his
testimony.
'And because of this, He is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that
death having taken place for a redemption of the transgressions against
the first covenant, those having been called might receive the promise
of aionian inheritance. For where a covenant exists, it is necessary
to bring in the death of the covenant victim, because a covenant is
confirmed over dead victims, since it is never valid when the covenant
victim is living' (Heb. 9:15 -17, author's translation).
Bathing,* Rinsing, Washing
*
No such word as 'bath(e)ing' is found in the English dictionary, but it
is time that someone was bold enough to distinguish between 'bathing' with
soap and water and 'bathing' at the seaside. At present one can only be sure
by the context. We expected letters of reproof for thus adding to the