“This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites
to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been
under a yoke.” Numbers 19:2
When
the tabernacle and temple were dedicated, a red heifer was killed and its blood
was sprinkled toward the tent of meeting.
The entire body was burned and the ashes spread outside the camp. The requirement was to dedicate this specific
place of worship only once. Without the
red heifer, the place of worship could not be used.
A
heifer is a young female cow that has not given birth to a calf. The heifer, according to the law, must be
without blemish (no spots or blemishes on the body) and kept away from a male
bulls. It could not have done any work
also.
Red
is not an uncommon color for heifers.
They are more “reddish-brown” than bright red like a stop sign. There were a lot of stipulations so the
people needed to keep their eye on the right heifer and separate her from the
herd.