6. cleanse them Or, “have
them cleansed.” The avowed purpose of the ritual is purification. Moses must
see to it that the ritual is accomplished, but its execution is mainly carried
out by Aaron. Herein is another distinction between the consecration of the
priests and the purification of the Levites: The former ritual is conducted by
Moses; however, once the priests are consecrated—and this text assumes they
are—then Moses no longer has any right to officiate.
7. sprinkle This first
rite in the purification apparently is carried out by Moses. Purification with
the ashes of the red cow need not be done by a priest (19:18). The fact that
this sprinkling with these special waters precedes shaving and washing
indicates that its function is purely symbolic.
water of purification
Hebrew mei ḥattaʾt. The latter word
is that of the purification offering (v. 8) and refers to the ashes of the red
cow, also called a ḥattʾt (19:9).
Mixed with fresh water they are sprinkled (hizzah,
19:18, 19, 21) on any person or object contaminated by the dead. These waters
are also called mei niddah, waters of
lustration (19:9, 21; 31:23). This passage presumes knowledge of the law of
chapter 19, a presumption that also underlies 5:1–4, since the expulsion of the
corpse-contaminated individual from the camp also implies the person’s eventual
restoration.
These waters cannot be drawn from
the Tabernacle laver, a sanctum reserved for priestly use only (Exod. 30:17–21)
and whose waters are called “holy water” (5:17), an appropriate designation
because only those who themselves are holy (priests) are entitled to partake of
them. The washing of the priests prior
to their consecration was also done with ordinary water (Exod. 29:4; Lev. 8:6).
go over Close shaving is
hardly intended, as shown by the absence of the verb gillaḥ used for shaving the leper (Lev. 14:8–9) and the Nazirite
(6:9).
thus they shall he cleansed
Rather, “and cleanse themselves.” Ve-hitteharu
is a Hitpael and always implies bathing (cf. Gen. 35:2; Ezra 6:20). A
synonymous term is hitkaddesh,
“sanctify one-self” (cf. 11:18 and Excursus 27). It is obvious that for
purposes of purification, laundering without bathing would be self-defeating
(cf. Num. 19:19; Lev. 15:5–13). Finally, the prescribed sequence for the
purification of the corpse-contaminated person is sprinkling, laundering, and
bathing; bathing is also the final act in the purification of the leper (Lev.
14:8). Priests, on their consecration, also must undergo a bathing ritual
(Exod. 29:4; Lev. 8:6). But in addition, and unlike the Levites, priests may
not possess certain physical blemishes (Lev. 21:16–21). An Assyrian ritual for
the consecration of a priest to the god Enlil provides that the priest be
examined for blemishes during his ritual bath and, strikingly, moral as well as
physical blemishes are included. (Jacob Milgrom, Numbers [The JPS Torah Commentary
(Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990], 61-62)
