The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 261

and heathens, wns without fault and irreproachable (John vii. 46; xviii. 23; xix. 4; 1 Pet. ii. 22). 5. That no yohi lwd ever come upon it. The innocent freedom of its young life had never been harshly bent to the purposes and plane of others. Even ~o our Lord wa.~ never .under any yoke of co~stmint, nor ,..,aa any other will ever 1mposed upon bun. It 111 true that he made himself obedient to hie Father in all thing:s, to hie ea:thly parents wi~hin their proper sphere, and to his enemies in his appomted sufferings; but all this was purely voluntary, and it was of th& essence of h!s perfect. sacri.fice that no constrai:1t of any sort was ever put upon him. It was his 9wn will which accepted the will of others, as shaping for him his life and destmy. ll!, As TO THE MAN~ER OF SACRil"IC~. Consider-1. That Ure red Mi/er was led wt,si,de the camp (or city) of God to du in an unhallowed place-a thing absolutely singular, even among sacrifices for sin. Even so our Lord, by whose dea.th we are restored to life, suffered without the gate (Heb. xiii. 12); partly because he was despised and rejected, but partly because he was an anathema made a curse for us, concentrating upon himself all our sin and death; partly al~o because he died not for tl1at nation only (whose home a.nd heritage was the holy city), but for the who!~ wide world be:i,:ond. 2. .That the Mifer was delivered to the chief priut, and by him led forth to die, but slain by other nands before his face. Even eo our Lord was delivered unto Caia.phas and the Jewish priesthood, anc.f by them was he brou~ht unto his death ; but he was crucified by alien bands, not theirs,-God eo over-rulmg it (John xviii. 31),-yet in their presence, and with their sanction and desire. 3. That the death of the Mifer was not in appea_raru:e sacriji.dal, but became so when it& ,Uood was sprinkled towards the sanctuary by the finger of the ~st. Even eo the <death of Christ upon the cross was not made an atoning eacnfice by its outward ,incidents, or even by its extreme injustice, or by the hatred of the Truth which ,prompted it; for then it had been only a murder, or v. martyrdom, and not equal to ma.ny others in the cruelty shown or the suffering patiently endured ; but it became a true propitiatory sacrifice by virtue of the deliberate will and purpose of Christ, whereby he (being Priest as well as Victim) offered hie sufferings and death in holy submission and with devout gladness to the Father. Ae the priest sprinkled of the blood with his own finger towards the e!IIlctuary, and made it a sacrifice, so Christ, by his will to suffer for ue and to be our atonement with God, imJ?arted an intention or direction to hie death which made it in the deepest sense a ea.entice (Luke xii. 50; John xvii. 19; Heh. iL 14; x. 8--10). 4. That the Mi/er was wholly cM8'Umed wi,th fire, as wa.e the case with all sin offerings for the sine of many, as a thing wholly cue unto God. Even so Christ was wholly given up by himself unto that God who is a consuming fire, a fire of wrath against sin, a fire of love towards the sinner. In this flame of Divine zeal against sin, of Divine zeal for souls, was Christ wholly con• · tmmed, nothing in him remaining indifferent, nothing escaping the agony and the •cross (cf. John ii. 17). 5. That, cootrary to tlwuniversal ?'Ule, tkeblood ojtlre hei,fer .,w,u not poured away, but wa& burnt with the carcase, and eo was represented in the ,RShes. Even eo "the precious blood" of Christ which he shed for our redemption ,did not pass awav; the cleansing virtue of it and the abiding strength of it remain for ever in the means and ministries of grace which we owe to hie atoning death, ,6. That CMar, hyuop, and scarlet were mingled in the burning. Even eo there are for ever mingled in the passion of Christ, never to be lost sight of if we would view it aright, these three elements: fragrance and incorruption, cleansing efficacy, martial and royal grandeur. If we omit any of these we do wrong to the full glory of the crollB ; for these three belong to him, as the Prophet, the fragrance of whose holy teachings has filled the world; as the Priest, who only can purge ue with hyllllop that we may be clean ; as the King, who never reigned more gloriou_ely than on the tree (see Cant. iii. 11 ; Matt. xxvii. 28; Col. ii. lo). 7. That the J)'!lt&t himself and the man that slew the heifer became unclean, contrary to the usual rule. Even so the Jewish priesthood and the heathen soldiery who slew our Lord, albeit he died for them as well as for others, yet incurred a fearful guilt therebi, (Acts ii. 23). IV. AB -ro THE APPLI.C..t.TION OD' THE EXPIATION. Consider-I. That the ash& were, !o I ar _cu c ~ be presenkd w Ure senae,, the indestructible rmdue of tlie enti1·e 'Ui~tim, uicludmg 1te blood, after the sa.crifice was completed, Even eo tlie whole mente of CH. XIX. 1-22,] 'fHE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 245