Red Heifer Update: Candidate Identified, March 2020
The following is from the Temple Institute YouTube Channel.
Important update from the Temple Institute concerning the status of the red heifer candidates that the Temple Institute is raising in Israel. Rabbi Azariah Ariel, head of the Institute’s Kollel research department, and and expert on the halachic laws concerning the red heifer, reports on the heifers’ current status and the Institute’s future plans.
The Temple Institute has multiple red heifer candidates. The heifers are approximately one year old. Some of the hairs on the heifers are not quite red enough yet. Ranchers have indicated the hairs can turn the appropriate shade of red to qualify in the upcoming year.
The ashes from the sacrificed heifer will be on behalf of the people of Israel. Priests are being trained for the sacrificial procedure.
The sacrifice of the red heifer should take place across from the Temple Mount. Currently, the plan is to sacrifice the identified red heifer on the Mount of Olives.
See the link below for the Temple Institute video with Rabbi Azariah Ariel, Head of the Institute’s Kollel Research.
Let’s look at the qualifications of the red heifer per the Bible in Numbers 19:1-2.
Numbers 19:1-2 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed.
The ashes from the sacrifice of the red heifer are necessary for purification prior to the building of the Temple.
Interpretation of verses provided by the Temple Institute. This is the criteria used for the identification of the red heifer.
…and take a heifer… Since the verse instructs us to take a heifer, we do not purchase a calf and wait for it to grow older while in our custody; “and take a heifer” means that the act of acquisition has to take place while the animal is a heifer. However, if a red calf is available, a price can be set with its owner, and the transaction can be concluded, but we do not take possession until it reaches the proper age as mandated by the Bible.
A heifer by definition is a female cow.
…an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect… This means that the presence of as few as two hairs of any other color will render it invalid. Even its hooves must be red. It must also be totally free from any physical blemish or defect, whether internal or external. A list of blemishes that would disqualify the animal for sacrifice are noted in Leviticus 22.
…on which a yoke has never been placed. The red heifer must have never been used to perform any physical labor. This would include riding, or even leaning on her. But if a yoke were placed upon her even once, even if she were not used to plow – this would be enough to render the heifer unfit for use.
Three to four years of age is an oral tradition that has been passed down through the generations.
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The innocent, shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross is the fulfillment of forgiveness and the release from sin.
Hebrews 9:22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
As the red heifer was and will be again sacrificed outside the city limits of Jerusalem, so was Jesus Christ. As the sacrifice of the red heifer is for the purification and consecration of the people of Israel, so was and is Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 13:12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
Christ’s sacrifice is not only for the people of Israel, but for all the people of the world. He is the sacrifice for all sin for all time.
1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
June 4, 2020 at 9:28 PM
May God Bless your efforts.