v2: The Red Heifer was to be provided. This was red, picturing man (Adam/Edom, meaning red); the heifer was female, representing the church. Thus this points us to Christ our substitute, who became a man like us. He was without blemish (Eph 5.27), not yoked to this world.

v3: The Heifer was slain outside the camp (Heb 13.12-3), the place of rejection; yet Christ's death remains effective for purifying us.

v5-6: The blood of the heifer was sprinkled before the Lord; the rest of the animal was burned up.

v7: The priest became unclean; see Matt 27.25.

v9-10: The ashes of the Heifer were used for the water of purification. Joseph of Arimethea took Christ's body, pictured by the ashes, and put it in a clean place, a tomb that had never been used. Thereby he became unclean; such was the cost of identifying with Christ. The water for purification was kept, as it has efficacy for a while, perhaps years. Christ's death in our place has unending efficacy.

• A long quote to highlight the severe problem of contact with a dead body: ‘Such was the purification connected with the origin of life. Yet it was not nearly so solemn or important as that for the removal of defilement from contact with death. A stain attached indeed to the spring of life, but death, which cast its icy shadow from the gates of Paradise to those of Hades, pointed to the second death, under whose ban everyone lay and which, if unremoved, would exercise eternal sway. Hence defilement by the dead was symbolically treated as the greatest of all. It lasted seven days; it required a special kind of purification; and it extended not only to those who had touched the dead, but even to the house or tent where the body had lain, and to all open vessels therein.  More than that, to enter such a house; to come into contact with the smallest bone, or with a grave; even to partake of a feast for the dead, rendered ceremonially unclean for seven days. Nay, he who was thus defiled in turn rendered everything unclean which he touched. For priests and Nazirities the law was even more stringent. The former were not to defile themselves by touching any dead body, except those of their nearest of kin; the high-priest was not to approach even those of his own parents.’ (Alfred Edersheim, The Temple, its Ministry and Service)

v11-13: The problem of contamination; this was not someone's deliberate action, but simply events that were in a sense every-day, but also unpredictable, in that no-one would know exactly when and where they might occur.

For us there is still a need for cleansing, without any evil intent. There is our daily contact with the world, and its Christ-rejecting standards. If we fail to receive cleansing, then our fellowship with God can be damaged. We may understand a fulfilment in the washing of water by the word, Eph 5.26.

The provision is always Christ; the 3rd day speaks of God, for it is God's provision; the 7th day speaks of perfection, for Christ is the perfect substitute for us.

v14-16: The person who enters the tent became unclean, since another had died there. To remain in the place of sin is to become contaminated, and we must find cleansing in Christ.

v15: We need a "lid fastened", something to stop sin getting in; the servant of the Lord is blind. There is a tendency to carelessness in regard to sin, and we must be wise as serpents.

v17-19: The cleansing could be carried out by any person, not just a priest. We may see that we refresh one another, and encourage each other in our fellowship with God (1 John 1.3).

v20: See also v13; where a person deliberately refused to submit to God, there would be judgment. The Christian who does not obey God in these things will suffer loss.