Texts in Conversation
In Numbers, the red heifer's ashes are stored without explaining where or why the ritual works. The Aramaic Targum Pseudo-Jonathan divides them among Jerusalem's wall, the Mount of Olives, and the Levites, adding that they atone for the golden calf.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Numbers 19:9
Hebrew Bible
7 Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and afterward he may come into the camp, but the priest will be ceremonially unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns it must wash his clothes in water and bathe himself in water. He will be ceremonially unclean until evening. 9 “‘Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification—it is a purification for sin. 10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them.
Pseudo Jonathan Numbers 19:9
Targum
And the priest who slew the heifer shall wash his dress in forty satas of water, and afterwards he may go into the camp; but the priest before his ablution shall be unclean until the evening And the priest who was employed in the burning shall wash his dress in forty satas of water, and his flesh in forty satas, and before his ablution shall be unclean until the evening And a man, a priest who is clean, shall gather up the ashes of the heifer in an earthenware receptacle, its opening covered round about with clay; and shall divide the ashes into three portions, of which one shall be placed within the wall (of Jerusalem), another in the Mount of Olives, and the third portion be in the custody of the Levites; and it shall be for the congregation of Israel, for the Water of Sprinkling: it is the heifer (immolated) for the remission of sins.
Notes and References
“... Verse 9 orders: And a pure man shall gather the ashes of the heifer, and put them down outside the camp in a pure place; and it shall be preserved for the congregation of the children of Israel as waters of purification (my ndh = lit. 'waters of impurity'); it is a sin-offering. The targum elaborates this considerably: And a man, a pure priest, shall gather the ashes of the heifer in a pitcher of earthenware surrounded by a stopper of clay; and he shall divide the ashes into three portions. One he shall set on the rampart; and one on the Mount of Olives; and the other he shall divide between each guard of the Levites. And it shall be for the assembly of the children of Israel for waters of sprinkling: only, it is forgiveness for the sin of the calf. [...] Likewise the division of the ashes into the three portions and their places on the rampart and Mount of Olives agrees with the information in m. Parah 3:11; tos. Parah 3:14; Sifré Num. 124; and Sifré Zutta on this verse. [...] The idea that this ritual constitutes forgiveness for the sin of the golden calf is found also in Tanhuma (ed. Buber) Ḥuqqat 26 ...”
Hayward, Robert
Targums and the Transmission of Scripture into Judaism and Christianity
(pp. 246-247) Brill, 2010
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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