DOES ANYONE HERE HAVE CURRENT INFORMATION REGARDING "THE SEARCH FOR THE RED HEIFER?"

I share the following for those who may not be familiar with the significance for "THE SEARCH FOR THE RED HEIFER!"
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THE "RED HEIFER" SACRIFICE PRECEDING THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE: The red heifer was to be sacrificed in a special ritual outside the camp. Everything about this sacrifice was unusual. Ordinarily, the sacrificial animal was a male, but this animal had to be female. The mention of the color of the animal ("red") is also unusual, as in no other sacrifice was the color of the animal specified.

Numbers 19:2 tells us that the cow is to be red, "without defect, in which there is no blemish…." Also, it is to be a cow which has never had a yoke upon it. This does tell us some things but not all things about this special sacrifice. T

There are oral traditions surrounding the cow and the requirements. It is generally accepted that the cow must be three years of age before it is eligible for sacrifice. The orthodox rabbis also say that three black or white hairs on the animal will render it invalid....there is some apparent disagreement about this point. The cow is to be a heifer, which by definition is a young cow that has never borne a calf.

REPORTS OF BIRTH OF RED HEIFER:
April 2002: Disqualified, November 2002
According to "Temple Mount Institute" (http://templeinstitute.org/current-events/RedHeifer/ ) there was a news flash about the birth of a red heifer in April 2002 on a farm in Israel. At that time, the cow was determined to be a kosher Red Heifer under Jewish Law. However, an update in November 2002 indicated that the Red Heifer had been disqualified. No details were given regarding the disqualification; e.g. "Did it change color as it matured; did someone deliberately disqualify it, either by permanently injuring it or putting it in a harness?" Again, the reason for disqualification was not given in the article.

1990 - 1997: Red Heifer - The Nebraska Rancher
In the early 1990's, a cattle rancher ran across the scriptures describing the red heifer. As he pondered what he had just read, he realized that he indeed had that kind of heifer. Coming into contact with a group from Israel, he began communicating and eventually worked a deal to provide them with the Biblically-defined red heifer.

The original agreement was to provide 200 pregnant red heifers, which would be shipped via ocean lined to Jerusalem. Statistically, these pregnant heifers would produce 100 bulls and 100 heifers. The resultant 100 heifers would become the "potential" sacrificial stock.

Time went by, and this event did not occur. The interest and motivation had by no means disappeared but are fervently still there. The plan has now reached a much grander scale. The goal now is to repopulate the nation of Israel with this man's breed of cattle stock. So instead of 200 heifers, they are planning to ship thousands of heifers to Jerusalem.

In the Spring of 1997, a rabbi from Israel was to examine the red heifer in Nebraska.
The rancher is Clyde Lott. He has said that they are looking for "prayerful minded people" to help with their efforts. He also said that they are "set on go" and ready for the process of shipment and repopulating to begin. Most of this information has been obtained from a tape interview of Clyde Lott by Hatikva Ministries and from telephone conversations with him.

Update: I have contacted the group associated with Mr. Clyde Lott, requesting an update re the breeding of the Red Heifer. No response as of this date. (I did this in 2003. Bobbye)
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1995-96: Israel
There have also been reports of red cows being born in Israel. One is said to have been born in the fall of 1995 and one in the winter of 1996. One cow, which has had some media attention, was artificially inseminated and there are reports of some black hairs appearing -- this cow is invalid. The other cow is not spoken of much, and may be a valid "Red Heifer." Confirmation of the cow has not been received.
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THE "RED HEIFER" SACRIFICE:
Romans 9:13-14 KJV , "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ASHES OF AN HEIFER sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
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First Heifer Offered:
Genesis 15:8-9, 12 & 17
This red heifer was sacrificed (along with other animals) to ratify the Covenant between God and Abraham.

Last Heifer A.D. 70 (Historic fact)
Hosea 3:4-5
It has indeed been many days since Israel’s last sacrifice.

The Ashes of The Red Heifer Are Used For:
A. Temple Purification
B. Priestly Purification
C. Altar Purification
D. Personal defilement: Hebrews 9:13-14

THE SACRIFICE OF THE "RED HEIFER" WAS THE FORERUNNER TO THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST WHICH COULD DO SO MUCH MORE THAN "PURIFY THE FLESH."

A heifer is a young female bovine (cow) prior to the time that she has produced her first calf. God has specified a "red heifer" for the purification of the Israelites whenever they were "unclean".

The red heifer must meet certain physical criteria and must be sacrificed in a certain way. Once sacrificed, the ashes were to be mixed with "clean" water and the mixture sprinkled over the "unclean". Numbers 19 is the basis for understanding and the direction from God for the physical purification.

The ordinance of the Red Heifer is found in Numbers 19.
Numbers 19:1-6 NKJV
Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: "Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.

You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; and Eleazar* the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood SEVEN TIMES directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting.

Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, itsblood, and its offal (dung) shall be burned. And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. (*Eleazar, chief priest; son of Aaron, the High Priest.)
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Christians should understand the above scriptures represented a "type" of Christ. For the sacrifice of the "red heifer" was the forerunner to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ which could do so much more than "purify the flesh". Please keep in mind that the red heifer was to be "without spot" (Numbers 19:2). Compare this with the following passage written by Paul in the book of Hebrews (as cited previously).

Hebrews 9:13-14 KJV
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
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During the sacrifice of the heifer, hyssop, cedar and scarlet was to be added. While on trial Jesus had a scarlet robe placed on him, (Matthew 27:28).

[QUOTE=Bobbye]DOES ANYONE HERE HAVE CURRENT INFORMATION REGARDING "THE SEARCH FOR THE RED HEIFER?"

I share the following for those who may not be familiar with the significance for "THE SEARCH FOR THE RED HEIFER!"
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[snip]
Paul speaks on this subject: "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come," he says, "by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." As the earthly high priests, once each year, entered into the Holy of Holies to cleanse the people with the blood of their sacrifices, so Christ, once for all, entered the eternal Holy of Holies and through the shedding of his own blood made forgiveness of sins possible for all men. "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh [this is the red heifer whose ashes were sprinkled upon those defiled by contact with death]: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

"And for this cause," because of our Lord's atonement, "he is the mediator of the new testament [covenant], that by means of death [his own], for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament [covenant]"

That is, Christ's death gave efficacy and validity to the sacrificial performances made under the Mosaic system; if he had not been slain for the sins of the world there would have been no forgiveness as a result of the ordinances performed by the high priests of the Aaronic order; and, hence, through his atonement "they which are called," whether in Moses' day or in his own, "receive the promise of eternal inheritance."

All men in all ages are saved through the atoning blood of Christ the Lord Omnipotent; any ordinance in any age, past, present, or future, is efficacious only because of that atonement and in no other way.

"For where a testament [covenant] is," Paul continues, "there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament [covenant] is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."

The gospel covenant was not and could not be put into force and operation without the death of Christ. Except for his atoning sacrifice there would be neither immortality nor eternal life. If there were no atonement, there would be no forgiveness of sins, no reconciliation with God, no validity to baptism, no eternal marriage, no sanctified souls. If there were no atonement, the purposes of creation would have failed. The gospel Covenant would have had "no strength at all" without the death of the testator.

"Whereupon neither the first testament [the old covenant made with Moses] was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law he took the blood of calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament [covenant] which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."

How perfectly did Jehovah make blood sacrifices the type of the sacrifice that he himself should make for the cleansing and purifying of those who believe in him!

"It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." That is to say, the tabernacle and all its appurtenances patterned as they were after what was in heaven, were purified by the sprinkling of blood; but they who shall dwell in heaven itself must be purified with an eternal sacrifice, that of Christ. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." Our Lord did not enter the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies in offering his sacrifice—these places are only figures of the true heavenly tabernacle; but he entered into heaven itself there to make intercession forever for us.

"Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect."

Again the announcement is made that perfection does not come by the Levitical priesthood, for its ordinances were only a shadow of what was to be. "For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."
(Heb. 9:11-10:2.)


Perhaps the search for the Red Heifer is an allegory for the search for Jesus after years of neglect.



MORGANITE



:)

Morganite, please research the status of the future Temple, as well as the search for the perfect Red Heifer. THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING AS I WRITE.

It is a current and on-going project within the Jewish faith. Therefore, it is not an allegory.

Blessings,
Bobbye

Bobbye,

I have done quite a bit of research on the "Red Heifer" in the past and yes it is ongoing at this time. Not long ago one was born and thought to be the one needed but it eventually had 2-3 whitish hairs that disqualified it. It is very interesting to follow and it wouldn't surprise me at all if one were found in the very near future.

God bless,
MaggieB

Do you mean a particular red heifer that will be born for some purpose in our days? It is unthinkable for a Christian to seek any such portent. The symbolic red heifer of the Law of Moses was finally realized in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, "Once and for all" when he took upon himself the sins of the world.

From a website called christianactioninisrael I paste this:

The birth of a red heifer in Israel is being hailed by religious Jews as a divine sign that work can soon begin on building the Third Temple in Jerusalem.

A team of rabbinical experts last week confirmed that the animal, born six months ago on a religious kibbutz near the north Israeli port of Haifa, meets the correct Biblical criteria for a genuine holy cow. According to the Book of Numbers (XIX: 2-7), the animal is needed for an ancient Jewish purification ritual. Prhaps that's the marred heifer your wrote about. But to other considerations,

Jews have already had three temples.

1. Solomon's Temple
2. Zerubabbel's Temple, called "The Second Temple", and
3. Herod's Temple.

Herod's Temple -- built by as evil and corrupt a tyrant as ever wore a crown -- was an enlargement and a perfection of the earlier two Temples after which it was patterned. Solomon's Temple, though magnificent and costly, was small in comparison to Herod's, and the Temple of Zerubbabel, larger but less elaborate than that of Solomon, was far from the magnificent masterpiece built by the Jewish Idumean who bore the title "king of the Jews

When the religion of Israel was dismantled at the destruction of the temple in AD 70, the exiles developed a system of non-Temple worship that included most of the elements of Temple worship in symbolic form. This has come to be called Ptoto-Judaism, because it was the first stirrings of what eventually became the forms of Judaism we recognize today.

For almost two millennia, Jews have been satisfied with the form their religion takes. It suits the needs of a people driven and persecuted, for in modern Judaism there is no requirement for them to have a Temple, nor to live aorund one.

Then, there is the question of the absence of priests in Judaism. In the building of Herod's (Third) Temple, one thousand priests supervised its construction. Jews names Cohen and Levi are thought to be the descendants of Aaron and Levi, to whom the authority to operate the Temple was given. Those of these families kept their genealogies intact to prove their descent, meaning it was their privilege by descent to serve in the Temple.

Buit the waters become clouded with events during the Roman occupation. There is some confusion and uncertainty as to the powers and place of the Sanhedrin in the time of Jesus. The council operated under Roman approval and the Roman Procurator appointed the Temple High Priests, and did so with no regard to descent.

But the Roman appointment of the leading ministers of the templke was not the only problem. After a series of contests Palestine was taken from Egypt by Antiochus the Great, annexed to Syria, and divided into five provinces, viz. Judea, Samaria, Galilee (W. of Jordan), Peraea, and Trachonitis (E. of Jordan). From this time, owing to its position between the two great powers Egypt and Syria, this country became a frequent prey to both, until Antiochus Epiphanes took Jerusalem (B.C. 170), foully polluted the temple, and compelled the Jews to sacrifice to idols. He erected the statue of Jupiter on the altar of burnt-offering, committed all books of scripture to the flames, and prohibited the worship of God.

The high priests, who had become corrupted by Greek licentiousness, as had many Sadducees and priests, some of whom underwent radical surgical mutilation to respotr thei prepuces so that they could exercise in the Lyceum unchallenged, prepared the way for declension, and encouraged the adoption of foreign customs. It was an attempot to stamp out Judaism, and eventually recoiled int to the Maccabean Rebellion.

The Maccabean family continued to hold the main sway over the people, who retained their local customs, but were obliged to make terms with the Romans, under whose protection they retained considerable freedom. Although the Israelites were scattered over many countries, Jerusalem was still their religious and political center, and in its Temple alone were sacrifices offered, and to it flowed the poll-tax of half a shekel from Jews all over the world.

The Roman government acknowledged and confirmed their independent local administration, as a peculiar "imperium in imperio," Julius Caesar (for services in Alexandrine war) gave to Hyrcanus and his heirs all rights accorded to high priests by law or courtesy; all doubtful questions to be referred to him personally.

The Pharisees are the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism. Pharisees were in a sense blue-collar Jews who adhered to the tenets developed after the destruction of the Temple; that is, such things as individual prayer and assembly in synagogues.

The Sadducees were elitists who wanted to maintain their priestly caste, but they were also liberal in their willingness to incorporate Hellenism into their lives, something the Pharisees opposed.

The Sadducees disappeared around 70 A.D. after the destruction of the Second Temple (see below). None of the writings of the Sadducees survived, so the little we know about them comes from their Pharisaic opponents.

With the disappearance of the Sadducees the priests of Israel vanish. No Cohen or Levite can establish his priesthood today; they don't have the genealogy.

So, I arrive at my point, will the Fourth Temple be built and stand empty because no man proven or provable to be of the required descent is available?

That is the way it will be unless the improbable fictions employed at the time of the Maccabees and Romans is re-instituted.

So, I ask, what good are a million red heifers without one single priest?





MORGANITE (I'm not Jewish already)







:)

Have you forgotten that our "body" is considered a temple of the Lord? That Jesus Christ will return (His temple/body) will be new and He is considered the High Priest, so we have no need for a priest to fill a temple, we will have a have a priest and a temple. Jesus was the blood sacrifice for our sins, dirty unclean sin was put upon One so unworthy of such filth, One who had not known sin.

Jesus had said before He was crucified that the temple would be raised on the third day, it was. He considered His body a temple.

If and when a "red heifer" is born without blemish I ascertain that it would be a signal that the Second Coming was virtually insight as Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. That is why I said that it wouldn't surprise me if one was born because I believe that we are living in the last days.

(My thoughts only).


This is a very interesting medium to me.

MaggieB

I do know that Paul used the simile of "know ye not that you are the temple of God," et, but that is nothing to do with the red heifer.

Anyone who raises Hereford cattle sees them regularly. Red in connection with the heifer is from the Hebrew 'adom, and is not one distinctive or exlusive colour or shade. It was applied to anything red or ruddy, whether it was a man, horse, heifer, garment, water, or lentils.

I have never seen a man the color of the red heifer shown in the website dealing with this subject. I have never seen lentils that color, nor a horse, nor water. Garments, yes. I had a suede jacket that was a match.

This is only my opinion also, but I believe the Red Heifer is a Red Herring. Consider well what Jesus said would be the signs of his Coming. He did not mention livestock.



:)




MORGANITE

U suck