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Further understanding of the sacrifice of the red heifer is offered by Edersheim:
Thus, also, we understand WHY the red heifer is, so to speak, the most INTENSE of sin-
offerings, was WHOLLY burnt outside the camp, and other sin-offerings only partially
so. For this burning SIGNIFIED that "in the theocracy there was no one, who by his own
holiness, could bear or take away the sin imputed to these sin-offerings, so that it was
needful, as the wages of sin, TO BURN THE SACRIFICE WHICH HAD BEEN MADE
SIN." The ashes of this sin-offering, mixed with living water and sprinkled with hyssop,
SYMBOLIZED PURIFICATION FROM THAT DEATH WHICH SEPARATES BE-
TWEEN GOD AND MAN. This parallelism between the blood of Christ and the ashes of
a heifer, on the one hand, and on the other between the purification of the flesh by these
means, and that of the conscience from dead works, is thus expressed in Heb.9:13,14: "If
the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the defiled, 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, purifying your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?" -- The Temple, pages 350-351.
Paul's statements in Hebrews 13 now become intelligible when we realize that to symboli-
cally retrace Christ's steps and "go to Him OUTSIDE THE CAMP, bearing the disgrace He bore,"
Christians in Paul's day would have to go symbolically EASTWARD from the literal Temple in
Jerusalem, pass through the EASTERN OR BEAUTIFUL GATE, travel over the TWO-TIERED
ARCHED BRIDGE over the Kidron Valley, and proceed on to the summit of the MOUNT OF OL-
IVES for the forgiveness of their sins. It was here -- not far from the altar named MIPHKAD --
where the GREATEST SIN OFFERING of all time sprinkled His blood on the ground before the
sanctuary and the presence of His Father, to PURIFY all people everywhere and from all ages.
Our Savior died in the HOLIEST AREA surrounding the city of Jerusalem (Berakoth 9:5).
Where Did the Jews Execute Criminals?
In Numbers 15:35,36 we read that those deserving the death penalty had to be killed
"OUTSIDE THE CAMP" of the Israelites. Notice:
Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation
shall STONE HIM with stones OUTSIDE THE CAMP." So, as the Lord commanded
Moses, all the congregation brought him OUTSIDE THE CAMP and STONED HIM
with stones, and he died.
We have already determined that the limits of the "camp" were within a 3,000 foot or
2,000 cubit radius from the Court of the Sanhedrin on the Temple Mount. With this in mind, all we
have to do is discover where -- outside of this radius -- the place of execution was.
The Mishnah records that in the time of Christ there was a "place" for execution (or ston-
ing), and this "place" was well known because the records (Sanhedrin 6:1-4) indicate that certain
judicial matters were consummated at designated distances away from the Temple. Just WHERE
was this "place" of execution? Secrets of Golgotha brings out an important principle:
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