the ordinance: Numbers 31:21; Hebrews 9:10
a red heifer: The following curious particulars have been remarked in this ordinance:
1. A heifer was appointed for sacrifice, in opposition to the Egyptian superstition, which held these sacred, and worshipped their goddess Isis under this form; and this appears the more likely, because males only were chosen for sacrifice. So Herodotus says, they sacrifice males, both old and young; but it is not lawful for them to offer females.
2. It was to be a red heifer, because the Egyptians sacrificed red bulls to the evil demon Typhon.
3. It was to be without spot, having no mixture of any other colour. Plutarch says, the Egyptians "sacrifice red bulls, and select them with such scrupulous attention, that if the animal has a single black or white hair, they reckon it αθυτον:, unfit to be sacrificed."
4. Without blemish. (See note on Leviticus 22:21.)
5. On which never came yoke. Because an animal which had been used for a common purpose was deemed improper for sacrifice. Numbers 19:6; Leviticus 14:6; Isaiah 1:18; Revelation 1:5
no blemish: Exodus 12:5; Leviticus 22:20-25; Malachi 1:13-14; Luke 1:35; Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 1:19; 1 Peter 2:22
upon which: Deuteronomy 21:3; 1 Samuel 6:7; Lamentations 1:14; John 10:17-18; Philippians 2:6-8