Why the Red Heifer Matters

Young Melody was doted on by her caregivers, who saw her as something special, giving them hope for their future when she was born in August 1996. But those hopes were dashed before her third birthday.

Melody, you see, was a very special young calf, known as a “red heifer,” discovered among a dairy herd in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. Jewish ritual law, extrapolated from the Old Testament and supplemented with requirements set by Jewish scholars over the centuries, states that until a three-year-old red heifer can be sacrificed and its ashes collected, it will not be possible to resume animal sacrifices in Jerusalem, as some Orthodox Jews hope to do—and which the Bible tells us will be done before Jesus Christ returns. At birth, Melody appeared to fulfil the rabbis’ requirements, but before she was old enough to be sacrificed she had developed too many black or white hairs to be acceptable.

Fast-forward more than a quarter-century, when five female calves born in Texas were found to have the potential to qualify as a sacrificial red heifer. Shipped to Israel in September 2022, they were kept under tight security in Shiloh. Though they attracted little attention in the secular media, a Hamas spokesman in February 2024 claimed that the presence of a red heifer was a factor in the brutal Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

As we approach the second anniversary of that Hamas atrocity, the consequences of which are still raging in Gaza, we should examine the concern about the red heifer. Why does a segment of Israel’s population have such interest in it, and why are sections of the Islamic world so eager to react against it? Evangelical Christians are also deeply interested in the matter.

Details of the red heifer, its qualification, and the requirements for its sacrifice are set out in Numbers 19. To this, rabbis have added other requirements, including the age of the animal at which it can be sacrificed and the number of different-colored hairs that can be found on the animal. The heifer needs to be at least two years of age to be ready for sacrifice. By September of 2024, one of those animals imported from Texas may have been available for sacrifice, provided all other requirements were met. So, anticipation is rising among interested parties.

The Importance of the Red Heifer Sacrifice

The January–February edition of this magazine published an article by our Editor in Chief, Gerald Weston, entitled “Three Prophecies That Will Change Your Life.” The second of those prophecies was the start of daily sacrifices in Jerusalem. Those sacrifices will not begin before a red heifer has been sacrificed.

No Temple Required

The offering of the red heifer is an essential part of the preparation ritual to purify a potential new Jewish priesthood and their implements for performing daily sacrifices. It is important to notice that Scripture dictates that this heifer must be offered outside the camp, not in the Tabernacle or Temple courtyard. The offering must be done at the place where the carcasses of sin offerings from the Day of Atonement sacrifices must be burned (Numbers 19:3–4; Leviticus 16:27–29). When the Temple in Jerusalem was operating, any sacrifice of a red heifer would have taken place on the Mount of Olives, a location from which the High Priest officiating the offering would have clearly seen the Temple. Scripture speaks of the connection between this location and the death of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:11–14). A group known as the Temple Institute, seeking to prepare a sacrifice of a red heifer in due time, is said to own land on the Mount of Olives that could be used for such purposes, but it has other options as well. A red heifer could be sacrificed at Shiloh, rather than on the Mount of Olives, keeping the event “low profile” and away from media attention. Regardless, Muslims in the region would view a sacrifice at either location as a provocation.

Cleansing Ritual to Prepare for Animal Sacrifices

What is its purpose? The sacrifice results in ashes that, when mixed with water, can be used for purification. The book of Hebrews addresses the ceremonial significance of the ashes of a heifer, saying that “the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh” (Hebrews 9:13). Those serving in the Temple or Tabernacle were to be ceremonially cleansed by “water of purification”—water mixed with the ashes of a heifer (Numbers 8:5–12; 19:9).

Ordinary Israelites were also purified by these ashes before entering the Tabernacle or Temple. We find that this purification took place when the Jews kept the Passover in Jerusalem after returning from captivity (Ezra 6:20), and it also appears in the Gospel accounts, which describe people as coming to Jerusalem early to become purified before keeping the Passover (John 11:55). The purity of His people is of great importance to God.

Further Steps to Restore Daily Ritual Sacrifices

But the sacrifice of the red heifer is only the beginning. The Temple Institute estimates that 13 major steps are necessary to prepare for daily sacrifices to resume in Jerusalem. One of these steps is gaining the Israeli government’s approval. The current government appears not to have the appetite for that presently, but the potential for a change in approach does exist.

Furthermore, the sacrifice of the red heifer does not mean that daily sacrifices will begin immediately afterward—even though they could. The ashes can be stored and used over a long period, with one heifer potentially providing enough ashes to serve this purpose for decades. But once having sacrificed a red heifer, the Temple Institute would have the means of purifying all the furniture and utensils it has prepared for a new altar and temple, as well as a means of purifying the priesthood and Levitical helpers necessary to operate the temple and sacrificial system.

The Coming Abomination of Desolation

The prophet Daniel tells us of a time when sacrifices will be reinstituted and then forcibly stopped by an army invading Jerusalem (Daniel 8:11–12). An “abomination of desolation” will be set up just a few years before the Messiah’s return (Daniel 12:9–13). These were obviously the passages of Scripture that shaped the view of medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides when he posited that the final red heifer would be prepared at the time of the Messiah’s return. Jesus Christ used Daniel’s prophecy as a marker for a time of future trouble—trouble of a magnitude yet unknown to the world (Matthew 24:15–21). Once again, the context is the time of Jesus’ return, this time as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords—the Messiah who will change this world.

Although there are potential red heifers that are more than two years of age, rabbis are still studying their suitability for use as a red heifer sacrifice. But we know that, one of these days, when God decides the time is right, a red heifer will be sacrificed to fulfill Daniel’s inspired prophecies—and that will begin to usher in the age of the returned Messiah.

For more insights on events about to take place in Israel and the Middle East, we offer our free booklet The Middle East in Prophecy. You can request a free printed copy online or from the Regional Office nearest you (listed on page 4 of our magazine), or you can read it here at TomorrowsWorld.org.