Old Covenant Soap

“In Hebrews 9:13, in reference to Numbers 19, we are taught that when the ashes of the heifer were sprinkled on the unclean, it resulted in a purification of the flesh. It was an external cleansing. These ashes produced a physical purity. It included what Christian baptism does not — a removal of dirt from the body. But how can this be accomplished by the ashes of a heifer? It is significant that the sacrifice of the heifer provided the Israelites with the two main ingredients of soap. There was the fat from the heifer, and there was ash from cedar wood that was burned on the altar along with the heifer (v. 6). Animal tallow and wood ash can be used to make soap” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 105).