Numbers 19:2 “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come.
2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Doing a word search for yoke and law the results are perfect in this sense. It is mentioned only once in the Old Testament and only once in the New Testament.

Numbers 19:2 is referencing that sacrificial heifer that is slain for the forgiveness of sin by statute of law. The sacrifice was to never have been placed under the burden of a yoke.

In 2 Corinthians 6:14 we see a yoke that is forbidden, mixing righteousness with lawlessness. A yoke is to have either a righteousness free of the burden of the law or one that is burdened with the law. The real issue here is not the animal being yoked, nor the purpose of the yoke but rather who is driving the team. Let us say that the law was given by God the Father and the reins were handed over to Jesus Christ after His ascension.

Let us get back to the issue of Saul who became Paul. He was under the yoke of the law driven by the Father until Jesus ascended the throne and took over driving. Saul took all his directions from the law and never received a lash of the whip until Jesus took over.

Philippians 3:2-11 English Standard Version

2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Why did the Father drive Saul to become a persecutor of His Son? The law can only convict.

John 5:19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

John 5:30 I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Matthew 9:9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

I chose Matthew’s call rather than some of the others because there was no assignment attached. When Jesus called the fishermen of Galilee He said “I will make you fishers of men.” They might not have understood exactly what that meant, but it sounded familiar because they were men that cast nets together. Matthew on the other hand was a tax collector, hated by his own people. Jesus did not say “and I will restore you.” Yet He did.

In many ways those of us that began following Jesus were very unsure of the path ahead. Jesus said later “I am the way”. In one sense doing it the way Jesus did it, is how we should do it.

The opening passages are how Jesus accomplished all that needed to be done. We can do nothing on our own. A close personal relationship with God allows us to hear Him, to judge that the voice we hear is truly His, have the confidence that we have heard right and the ability to choose His will over our own.

Having the ability to choose rightly does not mean we will always choose to obey. We still have free will. Love doesn’t insist. 1 Corinthians 13:5 While Jesus freed us from the power and penalty of sin, He did not remove us from its presence. 

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.

Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Paul’s advice to the Galatians here was spoken directly out of his own life experience.

Acts 26:14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Saul was under the yoke his whole life until he went against the will of the Father. Then he got the whip.