CHAPTER XIII.

CLEANSING, WASHING, SPRINKLING, AND BAPTISM.

§ 1. God's essential purity. —§ 2. Man impure through sin.—§ 3. Thaher, to cleanse; how translated in the LXX. § 4. Modes of expressing external purification.-§ 5. The case of the leper.-§ 6. Other cases of cleansing.—§ 7. Moral application of the word Thahér.—§ 8. Cleansing, according to the N. T.-§ 9. Words for Washing in the O. T.— § 10. Cavas, to wash garments, and of Rachats, to wash the body.— § 11. Moral application of these words.—§ 12. Washing, according to the N. T.-§ 13. Barar, to make clean.-§ 14. Words used in the O. T. to signify internal purity.-§ 15. Hebrew words for Sprinkling.— § 16. Baptism; differences as to its nature and meaning.—§ 17. Usage of the word in the LXX.-§ 18. Usage in the N. T.-§ 19. Conclusions as to the nature and administration of the rite.

§ 1. ONE of the essential attributes of God is his purity. This truth is constantly set forth in Scripture, both in plain declarations, and also in symbolical representations. In the remarkable vision recorded in Ex. 24. 10, we read, 'They saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a (paved) work of a sapphire-stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.' With this description we may compare the vision of the Divine glory which St. John had, 'Before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal' (Rev. 4. 6); and again, I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God' (Rev. 15. 2). What is compared in the

Literally the bone of heaven, i.e. the very heaven itself, The Hebrews often used the word 'bone' as we use marrow' for the essence of a thing. Our word bone is literally beon or essence.

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Man impure through Sin.

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one place to the brilliancy of the firmament,' is described in the other as an ocean of blazing crystal. That spotless purity which is the basis of the Divine action, and the atmosphere in which God exists, cannot indeed be adequately pictured forth by either of these figures. Even the heavens, though they declare His glory, are not pure in His sight. The ethereal splendour of the noonday is turned to darkness when considered in comparison with Him who is the Father of lights.' Saul of Tarsus knew well the dazzling brightness of an Eastern sun at mid-day, but when the Divine glory of the Sun of Righteousness shone round about him he found it to be above the brightness of the sun' (Acts 26. 13).

§ 2. Purity is natural and essential to God, but not-now, at least to man. Those robes of whiteness, the symbols of spiritual purity, which all who dwell in God's presence must wear, are not to be found on earth. Visions of heavenly beings clad in such robes have been at times vouchsafed, and the Saviour of the world once during His earthly course assumed them for a brief moment that the chosen few might realise the blessedness which He was purchasing for them by His decease; but the glory thus assumed for a temporary purpose soon faded away. The garments of human nature are represented as filthy' (Zech. 3. 3-5), and even the 'righteousnesses' of man are compared to filthy rags (Is. 64. 6). Strong as this description is, not only does the inspired account of the heart and conversation of man fully justify it, but also it is amply confirmed by the sorrowful experience of every one who has looked into the secret springs of his own nature. There is a fearful gulf between the purity of the Divine Being and that defilement which is the inheritance of every child of Adam. How is this gulf to be spanned? Who is there that can bring a clean thing

1 LXX ὥσπερ εἶδος στερεώματος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῇ καθαρότητι.

out of an unclean? Only One can do this. Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God' (Jer. 2. 22). If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch' (Job 9. 30, 31). God has reserved to Himself the right and power of opening a fountain for sin and for uncleanness, so that He who glorieth must glory only in the Lord.

§ 3. The process whereby moral impurity was to be done away was typified or shadowed forth by the purifications of the Levitical ritual; and the word which is in general use in the Old Testament to express the process is thahér (D), which signifies, in the Piel or intensive form, to make clear, bright, or shining, and hence to make or pronounce clean. It is used of clearness in the passage quoted at the beginning of the chapter. With the exception of a few passages, the word has been rendered by xalapiw in the LXX. The exceptions are as follows:-In 2 Chron. 29. 16, 18, and 30. 17, 18, we find ȧyvíw; in these passages reference is made to the cleansing or purification of the temple and the worshippers at the Feast of the Passover; ȧpayvito occurs in Num. 8. 6, 21, where the cleansing of the Levites is spoken of; Bpéxw, in Ez. 22. 24, where the prophet speaks of the land not being cleansed with rain; άyveía, in 2 Chron. 30. 19; ȧyvioμós, in Num. 8. 7; díxatos, in Prov. 30. 12; and Sоxiμós, in 2 Chron. 9. 17.

§ 4. External purification was taken at a very early time as a symbol of internal cleansing. Thus Jacob says to his household, Put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean, and change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel' (Gen. 35. 2). The cleansing and the change of dress were evidently intended to set forth the resolution to put away those false gods by which their lives had been contaminated. Nor were the people of God

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§ 4.] Modes of expressing external Purification. peculiar in this symbolical rite. It has been found in all ages and in almost all countries, especially where there is a hot climate. The word which is adopted for the purifications appointed by God is also used to express idolatrous purgations in Is. 66. 17. The purification in the gardens there spoken of was simply abused and misdirected symbolism.

Among the elements used for ceremonial cleansing in the Levitical system, three are especially to be noticed, namely, fire, water, and blood. Precious metals taken from idolatrous nations were to be passed through the fire; this process, together with an application of water, was considered to have purged them of their defilement. Clothing, and all things that could not abide the fire, were to be made to go through the water; and the persons of those who had come in contact with the heathen were to be reckoned unclean until this process was accomplished (Num. 31. 23, 24). Cleansing by blood was needed in various cases of ceremonial defilement, hence the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that almost all things are by the Law purged with blood' (Heb. 9. 22).

§ 5. No instance of ceremonial cleansing is more fully detailed or more interesting than that of the leper. Here we have to distinguish between three processes, each of which was called by the same name. There was first the actual cure of the disease; secondly, the authoritative pronunciation by the priest; and, thirdly, the external washings, offerings, and other rites which signed and sealed the same, and gave the healed man admittance into the congregation.

With regard to the cleansing away of the disease, we have no exact account in Scripture. Leprosy appears to have come and gone, no one knew how. It was regarded as incurable by human means, and was considered to be a special

visitation from God. Hence it was often designated as the plague or stroke. The cure of Naaman is thus described,

His flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean' (2 Kin. 5. 14). It was with reference to this actual cure that the leper said to our Saviour, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean'. a remarkable utterance, showing the man's conviction that Jesus had Divine power at His command, a conviction borne out by the sequel. What the waters of Jordan were appointed to do in the one case, to indicate that salvation was of the Jews, the word and touch of Jesus of Nazareth did in the other, to show that saving power was vested in Him.

Secondly came the inspection by the priest. Go, show thyself to the priest.' If he was satisfied, by the presence of certain symptoms clearly described in the Law, that the man before him was cured, or 'clean' (in the first sense of the term), then he pronounced him clean,' literally, 'cleansed him.' The official and authoritative declaration of the fact is thus identified in language with the fact itself.2

In the opinion of some scholars leprosy is referred to in Is. 53. 4, where we read, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.' Jerome's translation is 'et nos putavimus eum quasi leprosum et percussum a Deo et humiliatum,' 'we regarded him as if he were leprous, smitten of God, and humbled.'

2 This identification in language is well worth observing in connection with the form of Absolution in the Service for the Visitation of the Sick in the Church of England. In the General Absolution we read that God hath given power and commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins.' In the Visitation Service, after the Priest or Presbyter has moved the sick person to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter,' he 'shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to His Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in Him, of His great mercy forgive thee thine offences; and by His authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Here the words 'I absolve' seem to be used in a declarative sense, and answer to 'I declare thee absolved.' Repentance and faith are necessary conditions of the declaration being valid; but these conditions of God's pardon cannot be infallibly detected by the Presbyter his declaration therefore does not carry the force of a sacerdotal act,