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Difference between revisions of "Ablution"
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== Easton's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_30411" /> == | == Easton's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_30411" /> == | ||
<ul> <li> When a person was initiated into a higher state: e.g., when [[Aaron]] and his sons were set apart to the priest's office, they were washed with water previous to their investiture with the priestly robes ( <span> [[Leviticus]] 8:6 </span> ). </li> <li> [[Before]] the priests approached the altar of God, they were required, on pain of death, to wash their hands and their feet to cleanse them from the soil of common life ( <span> [[Exodus]] 30:17-21 </span> ). To this practice the [[Psalmist]] alludes, <span> [[Psalm]] 26:6 </span> . </li> <li> There were washings prescribed for the purpose of cleansing from positive defilement contracted by particular acts. [[Of]] such washings eleven different species are prescribed in the [[Levitical]] law ( <span> Leviticus 1215-15 </span> ). </li> <li> A fourth class of ablutions is mentioned, by which a person purified or absolved himself from the guilt of some particular act. [[For]] example, the elders of the nearest village where some murder was committed were required, when the murderer was unknown, to wash their hands over the expiatory heifer which was beheaded, and in doing so to say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it" ( <span> [[Deuteronomy]] 21:1-9 </span> ). [[So]] also [[Pilate]] declared himself innocent of the blood of [[Jesus]] by washing his hands ( <span> [[Matthew]] 27:24 </span> ). This act of Pilate may not, however, have been borrowed from the custom of the Jews. The same practice was common among the [[Greeks]] and Romans. </li> </ul> <span> Matthew 23:25 </span> <span> [[Mark]] 7:1-5 </span> <span> Mark 7:4 </span> <span> Leviticus 6:28 </span> <span> 11 </span> <span> 3236-36 </span> <span> 15:22 </span> | <ul> <li> When a person was initiated into a higher state: e.g., when [[Aaron]] and his sons were set apart to the priest's office, they were washed with water previous to their investiture with the priestly robes ( <span> [[Leviticus]] 8:6 </span> ). </li> <li> [[Before]] the priests approached the altar of God, they were required, on pain of death, to wash their hands and their feet to cleanse them from the soil of common life ( <span> [[Exodus]] 30:17-21 </span> ). To this practice the [[Psalmist]] alludes, <span> [[Psalm]] 26:6 </span> . </li> <li> There were washings prescribed for the purpose of cleansing from positive defilement contracted by particular acts. [[Of]] such washings eleven different species are prescribed in the [[Levitical]] law ( <span> Leviticus 1215-15 </span> ). </li> <li> A fourth class of ablutions is mentioned, by which a person purified or absolved himself from the guilt of some particular act. [[For]] example, the elders of the nearest village where some murder was committed were required, when the murderer was unknown, to wash their hands over the expiatory heifer which was beheaded, and in doing so to say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it" ( <span> [[Deuteronomy]] 21:1-9 </span> ). [[So]] also [[Pilate]] declared himself innocent of the blood of [[Jesus]] by washing his hands ( <span> [[Matthew]] 27:24 </span> ). This act of Pilate may not, however, have been borrowed from the custom of the Jews. The same practice was common among the [[Greeks]] and Romans. </li> </ul> <span> Matthew 23:25 </span> <span> [[Mark]] 7:1-5 </span> <span> Mark 7:4 </span> <span> Leviticus 6:28 </span> <span> 11 </span> <span> 3236-36 </span> <span> 15:22 </span> [[Washing]] | ||
== Smith's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_71322" /> == | == Smith's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_71322" /> == | ||
<p> <span> Ablution. </span> <span> [[See]] </span | <p> <span> Ablution. </span> <span> [[See]] </span> [[Purification]] <span> . </span> </p> | ||
== Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary <ref name="term_80076" /> == | == Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary <ref name="term_80076" /> == | ||
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== International Standard Bible Encyclopedia <ref name="term_373" /> == | == International Standard Bible Encyclopedia <ref name="term_373" /> == | ||
<p> | <p> '''''ab''''' -'''''lū´shun''''' : The rite of ablution for religious purification seems to have been practiced in some form in all lands and at all times. The priests of [[Egypt]] punctiliously practiced it (Herodotus ii.37). The [[Greeks]] were warned "never with unwashed hands to pour out the black wine at morn to Zeus" (Hesiod, <i> [[Opera]] et [[Dies]] </i> v.722; compare Homer, <i> [[Iliad]] </i> vi.266; <i> Od. </i> iv.759). The [[Romans]] also observed it (Virgil, <i> [[Aeneid]] </i> ii.217); as did and do Orientals in general (compare Koran, [[Sura]] <span> Romans 5:8 </span> , etc.). </p> <p> [[Ablutions]] for actual or ritual purification form quite a feature of the [[Jewish]] life and ceremonial. [[No]] one was allowed to enter a holy place or to approach [[God]] by prayer or sacrifice without having first performed the rite of ablution, or "sanctification," as it was sometimes called ( <span> [[Exodus]] 19:10 </span> ; <span> 1 [[Samuel]] 16:5 </span> ; <span> 2 [[Chronicles]] 29:5 </span> ; compare Josephus, <i> [[Ant]] </i> , Xiv , xi, 5). </p> <p> [[Three]] kinds of washing are recognized in [[Biblical]] and rabbinical law: (1) washing of the hands, (2) washing of the hands and feet, and (3) immersion of the whole body in water. (1 and 2 = [[Greek]] <span> νιπτω </span> , <i> '''''niptō''''' </i> ; 3 = Greek <span> λούω </span> , <i> '''''loúō''''' </i> ). </p> <p> [[Something]] more than an echo of a universal practice is found in the Scriptures. The rabbis claimed to find support for ceremonial hand-washing in <span> [[Leviticus]] 15:11 </span> . David's words, "I will wash my hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Y ahweh" ( <span> [[Psalm]] 26:6 </span> ; compare <span> Psalm 73:13 </span> ), are regarded by them as warranting the inference that ablution of the hands was prerequisite to any holy act. This is the form of ablution, accordingly, which is most universally and scrupulously practiced by Jews. [[Before]] any meal of which bread forms a part, as before prayer, or any act of worship, the hands must be solemnly washed in pure water; as also after any unclean bodily function, or contact with any unclean thing. Such handwashings probably arose naturally from the fact that the ancients ate with their fingers, and so were first for physical cleansing only; but they came to be ceremonial and singularly binding. The [[Talmud]] abundantly shows that eating with unwashed hands came to be reckoned a matter of highest importance - "tantamount to committing an act of unchastity, or other gross crime." Akiba, when in prison, went without water given him to quench his thirst, rather than neglect the rite of ablution ('Er. 216). Only in extreme cases, according to the Mishna, as on a battlefield, might people dispense with it. Simeon, the Essene, "the Saint" (Toseph. <i> '''''Kēlı̄m''''' </i> i.6), on entering the holy place without having washed his hands, claiming that he was holier than the high priest because of his ascetic life, was excommunicated, as undermining the authority of the [[Elders]] (compare <i> '''''‛Edūy''''' </i> . 5 6). </p> <p> [[Washing]] of the hands and feet is prescribed by the [[Law]] only for those about to perform priestly functions (compare Koran, Sura 5 8, in contrast: "When ye prepare yourselves for prayer, wash your faces and hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles"; Hughes, <i> Dict. of [[Islam]] </i> ). [[For]] example, whenever [[Moses]] or [[Aaron]] or any subordinate priest desired to enter the sanctuary (Tabernacle) or approach the altar, he was required to wash his hands and feet from the layer which stood between the [[Tabernacle]] and the altar ( <span> Exodus 30:19 </span> ; <span> Exodus 40:31 </span> ). The same rule held in the [[Temple]] at Jerusalem. The washing of the whole body, however, is the form of ablution most specifically and exactingly required by the Law. The cases in which the immersion of the whole body is commanded, either for purification or consecration, are very numerous. For example, the Law prescribed that no leper or other unclean person of the seed of Aaron should eat of holy flesh until he had washed his whole body in water ( <span> Leviticus 22:4-6 </span> ); that anyone coming in contact with a person having an unclean issue, or with any article used by such a one, should wash his whole body ( <span> Leviticus 15:5-10 </span> ); that a sufferer from an unclean issue ( <span> Leviticus 15:16 </span> , <span> Leviticus 15:18 </span> ); a menstruous woman ( <span> 2 Samuel 11:2 </span> , <span> 2 Samuel 11:4 </span> ), and anyone who touched a menstruous woman, or anything used by her, should likewise immerse the whole person in water ( <span> Leviticus 15:19-27 </span> ): that the high priest who ministered on the [[Day]] of [[Atonement]] ( <span> Leviticus 16:24-28 </span> ), the priest who tended the red heifer ( <span> [[Numbers]] 19:7 </span> , <span> Numbers 19:8 </span> , <span> Numbers 19:19 </span> ), and every priest at his installation ( <span> Exodus 29:4 </span> ; <span> Exodus 40:12 </span> ) should wash his whole body in water. [[Compare]] 'divers baptisms' (immersions) in <span> Hebrews 9:10 </span> , and see Broadus on Mt 15:2-20 with footnote. (For another view on bathing see Kennedy in <i> HDB </i> , I, 257 v.) </p> <p> [[Bathing]] in the modern and non-religious sense is rarely mentioned in the [[Scriptures]] ( <span> Exodus 2:5 </span> Pharaoh's daughter; <span> 2 Samuel 11:2 </span> the [[Revised]] [[Version]] (British and American) Bathsheba, and the interesting case <span> 1 Kings 22:38 </span> ). [[Public]] baths are first met with in the Greek period - included in the "place of exercise" (1 Macc 1:14), and remains of such buildings from the [[Roman]] period are numerous. [[Recently]] a remarkable series of bath-chambers have been discovered at Gezer, in Palestine, in connection with a building which is supposed to be the palace built by [[Simon]] Maccabeus (Kennedy (illust. in <i> PEFS </i> , 1905, 294f)). </p> <p> The rite of ablution was observed among early [[Christians]] also. [[Eusebius]] ( <i> Historia Ecclesiastica </i> , X, 4.40) tells of [[Christian]] churches being supplied with fountains or basins of water, after the Jewish custom of providing the laver for the use of the priests. The [[Apostolical]] Constitutions (VIII.32) have the rule: "Let all the faithful ... when they rise from sleep, before they go to work, pray, after having washed themselves" , <i> '''''nı̄psámenoi''''' </i> ̌ . </p> <p> The attitude of [[Jesus]] toward the rabbinical law of ablution is significant. Mk ( <span> [[Mark]] 7:3 </span> ) prepares the way for his record of it by explaining, 'The [[Pharisees]] and all the [[Jews]] eat not except they wash their hands to the wrist (, <i> '''''pugmé''''' </i> ). (See <i> LTJM </i> , II, 11). According to Mt 15:1-20 and Mk 7:1-23 Pharisees and [[Scribes]] that had come from [[Jerusalem]] (i.e. the strictest) had seen some of Jesus' disciples eat bread with unwashed hands, and they asked Him: "Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread." Jesus' answer was to the Jews, even to [[His]] own disciples, in the highest degree surprising, paradoxical, revolutionary (compare <span> [[Matthew]] 12:8 </span> ). They could not but see that it applied not merely to hand-washing, but to the whole matter of clean and unclean food; and this to them was one of the most vital parts of the Law (compare <span> Acts 10:14 </span> ). Jesus saw that the masses of the Jews, no less than the Pharisees, while scrupulous about ceremonial purity, were careless of inward purity. [[So]] here, as in the [[Sermon]] on the Mount, and with reference to the [[Sabbath]] ( <span> Matthew 12:1 </span> ), [[He]] would lead them into the deeper and truer significance of the Law, and thus prepare the way for setting aside not only the traditions of the eiders that made void the commandments of God, but even the prescribed ceremonies of the Law themselves, if need be, that the Law in its higher principles and meanings might be "fulfilled." [[Here]] He proclaims a principle that goes to the heart of the whole matter of true religion in saying: "Well did [[Isaiah]] prophesy of you hypocrites" ( <span> Mark 7:6-13 </span> ) - you who make great pretense of devotion to God, and insist strenuously on the externals of His service, while at heart you do not love Him, making the word of God of none effect for the sake of your tradition! </p> <h4> [[Literature]] </h4> <p> For list of older authorities see McClintock and Strong, <i> [[Cyclopedia]] </i> ; Nowack, <i> Biblische Archaeologie </i> , II, 275-99; and Spitzer, <i> [[Ueber]] Baden und Bader bei den alten Hebraern </i> , 1884. </p> | ||
== Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature <ref name="term_14949" /> == | == Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature <ref name="term_14949" /> == | ||
