Ritual washing

The act of washing for consecration or for purification from uncleanness. It involved washing all or part of the body or one's clothing. Jesus Christ's attitude to the Pharisees reflected, not a disavowal of ritual washing, but disapproval of their emphasis on the outward, rather than inward, forms of religion.

Ritual washing for consecration

Exodus 19:10–11 See also Exodus 19:14, Exodus 40:12–15; Numbers 8:5–7, Numbers 8:21–22

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

Ritual washing for cleansing

Leviticus 17:15 See also Leviticus 13:6, Leviticus 13:34, Leviticus 15:16–18, Leviticus 15:21–23; Numbers 19:10, Numbers 19:19

And any person, whether native or foreigner, who eats anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean.

Methods of ritual washing

Washing clothes

Numbers 31:24 See also Leviticus 6:27, Leviticus 11:24–28, Leviticus 11:39–40, Leviticus 13:58, Leviticus 14:43–47; Numbers 19:21; Revelation 7:14, Revelation 22:14

On the seventh day you are to wash your clothes, and you will be clean. After that you may enter the camp.”

Bathing

Leviticus 14:8–9 See also Leviticus 15:4–13, Leviticus 15:27, Leviticus 16:26–28, Leviticus 17:15; Numbers 19:7–8; Deuteronomy 23:9–11; 2 Kings 5:9–14; Psalm 51:7; Hebrews 10:19–22

The one being cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe with water; then he will be ceremonially clean. Afterward, he may enter the camp, but he must remain outside his tent for seven days. On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair — his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and the rest of his hair. He must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and he will be clean.

Sprinkling with the water of purification

Numbers 19:17–19 See also Numbers 8:5–7, Numbers 19:13; Ezekiel 36:24–25

For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water over them. Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain. The man who is ceremonially clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and that evening he will be clean.

Washing hands and feet

Exodus 30:17–21 See also Exodus 40:30–32; Deuteronomy 21:6–9; John 13:5–10; James 4:8

And the LORD said to Moses, “You are to make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. Set it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the LORD, they must wash with water so that they will not die. Thus they are to wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this shall be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”

Consequences of the failure to perform ritual washing

Numbers 19:20 See also Leviticus 17:15–16; Numbers 19:13

But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

The NT perception of ritual washing

It was practised in NT times

John 2:6 See also John 3:25

Now six stone water jars had been set there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each could hold from twenty to thirty gallons.