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Bible Dictionaries
Purification (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or PURIFICATION (1. καθαρισμός: of washings before and after meals, John 2:6; of baptism, a symbol of moral cleansing, John 3:25; of the Levitical purification of women after childbirth, Luke 2:22; of cleansing of lepers, Mark 1:44, Luke 5:14. 2. βαπτισμός: of cleansing of vessels, Mark 7:8).—From the time of the Exile onwards, the interest of the Jew had largely centred around ritual observance, conditioned, to begin with, by the necessity of maintaining the separateness of the Remnant that remained. These observances, so far as they concerned purification, had two main sources of origin. Some must have dated from a prehistoric period when religion had but little to do with ethics, and concerned itself rather with maintaining the favour of a deity, thought of as arbitrary, by avoiding practices that might trench upon his holiness. Other observances, of later date, may have had their origin in sanitary requirements. The result, however, as is well known, was that Jewish life became completely fettered by these ordinances, written and oral. When Christ came proclaiming liberty to the captives, He could not avoid running counter in many respects to the regulations dealing with purification. See art. Purity. The various ceremonies of purification referred to in the Gospels are these:
1. In case of leprosy (Mark 1:44, Luke 5:14, Matthew 8:2, Luke 17:11-19).—The uncleanness of the leper seems to have been due not to the fear of contagion, for contagious diseases were not, generally speaking, regarded as unclean, but to the repulsive appearance of this particular disease. Leprosy (wh. see) was counted to be a special scourge; and the leper was, like the madman, supposed to be smitten of God. This distinctiveness of leprosy in the view of the priest is shown by the word used of its removal. Almost invariably its cleansing is denoted by the word καθαρίζειν. The exception to this is in the account of the healing of the Ten Lepers (Luke 17:15), where the word ἰᾶσθαι is used; but this exception may be accounted for on the ground that the narrative is dealing with Samaritans, who were regarded as being an alien people. The regulations for the purification of leprosy had two parts (Leviticus 14:1-32). In the first ceremony, on the conclusion of which the leper was admitted to the camp, though not to his tent, two living birds were taken. One was killed over an earthenware vessel filled with ‘living’ (spring) water, in such manner that the blood dropped into the vessel. The other bird, along with cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, was then dipped into the blood-stained water, and the leper was sprinkled with it seven times. The bird was then released ‘into the open field,’ and was supposed to fly away with the leprosy, the blood-brotherhood between the leper and the bird being established by the immersion of the bird in the water.
The ceremony is akin to that of the laying of the sins of the people upon the head of the scapegoat, which was then sent away into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:21). By a similar ceremony, an Arab widow who is about to remarry makes a bird fly away with the uncleanness of her widowhood (W. R. Smith, RS [Note: S Religion of the Semites.] 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] 422, 447).
The second part of the ceremony took place eight days after the first part. Probably the object of the interval was to ensure an additional period of quarantine in which it might be seen whether the cure had been effective. If the leper were in good circumstances, he offered two he lambs and was anointed by the priest with blood and oil. If the sufferer were poor, he could offer, in place of two lambs, one lamb and two turtledoves, or two small pigeons. Our Lord did not interfere in any way with the offerings for purification of leprosy (Mark 1:44, Luke 5:14, Matthew 8:4).
2. In connexion with food (Mark 7:1-23, Matthew 15:1-20, John 2:6; John 3:25).—The particular ritual connected with the ceremonial washing of hands affected Jewish life many times a day. Of the six books of the Mishna, the longest (Tohârôth) is devoted to the question of purification, and thirty chapters of this book deal with the cleansing of vessels. Even if the hands were already ceremonially clean, they had to be washed before a meal. A washing of the hands between the courses, as also a washing at the conclusion of the feast, was practised frequently; but this custom may have had its origin in obvious convenience, and not in any striving after ritual cleanliness (2 Kings 3:11). In the ceremony itself, the hands were held over a basin while water was poured over them. The water was allowed to run down to the wrist (? Mark 7:3, see Swete’s note). Such was the ritual in the case of an ordinary meal. But if holy or sacrificial food was to be partaken of, the hands had to be completely immersed in the water. If the hands were ceremonially unclean, there had to be two washings. In the first, the fingers were elevated and the water was allowed to run down to the wrist. In the second, the finger tips were depressed, so that the water might run from the wrist downward, and might thus carry off the water that had, on the first washing, contracted the defilement of the hands. The water to be used in ceremonial washing was kept from possible defilement by being kept in large jars (ὑδρίαι, John 2:6). The vessel by which the water was drawn from these jars had to contain at least a quarter of a log, i.e. a measure equal to one and a half ‘eggshells’ (Edersheim, LT [Note: T Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Edersheim].] ii. 9 ff.).
3. Before the Passover (John 11:55; John 18:28).—If the Jews were so particular to ensure ceremonial purity before an ordinary meal, they insisted on absolute ritual purity before the celebration of the Passover (Leviticus 7:20-21). The reason that kept Christ’s accusers from following Him into the judgment-hall (John 18:28) may have been simply the fear of the defilement they would incur by entering a heathen house. But it is still more likely that they remained outside for fear that the judgment-hall might contain somewhere within its walls a portion of leaven. The exclusion of leaven from all sacrifices offered to Jehovah was a very early custom (Exodus 23:18; Exodus 34:25), and must have been due to the desire to avoid the association of any form of corruption with the Feast. This seems all the more clear, when it is noticed that the exclusion of leaven is associated with the command that no fat or flesh shall remain over till the morning. The efficacy of the sacrifice lay in the living flesh and blood of the victim; thus everything of the nature of putrefaction had to be avoided. For this reason, milk, the commonest of foods in the East, had no place in Hebrew sacrifice (W. R. Smith, RS [Note: S Religion of the Semites.] 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] 220).
4. After childbirth (Luke 2:22).—That childbirth renders a woman unclean is an almost universal belief among primitive peoples. Among some Arab tribes it was customary to build a hut outside the camp, where the woman had to stay for a time (Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible iv. 828b; Wellhausen, Reste2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , 170). The Priestly Code recognized two degrees of uncleanness (Leviticus 12). After the birth of a boy, the mother was to be counted unclean, as in menstruation, for a week, and was to continue ‘in the blood of her purifying’ for 33 days longer, during which she could touch no hallowed thing nor come into the sanctuary. She was thus unclean, in greater or less degree, for 40 days. But if the child were a girl, both periods of uncleanness were doubled. At the expiry of the 40, or of the 80, days, the mother offered a lamb of the first year for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering. But if she were poor (as was Mary, Luke 2:24), she could substitute for the lamb a young pigeon or a turtle-dove.
5. Graves as causes of defilement are referred to in Matthew 23:27, Luke 11:44 (cf. Tomb).
R. Bruce Taylor.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Purification (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/p/purification-2.html. 1906-1918.
