Baptism

by Anamcari

Psalm 24:3-5 Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior.

This Scripture is read during the Friday Shabbatt service, as the hands of the family and guests are washed. Water is poured from a pitcher over the hands. A basin is used to catch the water, and a towel provided so that everyone can dry their hands. The water is poured from the pitcher to symbolize living water, rather than the stagnant water in the basin. The word clean, naqiy, means innocent, free from guilt, punishment or obligation.

Wash, kabac, means to be washed. The priests had to wash their clothes and bodies, because they were going into the presence of God, and needed to be purified. They had to repent, and cleanse themselves from sin and contact with anything that was unclean. The priest must cleanse himself after purifying anyone else. Unclean, tame, means to become and declare unclean, profane God’s name, to become impure. One could be come unclean, by defiling themselves, sexually, religiously, ceremonially, or by engaging in idolatry.

A basin was outside the temple for the priests to wash their hands and feet. This washing was repeated every time they entered the temple, or when they came to the altar, because the priests ministered barefoot. The Pharisees and the Sadducees followed the purification rituals and were very careful to wash their bodies and clothes. They would not eat unless their hands were ceremonially washed. They washed their cups, pitchers and kettles. They didn’t understand that this didn’t make their hearts pure. God is more interested in a clean and pure heart, then in a clean body.

Aaron and his sons washed and put on clean clothes before they were consecrated to God. After that, they could officiate in the tabernacle. From that time on, every priest was consecrated. Consecrate, kadash, means sanctify, prepare, dedicate, holy honored, treated as sacred. When a person is consecrated to God, his hands were filled with an offering, to show that they had the right to offer sacrifices to God.
Baptize, matbil, means to immerse so that what is immersed absorbs the solution, such as in a leather tanning solution. When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, you should absorb Him and have Him encompass your whole life. Baptism was similar to the purification ritual used when people were defiled or had come in contact with something unclean. Converts to Judaism had to have a mikvah, or bath, for purification. According to the Midrash, baptism was one of the things that Israel summitted to before entering into the Sinai Covenant which Moses negotiated with God.

John the Baptist, was known in Hebrew as Yochanan HaMatbil, in Greek as the Immerser. John called people to repent and be baptized as the symbol of their repentance. They needed to purify themselves for the coming of the Messiah. John didn’t think that Jesus needed to be baptized, because He was without sin. After Jesus was baptized, The Spirit of God, in the form of a dove, appeared over Jesus, as a symbol of His anointing as the Messiah. The dove is a symbol of both the Holy Spirit and of Israel.

When the priests entered the temple, they were to wash and purify themselves. God could not be in a relationship with them if they didn’t repent of their sin. The priests maintained a ritual where the emphasis was placed on washing rather then on purification and repentance. Washing was to be the outward symbol of what was taking place in the heart. John was reminding people that the emphasis should be on repentance.