Reference: Purification
Easton
the process by which a person unclean, according to the Levitical law, and thereby cut off from the sanctuary and the festivals, was restored to the enjoyment of all these privileges.
The great annual purification of the people was on the Day of Atonement (q.v.).
But in the details of daily life there were special causes of cermonial uncleanness which were severally provided for by ceremonial laws enacted for each separate case. For example, the case of the leper (Le 13; 13:14), and of the house defiled by leprosy (Le 14:49-53; see also Mt 8:2-4). Uncleanness from touching a dead body (Nu 19:11; Ho 9:4; Hag 2:13; Mt 23:27; Lu 11:44). The case of the high priest and of the Nazarite (Le 21:1-4,10-11; Nu 6:6-7; Eze 44:25). Purification was effected by bathing and washing the clothes (Le 14:8-9); by washing the hands (De 21:6; Mt 27:24); washing the hands and feet (Ex 30:18-21; Heb 6:2, "baptisms", R.V. marg., "washings;" Heb 9:10); sprinkling with blood and water (Ex 24:5-8; Heb 9:19), etc. Allusions to this rite are found in Ps 26:6; 51:7; Eze 36:25; Heb 10:22.
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He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. read more. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!" So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."
"You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. "Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it; read more. when they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the LORD. "So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; and it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations."
"The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water and be clean Now afterward, he may enter the camp, but he shall stay outside his tent for seven days. "It will be on the seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. He shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and be clean.
"To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop, and he shall slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water. read more. "Then he shall take the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet string, with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird as well as in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. "He shall thus cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the running water, along with the live bird and with the cedar wood and with the hyssop and with the scarlet string. "However, he shall let the live bird go free outside the city into the open field. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it will be clean."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: 'No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother, read more. also for his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself. 'He shall not defile himself as a relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself.
'The priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes; nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself even for his father or his mother;
'All the days of his separation to the LORD he shall not go near to a dead person. 'He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head.
'The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days.
"All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;
Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
"They shall not go to a dead person to defile themselves; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may defile themselves.
They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the LORD, Their sacrifices will not please Him Their bread will be like mourners' bread; All who eat of it will be defiled, For their bread will be for themselves alone; It will not enter the house of the LORD.
Then Haggai said, "If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?" And the priests answered, "It will become unclean."
And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. read more. And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to that yourselves."
"Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it."
of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.
For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Fausets
The outward purification with water, symbolizing man's need of inward purity before admission into God's presence. (See LEPER; PRIEST; BIRTH; NAZARITE.) Le 11:25,40; 12:6,8'>8,8'>8; Lu 2:22-24; Numbers 19; 31. See HEIFER; RED.) Heb 9:13.) The rabbis multiplied unauthorized purifications, e.g. cups, pots, couches. etc. (Mr 7:3; Joh 2:6.)
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and whoever picks up any of their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.
'He too, who eats some of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening, and the one who picks up its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.
'When the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.
'But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.'"
'But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.'"
(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders;
And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "EVERY firstborn MALE THAT OPENS THE WOMB SHALL BE CALLED HOLY TO THE LORD"), read more. and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, "A PAIR OF TURTLEDOVES OR TWO YOUNG PIGEONS."
Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,
Hastings
Morish
In the law there were many ceremonial defilements, each of which had its appointed purification. To these the scribes and Pharisees added others, such as washing the hands before eating, washing cups and plates
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and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; read more. and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?" And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.' "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."
and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,
Smith
Purification,
in its legal and technical sense, is applied to the ritual observances whereby an Israelite was formally absolved from the taint of uncleanness. The essence of purification, in all eases, consisted in the use of water, whether by way of ablution or aspersion; but in the majora delicta of legal uncleanness, sacrifices of various kinds were added and the ceremonies throughout bore an expiatory character. Ablution of the person and of the clothes was required in the cases mentioned in
In cases of childbirth the sacrifice was increased to a lamb of the first year, with a pigeon or turtle-dove.
The ceremonies of purification required in cases of contact with a corpse or a grave are detailed in
... The purification of the leper was a yet more formal proceeding, and indicated the highest pitch of uncleanness. The rites are described in
The necessity of purification was extended in the post-Babylonian Period to a variety of unauthorized cases. Cups and pots and brazen vessels were washed as a matter of ritual observance.
The washing of the hands before meals was conducted in a formal manner.
What play have been the specific causes of uncleanness in those who came up to purify themselves before the Passover,
Joh 11:55
or in those who had taken upon themselves the Nazarites' vow,
we are not informed. In conclusion it may he observed that the distinctive feature. In the Mosaic rites of purification is their expiatory character. The idea of uncleanness was not peculiar to the Jew; but with all other nations simple ablution sufficed: no sacrifices were demanded. The Jew alone was taught by the use of expiatory offerings to discern to its fullest extent the connection between the outward sign and the inward fount of impurity.
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'But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.'"
(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.)
Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves.
take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.
Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.