Dictionary of Bible Themes  »  7000 God's people  »  7300 Institutions and culture of OT  »  7426 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 8:5-7,21-22

Ritual washing for cleansing

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

Methods of ritual washing

Washing clothes

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

Bathing

Leviticus 14:8-9 See also Leviticus 15:4-13,27; 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

Sprinkling with the water of purification

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

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

Consequences of the failure to perform ritual washing

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

The NT perception of ritual washing

It was practised in NT times

John 2:6 See also John 3:25

The Pharisees over-emphasised its importance

Matthew 15:1-11 pp Mark 7:1-23 See also Luke 11:37-41

Jesus Christ's atoning work rendered it unnecessary

Hebrews 9:6-14

See also

5226  basin
7340  clean and unclean
7342  cleanliness
7348  defilement
7416  purification
7422  ritual
7424  ritual law
7478  washing
7550  Pharisees
8218  consecration