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A
Culturally Accurate Understanding of Baptism Now
let's return to the example of John the Baptist.
The text tells us that he lived in Judea, therefore the Judean
culture is where we must begin our search for the correct bundle of
associations. A great
resource is the Encyclopedia Judaica, which provides the
following information. The
term used in the Hebrew Bible for baptism is usually
translated as washing and the purpose is for purification. The person or article to be purified must undergo total
immersion in either mayim hayyim ("live
water"), i.e., a spring, river, or sea, or a mikveh, which
is a body of water of at least 40 se'ahs (approximately 120
gallons) brought together by natural means, not drawn.
The person or article must be clean and have nothing adhering to
him or it, including clothing. Therefore
the person is naked when immersed so that the water comes in contacts
with the entire area of the surface.
Immersions were required especially of the priests since they had
to be in a state of purity to participate in the Temple service or eat
of the `holy' things. Individuals
had to be ritually pure before they were allowed to enter the Temple.
The
word mikveh literally means “collection”.
In the Hebrew Bible’s discussion of the laws of ritual purity
and impurity, Leviticus 11:36 states, “Nevertheless,
a spring or a cistern where there is a collection [mikvah] of
water shall be pure.” In
no way can the bath, this act of preparation, take the place of the mikveh,
the process of spiritual transformation which the bath merely readies
us. This is the
divinely-ordained change of status from tumah (ritual impurity)
to taharah (ritual purity) must be carried out using the
divinely-prescribed tool, the mikveh.
Without understanding this it is impossible to get an accurate
picture of the event concerning John the Baptist.
The New Testament stories about John the Baptist tell us nothing
of these concepts. Why?
The answer is because the people involved in the story and the
early audience hearing or reading it were all intimately acquainted with
them. They didn't need to
be told about ritual purity and impurity. But, people outside that
culture didn't know anything about them, therefore, they began to create
new meanings for the word baptism. Before
we move one, let's turn to the Encyclopedia Judaica for culturally
accurate information about ritual purity and impurity: (1)
A concept that a person or object can be in a state which, by
religious law, prevents the person or object from having any contact
with the temple or its cult (members, objects and rituals).
(2)
The state is transferable from object to another in a variety of
ways, such as touching the object or being under one roof with
it, and is independent of the actual physical condition.
(3)
The state of impurity can be corrected by the performance of
specified rituals, mainly including ablution, after which the
person or object becomes pure once more until impurity is again
contracted. (4)
The state of impurity is considered hateful to God, and man is to
take care in order not to find himself thus excluded from His divine
presence. (5)
Three main causes of impurity are apparent: leprosy, issue from human
sexual organs, and the dead bodies of certain animals. Later the concept was extended to the unrepentant sinner. (6)
Common to all purity rituals is the time factor: until the
evening for the lesser degrees of impurity (e.g., Lev. 11:24, 25, 27)
and seven days for the greater degrees (e.g., Lev. 12:2); with certain
exceptions -- the purity of the leper is dependent on his complete
recovery). (7)
Bathing is common to all purity rituals, even where it is not expressly
specified. (8)
The terms `pure' and `impure' are also applied in
the Bible to serious transgressions, especially sexual, which caused
the land to become impure (Lev. 18:27-28 etc.).
The prophets, especially Ezekiel, stress the uncleanness caused
to the land by idolatry and bloodshed, but it seems that any sin is
thought of as causing impurity and expressions taken from the purity
ritual passages serve figuratively in the Bible as symbols for atonement
and repentance (Ezek. 36:25; Psalm 51:4 et al.).
(9) The laws of impurity and purity have no relevant consequences of any substance except for priests and the affairs of the Temple and its hallowed things. In Jerusalem precautions were taken to guard the hallowed things and priests from impurity. No burials were permitted there, and corpses were not allowed to be kept there overnight. As a precaution against impurity it was forbidden to maintain refuse heaps or rear chickens in Jerusalem. Impure persons themselves took care not to impart impurity to the people of Jerusalem. |
