Transcriber’s Note:
This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.
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positioned to follow the paragraph in which they are referenced.
THE GREAT BAPTIZER.
A
BIBLE HISTORY OF BAPTISM.
BY
SAMUEL J. BAIRD, D. D.
“He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”—MATT. III, 17.
“This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to
pass, in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all
flesh.”—ACTS II, 16, 17.
-------
PHILADELPHIA:
JAMES H. BAIRD.
1882.
Copyright
SAMUEL J. BAIRD,
1882.
PREFACE.
Not only does the ordinance of baptism hold a position of pre-eminent
honor, as being the door of entrance to all the privileges of the
visible church, but it has been distinguished with a place of paramount
importance and conspicuity in the transactions of the two grandest
occasions in the history of that church,—in sealing the covenant at
Sinai, by which Israel became the church of God, and the grace of
Pentecost, by which the doors of that church were thrown open to the
world. Proportionally interesting and significant is the ordinance, in
itself, as symbolizing the most lofty, attractive and precious
conceptions of the gospel, and unfolding a history of the plan of God in
proportions of unspeakable interest, grandeur and glory. And yet,
heretofore, the discussion of the subject has been little more than a
disputation, alike uninteresting, inconclusive and unprofitable,
concerning the word _baptizo_.
The present treatise is an attempt to lift the subject out of the low
rut in which it has thus traversed, and to render its investigation the
means of enlightening the minds and filling the hearts of God’s people
with those conceptions, at once exalted and profound, and those high
hopes and bright anticipations of the future which the ordinance was
designed and so happily fitted to induce and stimulate.
Eighteen years ago,—in a catechetical treatise on “The Church of God,
its Constitution and Order,” from the press of the Presbyterian Board of
Publication,—the author enunciated the essential principles which are
developed in this volume. In 1870, they were further illustrated in a
tract on “The Bible History of Baptism,” which was issued by the
Presbyterian Committee of Publication, in Richmond, Va. The reception
accorded to these treatises has encouraged me to undertake the more
elaborate disquisitions of the present work. The questions are sometimes
such as require a critical study of the inspired originals of the holy
Scriptures; and occasional illustrations are drawn from classic and
other kindred sources. It has been my study so to conduct these
investigations that while they should not be unworthy the attention of
scholars, they may be intelligible to readers who are conversant with no
other than our common English tongue, the richest and noblest ever
spoken by man.
The circumstances and manner of the introduction of the rite of
immersion into the post-apostolic church presented a rich and inviting
field of further investigation. But the volume has already exceeded the
intended limit; the Biblical question is in itself complete, and its
authority is conclusive. To it, therefore, the present inquiry is
confined.
The fruit of much and assiduous investigation and thoughtful study is
now reverently dedicated to the glory of the baptizing office of the
Lord Jesus. May he speedily arise and display it in new and transcendent
energy; pouring upon his blood-bought church the Spirit of grace and
consecration, of knowledge and aggressive zeal, of unity and power;
baptizing the nations with his Spirit, and filling the world with the
joy of his salvation and the light of his glory.
COVINGTON, KY., Feb. 8, 1882.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION, Page 15
BOOK I.
OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY.
PART I.
_BAPTISM AT SINAI._
SECTION I. _Baptism originated in the Old Testament._—It was
familiar to the Jews when Christ came. There were “divers
baptisms” imposed at Sinai, 21
SECTION II. _No Immersions in the Old Testament._—None in
the ritual. None in the figurative language, 23
SECTION III. _The Old Testament Sacraments._—1. Sacrifice.
2. Circumcision. 3. The Passover. 4. Baptism, 24
SECTION IV. _The Baptism of Israel at Sinai._--Scene at the
mount. The covenant proposed and accepted. A great
revival. Baptism of the converts. The feast of the
covenant, 25
SECTION V. _The Blood of Sprinkling._—It was a type of
Christ’s atonement, 30
SECTION VI. _The Living water._—A type of the Spirit. Living
and salt water. The river of Eden. That of the Revelation
and of the prophets. The Dead Sea. Rain and fountains.
Their symbolic functions, 31
PART II.
_THE VISIBLE CHURCH._
SECTION VII. _The Abrahamic Covenant._—It was the
betrothal,—not the marriage. Its terms spiritual,
everlasting, exclusive. The Seed Christ. It adumbrated the
covenant of grace. No salvation but on its terms, 37
SECTION VIII. _The Sinai Covenant.—Its Conditions._—Moses’
commission. 1. “If ye will obey.” 2. “And keep my
covenant,” 42
SECTION IX. _The Sinai Covenant.—Its Promises._—1. A
peculiar treasure. 2. “All the earth is mine.” 3. A priest
kingdom. 4. A holy nation. 5. Palestine, 45
SECTION X. _The Visible Church Established._—The Church
defined. Its name. Its fundamental law. Membership. Family
and eldership. Ordinances of testimony. The relation of
the ritual law, 49
SECTION XI. _The Terms of Membership._—Professed faith and
obedience. The same to Israel and Gentiles. Separating the
unworthy, 56
SECTION XII. _Circumcision and Baptism._—The former sealed
the Abrahamic covenant. The latter alone sealed the
ecclesiastical covenant of Sinai, 58
PART III.
_ADMINISTERED BAPTISMS=SPRINKLINGS._
SECTION XIII. _Unclean Seven Days._—The meaning. Childbirth.
Issues. Contact with the dead. Leprosy. Characterized by
(1) inward corruption; (2) seven days continuance; (3)
contagiousness; (4) requiring sacrifice and sprinkling, 60
SECTION XIV.—_Baptism of a Healed Leper._—Seven sprinklings.
The self-washings. Meaning of the rites, 66
SECTION XV. _Baptism of the Defiled by the Dead._—The
ordinary seal of the covenant. The ashes. Manner of the
baptism, 68
SECTION XVI. _Baptism from Issues._—The law seemingly
incongruous. The water of nidda, 69
SECTION XVII. _Baptism of Proselytes._—Talmudic traditions.
Question between the Schools of Shammai and Hillel. The
Levitical mode exemplified in the daughters of Midian, 76
SECTION XVIII. _Baptism of Infants._—The principle of infant
membership recognized. Evidence of the baptism of Hebrew
children. Example of the infant Jesus, 82
SECTION XIX. _Baptism of the Levites._—Sprinkled with “water
of purifying,” 85
SECTION XX. _These all were one Baptism._ The rites were
essentially the same. Slight differences explained, 86
SECTION XXI. _The Symbol of Rain._—Descent from heaven. Life
and fruitfulness imparted. Testimonies of the prophets.
Carson’s doctrine, 88
SECTION XXII. _It meant, Life to the Dead._—Men dead by
nature. The Spirit shed down gives life to soul and body.
Jesus at the grave of Lazarus, 92
SECTION XXIII. _The Gospel in this Baptism._—(1) The red
heifer. (2) Without the camp. (3) Blood sprinkled, and
blood and water. (4) Seven times. (5) Seven days’
defilement. (6) The ashes. (7) The water. (8) The
sprinkling. (9) The third day and the seventh. (10) The
self-washing. (11) Things defiled and sprinkled, 95
SECTION XXIV. _These were the “Divers Baptisms,”_—The
argument of Heb. ix, 8, 9. The sprinklings were the theme
of Paul’s argument. They were his “divers baptisms,” 103
PART IV.
_RITUAL SELF-WASHINGS._
SECTION XXV. _Unclean until the Even._—From expiatory rites.
From contact with the unclean. Self-washing, 108
SECTION XXVI. _Grades of Self-washing._—1. The hands. 2. The
hands and feet. 3. The clothes. 4. The clothes and flesh.
5. Shaving the hair, 111
SECTION XXVII. _Mode implied in the meaning._—The
self-washings meant the active putting off of the sins of
the flesh, 115
SECTION XXVIII. _The words used to designate the
Washings._—1. Shātaph. 2. Kābas. 3. Rāhatz, 116
SECTION XXIX. _Mode of Domestic Ablution._—By water poured
on. The patriarchs. Mode in Egypt. In the wilderness.
Story of Susanna. Purgation of a concealed murder. Washing
the feet at table, 119
SECTION XXX. _Facilities requisite._—The water drawn from
wells by women. No vessels for immersion. The bath of
Ulysses, 126
SECTION XXXI. _The Washings of the Priests._—Symbolism of
the tabernacle. The laver. Priestly washings. The laver
and river of Ezekiel. No immersions here, 128
SECTION XXXII. _Like these were the Self-washings of the
People._—Designations and meaning the same. Immersion
would have been without meaning, 134
SECTION XXXIII. _Purifyings of things._—One case of
immersion. Minor defilements cleansed by this immersion
and by washings. The major, by sprinkling, 136
PART V.
_LATER TRACES OF THE SPRINKLED BAPTISMS._
SECTION XXXIV. _Old Testament Allusions._—The rite
everywhere, from Moses to Zechariah, 139
SECTION XXXV. _Rabbinic Traditions._—One heifer from Moses
to Ezra. Eight thence to the end, 142
SECTION XXXVI. _Festival of the Outpouring of Water._—Feast
of tabernacles. The outpouring. The festivity. Its
meaning, 143
SECTION XXXVII. _Hellenistic Greek._—Alexander’s favor to
the Jews. Alexandria. Hellenistic Greek. Its literature.
_Baptizo._ Dr. Conant’s definitions. _Baptisma_ and
_baptismoi_, 151
SECTION XXXVIII. _Baptism of Naaman._ _Tābal=baptizo._—The
law of leprosy. Office of Elijah and Elisha. Naaman was
sprinkled seven times, according to the law, 157
SECTION XXXIX. “_Baptized from the Dead._”—Ecclus. xxxi, 30.
The water of separation here called baptism. “Baptized for
the dead.”—1 Cor. xv, 29, 169
SECTION XL. _Judith’s Baptism._—Story of Judith. Her
baptism. Mohammedan washing before prayer, 172
SECTION XLI. _The Water of Separation in Philo and
Josephus._—Philo on the subject. Josephus’ description, 175
SECTION XLII. _Imitations by the Greeks and
Romans._—Diffusive influence of Israel. The stain of
crime, and purgation for it, novelties in Greece.
Purifying always by sprinkled water. Ovid and Virgil. The
Greek mysteries, 178
SECTION XLIII. _Baptism in Egypt and among the Aztecs._—The
libation vase of Osor-Ur. Aztec infant baptism, 189
SECTION XLIV. _Levitical Baptism in the Fathers._—Tertullian
on the idolatrous imitations. Other fathers on the water
of separation. They recognize it as baptism, 192
PART VI.
_STATE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ARGUMENT._
SECTION XLV. _Points established by the foregoing
Evidence._—Twenty-one points of evidence enumerated, 196
BOOK II.
NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY.
PART VII.
_INTRODUCTORY._
SECTION XLVI. _State of the Question._—1. Baptism by
sprinkling,—fifteen centuries old,—the Jewish Scriptures
full of it,—the Jewish mind molded by it. 2.
Immersion,—new,—incongruous,—unmeaning. Carson’s double
symbolism, 201
PART VIII.
_THE PURIFYINGS OF THE JEWS._
SECTION XLVII. _Accounts in the Gospels._—Purifying before
the feasts. The marriage in Cana. Washings and baptisms, 208
SECTION XLVIII. _Washing Hands before Meals._—Origin of the
rite. The marriage feast, 210
SECTION XLIX. _Baptism on return from Market._—Market
defined. Jesus at the Pharisee’s table, 214
SECTION L. _A Various Reading._—Baptizōntai and rantizōntai.
Care taken in transcribing the New Testament. These two
readings, 216
SECTION LI. _Baptisms of Utensils and Furniture._—Their
prototypes in the Levitical purifyings of things, 219
PART IX.
_JOHN’s$1BAPTISM._
SECTION LII. _History of John’s Mission._—The accounts of
it. John the herald of the Angel of the Sinai covenant, 221
SECTION LIII. _Israel at the time of John’s Coming._—No
longer idolatrous, but apostate. Prophetic warnings. They
were excommunicate from the covenant, 225
SECTION LIV. _Nature of John’s Baptism._—Elijah the champion
of the covenant, to the ten tribes. John the same to the
Jews. His baptism renewed the Sinai seal, 228
SECTION LV. _Extent of John’s Baptism._—Testimony of the
evangelists. Other evidence. A great revival, 232
SECTION LVI. _John did not Immerse._—The circumstances
forbade it. It would have been unmeaning, 237
SECTION LVII. _John sprinkled with unmingled Water._—Why the
prophecies speak of water only. “The kingdom” John’s
theme. Hence, water only. It was sprinkled. Some may have
stood in the water, 241
PART X.
_CHRIST’s$1BAPTISMS AND ANOINTING._
SECTION LVIII. _His Baptism by John._—Various explanations.
It was part of his obedience. It sealed him Surety of the
covenant, and certified to him triumph in his
resurrection, 247
SECTION LIX. _His Anointing._—The Spirit given him, at his
birth,—at his baptism,—and at his coronation. Meaning and
purpose of his anointing, 254
SECTION LX. “_The Baptism that I am Baptized with._”—Matt.
xx, 20-22. The kingdom was to be after the resurrection;
and upon condition of being worthy. “The regeneration” was
typified by the Levitical baptisms. The baptism was his
resurrection. Luke xii, 50, 257
PART XI.
_CHRIST THE GREAT BAPTIZER._
SECTION LXI. _The Kingdom of the Son of man._—“The kingdom
of heaven.” Destined to man at creation. Satan’s scheme.
The kingdom in the prophets. John’s proclamation. Christ’s
triumph and coronation, 267
SECTION LXII. _Christ is enthroned as Baptizer._—His
commission,—to purge the universe. Order of precedence in
the Godhead. On earth, Jesus was “in the Spirit.” On the
throne, the Spirit is in and subject to him. “The promise
of the Father,” 273
SECTION LXIII. _Note on the Procession of the
Spirit._—History of the _filioque_ clause. Objections to
it, 281
SECTION LXIV. _The Baptism of Fire._—The Holy Ghost, and
fire, two several things. Fire means wrath. The places
cited against this view. The contrasted language of the
evangelists. Grace and wrath inseparably connected. John’s
theme and imagery are from Malachi. Arguments to identify
the two baptisms in one. _Baptizo._ Mode of the baptism of
fire, 284
SECTION LXV. _The Baptism of Pentecost._—The apostles must
“wait for the promise.” The Spirit poured out, 297
SECTION LXVI. _Manner of the Baptism._—_Pnoē_,—a breath.
_Pheromenē_,—borne forward,—impelled. “He breathed on
them.” It was affusion, signalizing the height where Jesus
sits, 299
SECTION LXVII. _The New Spirit imparted._—The Spirit no
novelty. Peter’s explanation. Hitherto, the church’s
office was conservative. Now the aggressive Spirit of
missions given, 304
SECTION LXVIII. _The Tongues like as of Fire._—Not “cloven,”
but “distributed.” Like the flame of a lamp. The
candlestick. The seven stars. “Arise! shine!” 310
SECTION LXIX. _The Gift of other Tongues._—Signified the
union of all people in God’s worship. The phrasing of the
historian. History of the sign, 313
SECTION LXX. _The Baptism of Repentance._—The firstfruits.
John’s “baptism of repentance.” Jesus gives repentance and
remission. His baptism unites to him and the Father. Its
manner. The Spirit’s relation to it, 318
SECTION LXXI. _Paul’s Doctrine of this Baptism._—Titus iii,
4-7. Meaning of _loutron_. 1 Cor. xii, 12-14. Eph. iv,
4-16. Gal. iii, 27-29. Rom. vi, 2-6. Col. ii, 9-11. The
doctrine of these places, 323
SECTION LXXII. _Noah “saved by Water.”_—1 Pet. iii, 17-22.
Peter and Paul. The theme,—the saints persecuted with
impunity. Noah persecuted, and saved by means of the
flood. Christ’s people saved by antitype baptism, 333
SECTION LXXIII. _Christ’s Baptizing Administration._—It
covers his whole work on the throne. In the end, triumph
complete, physical and moral. When he shall have purged
earth and heaven, then will his baptizing office cease, 338
SECTION LXXIV. _Argument from the Real to Ritual
Baptism._—The real baptism has to do, not with abasement
and the grave, but with exaltation and power. But
immersion looks only to the grave. It is incongruous to
all the phenomena of Pentecost. Immersed in “the sound
from heaven,” 343
PART XII.
_THE BAPTIST ARGUMENT._
SECTION LXXV. BAPTIZO _and the Resurrection_.—Elements of
the Baptist argument. Dr. Conant on _baptizo_. It leaves
its subjects in the water. Dr. Kendrick’s admissions. A
second meaning in _baptizo_, 347
SECTION LXXVI. _The Prepositions._—_En._ _Eis._ _Ek._ _Apo._
They indicate, not the mode, but the place of the
baptisms, 354
SECTION LXXVII. “_Much Water there._”—Aenon=The Springs.
Many waters. Why Jesus and John resorted to waters, 360
SECTION LXXVIII. “_Buried with him by Baptism into
Death._”—Rom. vi, 2-7.—“Buried with him by _the_ baptism
into _the_ death.” Analysis of the passage. Spiritual
baptism alone referred to. Immersion incongruous to Paul’s
conception, 364
SECTION LXXIX. “_Buried with him in Baptism._”—Col. ii,
9-13. The doctrine the same as the preceding. Union with
the Lord Jesus the controlling idea. “Buried with him in
(or, by) _the_ baptism.” The idea of immersion perplexes
the exegesis, 371
SECTION LXXX. _End of the Baptist Argument._—Baptist
scholars concede that _baptizo_ does not mean, to dip,
only. It can not then decide the mode. They admit that it
leaves its subject in the water. It knows then nothing of
the resurrection. The prepositions and waters of Enon do
not help the cause. Paul’s burial “in _the_ baptism,” does
not allude to the ritual ordinance. In all its parts, the
argument fails, 374
PART XIII.
_BAPTISMAL REGENERATION._
SECTION LXXXI. _Contrary to the whole Tenor of the
Gospel._—The mystery of iniquity early developed. The
gospel church viewed as the antitype of the Levitical. The
Scriptures are not so. Treatment of baptism by the
evangelists. Paul’s testimony, 377
SECTION LXXXII. _Born of Water and of the Spirit._—John iii,
4-8. Metaphor of water. “Water _even_ the Spirit.” John
had already stated the way of the new birth, 384
SECTION LXXXIII. “_The Washing of Water, by the Word._”—The
bridal bath. No formula of baptism. “Sanctify them through
thy truth,” 390
PART XIV.
_THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH._
SECTION LXXXIV. _The Ritual Law is unrepealed._—Christ so
left it. The apostles were zealous for it. The council of
Jerusalem exempted the Gentiles only. James and Paul unite
to show it still in force. Paul’s practice. He obeyed the
law, but repudiated its righteousness. This view alone
harmonizes the history, 393
SECTION LXXXV. _Why the Gentiles were exempted._—Not because
the law expired. But, unsuited to a world wide extension.
Its chief end accomplished. What its survival implied, 406
SECTION LXXXVI. _The Christian Passover._—Wine, and blood.
The passover a type of Christ’s atonement. It is
perpetuated in the Supper, 408
SECTION LXXXVII. _The Hebrew Christian Church._—The
synagogue system. The sects of Pharisees, Sadducees and
Nazarenes. The number and diffusion of the Nazarenes. The
Hebrew church after the destruction of Jerusalem, 411
SECTION LXXXVIII. _The Gentiles Graffed in._—Mixed churches.
Gentile churches. “Out of Zion the law.” The Gentiles
graffed in, 418
PART XV.
_CHRISTIAN BAPTISM._
SECTION LXXXIX. _History of the Rite._—The cotemporaneous
baptisms of John and Jesus. Both were the same Christian
baptism. Christ did not _institute_ baptism, but gave it
to the Gentiles. Rebaptism at Ephesus. Note on rebaptism, 424
SECTION XC. “_Baptizing them into the Name._”—1. Into the
name. _En_; _epi_; _eis_. “Into Christ.” “Into the name of
Christ.” 2. “The name of the Father and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost.”—“The name of the Lord Jesus,” 431
SECTION XCI. “_He that Believeth and is Baptized._”—It
refers to ritual baptism; and is a caution against trust
in it. Faith is the essential thing, 437
SECTION XCII. _The Formula._—Ritualistic view. No formula
prescribed by Christ, nor used by the apostles, 438
SECTION XCIII. _The Administration on Pentecost._—There was
a baptism with water. Dr. Dale’s objections, 440
SECTION XCIV. _The meaning of this Baptism._—It could but
symbolize the baptism of the Spirit. The two formulas thus
reconciled, 446
SECTION XCV. _The Mode of this Baptism._—Immersion
incongruous and impossible. They were baptized in groups
with a hyssop bush, 448
SECTION XCVI. _Other Illustrations._—The eunuch. The apostle
Paul. The house of Cornelius. The jailer. None of these
look to immersion, 451
SECTION XCVII. “_Baptized into Moses._”—Moses and Israel
were types. Dr. Kendrick contradicts the record. By this
baptism Israel were brought into a new state of faith and
obedience, 457
PART XVI.
_THE FAMILY AND THE CHILDREN._
SECTION XCVIII. _Christ and the Children._—A retrospect.
Christ’s attitude toward the lambs. Peter’s commission.
The Jews predominant in the church. The Sinai covenant
recognized the children and made place for the Gentiles, 461
SECTION XCIX. “_Now are they Holy._”—Unclean, and holy.
Israel a holy nation. “The saints.” The Baptist exegesis
of the language, 466
SECTION C. _Household Baptisms._—Not “infant,” but “family
baptism.” Lydia’s house. The jailer and all his. The house
of Stephanas. These, in the light of fifteen centuries
preceding, and of the everlasting covenant, 471
CONCLUSION.
Christ’s real baptism with the Spirit is the criterion of
all baptismal doctrines and rites. Baptismal regeneration
tried and rejected. The evidence against immersion
cumulative and overwhelming, 476
INTRODUCTION.
The history of the ritual ordinances of God’s appointment is full of
painful interest. Passing any reference to the times preceding the
transactions of Sinai,—the institutions then given to Israel constituted
a system of transparent, significance, perfect in the congruous symmetry
and simplicity of the parts and comprehensive fullness of the whole, as
setting forth the whole doctrine of God concerning man’s sin and
salvation. Designed not only for the instruction of Israel, but for a
light to the darkness of the surrounding Gentile world, its truths were
embodied in symbols which spake to every people of every tongue in their
own language. Copied in imperfect and perverted forms into the rites of
Gentile idolatry,—although distorted, veiled and dislocated from their
normal relations, they shed gleams of twilight into the gloom of
spiritual darkness, and prepared the world for the dawning of the Sun of
Righteousness, when he rose upon the nations. To multitudes of Israel,
those ordinances were efficient means of eminent grace. With gladness,
they saw therein,—as through a glass, darkly, it may be, but
surely,—adumbrations of the salvation, grace and glory of the Messiah’s
kingdom. And, if the fact be considered that at one of the darkest
crises in Israel’s history, when the prophet cried,—“I, even I am left
alone,”—God could assure him,—“Yet have I left seven thousand,”—we may
possibly find occasion to revise our preconceptions concerning the
history of the gospel in Israel. Still, undoubtedly there were
multitudes in every generation of that people to whom the gospel
preached in the ordinances brought no profit, for lack of faith. In
their earlier history, indifference and neglect, and in the later, a
self-righteous zeal for the mere outward rites and forms, were equally
fatal. The splendor of the ritual, and the superfluous variety and
frequency of the observances, were a poor substitute for faith toward
God, and rectitude of heart and life. The result was that when Christ
came, who was the end of all the rites and ordinances of the law, those
who were the most strict and zealous in their observance were his
betrayers and murderers.
When the Lord Jesus ascended the heavens, assumed the throne, and sent
forth the gospel to the Gentiles, it was accompanied by two simple
ordinances, which were eliminated out of those of the Levitical ritual,
by the omission of the element of sacrifice. In them was symbolized and
set forth the whole riches of that salvation which was represented in
the more cumbrous forms of the Levitical system. By the supper, was
signified the mystery of his atoning sufferings, and of the nourishment
of his people by faith therein. By baptism, was shown forth the glory of
his exaltation, and the sovereignty and power with which he sheds from
his throne the blessings of his grace. But very soon, these ordinances,
so beautiful and instructive in their simplicity, were corrupted through
the misconceptions and ignorance of the teachers of the church. The
Mosaic ritual, instead of being recognized, as Paul describes it, as a
pattern or similitude of the things in the heavens, was regarded as a
type of the New Testament church and of the ordinances therein
administered. This one error became the inevitable cause of corruption
and apostasy. Respecting the impending defection, Paul assured the
Thessalonians, that the mystery of iniquity was already at work; and
forewarned the elders of Ephesus of the coming of grievous wolves to
rend the flock, and of apostasies among themselves, through the lust of
an unhallowed ambition.
We have not the means, from the scanty and corrupted records which
remain, of the age immediately following the apostles, of tracing the
process of defection. But when, at length, the church emerges into the
light of history, it is found to have realized a fatal transformation.
The pastors and elders of the apostolic churches, from being simple
preachers of the word, have become priests ministering at the altar, and
offering better sacrifices than those made by the Aaronic line. For,
while the latter offered mere animals, and the worshippers fed upon mere
carnal food, the former, in the sacrament of the supper, the supposed
antitype of those offerings, were believed to offer the body and blood
of the Lord Jesus, and the people, in those elements, imagined
themselves to receive and feed upon that very body and blood. So, too,
while the “type baptisms” of the ancient ritual accomplished a mere
purifying of the flesh, the baptism of water by the hands of the
Christian ministry was regarded as the antitype of these, and considered
effectual for accomplishing a spiritual regeneration, a renewing of the
heart of the recipient.
The same error which thus corrupted the doctrine of the sacraments, was
equally efficient in changing their forms. As they were held to be the
antitypes of the Old Testament rites, it was sought to develop in them
features to correspond with all the details of those rites, and to give
them a dignity, a pomp and ceremonial, proportioned to their relations
as fulfilling the things set forth in the splendid ritual of Moses and
David. The rite of baptism, particularly, was corrupted by alterations
and additions which left scarcely any thing of the primitive
institution, save the name. The Levitical purifyings were especially
observed in connection with the annual feasts at Jerusalem. In like
manner, the administration of baptism was discouraged, except in
connection with two of those feasts,—the passover, and the feast of
weeks, or of firstfruits,—transferred into the Christian church, under
the names of Easter, and Pentecost, or Whitsunday; the latter being
named from the white garments in which the newly baptized were robed.
The administration was connected with an elaborate system of attendant
observances. First, was a course of fastings, genuflections, and
prayers, and the imposition of hands upon the candidate. Then, he was
divested of all but a single under garment, and facing the west, the
realm of darkness, was required, with defiant gesture of the hand, to
renounce Satan and all his works. This was followed by an exorcism, the
minister breathing upon the candidate, for expelling Satan, and
imparting the Holy Spirit; then the making upon him of the sign of the
cross; anointing him with oil, once before and once after the baptism;
the administration of salt, milk and honey, and three immersions, one at
the name of each person of the Trinity. Such was the connection in which
baptism by immersion first appears. For its reception, the candidate, of
whatever sex, was invariably divested of all clothing, and, after it,
was robed in a white garment, emblematic of the spotless purity now
attained. The rite of baptism by bare sprinkling, however, still
survived. And the question is entitled to a critical attention which it
has not yet received, whether, always or generally, the more elaborate
rite consisted in a _submersion_ of the candidate. Against this
supposition, is the practice of the Abyssinian, Greek, Nestorian and
other churches of the east. In them, the candidate, in preparation for
the rite, is placed, or we may say, immersed, naked, in a font of water,
the quantity of which neither suffices, nor is intended, to cover him.
The administrator then performs the baptism, while pronouncing the
formula, by thrice pouring water on the candidate, once at the mention
of each name of the blessed Godhead.[1] To the same effect, is the
evidence of numerous remains of Christian art, which have been
transmitted to us from the early ages. Among these are several
representations of the baptism of the Lord Jesus by John; one, of that
of Constantine and his wife, by Eusebius; and others. The baptism of
Constantine precisely corresponds with the description above given. The
emperor is seated naked in a vessel, which if full would not reach to
his waist; and the bishop is in the act of performing the baptism by
pouring water upon them. In the representations of the baptism of Jesus,
he sometimes appears waist-deep in the Jordan, and sometimes on the
land. But in all cases, the rite is performed by the baptist pouring
water on his head out of a cup or shell. Such is, in fact, the
invariable mode represented in these remains of ancient art.
Footnote 1:
My authorities are “A voyage to Abyssinia, and travels in the interior
of that country, executed under the orders of the British government,
in the years 1809 and 1810, etc., by Henry Salt, Esq., F. R. S., etc.,
London, 1814;” and the personal testimonies of several of our
missionaries to the east, who have related to me what they saw.
In this connection the analogy of the forms of religious purifying
prevalent throughout the east is worthy of special notice. The Brahmin,
before taking his morning’s meal, repairs to the Ganges, carrying with
him a brazen vessel. By hundreds, or by thousands, they enter the
stream, and while some take up the water in their vessels, and pour it
over their persons, others plunge beneath the stream, for the purging
away of their sins. Then filling the vessels, they repair to the temple,
and pour the water upon the idol, or as a libation, before it. The
Parsee, worshiper of the sun, goes, in the morning, to river or sea, and
entering until the waves are waist high, with his face toward the east,
awaits the rising of the sun, when, using his joined hands as a dipper,
he dashes water over his person, and makes obeisance to his god. On the
other hand, the Mohammedan, deriving his usage from the earlier
Pharisaic ritual, repairs to the mosque, and from the tank in front,
without entering it, takes up water in his hands with which to bathe
face, feet and hands, before presenting his prayers.
By the corruptions in the Christian church, before exemplified, the key
of knowledge was taken away from the people. The instructive meaning of
the sacraments was obscured and obliterated, by the idea of their
intrinsic efficacy for renewing the heart and atoning for and purging
sin. The preaching of the word was disparaged and ultimately set aside;
the preachers having become propitiating priests, working regeneration
by the baptismal rite, and making atonement by the sacrifice of the
mass. The corruption and tyranny of the clergy of the middle ages, and
the ignorance, slavery and spiritual darkness which for centuries
brooded over the people, were the inevitable results.
The reformation came, through the recovery by Luther of the golden
doctrine of justification by faith, which had so long been buried and
lost under the accumulated mass of ritualistic error. But even Luther
was unable to shake off the fetters of superstition and falsehood in
which he had been cradled, and to enjoy the full liberty of the doctrine
which he gave to the awakened church. In the dogma of consubstantiation,
he transmitted to his followers the very error which had corrupted the
church for more than a thousand years. And the result in the churches of
his confession has added another to the already abundant evidence of the
ever active and irreconcilable antagonism which exists between the
theory of sacramental grace, and the doctrine,—criterion of a standing
or falling church,—of justification by free grace through faith.
Our space does not admit of a critical tracing of the history of the
sacramental question in the churches of the reformation. On the one
hand, ritualists of every grade, misled by the erring primitive church,
and attributing to the sacraments a saving virtue intrinsic in them,
render indeed high but mistaken honor to the sacred rites; but fail to
enjoy them in their true intent and office, or to view and honor them in
their proper character. On the other hand, our immersionist brethren,
misguided respecting the form of baptism, by the same erring example,
and thus lost to the true and comprehensive meaning of the ordinance,
have failed to apprehend the instruction which it was designed to
impart, and to enjoy the abundant edifying which it was adapted to
minister; and, instead, have found it a potent agent of separation, and
an efficient temptation to the indulgence of a disproportionate zeal on
behalf of mere outward rites and forms.
Nor do those who have escaped these errors always seem to appreciate the
sacraments, in their true design and character, as ever active and
efficient witnesses, testifying to the gospel, through symbols as
intelligible and impressive as the most eloquent speech. The beauty and
rich significance of the supper have, indeed, been in a measure
apprehended, and made available in some just proportion, to the
instruction and edifying of God’s people. But baptism has not held the
place, in the ministrations of the sanctuary and the mind of the church,
which is due to its office and design, to the richness of meaning of its
forms, and to the sublime conceptions and the lofty aspirations and
hopes which it is so wonderfully adapted to create and cherish. One
efficient cause of this, undoubtedly, is, the reaction induced by the
aggressive zeal of immersionists, and the exercise of a false charity
toward their erroneous sentiments; as though the charity of the gospel,
as toward our brethren, consisted in an acceptance of their errors as
equivalents to the truths of God. While they have justly and
irrefragably maintained that nothing can be Christian baptism which has
not at once the form and the meaning ordained by Christ, we have been
weakly disposed to imagine ourselves patterns of charity, in admitting
the validity of immersion, while denying it to be the form or to have
the meaning which Christ ordained. As if such an ordinance, from the
great Head of the Church, could have in it any thing indifferent, or
subject to our discretion, whether in doctrine or mode! The immediate
and inevitable result is, a low estimate of the ordinance itself;
indifference alike to its form and meaning, and to the place it was
designed to fill, and the offices which it was to perform, in the
economy of grace. As a mere door of entrance into the fold of the
church, it is administered and received; with too little regard to its
beautiful and comprehensive symbolism; and, once performed, it is almost
lost sight of in the instructions of the pulpit, and meditations of the
people. Should this representation suggest a doubt, let the reader
reflect how often, in the ordinary ministrations of the sanctuary, he
has heard the significance of baptism dwelt upon, or even alluded to,
for illustrating the great truths of the gospel, on any occasion except
that of the administration of the rite; and how seldom, even then, the
richness of its symbolic import is unfolded,—its relations to Christ’s
exaltation and throne, and to all the functions of his scepter; the
meaning of the element of water, and of the mode of sprinkling; and the
office of the ordinance, as a symbol of the Spirit’s renewing grace, and
a prophecy and seal to the doctrine of the resurrection. As the initial
seal of the covenant, it is discussed and insisted upon. But of these,
its intrinsic and most interesting characteristics, but little is heard.
No wonder, therefore, that the privilege of its reception is so little
appreciated, and its appropriation by parents on behalf of their
children, so often neglected.
The recent researches of Drs. Conant and Dale have exhausted the
philological argument as concerning _baptizo_. The former, representing
the American (Baptist) Bible Union, and the latter, from the opposite
standpoint, have come to conclusions which, to all the practical
purposes of the discussion, are identical and final. Essentially, they
agree (1) that _baptizo_ never means, to dip, that is, to put into the
water and take out again; but, primarily, to put into or under the
water,—to bring into a state of mersion, or intusposition; (2) that it
also means to bring into a new state or condition, by the exercise of a
pervasive control; as one who is intoxicated is said to be baptized with
wine. The former of these meanings is all that remains to the Baptist
argument from the word. The latter is all that is desired by those who
repudiate immersion. The philological discussion being thus brought to a
practical termination, the occasion seems opportune for inviting
attention to the real issues involved in the question respecting the
form of the ordinance; and to the various and abundant testimonies of
the Scriptures, as to its origin and office, its mode and meaning, its
history and associations.
In the same line of investigation, it is the expectation of the writer,
should time and opportunity concur, to offer to the Christian public, at
some future day, a treatise, similar in plan to that now presented, on
the ordinances and church of God, historically traced from the apostasy,
and the renewal of the covenant in Eden, to the close of the sacred
volume.
A
BIBLE HISTORY OF BAPTISM.
----------
BOOK I.
OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY.
----------
PART I.
BAPTISM AT SINAI.
SECTION I.—_Baptism Originated in the Old Testament._
At the time of Christ’s coming, baptism was a rite already familiar to
the Jews. The evangelists testify of them that, “when they come from the
market, _except they baptize_ (_ean mē baptisōntai_) they eat not. And
many other things there be which they have received to hold, as the
_baptisms_ (_baptismous_) of cups and pots and brazen vessels and
tables.”—Mark vii, 3, 4. On account of this rule of tradition, a
Pharisee at whose table Jesus was a guest “marveled that he had not
first _baptized_ (_ebaptisthē_) before dinner.”—Luke xi, 38. Hence, when
John came, a priest, baptizing, there was no question raised as to the
origin, nature, form, or divine authority of the ordinance which he
administered. The Pharisees, in their challenge of him, confine
themselves to the single demand, by what authority he ventured to
require Israel to come to his baptism, since he confessed that he was
neither Christ nor Elias nor that prophet. (John i, 25.) Their
familiarity with the rite forbade any question concerning it. Had we no
further light on the subject, we might suppose that this ordinance had
no better source than the unauthorized inventions of Jewish tradition.
But the Apostle Paul,[2] an Hebrew of the Hebrews, taught at the feet of
Gamaliel, and versed in all questions of the law, excludes such an idea.
He declares that in the first tabernacle “were offered both gifts and
sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as
pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats and drinks and
(_diaphorois baptismois_) _divers baptisms_—carnal ordinances imposed on
them until the time of reformation.”—Heb. ix, 9, 10. The conjunction
“and” (“divers baptisms _and_ carnal ordinances”) is wanting in the best
Greek manuscripts; is rejected by the critical editors, and is
undoubtedly spurious. The phrase “carnal ordinances” is not an
additional item in the enumeration, but a comprehensive description of
“the meats and drinks and divers baptisms” of the law. Paul thus speaks
of them by way of contrast with the spiritual grace and righteousness of
the Lord Jesus. A critical examination of this passage will be made
hereafter. For the present, we note two points as attested by the
apostle:
1. Among the Levitical ordinances there were not _one_ but divers
baptisms.
2. These were not merely allowable rites, but were “imposed” on Israel
as part of the institutions ordained of God at Sinai.
Footnote 2:
I assume what I believe to be demonstrable, that Paul was the author
of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
It may be proper to add that they were baptisms of persons, and not of
things. They were rites which were designed to purify the flesh of the
worshiper. (vs. 9, 13, 14.)
These baptisms were, therefore, well known to Israel, from the days of
Moses. This explains the fact that, in the New Testament, we find no
instruction as to the form of the ordinance. It was an ancient rite,
described in the books of Moses and familiar to the Jews when Christ
came. No description, therefore, was requisite. We are then to look to
the Old Testament to ascertain the form and manner of baptism.
SECTION II.—_No Immersions in the Old Testament._
Says Dr. Carson: “We deny that the phrase ‘divers baptisms’ includes the
_sprinklings_. The phrase alludes to the _immersion_ of the different
things that by the law were to be _immersed_.”[3] Had this learned
writer pointed out the things that were to be immersed, and the places
in the law where this was required, it would have saved us some trouble.
In default of such information, our first inquiry in turning to the Old
Testament will be for that form of observance. We take up the books of
Moses, and examine his instructions as to all the prominent institutions
of divine service. But among these we find no immersion of the person.
We enter into minuter detail, and study every rule and prescription of
the entire system as enjoined on priests, Levites, and people,
respectively. But still there is no trace of an ordinance for the
immersion of the person or any part of it. We extend our field of
inquiry, and search the entire volume of the Old Testament. But the
result remains the same. From the first chapter of Genesis to the last
of Malachi, there is not to be found a record nor an intimation of such
an ordinance imposed on Israel or observed by them at any time. Not only
is this true as to baptismal immersion performed by an official
administrator upon a recipient subject. It is equally true as to any
conceivable form or mode of immersion, self-performed or administered.
There is no trace of it. But here is Paul’s testimony that there were
“divers baptisms imposed.” By _baptisms_, then, Paul certainly did not
mean immersions.
Footnote 3:
“Carson on Baptism” (published by C. C. P. Crosby: New York, 1832), p.
117.
The impregnable position thus reached is further fortified by the fact
that, in all the variety and exuberance of figurative language used in
the Bible to illustrate the method of God’s grace, no recourse is ever
had to the figure of immersion. All agree that the sacraments are
significant ordinances. If, then, the significance of baptism at all
depends on the immersion of the person in water, we would justly expect
to find frequent use of the figure of immersion, as representing the
spiritual realities of which baptism is the symbol. But we search the
Scriptures in vain for that figure so employed. It never once occurs.
SECTION III.—_The Old Testament Sacraments._
As there are no immersions in the Old Testament, we must look for the
divers baptisms under some other form. Assuming that in this rite there
must be a sacramental use of water, we will first examine the ancient
sacraments. On a careful analysis of the ordinances comprehended in the
Levitical system, we find among them four which strictly conform to the
definition of a sacrament, and which are the only sacraments described
or referred to in the Old Testament.
1. _Sacrifice._—The first of these in origin and prominence was
sacrifice. Originating in Eden, and incorporated in the Levitical
system, it had all the characteristics of a sacrament. In it the life
blood of clean animals was shed and sprinkled, and their bodies burned
upon the altar. Thus were represented the shedding of Christ’s blood,
and his offering of atonement to the justice of God. But here is no
water. It is not the baptism for which we seek.
2. _Circumcision._—The second of the Old Testament sacraments was
circumcision, whereby God sealed to Abraham and his seed the covenant of
blessings to them and all nations through the blood of the promised
Seed. Here, again, no one will pretend to identify the ordinance with
the baptisms of Paul.
3. _The Passover._—The third of the Old Testament sacraments, the first
of the Levitical dispensation, was the feast of the passover. In it, the
paschal lamb was slain, its blood sprinkled on the lintels and door
posts of the houses, and the flesh roasted and eaten with unleavened
bread and bitter herbs. At Sinai, this ordinance was modified by
requiring the feast to be observed at the sanctuary, the blood being
sprinkled on the altar, and the fat burned thereon. And, to the other
elements appointed in Egypt, the general provisions of the Mosaic law
added wine. All peace offerings, free will offerings, and offerings at
the solemn feasts, of which the passover was one, were to be accompanied
with wine, and were eaten by the offerers, except certain parts, that
were burned on the altar. (See Num. xv, 5, 7, 10; xxviii, 7, 14.) This
ordinance, eliminated of its sacrificial elements, is perpetuated in the
Lord’s supper. In it was no water. It was not the rite for which we
seek.
4. _Baptism._—There remains but one more of the Mosaic sacraments. It
was instituted at Sinai. In it, water was essential, and by it was
symbolized the renewing agency of the Holy Spirit. It was “a
purification for sin,” an initiatory ordinance, by which remission of
sins and admission to the benefits of the covenant were signified and
sealed to the faith of the recipients. It occupied, under the Old
Testament economy, the very position, and had the significance, which
belong to Christian baptism under the New. Moreover, it appears under
several modifications, and is thus conformed to Paul’s designation of
“_divers_ baptisms,” whilst these, in their circumstantial variations,
were essentially one and the same ordinance.
SECTION IV.—_The Baptism of Israel at Sinai._
The occasion of the first recorded administration of this rite was the
reception of Israel into covenant with God at Sinai. For more than two
hundred years they had dwelt in Egypt, and for a large part of the time
had been bondmen there. The history of their sojourn in the wilderness
shows that not only was their manhood debased by the bondage, but their
souls had been corrupted by the idolatries of the Egyptians (Josh. xxiv,
14; Ezek. xx, 7), and they had forgotten the covenant and forsaken the
God of their fathers. They were apostate, and, in Scriptural language,
unclean.
But now the fullness of time had come, when the promises made to the
fathers must be fulfilled. Leaving the nations to walk after their own
ways, God was about to erect to himself a visible throne and kingdom
among men, to be a witness for him against the apostasy of the race. He
was about to arouse Israel from her debasement and slavery, to establish
with her his covenant, and to organize and ordain her his peculiar
people—his Church.
Proportioned to the importance of such an occasion was the grandeur of
the scene and the gravity of the transactions. Of them we have two
accounts, one from the pen of Moses (Ex. xx-xxiv), and the other from
the Apostle Paul, in exposition of his statement as to the divers
baptisms. (Heb. ix, 18-20.) As to these accounts, two or three points of
explanation are necessary. (1) The two words, “covenant” and
“testament,” represent but one in the originals in these places, of
which “covenant” is the literal meaning. (2) Paul mentions _water_ (Heb.
ix, 19), of which Moses does not speak. The fact is significant, as the
apostle is in the act of illustrating the “divers baptisms,” of which he
had just before spoken. (3) The word “oxen,” in our translation (Ex.
xxiv, 5), should be “bulls.” Oxen were not lawful for sacrifice.
Yearling animals seem to have been preferred. Says Micah, “Shall I come
before the Lord with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old?”—Micah
vi, 6. Hence Paul indifferently calls them bulls and calves. The goats
of which he speaks were no doubt among the burnt-offerings of Moses’s
narrative. Both “small and great cattle” seem to have been offered on
all great national solemnities.
The redeemed tribes came to Sinai in the third month after the exodus.
Moses was called up into the mount and commanded to propose to them the
covenant of God. It was in these terms: “If ye will obey my voice
indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto
me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me
a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”—Ex. xix, 3-6. This proposal the
people, with one voice, accepted. God then commanded Moses: “Sanctify
the people to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their clothes and be
ready against the third day; for the third day the Lord will come down
in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.”—Vs. 10, 11. On the
third day, in the morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a
thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud,
so that all the people trembled. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a
smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof
ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and
louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came
down upon the top of the mount; and the Lord called Moses up to the top
of the mount, and Moses went up.
In the midst of this tremendous scene, so well calculated to fill the
people with awe, and to deter them from the thought of a profane
approach, Moses was nevertheless charged to go down and warn the people,
and set bounds around the mountain, lest they should break through unto
the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. After such means, used to
impress Israel with a profound sense of God’s majesty and their infinite
estrangement from him, his voice was heard, uttering in their ears the
Ten Commandments, prefaced with the announcement of himself as their God
and Redeemer. (Compare Deut. iv, 7-13.) At the entreaty of the people,
the terribleness of God’s audible voice was withdrawn, and Moses was
sent to tell them the words of the Lord and his judgments. The people
again unanimously declared, “All the words which the Lord hath said,
will we do.”—Ex. xxiv, 3.
In this sublime transaction we have all the scenes and circumstances of
a mighty revival of true religion. It is a vast camp-meeting, in which
God himself is the preacher, speaking in men’s ears with an audible
voice from the top of Sinai, and alternately proclaiming the law of
righteousness and the gospel of grace, calling Israel from their
idolatries and sins to return unto him, and offering himself as not only
the God of their fathers, but their own Deliverer already from the
Egyptian bondage, and ready to be their God and portion—to give them at
once the earthly Canaan, and to make it a pledge of their ultimate
endowment with the heavenly. The people had professed with one accord to
turn to God, and pledged themselves, emphatically and repeatedly, to
take him as their God, to walk in his statutes and do his will, to be
his people.
It is true that, to many, the gospel then preached was of no profit, for
lack of faith; whose carcasses therefore fell in the wilderness. (Heb.
iii, 17-19; iv, 2.) But it is equally true that the vast majority of the
assembly at Sinai were children and generous youth, who had not yet been
besotted by the Egyptian bondage. To them that day, which was known in
their after history as “the day of the assembly” (Deut. x, 4; xviii,
16), was the beginning of days. Its sublime scenes became in them the
spring of a living faith. With honest hearts they laid hold of the
covenant, and took the God of the patriarchs for their God. Soon after,
the promise of Canaan, forfeited by their rebellious fathers, was
transferred to them. (Num. xiv, 28-34.) Trained and disciplined by the
forty years’ wandering, it was they who became, through faith, the
irresistible host of God, the heroic conquerors and possessors of the
land of promise. Centuries afterward, God testified of them that they
pleased him: “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of
thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land
that was not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord, and the firstfruits
of his increase.”—Jer. ii, 2, 3. Until the day of Pentecost, no day so
memorable, no work of grace so mighty, is recorded in the history of
God’s dealings with men as that of the assembly at Sinai.
And as on the day of Pentecost the converts were baptized upon their
profession of faith, so was it now. Moses appointed the next day for a
solemn ratifying of the transaction. He wrote in a book the words of the
Lord’s covenant, the Ten Commandments; and in the morning, at the foot
of the mount, built an altar of twelve stones, according to the twelve
tribes. On it young men designated by him offered burnt-offerings and
sacrificed peace-offerings of young bulls. Moses took half the blood and
sprinkled it on the altar. Half of it he kept in basins. He then read
the covenant from the book, in the audience of all the people, who again
accepted it, saying, “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be
obedient.” Moses thereupon took the blood that was in the basins, with
water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all
the people, saying, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord
hath made with you concerning all these words.”—Ex. xxiv, 8, compared
with Heb. ix, 19, 20.
In the morning Moses had already, by divine command, assembled Aaron,
Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And no sooner was
the covenant finally accepted and sealed with the baptismal rite, than
these all went up into the mount, and there celebrated the feast of the
covenant. “They saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet, as
it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of
heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of Israel, he laid not his
hand. Also, they saw the God of Israel, and did eat and drink.”—Ex.
xxiv, 1, 9-11. So intimate, privileged, and spiritual was the relation
which the covenant established between Israel and God.
Thus was closed this sublime transaction, ever memorable in the history
of man and of the church of Christ, in which the invisible God
condescended to clothe himself in the majesty of visible glory, to hold
audible converse with men, to enter into the bonds of a public and
perpetual covenant with them, and to erect them into a kingdom, on the
throne of which his presence was revealed in the Shechinah of glory.
Such were the occasion and manner of the first institution and
observance of the sacrament of baptism. In its attendant scenes and
circumstances, the most august of all God’s displays of his majesty and
grace to man; and in its occasion and nature, paramount in importance,
and lying at the foundation of the entire administration of grace
through Christ. It was the establishing of the visible church.
SECTION V.—_The Blood of Sprinkling._
In all the Sinai transactions, Moses stood as the pre-eminent type of
the Lord Jesus Christ; and the rites administered by him were figures of
the heavenly realities of Christ’s sacrifice and salvation. This is
fully certified by Paul, throughout the epistle to the Hebrews, and
especially in the illustration which he gives of his assertion
concerning the divers baptisms imposed on Israel. See Heb. ix, 9-14,
19-28. In these places, it distinctly appears that the blood of the
Sinai baptism was typical of the atonement of Christ. Not only in this,
but in all the Levitical baptisms, as will hereafter appear, blood was
necessary to the rite. In fact, it was an essential element in each of
the Old Testament sacraments. The one idea of sacrifice was the blood of
atonement. The same idea appeared in circumcision, revealing atonement
by the blood of the seed of Abraham. In the passover the blood of
sprinkling was the most conspicuous feature; and in the Sinai baptism
blood and water were the essential elements.
Peter states the Old Testament prophets to have “inquired and searched
diligently, searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ
which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the
sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.”—1 Pet. i, 10,
11. Of the time and manner they were left in ignorance. But the blood,
in all their sacraments, was a lucid symbol, pointing them forward to
the sufferings of Christ as the essential and alone argument of the
favor and grace of God. In it, and in the rites associated with it, they
saw, dimly it may be, but surely, the blessed pledge that in the
fullness of time “the Messenger of the covenant” would appear (Mal. iii,
2), magnify the law and make it honorable (Isa. xlii, 21), by his
knowledge, justify many, bearing their iniquities (Isa. liii, 11), and
sprinkle the mercy-seat in heaven, once for all, with his own precious
and effectual blood—the blood of the everlasting covenant. (Heb. ix,
24-26; xiii, 20; 1 Pet. i, 11.)
SECTION VI.—_The Living Water._
In the Sinai baptism, as at first administered to all Israel, and in all
its subsequent forms, living or running water was an essential element.
This everywhere, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament and of the New,
is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, in his office as the agent by whom the
virtue of Christ’s blood is conveyed to men, and spiritual life
bestowed. In the figurative language of the Scriptures, the sea, or
great body of salt or dead water, represents the dead mass of fallen and
depraved humanity. (Dan. vii, 2, 3; Isa. lvii, 20; Rev. xiii, 1; xvii,
15.) Hence, of the new heavens and new earth which are revealed as the
inheritance of God’s people, it is said, “And there shall be no more
sea.”—Rev. xxi, 1.
The particular source of this figure seems to have been that accursed
sea of Sodom, which was more impressively familiar to Israel than any
other body of salt water, and which has acquired in modern times the
appropriate name of the Dead Sea—a name expressive of the fact that its
waters destroy alike vegetation on its banks and animal life in its
bosom. Its peculiar and instructive position in the figurative system of
the Scriptures appears in the prophecy of Ezekiel (xlvii, 8, 9-11),
where the river of living water from the temple is described as flowing
eastward to the sea; and being brought forth into the sea, the salt
waters are healed, so that “there shall be abundance of fish.”
Contrasted with this figure of sea water is that of living water, that
is, the fresh water of rain and of fountains and streams. It is the
ordinary symbol of the Holy Spirit. (John vii, 37-39.) The reason is,
that, as this water is the cause of life and growth to the creation,
animal and vegetable, so, the Spirit is the alone source of spiritual
life and growth. The primeval type of that blessed Agent was the river
that watered the Garden of Eden, and thence flowing, was parted into
four streams to water the earth. This river was a fitting symbol of the
Holy Spirit, “which proceedeth from the Father,” the “pure river of
water of life clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and
of the Lamb” (John xv, 26; Rev. xxii, 1), not only in its life-giving
virtue, but in its abundance and diffusion. But the fall cut man off
from its abundant and perennial stream, and thenceforth the figure, as
traceable through the Scriptures, ever looks forward to that promised
time when the ruin of the fall will be repaired, and the gates of
Paradise thrown open again. In the last chapters of the Revelation, that
day is revealed in a vision of glory. There is no more sea; but the
river of life pours its exhaustless crystal waters through the restored
Eden of God. But the garden is no longer the retired home of one human
pair, but is built up, a great city, with walls of gems and streets of
gold and gates of pearl and the light of the glory of God. And the
nations of them that are saved do walk in the light of it. But still it
is identified as the same of old, by the flowing river and the tree of
life in the midst on its banks. (Rev. ii, 7; xxii, 1, 2; and compare
Psalms xlvi, 4; xxiii, 2; John iv, 10, 14; vii, 38, 39; Zech. xiv. 8.)
In Ezekiel (xlvii, 1-12) there appears a vision of this river as a
prophecy of God’s grace in store for the last times for Israel and the
world. In it, the attention of the prophet and of the reader is called
distinctly to several points, all of which bear directly on our present
inquiry:
1. The source of the waters. In the Revelation, it is described as
proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb. In Ezekiel the same
idea is presented under the figure of the temple, God’s dwelling-place.
The waters issue out from under the threshold of the house “at the south
side of the altar”—the altar where the sprinkled blood and burning
sacrifices testified to the Person by whom, and the price at which, the
Spirit is sent. (Compare John vii, 39; xvi, 7; Acts ii, 33.)
2. The exhaustless and increasing flow of the waters is shown to the
prophet, who, at a thousand cubits from their source, is led through
them,—a stream ankle deep. A thousand cubits farther, he passed through,
and they had risen to his knees. Again, a thousand cubits, and the
waters were to his loins; and at a thousand cubits more it was a river
that he could not pass over. “And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou
seen this?”
3. The river was a fountain of life. On its banks were “very many
trees,” “all trees for meat,” with fadeless leaf and exhaustless fruit,
“the fruit thereof for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.” “And
there shall be a very great multitude of fish” in the Dead Sea, “because
these waters shall come thither.” For “it shall come to pass that every
thing that liveth which moveth, whithersoever the river shall come shall
live. Every thing shall live, whither the river cometh.”
4. By these living waters, the Dead Sea of depraved humanity shall be
healed. “Now this sea of Sodom,” says Thompson, “is so intolerably
bitter, that, although the Jordan, the Arnon, and many other streams
have been pouring into it their vast contributions of sweet water for
thousands of years, it continues as nauseous and deadly as ever. Nothing
lives in it; neither fish nor reptiles nor even animalculæ can abide its
desperate malignity. But these waters from the sanctuary heal it. The
whole world affords no other type of human apostasy so appropriate, so
significant. Think of it! There it lies in its sulphurous sepulcher,
thirteen hundred feet below the ocean, steaming up like a huge caldron
of smouldering bitumen and brimstone! Neither rain from heaven nor
mountain torrents nor Jordan’s flood, nor all combined can change its
character of utter death. Fit symbol of that great dead sea of depravity
and corruption which nothing human can heal!”[4] But the pure waters of
the river of life will yet pour into this sea of death a tide of grace
by which “the waters shall be healed.”—Ezek. xxvii, 8.
Footnote 4:
“The Land and the Book.” Vol. II, pp. 531, 534.
In the prophecy of Joel (iii, 18,) there is another allusion to these
waters. Again, in Zechariah a modified form of the same vision appears.
“It shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem;
half of them toward the former” (the Eastern or Dead) “sea, and half of
them toward the hinder sea” (the Mediterranean). “In summer and winter
shall it be;” not a mere winter torrent, as are most of the streams of
Palestine, but an unfailing river. (Zech. xiv, 8.)
Such is the type of the Spirit, as his graces flowed in Eden, and shall
be given to the world, in the times of restitution. But, for the present
times, the symbols of rain and fountains of springing water are used in
the Scriptures as the appropriate types of the now limited and unequal
measure and distribution of the Spirit. The manner and effects of his
agency are set forth under three forms, each having its own
significance:
1. Inasmuch as the rains of heaven are the great source of life and
refreshment to the earth and vegetation, the coming of the Spirit and
his efficiency as a life-giving and sanctifying power sent down from
heaven are expressed by water, shed down, poured, or sprinkled, as the
rain descends. Says God to Israel: “I will pour water upon him that is
thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy
seed and my blessing upon thine offspring.”—Isa. xliv, 3. The Psalmist
says of the graces of the Spirit to be bestowed by Messiah, “He shall
come down like rain upon the mown grass” (the stubble, after mowing) “as
showers that water the earth.”—Psalm lxxii, 6. Of this we shall see more
hereafter.
2. The act of faith by which the believer seeks and receives more and
more of the indwelling Spirit is symbolized by thirsting and drinking of
living water. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters.”—Isa. lv, 1. “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and
drink.... This he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him
should receive.”—John vii, 37-39. “Let him that is athirst come. And
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”—Rev. xxii, 17.
The intimate relation which this figure sustains, responsive to the one
preceding, is illustrated by the expression wherein God describes the
land of promise: “A land of hills and valleys, and _drinketh_ water of
the rain of heaven. A land which the Lord thy God careth for.”—Deut. xi,
11, 12. With this, compare the language of Paul: “The earth which
_drinketh_ in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs
meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing of God; but that
which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing;
whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things
of you.”—Heb. vi, 7-9. The figure is further illustrated in the sublime
description given by Ezekiel of the destruction of Assyria, in which he
speaks of “the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that
_drink water_,” and so grow and flourish. (Ezek. xxxi, 16.)
3. The duty of the penitent to yield himself with diligent obedience to
the sanctifying power and grace of the Holy Spirit, to put away sin and
follow after holiness, is enjoined under the figure of washing himself
with water. “Wash ye; make you clean; put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to to well.”—Isa. i, 16,
17. “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be
saved.”—Jer. iv, 14. So, James cries, “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners;
and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.”—Jas. iv, 8. In the rite of
self-washing, to which these last passages refer, the pure water still
symbolized the Holy Spirit given by Jesus Christ; whilst the washing
expressed the privilege and duty of God’s people conforming their lives
to the law of holiness, and exercising the graces which the Spirit
gives.
PART II.
THE VISIBLE CHURCH.
SECTION VII.—_The Abrahamic Covenant._
The interest attaching to the Sinai baptism is greatly enhanced by its
immediate and intimate relation to us. The covenant then sealed is the
fundamental and perpetual charter of the visible church. The transaction
by which it was established was the inauguration of that church. It was
the espousal of the bride of Christ, whose betrothal took place in the
covenant with Abraham. So it is expressly and repeatedly stated by the
Spirit of God in the prophets. (See Jer. ii, 1, 2; Ezek. xvi, 3-14;
xxiii; Hos. ii, 2, 15, 16.) It is true that this is controverted. It is
asserted that the relations established by the covenants between God and
Israel were secular and political, not spiritual; that the blessings
therein secured were temporal; that they conveyed nothing but a
guarantee that Israel should become a numerous and powerful nation, that
God would be their political king, the Head of their commonwealth, and
that the land of Palestine should be their possession and home. How
utterly at variance with the teachings of God’s Word are these
assertions a brief analysis of the record will prove.
The covenant of Sinai was the culmination of a series of transactions
which began with the calling of Abram from Ur of the Chaldees. “The Lord
had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred
and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee; and I
will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy
name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that
bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed.”—Gen. xii, 1-3. Respecting this
record, the following points are made clear in the New Testament: (1)
That under the type of Canaan, “the land that I will show thee,” heaven
was the ultimate inheritance offered to Abram; and that it was so
understood by him and the patriarchs. (Gal. iv, 26; Heb. xi, 10, 14-16.)
(2) That the blessings promised through him to all the families of the
earth were the atonement and salvation of Jesus Christ; and that this
also was so understood by Abram. (Gen. xvii, 7; Gal. iii, 16, John viii,
56.) Thus, in his call from Chaldea, and the promises annexed to it, God
“preached before the gospel unto Abraham.”—Gal. iii, 8. So far,
certainly, the transaction is eminently spiritual.
About ten years after the coming of Abram into the land of Canaan, the
promises were confirmed to him by being incorporated into covenant form,
and ratified by a seal. Respecting this first covenant, the record of
which is contained in the fifteenth chapter of Genesis, the following
are the essential points:
1. The interview was opened by the Lord with an assurance so spiritual
and large as to be exhaustive of every thing that heaven can bestow.
“The Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy
shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Whatever else was promised or
given, after an assurance thus rich and comprehensive of time and
eternity, must evidently be interpreted in a sense subordinate to it. No
minor particulars can ever exhaust or limit the treasury thus opened.
Henceforth God himself belongs to the patriarch.
2. An innumerable seed was assured to him, as heirs with him of the
promises; and he is told that not to him but to his seed should the
earthly Canaan be given. (Vs. 5, 18; and compare xvii, 7, 8.)
3. Abram’s faith was the condition of the covenant. “He believed in the
Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness.”—Vs. 6.
4. The promises thus made and accepted were confirmed by a sacrifice
appointed of God, and his acceptance of it was manifested by the sign of
a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, passing between the pieces. (Vs.
8, 9, 17, 18.)
5. It was an express provision of the covenant thus ratified that, so
far as it concerned the seed of Abram, its realization was to be held in
abeyance four hundred years. (Vs. 13-16.) It was the betrothal, of which
the marriage consummation could only take place when the long-suffering
of God toward the nations was exhausted and the iniquity of the Amorites
was full.
About fifteen years afterward God was pleased to appear again to the
patriarch, to renew the covenant, and to confirm it with a new seal.
(Gen. xvii, 1-21.) Of this edition of the covenant the principal
provisions were: (1) That he should be a father of many nations. (2)
That Canaan should be, to him and his seed, an everlasting possession.
(3) That God would be a God to him and to his seed after him. By the
first of these promises, as Paul assures us, Abraham was made the heir
of the world, and the father of all believers; of the gospel day, as
well as before it; of the Gentile nations, as well as of Israel. (Rom.
iv, 11-18; Gal. iii, 7-9, 14.) Hence the name given him of God, in
confirmation of this promise (Gen. xvii, 5), ABRAHAM, “Father of a
multitude,” Father of the church of Christ. But the central fact of this
transaction remains. The covenant was epitomized in one brief word: “I
will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee,
in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, _to be a God unto
thee and to thy seed after thee_.”—v. 7.
1. The covenant thus set forth is “an everlasting covenant;” no lapse of
time can alter or abrogate its terms.
2. By it the Godhead assumed toward Abraham and his seed relations
peculiar, exclusive, and of boundless grace. God, even the infinite and
almighty God, can do no more than to give himself. Christian can
conceive no more, and the most blessed of all heaven’s ransomed host
will know and enjoy no more than this, which was first assured to Abram,
in those words, “Fear not; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great
reward;” and is now concentrated into that one word, “_Thy God_.” What
can there be, not spiritual, in a covenant thus summed? And what
spiritual gift or blessing is not comprehended in it? But this is not
all. Whilst Paul testifies that all who believe are the seed of Abraham,
and heirs with him of the promises, he also declares that Christ was the
seed to whom distinctively and on behalf of his people they were
addressed: “To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith
not, And to seeds as of many, but as of one: And to thy seed, which is
Christ.”—Gal. iii, 16. It thus appears that the promises in question
were addressed immediately to the Lord Jesus, and they indicate all the
intimacy and grace of his relation to the Father,—the relation which he
claimed, when, from the cross, he appealed to the Father by that title:
“_My God! my God!_ why hast thou forsaken me?” It follows, that the
title of others to this promise is mediate only: “As many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.... And if ye be Christ’s,
then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”—Ib.
27-29.
It was with a view to this relation of the covenant to the Lord Jesus,
that circumcision was appointed as a seal of it. In that rite was
signified satisfaction to justice through the blood of the promised
Seed, and the crucifying of our old man with him, to the putting off and
destroying of the body of the flesh. (Deut. x, 16; Jer. iv, 4; Rom. vi,
6; Col. ii, 11, 12.)
Upon occasion of the offering of Isaac, the covenant was again confirmed
to Abraham in promises which do not mention Canaan, but are summed in
the intensive assurances: “In blessing I will bless thee, and in
multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the
sand which is upon the sea-shore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of
his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed.”—Gen. xxii, 16-18. What seed it was to whom these promises were
made, we have seen before. The assurance to him of triumph over his
enemies renews the pledge made to Eve, through the curse upon the
serpent, “Her seed shall bruise thy head.”—Gen. iii, 15. Of the same
thing, the Spirit in Isaiah says: “Therefore will I divide him a portion
with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because
he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the
transgressors; and he bare the sin of many and made intercession for the
transgressors.”—Isa. liii, 12. Of it, Paul says: “He must reign, till he
hath put all enemies under his feet.”—1 Cor. xv, 25.
The covenant thus interpreted, was confirmed to Abraham with an oath (v.
16), of which Paul says: “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it
by an oath; that, by two immutable things, in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even
Jesus.”—Heb. vi, 17-20. Here, again, it appears that the covenant with
Abraham comprehended in its terms the very highest hopes which Christ’s
blood has purchased,—which he, in heaven, as his people’s forerunner,
now possesses, and which with him they shall finally share; and that the
oath by which it was confirmed contemplated these very things, and was
designed to perfect the faith and confidence of his people, in the
gospel day, as well as of the patriarchs and saints of old.
It is thus manifest that while the Abrahamic covenant did undoubtedly
convey to Abraham and his seed after the flesh many and precious
temporal blessings, it was at the same time an embodiment of the very
terms of the covenant between God and his Christ; that its provisions of
grace to man are bestowed wholly in Christ; and that it is, therefore,
exclusive and everlasting. There can be no reconciliation between God
and man, but upon the terms of this covenant. There can, therefore, be
no people of God, no true church of Christ, but of those who accept and
are embraced in, and built upon, that alone foundation, “the everlasting
covenant” made with Abraham.
SECTION VIII.—_The Conditions of the Sinai Covenant._
At length, the four hundred years were past. The probation of the
apostate nations was finished. The iniquity of the Amorites was full.
God remembered his covenant with Abraham, and sent Moses into Egypt,
saying to him: “I am Jehovah. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac,
and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by my name, Jehovah,
was I not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with
them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage,
wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the
children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have
remembered my covenant. Wherefore, say unto the children of Israel, I am
the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the
Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem
you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments; and I will take
you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and ye shall know
that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the
burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land,
concerning which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob.”—Ex. vi, 2-8. In this initial communication we have the key to
the Sinai covenant, and to all God’s subsequent dealings with Israel. In
it three things are specially observable. (1.) The Abrahamic covenant is
designated, “my covenant,” in accordance with what we have already seen
as to the nature of that covenant, as exclusive and everlasting. (2.)
Its scope is stated in those all-embracing terms, “I will take you to me
for a people, and I will be to you a God.” (3.) The possession of the
earthly Canaan is specified as a minor particular, under this
comprehensive pledge.
With all this the Sinai covenant was in accord. Its conditional terms we
have seen, as propounded through Moses. “Thus shalt thou say to the
house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did
to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you
unto myself. Now, therefore, _if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep
my covenant_.”—Ex. xix, 3-5. The “voice” which they were to obey they
heard on the next day, when God spake to them the words of the law, from
the midst of the smoke and flame. Of it Moses afterward reminded the
people: “Ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain
burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and
thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the
fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude, only a
voice. And he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to
perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of
stone.”—Deut. iv, 11-13. Very great emphasis attaches to the Ten
Commandments, in their relation as thus the fundamental law of the
covenant. The first overture having been addressed to Israel, in the
terms, “If ye will obey my voice,” and by them accepted, the next day
that voice was heard uttering those commandments. Again the people are
called upon, and again respond in pledge of obedience. Moses then wrote
in “the book of the covenant” all these words of the Lord, and read them
in the audience of the people. And it was not till again they promised
obedience to the terms thus set before them that the covenant was
ratified, as we have seen. The Ten Commandments were then, by the finger
of God, engraved on the two tables of stone, which were thence known as
“the tables of the covenant.” These were placed in “the ark of the
covenant,” which was in the holy of holies, in “the tabernacle of the
covenant.” Both of these derived their names and significance from these
tables, which were the very center of the whole system of religion and
worship connected with the tabernacle. The lid of the ark which covered
these tables was the golden mercy-seat, with its cherubim of gold,
between which stood the pillar of glory, the Shechinah, overshadowing
the mercy-seat. It thus typified God’s throne of grace immovably based
upon the firm foundation of his eternal law—mercy to man only possible
on condition of satisfaction to that law. Therefore, when remembrance of
sins was made every year (Heb. x, 3), it was by the sprinkling of blood
upon the mercy-seat and the ark of the covenant. (Ib. ix, 7.) A proper
regard to the fact that the moral law was thus the fundamental condition
of the covenant, while the ritual law was no part of it, but a later
system of testimony, would have prevented much perplexing and erroneous
speculation on the subject.
But the covenant had a second condition, “If ye will _keep my
covenant_.” This second clause is implied in the first. But it is none
the less important and significant, as being a categorical statement of
the nature of the obedience required. We have already pointed out the
fact that by “_my covenant_” was meant the covenant with Abraham, so
interpreted by God himself in his first communication to Israel in
Egypt. The covenant thus defined had but one condition and two promises.
The promises were, to bring them out of the bondage of Egypt and give
them the land of Canaan, and to be to them a God. The condition was,
that Israel, in turn, would surrender themselves to be for a people to
God. (Ex. vi, 7.) This condition is the only thing that can be meant by
the phrase, “If _ye_ will _keep_ my covenant.” It was the only duty laid
upon them by that covenant. We thus find the two fundamental conditions
of the Sinai covenant to have been in the terms, “If ye will obey my
voice indeed”—the voice that spake in the Ten Commandments—and, “If ye
will keep my covenant,” to be a willing people unto me, and cleave to me
as your God. Such was the foundation-stone on which the church was
built.
SECTION IX.—_The Promises of the Sinai Covenant._
As were the conditions of the covenant, so were its promises altogether
and eminently spiritual.
1. “Ye shall be unto me a peculiar treasure above all people; for all
the earth is mine.” A treasure is a property, valuable, highly prized,
and cherished. It is riches to the owner; his enjoyments largely depend
thereon; and over it he therefore exercises a watchful guardianship.
Such was the relation which, by the covenant, God conferred on Israel.
The expression is strengthened by the qualifying adjective, “peculiar,”
which means, special and exclusive. “My own special treasure.” What was
thus implied may be gathered from a single Scripture. Says the Lord, by
Malachi: “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and
the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written
before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his
name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when
I make up my jewels” (“my peculiar treasures.” The word in the original
is the same), “and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that
serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and
the wicked; between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him
not.”—Mal. iii. 16-18. By this clause, Israel became the object of God’s
assiduous watchfulness and constant care as his own peculiar treasure of
price.
2. The parenthetic clause, “For all the earth is mine,” is of singular
interest. The covenant with Abraham conveyed the assurance that in him
should “all the families of the earth be blessed.” The clause inserted
in the Sinai overture was a reminder to Israel of that fact, to certify
them and the world that the purpose concerning the latter was unchanged,
that the peculiar relation now assumed toward Israel was not incongruous
to it; that, on the contrary, whilst Israel was first, it was not alone
in the obligations and promises of the covenant. “All the earth is
mine;” and the claim which, in such a transaction, God thus makes he
will surely vindicate, in his own good time, by taking his own to
himself, bringing them, also, within the pale of his covenant, and
gathering from them a revenue of praise and glory.
3. “A kingdom of priests.” Israel’s acceptance of the first condition of
the covenant, “If ye will obey my voice,” erected them into a kingdom,
of which God was the alone sovereign,—the kingdom of God. This promise
defines the character and function of that kingdom,—“a kingdom of
priests;” or, rather, “a priest-kingdom.” Israel was thus ordained to
the exalted office of intercessory mediation for the world, and of
testimony to it on God’s behalf. Had ten righteous men been found in the
cities of the plain, they would have been spared, for the sake of those
ten. (Gen. xviii, 32.) The angels of destruction could do nothing to
Sodom until Lot departed out of it. (Ib. xix, 22.) Had one righteous man
been found in Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah, the city would have
been spared for the sake of that one. (Jer. v, 1.) Aaron the priest,
with his golden censer—a type of the prayers of the saints (Rev. v, 8;
viii, 3)—standing between the living and the dead, stayed the plague in
the camp of Israel. (Num. xvi, 46-48.) So, Israel itself was now
ordained a mediating priest, to stand for the time then present, between
the living and the dead of the nations, in the ordinances at the
sanctuary, uplifting a censer of intercession which stayed the sword of
justice that was ready to destroy them; and appointed to become at
length the agent of the world’s salvation, through atonement made by one
of their nation, and the gospel sent forth from Jerusalem to all the
world, by the preaching of Israel’s sons. Thus was it a priest-kingdom,
set apart and sanctified of God, to be for salvation to all the ends of
the earth.
This priestly consecration of Israel, moreover, constituted her a
witness on behalf of God among the nations. It was the lighting of a
lamp to shine amid the darkness of the world. The office to which she
was thus ordained was not yet aggressive; for the times of the Gentiles
were not come. Yet was hers none the less a public and active testimony,
which, if they would, the Gentiles could hear, a gospel light which did,
in fact, penetrate far into the darkness, and prepared the nations for
the coming of Christ and the gospel day. For the time being, it was the
office of Israel to cherish the light, by keeping the oracles and
maintaining the ordinances of God’s worship, and transmitting them to
their children, until the fullness of time.
4. “A holy nation.” The word “holy” primarily designates the
completeness and symmetry of the moral perfections of God. From hence,
it is transferred to those attributes in the intelligent creatures which
are in the likeness of God’s holiness. And, as the distinguishing
characteristic of holiness in a creature is surrender and consecration
to God, the word is used to designate all such things as are his by
peculiar dedication to his service. Thus, the altar, the tabernacle, and
all the vessels and things pertaining thereto, were holy. So the tithe
of the land, of the flocks, and of the herds, was holy; and the
firstborn of men and of beasts. (Lev. xxvii, 30, 32; Luke ii, 23.) In
this sense of accepted consecration, and of appropriation to himself,
God here puts upon Israel the designation of “a holy nation.”
Henceforth, they were so named, and the obligation implied therein
constantly insisted upon, as demanding from them real separation to God,
and holiness of heart and life. Says the Lord: “Ye shall be holy men
unto me, neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the
field.”—Ex. xxii, 31. Moses exhorts them to abhor and destroy the idols
of the land, “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord
thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth.... Thou shalt, therefore,
keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command
thee this day to do them.”—Deut. vii, 6-11. From this article of the
covenant, the New Testament designation of the members of the visible
church is derived. Says Peter, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a _holy nation_, a peculiar people.”—1 Peter, ii, 9. Hence,
the name of “saints,” or, “holy ones,” which, familiar in the Psalms, is
constantly used in the epistles, as the distinctive title of the members
of the New Testament Church.
Thus it appears that in all the provisions of the covenant earthly and
temporal blessings are not once alluded to. That clause of the Abrahamic
covenant which concerned the possession of Canaan was, indeed, referred
to at Sinai, and Israel was assured of its fulfillment. (Ex. xxiii, 23.)
But it was then, and ever after, spoken of and treated as already and
finally settled by the promise made to Abraham. (Ex. vi, 3-8; Deut. vii,
7-9; ix, 5, 6; Psalm cv, 8-11.) Moreover, the bestowal of Canaan was in
no sense a secular transaction. Not only as a type of the better country
was it designed and calculated to awaken and stimulate heavenly
aspirations. (Heb. xi, 8-16.) But, like the fastnesses of the Alps, for
centuries the retreat and home of the gospel among the martyr Waldenses,
Canaan, planted in the very center of the old world-empires, and upon
the mid line of march of the world’s great history, was chosen and
prepared of God as a fortress of security entrenched for Israel’s
protection, in the midst of the apostate and hostile nations, while
tending and nourishing the beacon fire of gospel light which glowed on
Mount Zion, and shed its beams afar into the gloom of thick darkness
which enshrouded the world. As such, it was assured to Abraham’s seed by
the covenant with him and the seal set in their flesh.
SECTION X.—_The Visible Church was thus established._
The Sinai covenant gave origin to the visible church of God. By the
visible church, I mean that society among men which God has called and
taken into covenant and communion with himself, and ordained to be his
witness to the world. Two points are essentially involved in the
definition. The first is the relation to God established by the terms—“I
will take you to me for a people; and I will be to you a God.” The
second is the office to which the church is thus called and ordained, to
be God’s witness, testifying on his behalf against the world’s apostasy.
Such is Peter’s declaration, quoting the terms of the Sinai covenant,
and applying them to the New Testament church: “Ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; _that
ye should show forth the praises_ of him who hath called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light; which in time past were not a people,
but _are now the people of God_.”—1 Peter ii, 9, 10. This privilege of
communion, and this office of testimony were implied and involved in the
whole covenant, and all its terms; but especially indicated by that
expression, “Ye shall be _unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy
nation_.” It is the privilege of priests to draw nigh to God, and their
office to testify on God’s behalf to men.
The manner and meaning of the designation by which, throughout the Greek
Scriptures of the Old Testament and of the New, the body thus
constituted is known as the _ekklēsia_, the church, is worthy of special
notice in this connection. The fact of God having met with Israel at
Sinai, and communed with them in an audible voice, is referred to by
Moses and emphasized as being a signal demonstration of relations
established of extraordinary intimacy. “What nation is there so great,
which hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God in all things that
we call upon him for?... Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul
diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and
lest they depart from thy heart, all the days of thy life; but teach
them thy sons and thy sons’ sons, specially the day that thou stoodest
before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me
the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may
learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and
that they may teach their children.... And the Lord spake unto you out
of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no
similitude; only ye heard a voice.”—Deut. iv, 7-13. Again, he says: “Ask
now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day
that God created man upon the earth, and ask from one side of heaven
unto the other, whether there hath been any such a thing as this great
thing is, or hath been heard like it. Did ever people hear the voice of
God speaking out of the midst of fire, as thou, hast heard, and live? Or
hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another
nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a
mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according
to all that the Lord thy God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto
thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God;
there is none else beside him.”—Ib. iv, 32-35.
The presence of God with Israel, thus impressively manifested, was not
casual or transient. The fires and the terrors of Sinai were indeed
withdrawn. But the tabernacle of testimony was erected, and the
shechinah there revealed for the express purpose of being a testimony to
Israel that God was with them dwelling in their midst. Of the services
to be there established, he directed Moses that there should be “a
continual burnt-offering throughout your generations, at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet you to
speak there unto thee. And there will I meet with the children of
Israel, and the tabernacle” (or rather, as the margin, “Israel”) “shall
be sanctified by my glory. And I will dwell among the children of
Israel, and will be their God.”—Ex. xxix, 42-46.
Thus the gathering of Israel at Sinai was not a mere congregation or
assembling of the people to each other, but a meeting with God; and this
fact is very remarkably indicated in the Septuagint Greek. In the
description of the Sinai scene, given in Deut. iv, in that version, the
tenth verse stands thus: “The day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy
God in Horeb (_tē hēmera tēs ekklēsias_), _in the day of the assembly_,
when the Lord said to me (_Ekklēsiason pros me_), _Assemble to me_ the
people.” Previous to that occasion the word _ekklēsia_ is not found in
the Greek Scriptures. That day was, by Moses, habitually designated “the
day of the _ekklēsia_—the assembly” (Deut. ix, 10; x, 4; xviii, 16), and
the reason of the designation is thus, by the Greek translators, stamped
upon the face of that version. It was so called because the people on
that day met with God, in compliance with the command (_Ekklēsiason_),
“_Assemble to me_ the people.” In accordance with the special meaning to
which the word was thus appropriated it is used throughout the
Scriptures. In the Old Testament and Apocrypha it occurs nearly one
hundred times, and a careful examination fails to discover an instance
in which it is used otherwise than to designate Israel in their sacred
character as the covenant people of God. In that sense it passed into
the New Testament. In one place it is exceptionally used by the town
clerk of the Greek city of Ephesus, and by Luke, after him, in its
classic meaning, to designate an assembly of the freemen of the city.
(Acts xix, 39, 41.) But everywhere else it is employed in the same sense
as in the Septuagint. It is thus applied (1) to Israel in the wilderness
(Acts vii, 38), and at the temple (Heb. ii, 12); (2) to the religious
assemblies of the Jews during the time of Christ’s ministry (Matt.
xviii, 17), and ever afterwards, in the Acts, Epistles, and Revelation,
to the New Testament Church. According, therefore, to the uniform usage
of the Scriptures, the word is appropriated to designate an assembly
with God, and, in a secondary sense, the people as related to such an
assembly. Such is the designation given to Israel as the people of God
by covenant and fellowship, among whom he held the communion of mutual
converse, he with them in the words of his testimony and the
communications of his grace, and they with him in all things in which
they called upon him. (Deut. iv, 7. Compare Matt. xviii, 20; Acts x,
33.) In the assembly of Israel, the church of the apostles finds an
origin in no wise unworthy her own lofty character and office. Happy she
when with conscious experience she can take to herself the glad words of
Israel’s song, “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad
the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God
is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and
that right early.... The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is
our refuge.”—Psalm xlvi, 4-7.
The following were the essential features of the constitution of the
church thus erected:
1. Its fundamental charter was the covenant, embracing the ten
commandments, in the reciprocal terms which have been considered in the
preceding chapter.
2. The persons with whom these terms were made, and who were
comprehended in the society thereupon erected, were all those, whether
of Israel or the Gentiles, together with their households, who made
credible profession of accepting the covenant, and were thereupon sealed
with its baptismal seal. To this point we shall presently return.
3. The radical principle of organization was that of parental headship
and family unity. The family is the divine original of all human
society, as the parental office is of all human authority. Upon this
basis was founded the Abrahamic covenant, and upon it was erected the
system of government for Israel. It was administered by the fathers of
families, of houses, and of tribes; the first-born son succeeding to his
father as head of his house, under the designation of elder. This system
was recognized in the first commission of Moses from God, and the
elders, or heads of houses, were united with him in his mission to
Pharaoh. (Ex. iii, 16, 18; iv, 29.) To them was committed the ordering
of the passover on the night of the exodus. (Ib. xii, 21.) At Sinai,
before the giving of the covenant, the system was perfected in its
details, at the suggestion of Jethro, with the sanction of God. (Ex.
xviii, 12-24.) Immediately upon the sealing of the covenant seventy of
the elders, who had been previously assembled by the command of God,
went up, as already stated, with Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, into
the mount, and there celebrated on Israel’s behalf the feast of the
covenant. “They saw the God of Israel, and did eat and drink.”—Ex. xxiv,
1, 9-11. Afterward, when the covenant was renewed in the plains of Moab,
the relation of the elders thereto, in their official capacity, was
expressly stated. “Ye stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your
God, your captains of your tribes, your elders and your officers, with
all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives.”—Deut. xxix, 10.
Such were the essential features of the constitution of the church, as
ordained at Sinai. To her, thus organized, were given ordinances of
testimony, concerning which a few points only are here necessary. Since
she was appointed simply to maintain, in her position in the midst of
the nations, the lamp of gospel truth ever shining, until the set time
should come for sending it forth through the world, the ordinances of
testimony which were intrusted to her were adapted expressly to this
office. They were: (1.) The oracles of God, his written word, from time
to time imparted through Moses and other holy men, who spake as they
were moved of the Holy Ghost. (Rom. iii, 2; 2 Pet. i, 21.) (2.) The holy
convocations of the Sabbath days. (Lev. xxiii, 3; 1 Kings iv, 23; Acts
xv, 21.) (3.) The priesthood and ritual service. (4.) The sanctuary
worship and festivals. (5.) Public professions of faith, occasional and
stated. (Deut. xxvi.) (6.) Poetic recitations and psalmody. (Ex. xv,
1-21; Deut. xxxi, xxxii; the book of Psalms.)
It was with a special view to the witnessing office of the church of
Israel that the ritual system was constructed. The covenant and the
ritual were testimonies to the better covenant and the heavenly
realities which belong to it. It is with this view that the word
“testimony” is so much used in designating them. Thus the Ten
Commandments, the fundamental law of the covenant, were frequently
designated “the testimony.” (Ex. xxv, 21.) The tables on which they were
written were, in like manner, “the tables of the testimony.” They were
kept in “the ark of the testimony,” which was in “the tabernacle of the
testimony.” In the same way the whole system of ordinances and laws
given to Israel is designated “the testimonies of God.” Of them, and the
office of the church concerning them, the Psalmist says: “He established
a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded
our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that
the generation to come might know them: even the children which should
be born; who should arise and declare them to their children; that they
might set their hope in God, and not forget his works, but keep his
commandments.”—Psalm lxxviii, 5-7.
Respecting the ritual system, there are two propositions which are
believed to be demonstrable, but are here presented without argument.
The _first_ is, that these rites were not dark forms, veiling rather
than disclosing a new revelation; but were inscriptions in luminous
characters, setting forth the doctrines of a faith well understood by
the patriarchs and fathers from the beginning, and from them transmitted
and known to Israel. _Second._ The ritual forms in which the gospel was
clothed in the Levitical system were far more suitable for the purposes
of popular instruction and world-wide dissemination than would have been
any conceivable exposition of it in writing. The art of writing was in
its infancy. A written gospel would have been, even to Israel, a sealed
book; how much more to all other people! The history and laws were put
in writing and kept at the sanctuary for the direction of the priests
and magistrates in the performance of their duties, the administration
of justice, and the instruction of Israel. But the gospel, for the
people, was clothed in forms which required no interpreter, which meant
the same in every language under heaven, and which were calculated, by
their appeals to the imagination through the eye and the senses, to
stamp themselves indelibly upon the memory and the affections. Thus were
they eminently adapted to arrest the attention and impress the minds of
strangers, and of the young, for whom especially they were designed.
(Ex. xii, 26; xiii, 14; Deut. vi, 20; Josh. iv, 6, 21; 1 Kings viii, 41,
42.)
The fact is of an importance which entitles it to distinct and emphatic
mention, that the Aaronic priesthood and the ritual law were no part of
the constitution of the church, as it was established by the covenant.
They were not in existence when the covenant was made, but were
ordinances afterward given to the church, as already existent and
organized. They were bestowed as means of fulfilling her witnessing
office, means adapted to the times and circumstances of Israel, but
subject to be modified, as they were in the temple system, or to be
wholly suspended or set aside, without impairing the constitution of the
church or the completeness and efficiency of its organization. Not only
thus did the covenant precede the ritual law and the priesthood, but
when, forty years afterward, the covenant was renewed, and the parties
to it were enumerated in detail, the priests were altogether ignored.
(Deut. xxix, 10-12.) They were in no wise essential to it.
SECTION XI.—_The Terms of Membership in the Church of Israel._
With some slight circumstantial differences, having reference to the
difference in the office of the church under the two dispensations, the
conditions of membership were essentially the same as propounded at
Sinai and as prescribed under the gospel. While the spiritual blessings
of the covenant were from the beginning conditioned upon true faith and
loving obedience, the privilege of membership in the visible church was
at Sinai bestowed upon those, with their households, who made credible
profession of these graces, and upon them only. On “the day of the
assembly,” all the people professed to take God for their God, and to
devote themselves to him as his believing and obedient people. And as on
the days of Pentecost, so on this occasion, the profession was accepted,
and their admission was sealed with baptism; although doubtless, in both
cases, there were false professors included with the true. With certain
exceptions, ordained for special reasons (Deut. xxiii, 1-8), the
conditions of membership were the same for the Gentile world as for
Israel. The law was explicit and most emphatic on this point. “One
ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation and also for the
stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance forever in your
generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord. One
law and one manner shall be for you and for the stranger that sojourneth
with you.”—Num. xv, 14-16, and 29; and see ix, 14; xix, 10; Ex. xii,
43-49; Deut. xxxi, 12; Josh. viii, 33, etc.
For eliminating unworthy members, the means provided in the Sinai
ordinances were as abundant as those now enjoyed by the church, and
would seem to have been as well adapted to the effectual securing of the
end proposed. They come under three heads. (1.) Certain offenses were
visited with the penalty of death or of utter separation from the
communion of Israel. (Ex. xxxi, 14; Num. ix, 13, etc.) (2.) The expenses
incident to a faithful performance of the duties required of members of
the church of Israel were large and continual. Firstfruits, firstlings,
and tithes, trespass offerings, sin offerings, freewill offerings, and
other oblations, made up an aggregate which can not have fallen short of
one-fifth of all the income of Israel, and probably went far beyond that
amount. The law provided none but moral means for enforcing these
requirements; and numerous facts in the history of Israel show that by
many they were entirely neglected. (Neh. xiii, 10-13; Mal. iii, 8-10.)
Those who thus withheld what belonged to the Lord were self-excluded
from the fellowship of the covenant society, and were “cut off from the
congregation (_ekklēsia_ from _the church_) of the Lord.” (3.) The
irksome and humiliating nature of the regulations concerning uncleanness
and purifying were very efficient means of separating between the
believing and the profane. As we shall presently see, occasions of
uncleanness were of almost daily occurrence, in every house. These
required a conscientious watchfulness and assiduity, in guarding against
defilement, and in using the appointed rites of purifying, which often
involved the interruption and expense of journeys to the sanctuary and
offerings there.
The communion of the church of Israel thus consisted of those only, with
their families, who added to the obligations of a public profession of
faith, a fidelity to all the requirements of the law, its moral
precepts, its ritual observances, its tithes and offerings, its rites of
purifying and its annual feasts. In a word, the account given of
Zacharias and Elizabeth describes the character required, in order to
fellowship in the church of Israel: “Righteous before God, walking in
all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”—Luke i, 6.
Such, and such only, were the _clean_, to whom the privileges of
Israel’s communion belonged. To them they were certified by the seal of
baptism.
SECTION XII.—_Circumcision and Baptism._
It is commonly assumed that baptism has come into the place and office
of circumcision. This I conceive to be a mistaken view, which involves
the whole subject in confusion. Circumcision is the distinctive and
peculiar seal of the Abrahamic covenant. While it is true, that in that
covenant, as relating to the terms of salvation, all believers were
accounted as seed of Abraham, and heirs of the promises, it is equally
true that, by its terms, peculiar blessings unspeakably great were
assured to the seed of the patriarch after the flesh. Not only was
Christ to come of his flesh; not only was the church to be for fifteen
centuries constituted of his offspring, but Paul moreover testifies,
that richer blessings than they have ever yet enjoyed are to be bestowed
on Israel and on the Gentiles through Israel, in the coming future: “If
the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them
the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness?... For if the
casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the
receiving of them be but life from the dead?”—Rom. xi, 12, 15. This the
apostle, futhermore, puts upon the ground that “the gifts and calling of
God are without repentance.”—Ib. 29. It was with a view to this relation
of the covenant to Abraham’s natural seed, that circumcision was
appointed as its seal. Said God: “I will establish my covenant between
me and thee and thy seed after thee, _in their generations_, for an
everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after
thee.”—Gen. xvii, 7. Hence, by circumcision, the token of the covenant
was set in the flesh of the males, through whom the descent is counted.
So long, therefore, as the church was, for the divine purposes,
restricted to the family of Israel, the rite of circumcision was
necessary as a prerequisite condition of admission to its privileges,
because it was the seal of incorporation by birth or adoption into that
family. But this did not constitute admission into the church. The Sinai
covenant had its own baptismal seal. The church consisted, not of
Israel, the circumcised; but only of the _clean_ of Israel. Of this,
baptism was the token and seal. It hence resulted that when the
restriction was removed, and the gospel was given to the Gentiles,
emancipated from the yoke of circumcision, baptism remained unchanged in
place or office, the original and only seal of actual admission to the
fellowship and privileges of the church of God. Of all this we shall see
more hereafter.
PART III.
ADMINISTERED BAPTISMS=SPRINKLINGS.
SECTION XIII.—_Unclean Seven Days._
In the laws of Moses there were two grades of uncleanness
defined—uncleanness of seven days, and uncleanness till the even. The
former was a symbol of that essential corruption which is in us by
nature, to which are essential the redeeming blood of Christ and the
renewing of the Holy Spirit, without which no man can see God in peace.
Uncleanness till the even symbolized those casual defilements to which
God’s renewed people are liable by contact with the evil of the world.
The ritual, concerning the uncleanness of seven days, was designed to
signalize the light in which man’s apostate nature, and the depravity
and sin thence resulting, appear in the sight of a God of ineffable
holiness. To this conception the word _unclean_ was designed to give
expression, the intense meaning of which is liable to escape the casual
reader of the Scriptures. It signified, not the mere external soiling of
the living person, but death, corruption, and rottenness within the
heart, the fermenting source of pollution poured forth in the outward
life. To impress us with a just sense of the exceeding evil of this
thing the Spirit employs every variety of figure expressive of deformity
and loathsomeness. In the primitive faith, of which the book of Job is a
record, it is characterized in language which is a key-note to all the
Scriptures on the subject. “Behold he putteth no trust in his saints”
(his holy angels); “yea, the heavens are not pure in his sight. How much
more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like
water.”—Job xv, 15, 16. Says the Psalmist, “The Lord looked down from
heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did
understand and seek God. They are all gone aside; they are all together
become filthy.”—Psa. xiv, 3. Here the word “filthy” is in the margin
rendered “stinking.” It is the same in the original as in the above
place in Job, and means the offensiveness of putrefaction. David, in his
penitential Psalm, indicates his sense of this radical evil of his
nature. “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and _cleanse_ me from my
sin.... Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me. Behold thou desirest truth in the _inward parts_: and in
the _hidden part_ thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be _clean_; wash me and I shall be whiter than
snow.... Create in me a _clean heart_, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me.”—Psa. li, 2-10. Isaiah and other sacred writers represent the
same evil by the figures of the vomit and filthiness of a drunken
debauch, and by every kind of abominable and loathsome thing. (Isa.
xxviii, 8; Prov. xxx, 12.) By the designation, unclean, the moral
deformity and offensiveness of Satan and the “unclean spirits,” his
angels, are described. And in the accounts of the riches of grace and
glory in store for the church, the crowning feature is the exclusion of
the unclean. “A highway shall be there, and a way; and it shall be
called, The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it.”—Isa.
xxxv, 8. The church is called upon for this cause to exult: “Awake,
awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O
Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into
thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.”—Ib. lii, 1. And again, John, in
the vision of the glory of the new Jerusalem, which crowns and closes
his revelation, says of her: “And there shall in no wise enter into it
any thing that defileth” (literally, “any thing unclean”), “neither
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are
written in the Lamb’s book of life.”—Rev. xxi, 27.
For the purpose of inducing a profound sense of this evil and
loathsomeness of sin, as working in the heart, the ordinances respecting
the uncleanness of seven days were appointed, each having its own
lesson.
1. The birth of a child was the actual propagation, from the parents, of
part in the uncleanness of the apostate nature. It was, therefore,
attended with natural phenomena, and marked by ritual ordinances which
characterized it, and every function connected with it, as unclean and
defiling. Emphasis was thus given to the challenge, “Who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.”—Job xiv, 4.
2. Running issues of all kinds were appropriated as symbols of the
corruption of man’s nature, festering within, and breaking forth in
putrescent streams of depravity and sin in the active life. (Ezek. xvi,
6, 9.)
3. Death is “the wages of sin” (Rom. vi, 23), and physical death is a
terrible emblem of its loathsome and accursed nature. And as sin and the
curse are diffused to Adam’s seed by the very contagion of nature, this,
their symbol, was ritually endowed with the same contagious character.
He that touched the dead was reckoned no longer among the living but the
dead. He was, therefore, cast out from the camp, from his family, the
sanctuary, and the privileges of the covenant. To them all he was dead.
He was unclean.
Thus, as the loving and bereaved stood by the couch of death, gazed upon
the face and form once blooming in health and beauty, and beheld the
sightless and sunken eyes, the ghastly features and cadaverous
hue—pledges of corruption begun—while the very air of the chamber seemed
to breathe the cry, “Unclean!” as they realized the instinctive recoil
which love itself must feel from the very touch of the departed, and
felt as Abraham, concerning the beloved Sarah, the constraint to “bury
his dead out of his sight,”—as, in all this, they knew that these last
offices even must be fulfilled at the expense of defilement and
exclusion from the privileges of God’s earthly courts and the society of
his people, for seven days, they and all Israel received a lesson of
divine instruction as to the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the wages of
which is death, its loathsomeness in God’s sight, its contagious
diffusion and power, and its curse, to which human speech or angel
eloquence could have added nothing.
4. No less impressive were the ordinances concerning leprosy. The name
designated a class of diseases, some of which would appear to have been
altogether miraculous in their origin, and peculiar in their symptoms,
while others were attributable to natural causes. The disease was
peculiar for the shocking and loathsome appearance of its victim, its
poisoning the blood and pervading the whole body, and its incurable and
inevitably deadly nature. It was, therefore, employed by God as, at
once, an extraordinary punishment of sin, and a most fitting symbol of
it, as seated in the heart and nature of man, and pervading and
corrupting his whole being. (Num. xii, 10; 2 Kings v, 27; 2 Chr. xxvi,
20.) The leper was accounted as one dead (Num. xii, 12), and, therefore,
excluded from his family, from the congregation and ordinances at the
sanctuary, and from the very camp of Israel, where the living God
walked. (Num. v, 2; xii, 14.) Thus, outcast from the abodes of men and
the house of God, “the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be
rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip,
and shall cry, Unclean! Unclean! All the days wherein the plague shall
be in him, he shall be defiled; he is unclean; he shall dwell alone;
without the camp shall be his habitation.”—Lev. xiii, 45, 46. How
dreadful the figure thus presented to the senses of Israel, of the
loathsomeness of sin in God’s sight, and of its ruinous effects upon the
sinner! The person offensive with scabs and sores, the rent garments,
the uncovered head, the wailing cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” while the
exclusion from the house of God, and from the abodes of men, and the
covered lip, proclaimed to Israel that the spiritual leper, yet in his
sins, brings danger to his fellow-men with his very presence, and is an
offense and loathing to God, before the eyes of whose purity he may not
venture to come, save through the cleansing blood and Spirit of Christ.
Hence, the cry of Isaiah, when he beheld the glory of the Lord: “Woe is
me! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts.” And hence, the coal of fire from off the altar of
atonement, and the seraph’s assurance, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips;
and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”—Isa. vi, 5-7.
Thus, every way, under the idea of indwelling defilement, was sin and
its source in man’s corrupted nature held up to Israel as loathsome in
itself, propagated to the race and infecting all, defiling in its
contact, deadly in its indwelling power, and abhorrent to the eyes of
God.
Four circumstances in the ritual on these defilements are peculiar and
characteristic:
1. The first of these exhibits a broad and fundamental contrast between
these defilements and those which continued only till the even. The
latter, as already intimated, presented the conception of an outward
soiling of the living person. But the uncleanness of seven days
exhibited the idea, not of surface defilement of the living, but of the
loathsomeness and pollution of the dead and decaying carcass, pouring
out its own corruption, and infecting all around with its unclean and
abhorrent presence,—a pollution which no extrinsic or surface washing
can ever cleanse.
2. The defilement was for seven days. God’s work of creation ended in
the rest of the seventh day. That day was hence appropriated as a type
of the final rest of Christ and his people upon the completed work of
redemption. Hence, the argument of Paul: “For he spake of the seventh
day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. There
remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God.”—Heb. iv, 4-9. “A
rest:” literally, as in the margin, “a keeping of a Sabbath,” or, “a
Sabbatism.” But the Sabbath thus reserved for God’s people, coincides
with “the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Hence, a seven
days’ uncleanness was typical of such a corruption of nature as is
essential and, therefore, persistent to the end; and the exclusion of
the defiled from the camp and the sanctuary signified the sentence of
the judgment of the last day, when those whose natures are unrenewed,
and whose sins are unpurged will be excluded from the Sabbath of
redemption and from the new Jerusalem, and remain finally under the woe
of the second death: “He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.... For
without are dogs and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”—Rev. xxii, 11, 15.
3. The defilement was contagious. If the unclean for seven days touched
a clean person, the latter was thereby defiled until the even. For, such
is the inveteracy of this native corruption of the race that God’s
people are liable to defilement from every intercourse and contact with
the world,—a defilement, however, which they will leave behind them when
the day of earthly life is ended. Therefore, “Come out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and
I will receive you.”—2 Cor. vi, 17.
4. This seven days’ uncleanness could not be purified without
sacrificial rites, and water sprinkled by the hand of one that was
clean. For nothing but the atoning merits of Christ’s one offering, and
the Spirit of life which he sheds down upon his people, can enter and
cleanse our defiled nature, and fit us for admission to the presence of
God, or for part in the New Jerusalem. All this will more fully appear
as we proceed to notice the rites of purifying appointed for the several
kinds of this uncleanness, respectively.
SECTION XIV.—_The Baptism of a healed Leper._
The rites appointed for the purifying of a healed leper come under two
heads,—those administered by the priest, and those performed by the
person himself. When a leper was healed, he was first inspected by the
priest, who went forth to him to ascertain that the healing was real,
and the disease eradicated. This being ascertained, the priest took two
clean birds, and had one of them killed and its blood caught in an
earthen vessel, with running water. He then took the remaining bird,
alive, with cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, and dipped all together in
the blood and water; “and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be
cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean,
and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.”—Lev. xiv, 7.
The rite which thus ended by the official decree of the priest, “_He is
clean_,” completed the purification, properly so called. The man is now
clean. The remaining ordinances were expressive of duties and privileges
proper to one who is cleansed and restored to the commonwealth of
Israel, and the communion of God’s house. First of these he was required
to “wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in
water, that he may be clean.”—Ib., vs. 8. He was now admitted to the
camp, but must not yet enter his own tent, nor come to the tabernacle
for seven days. On the seventh day he was again required to shave off
all his hair, wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh; and “he shall be
clean.”—Vs. 9.
Now, on the eighth day, he came to the sanctuary, bringing a sacrifice
of a trespass offering, a sin offering, and a burnt offering. The rites
attendant upon these offerings completed the ceremonial. Thenceforth,
the leper resumed all the privileges of a son of Israel, in his family,
in the the congregation, and at the sanctuary.
The general signification of these ordinances is evident. The priest, by
whom alone the cleansing rites could be administered, was the official
representative of our great high-priest, Christ Jesus. The two birds
were with the priest a complex type of him who offered himself without
spot to God, who was dead and is alive for evermore, and by the merits
of whose blood and the power of whose Spirit remission of sins and the
new life of holiness are given to men. The first self-washing symbolized
the duty of the redeemed to turn from their old ways and walk in
holiness. The continued exclusion, for seven days, from his house and
the sanctuary was a testimony that for the present we are pilgrims and
strangers, and that only at the end of earth’s trials and purgations can
we enter our “house which is from heaven.” The seventh day’s washing
indicated the final putting off of all evil in the resurrection; and the
offerings of the eighth represented the way whereby, in the
regeneration, God’s redeemed people shall have access to his presence
and communion with him, through the blood of Jesus.
We are now able to understand why the cleansing of the healed leper was
thus separately ordered, and not included in the provision which we
shall presently see was made, in common, for all other cases of seven
days’ uncleanness. The extraordinary and frequently supernatural
character of both the disorder and its cure rendered it proper and
necessary to take it out of the category of ordinary uncleannesses, and
place it under the immediate jurisdiction of the priests. This was
necessary, alike, in order to a judicial determination at first as to
the existence of the leprosy, and afterward as to the cure. And the
priestly administration of the rites of cleansing was equally important,
as constituting an official and authoritative proclamation of the
healing and restoration of the leper.
SECTION XV.—_Baptism of those defiled by the Dead._
The purification of the leper must have been of rare occurrence. All the
facts and indications of the Scriptures tend to the conclusion that,
except by miraculous agency, the disease was incurable. The baptism of
Israel at Sinai was extraordinary in its nature and circumstances, and
could not have been repeated except in circumstances equally remarkable,
such as that when, in the plains of Moab, the covenant was renewed with
the new generation, which had risen up to take the place of those who
perished in the wilderness. (Deut. xxix, 1.) But of that transaction the
particulars are not recorded. In the water of separation, provision was
made for an ordinary rite, essentially the same, in its nature, mode,
and meaning, as the Sinai baptism; and so ordered as to serve as a
continual memorial and repetition of it, and reiteration of the promises
and instructions therein embodied. This rite was appointed for the
cleansing of defilements of daily occurrence, and was maintained through
all the after history of Israel, until the time of Christ, and the
destruction of Jerusalem. It was known to the Jews by the name of
_baptism_.
In preparation for this rite, a red heifer without blemish was chosen by
the priest, and slain without the camp, whence the priest sprinkled the
blood toward the door of the tabernacle of the congregation seven times.
The entire heifer was then burned, while the priest cast cedar wood,
hyssop, and scarlet into the burning. The ashes were gathered and laid
up in a clean place, without the camp. (Num. xix, 2-10.) They were to be
“kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of
separation.”—Ib. 9. By the phrase, “water of separation,” is not meant a
water to cause separation, but a remedy for it. They were, as Zechariah
expresses it, “_for_ sin and _for_ uncleanness.”—Zech. xiii, 1.
The primary case for which they were provided was that of defilement by
the dead. (Num. xix, 17, 18.) Whoever touched a dead body or bone of a
man, or a grave, was defiled thereby, as was the tent or house where the
body lay, and the furniture and utensils that were in it. For the
purifying of these, some of the ashes of the heifer were mingled, in an
earthen vessel, with running water. A clean person then took a bush of
hyssop, and, dipping it into the water, sprinkled it on the persons or
things to be cleansed. This was done on the third day, and repeated on
the seventh. “And on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash
his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at
even.”—Num. xix, 2-19. Thus, as in the case of the leper, the rites for
defilement by the dead were divided into two categories,—those
administered by the priest or a clean person acting officially, and
those performed by the subject himself. The importance of the
distinction thus made between rites administered and those
self-performed is worthy of repeated and emphatic notice. The former
symbolized Christ’s and the Spirit’s agency; the latter, the active
personal obedience and holiness of the believer’s life.
It appears from the rabbins that, at least during the later period of
Jewish history, the purifying of persons was, whenever practicable,
performed at Jerusalem, by the hand of a priest, and with water drawn
from the pool of Siloam, which flowed from the foot of the temple mount.
For the purifying of houses and other things, the ashes were sent
throughout the land, and the rites performed where the uncleanness was
contracted.
SECTION XVI.—_Purifying from Issues._
The remaining forms of major uncleanness are those of childbirth, and of
issues. (Lev. xii, 2; xv, 13, 19, 20, 25.) The places here referred to
in the book of Leviticus contain the only directions as to purifying
which specify these cases. Were our attention confined to those
chapters, we might imagine that for these defilements there were no
purifyings required, except in one single case, a self-washing for men
healed of issues. But there are several things which suggest the
propriety of looking farther before accepting that conclusion.
1. The instructions given in these places, if taken by themselves are
incongruous. Thus, a man cured of an issue was directed to “number to
himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe
his flesh in running water, and he shall be clean.” But of a woman it is
said: “She shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall
be clean.”—Lev. xv, 13, 28. In neither of the cases of female defilement
is there mention made of any purifying rites whatever, although the
seven days of purifying are specified in each of them. And yet if any
one had but touched the bed, or the seat of a woman so defiled, he must
“wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh, and be unclean until the
even.”—Vs. 19-23. I do not here account as rites of purifying the
offerings which in each case the parties, after being cleansed, were
required to make at the sanctuary. In those offerings they claimed and
exercised the privilege of communion at his table with the God of
Israel—the highest privilege of the clean. Admission to it was,
therefore, a formal and conclusive attestation to them as already clean.
2. The manifest analogy between these defilements, and those arising
from leprosy and contact with the dead, indicates the necessity of
analogous rites of purifying for them all. The intimacy of relation
between their several meanings we have seen. It is attested by the whole
tenor of Scripture. The same period of seven days marked them all—a
period emphasized, even where the uncleanness was prolonged to
thirty-three and sixty-six days. (Lev. xii, 2, 4, 5.) They all were
included in one decree of exclusion from the camp, except for manifest
reasons—women in childbed. (Num. v, 2.) At the end of the seven days of
purifying, when they were clean, offerings were to be made at the
sanctuary by the leper, the Nazarite defiled by the dead, and all the
others, except those purged from the ordinary defilement by the dead.
And the offerings were in each case essentially the same. The leper, if
able, brought three lambs, one for a trespass-offering, the second for a
sin-offering, and the third for a burnt-offering. If he was poor, he
brought one lamb for a trespass-offering, and two young turtles or
pigeons, one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering.
This offering of a lamb and two turtles was the same that was required
of a Nazarite, defiled by the dead, after his cleansing. (Num. vi, 10,
12.) The two turtles, or pigeons, were alone required of those defiled
by childbirth, or by issues, one for a sin-offering, and the other for a
burnt-offering. Thus, the only difference in these observances was the
trespass-offering which was, for evident reasons, required of the
Nazarite and the leper, and of them only. The Nazarite, although by an
involuntary act, had trespassed in profaning the head of his
consecration. (Num. vi, 9.) As to the leper, his disease seems usually,
if not always, to have been a special divine retribution for some
specific and aggravated offense, for which, therefore, upon his
cleansing, a trespass-offering was required. (Num. xii, 10; 2 Kings v,
27; 2 Chron. xxvi, 19.)
3. The supposition that these defilements all did not call for rites of
purifying essentially the same in each case, would involve incongruity
and contradiction in the testimonies uttered by them severally. That
they all were typical of human depravity in its different aspects can
not be questioned by any one who will candidly study the Scriptures, and
especially the Levitical and prophetic books on the subject. But, upon
the supposition in question, their several representations as to the
remedy are irreconcilable. For leprosy, and those defiled with the dead,
the rites of purifying declare that there is cleansing for man’s moral
defilement nowhere but in the blood and Spirit of Christ. But the rites
for cleansing a man defiled with an issue would proclaim our own works
and righteousness all-sufficient; whilst the silence of the law as to
any rites whatever for women, in any form of issue, would declare no
cleansing necessary, but that time and death would purify all. Thus,
three several testimonies, each contradictory to the others, are
incorporated in the ordinances, if complete in those chapters.
The key to these difficulties is found in the general character and
intent of the law concerning the water of separation. That law was the
latest that was given on the subject of purifyings, and is, therefore,
not expressly referred to in the earlier regulations which have been
under examination, although the divine Lawgiver intended the later
statute to fill up and supplement those which had gone before. Of this
there is a very plain indication in the ordinances respecting the
Nazarite. “If any man die suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head
of his consecration, then he shall shave his head in the day of his
cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.”—Num. vi, 9. Here the
defiling effect of contact with the dead is not declared, but assumed;
although the law to that purpose was not yet given. It is left to the
subsequent ordinance (Num. xix) to prescribe the rites of cleansing,
which are here, as in the rules concerning issued, alluded to, but not
stated.
Those rites might seem to relate only to the case of defilement by the
dead. But among the directions as to them, there is one which is
unequivocal and comprehensive. “The man that shall be unclean and shall
not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the
congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord; the
water of separation hath not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean.”—Num.
xix, 20. Here is no limitation nor exception of any kind. “The man that
is unclean;” unclean, from whatever cause. Of all such, we are here
certified that no lapse of time will bring cleansing. He must be
purified before he can be clean. Till that is accomplished, his presence
is a profanation of the sanctuary. It is, moreover, here declared that
the one only mode of cleansing for all such was the water of separation,
sprinkled according to the law. That this is a true interpretation, is
confirmed by the testimony of Philo, of Alexandria, a Jewish writer of
the highest reputation, contemporary with the apostles. Giving an
account of the Levitical law, he distinguishes between defilements of
the soul and of the body; by the latter meaning, ritual defilements. Of
them, he says, in unrestricted terms, that the water of separation was
appointed for purifying from those things by which a body is ritually
defiled.[5]
Footnote 5:
Below p. 175.
We shall presently see one notable example of this comprehensive
interpretation of the law, in the case of the daughters of Midian. Their
need of the rites of purifying did not arise out of any of the
categories specified in the laws which we have examined. They were
unclean, because they were idolatrous Gentiles (Compare Acts xv, 9); and
were purified with the water of separation, because that was the general
provision made for the unclean. This is further illustrated in the fact
that all the spoil taken at the same time was also purified with this
same water of separation. (Num. xxxi, 19-24.)
A fact remains, which is conclusive of the present point. It is the
remarkable name by which the purifying elements are designated. “It
shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water
of (_nidda_) _separation_.” This word, _nidda_, occurs in the Old
Testament twenty-three times. Its radical idea is exclusion, banishment.
Hence, the name of the land to which Cain was driven. “Cain went out
from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod,” that is,
“the land of banishment.”—Gen. iv, 16. Under this general idea of
exclusion, the particular form, _nidda_, is appropriated to the
separating or putting away of a wife from her husband, and to the
uncleannesses which gave occasion to such separation. And inasmuch as
God is the husband of his church, the same word is used to designate
those apostasies and sins which separate her from his favor and
communion. (Lam. i, 17; Ezek. xxxvi, 17, etc.) In the two chapters in
Leviticus, which present the law respecting defilement by childbirth and
by issues (Lev. xii and xv), the word occurs no less than eleven times.
Those who were thus defiled were, _nidda_, “put apart,” “separated.” Six
times, in the directions as to the ashes of the red heifer, the water is
called “a water of _nidda_.”—Num. xix, 9, 13, 20, 21, 21; xxxi, 23.
Once, again, the word is used in the same way by the prophet Zechariah.
(Zech. xiii, 1.) “A fountain for sin and for _nidda_.” Elsewhere it
always has distinct reference, literal or figurative, to the causes of
separation here indicated; whilst it is worthy of special mention, that
it never designates defilement by the dead.
The conclusion implied in these facts becomes a demonstration when we
observe that in the figurative language of the prophets, the defilement
of _nidda_ is expressly referred to as requiring the sprinkled water of
purifying. In Ezekiel (xvi, 1-14) God’s gracious dealings with Israel at
the beginning are described under the figure of the marriage tie. “I
sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, and thou
becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed
away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.”—vs. 8, 9. “I
thoroughly washed away.” The verb in the original is _shātaph_, which
will be critically examined in another place. It signifies such action
as of a dashing rain. In another place (Ezek. xxxvi, 17-26), the Lord,
under the same figure, describes the subsequent transgressions of
Israel: “Their way was before me as _nidda_.”—v. 17. Because of this,
God declares that he scattered them among the nations. But, says the
Lord, “I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all
countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness
and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”—vs. 24-26.
So, says the Spirit by Zechariah: “In that day there shall be a fountain
(a flowing spring) opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, for sin and for _nidda_.”—Zech. xiii, 1. _Nidda_, then,
signified a defilement for which that fountain was necessary; and to
imagine the ritual uncleanness of _nidda_ to have been healed without
ritual water of purifying, would be to suppose the ordinance to
contradict the doctrine of the prophets.
From these passages it appears: (1.) That the defilement of _nidda_ was
a figure representing the sins and apostasies of Israel, viewed as God’s
covenant people, his married wife. (2.) That the sprinkling of water is
the ordinance divinely chosen to represent the mode of the Spirit’s
agency in cleansing from these offenses. (3.) That this defilement and
the water of _nidda_ were so intimately associated with each other in
the usage of Israel as to serve the prophets for a familiar illustration
of the gracious purposes of God, indicated in the texts. If the figure
of speech used by the prophet is the proper one for illustrating his
doctrine in words, the water of _nidda_ sprinkled on the unclean was the
appropriate form by which to express it in ritual action. When,
therefore, in the light of these facts, we read the law that the ashes
of the heifer “shall be kept for the congregation of the children of
Israel for a water of _nidda_,” the conclusion is irresistible, that
those defiled with _nidda_ were to be purified with that water. And when
to this we add the further declaration concerning “the man that is
unclean,” and is not sprinkled with it, and see it illustrated by the
case of the Midianite children, the further conclusion is equally
evident that, except the peculiar case of the leper, the water of
separation was designed for all classes of seven days’ defilement. To
all others who were in a state of ritual separation from the communion
of Israel, it was essential in order to being restored.
SECTION XVII.—_The Baptism of Proselytes._
Maimonides was a learned Spanish Jew of the twelfth century. He wrote
large commentaries upon the institutions and laws of Israel. Concerning
the reception of proselytes, he is quoted as saying: “Circumcision,
baptism, and a free-will offering, were required of any Gentile who
desired to enter into the covenant, to take refuge under the wings of
the divine majesty, and assume the yoke of the law; but if it was a
woman, baptism and an offering were required, as we read, ‘One law and
one manner shall be for you and for the stranger that sojourneth with
you.’—Num. xv, 16. But what was the law ‘for you’? The covenant was
confirmed by circumcision and baptism and free-will offerings. So was it
confirmed with the stranger, with these three. But now, that no
oblations are made [the temple being destroyed], circumcision and
baptism are required. But after the temple shall have been restored,
then also it will be necessary that an offering be made. A stranger who
is circumcised and not baptized, or baptized and not circumcised, is not
called a proselyte till both are performed.”[6] Various similar
statements are frequently quoted from the same writer, and from the
Talmud. Respecting them the following points are to be noticed:
Footnote 6:
Maimonides, Issure Biah, Perek 13, in Lightfoot, Harmonia Evang. in
Joan i, 25.
1. The Hebrew word which is used by Maimonides and the Talmudic writers,
and is here translated, to baptize, is _tābal_, a word which in the
books of Moses is never used to designate rites of purifying of any
kind.
2. The _tābalings_, or Talmudic baptisms, were self-performed, and not
the act of an official administrator. The reception of the person must
be sanctioned by the consistory or eldership of a synagogue, and
attested by the presence of three witnesses. But it was performed by the
person’s own act. Being disrobed, and standing in the water, he was
instructed by a scribe in certain precepts of the law. Having heard
these, he plunged himself under the water; and as he came up again,
“Behold he is an Israelite in all things.” If it was a woman, she was
attended by women, while the scribes stood apart and read the precepts:
“And as she plungeth herself, they turn away their faces, and go out,
when she comes out of the water.”[7] It is perfectly evident that the
rite thus described is wholly foreign to any thing to be found in the
Mosaic law, and that it belonged to the category of self-washings, and
not to that of the sacrament, in which an official administrator was
essential to the validity of the rite.
Footnote 7:
Maimonides, as above, in Lightfoot, on John iii, 23.
3. This baptism is an invention of the scribes, of post Biblical origin.
Our sources of information are (1) the Scriptures and Apocrypha; (2) the
writings of Philo and Josephus, authors, the former of whom was
contemporary with Christ, and the latter with the destruction of
Jerusalem, both of whom wrote largely of the institutions and history of
the Jews; (3) the Targums of Onkelos and of Jonathan; (4) the Mishna;
(5) the Gemaras.
The Targums are Aramaic versions of the Old Testament. The Jews, at the
return from the Babylonish captivity, had lost the knowledge of the
Hebrew language. It was, therefore, necessary that the public reading of
the Scriptures should be accompanied with a translation into the Aramaic
dialect, which they now used. (Neh. viii, 2-8.) The translations thus
given were, no doubt, at first extemporaneous and somewhat variable. But
they gradually assumed fixed forms, more or less accurate, as they
received the impress of different schools of interpreters. At first
transmitted orally, they were at length committed to writing, the Targum
of Onkelos soon after the end of the second century, and that of
Jonathan a century later. The former, as a rule, keeps closely to the
text. The Targum of Jonathan indulges more in paraphrase. The Mishna is
the text of the Oral law, the traditions of the scribes. It was reduced
to writing by Rabbi Judah Hakkadosh, about the end of the first century,
and is believed to be a faithful exhibit of the traditions of the Jews,
as they stood at that time. The two Gemaras, with the Mishna, constitute
the Talmud. They are collections of interpretations and commentaries on
the Mishna, or oral law, by the most eminent scribes. The Jerusalem or
Palestinian Gemara was compiled in the third and fourth centuries, and
that of Babylonia one or two centuries later. The former represents the
great rabbinic seminary at Tiberias, in Galilee; the latter that of
Sora, on the Euphrates.[8]
Footnote 8:
According to Etheridge, the final revision of the Babylonian Gemara
was completed by Rabbi Jose, president of the rabbinic seminary at
Pumbaditha, on the Euphrates, in the year 499 or 500.—_Jerusalem_ and
_Tiberias_, pp. 174-176.
From these sources of information, the indications are conclusive that
Talmudic baptism came into use after the destruction of Jerusalem. We
have seen already part of the evidence, which will be more fully
developed in the following pages, that no such rite was ordained in the
law, observed by Israel, or recognized in the Scriptures. The Apocrypha
are equally silent on the subject. The writings of Philo and Josephus
ignore such a rite; as do the Targums and Mishna. In the latter, the
word, _tābal_, which is commonly translated, to dip, is used constantly
to designate the self-washings of the law, which, as will presently
appear, can not have been immersions. In fact, there is sufficient
evidence that this word, in addition to its modal sense, was also used
to express a washing or cleansing, irrespective of the manner. That it
was so employed to describe the cleansing of Naaman, will hereafter
appear. It is not until we come to the Gemara of Babylonia, dating at
the close of the fifth century, long after the destruction of Jerusalem
and cessation of the temple service, that we meet with any distinct
account of proselyte immersion. After that it is found everywhere.
4. Whilst it is thus evident that the baptisms of the Talmud are wholly
without divine warrant, they are nevertheless valuable as constituting
an authentic rabbinic tradition that a purifying with water was
requisite in the reception of proselytes. A key to the truth on this
subject presents itself in a statement found in the Mishna. “As to a
proselyte who becomes a proselyte on the eve of the passover” (that is
the evening before the day of the passover), “the school of Shammai say,
Let him receive the ritual bath” (_tābal_), “and let him eat the
passover in the evening; but the disciples of Hillel say, He that
separates himself from his uncircumcision is like one who separates
himself from a sepulcher.”[9] It thus appears that between the two
schools of Jewish scribes there was a division on this subject. The one
party taught that the uncleanness of the Gentiles was of such a nature
as to require seven days of purifying with the water of _nidda_,
according to the law for one defiled by the dead. The others held them
subject to that minor uncleanness which ceased with the close of the
day, upon the performance of the prescribed self-washing. We shall
presently see that the former were correct, according to the explicit
testimony of the Scriptures. But here we have a clue to the later
history of Jewish practice on the subject. Upon the destruction of
Jerusalem and the termination of the sacrificial services there, the
rites for purifying with the water of _nidda_ were of necessity
pretermitted, as the ashes of the heifer were no longer obtainable. The
rabbins were, therefore, induced to substitute the self-washing which
the looser school of scribes had already espoused. At what precise time
the self-washings of the law became the self-immersions of the Gemaras
does not appear. But at the beginning of the Christian era, causes had
been already for centuries at work which were abundantly sufficient to
account for the change. From the times of the captivities, the vast
multitude of Hebrews who never returned, dwelling in Babylonia and the
farther east, had been exposed to the influences arising from the
religions of the lands of their dispersion, as embodied in the Zend
Avesta and the Shasters, the teachings of Zoroaster and of the Brahmins,
and from the related manners and customs and religious rites which have
their native seats upon the banks of the Indus and the Ganges. The
profoundness of the operation of these influences is seen in the
pantheism of the Kabala, traceable as it is to the kindred doctrines of
the Zend Avesta and the Vedas.[10] How conspicuous the place held by
self-immersion in the religious customs of the people of the East, from
the earliest ages, every one knows. The Hebrews dwelling among them were
not restricted by the law to any defined mode of self-washing in
fulfilling its requirements. It was, therefore, natural and inevitable
for them to adopt the mode which was daily practiced before their eyes.
The relations between the Jews of “the Dispersion,” and those of
Palestine, were of the most intimate kind, sustained through attendance
upon the annual feasts at Jerusalem (Acts ii, 9), and afterwards by
continual correspondence and travel, and by the intercourse of the
school at Tiberias with those of Sora and Pumbaditha. If to these facts
be added the tendency by which the rabbins would seek to compensate for
the absence of the water of _nidda_, by expanding and magnifying the
self-washings which were still practicable, there remains no ground of
surprise or perplexity in finding self-immersion installed among the
imperative observances set forth in the Gemaras. Of the disposition to
supply the place of the now impracticable rites by the enlargement of
others, the Talmud affords more than one example.
Footnote 9:
Tract Pesachim, cap. viii, § 8.
Footnote 10:
This is clearly shown by Etheridge, in “Jerusalem and Tiberias.” Pp.
339 et seq. The same thing is largely illustrated in Blavatsky’s “Isis
Revealed.”
I have said that the Scriptural mode of purifying for proselytes was by
sprinkling with the water of _nidda_. Of its use there is a conspicuous
example. On account of their licentious wiles against Israel, Midian was
doomed to destruction. In the campaign which followed, none were spared,
except the female children. These were reserved for bond servants. (Num.
xxxi, 18; and compare Lev. xxv, 44-46; and Deut. xxi, 10-14.) But, from
the days of Abraham, all bond servants had been by divine authority and
command endowed with an equal right and share with their masters in
God’s favor and covenant. And as Israel itself had been purified from
the defilements and idolatries of Egypt, and ordained as the peculiar
people of God by the baptism of blood and water at Sinai, so these
children of licentious Midian, spared from the destruction incurred by
their parents, and about to be joined with Israel as God’s people, must
be cleansed and admitted in the same manner.
During the expedition, many of the army had become defiled by contact
with the slain, and were therefore to be cleansed with the water of
separation, according to the law. Moses, therefore, issued orders to the
men of the army: “Do ye abide without the camp seven days; whosoever
hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, _purify_
both yourselves and your _captives_ on the third day, and on the seventh
day.” In these directions as to the third and seventh days, we recognize
the exact requirements of the law, with respect to the water of
separation for the purification of sin. But the narrative is still more
specific. “Eleazer the priest said unto the men of war which went to the
battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses.
Only the gold and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the
lead, every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through
the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall be purified with
_the water of separation_, and all that abideth not the fire ye shall
make go through the water. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh
day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the
camp.”—Num. xxxi, 19-24. “The water of separation,” here, is, in the
original, “the water of _nidda_,”—the water, that is, in which were
mingled the ashes of the red heifer. With this, therefore, it was that
these daughters of Midian were baptized and cleansed. There were
thirty-two thousand of these captives, thus rescued from the destruction
incurred by the licentiousness and crimes of their own people, purged
from their uncleanness, engrafted into the family of Abraham, and
endowed with the blessings of the covenant. All were “women children”
(Num. xxxi, 18); and, undoubtedly, many were mere babes; the first
recorded example of distinctive infant baptism.
SECTION XVIII.—_The Baptism of Infants._
We have seen that in the Abrahamic covenant,—the betrothal of the
church,—the infant sons were expressly included on equal terms with
their fathers; and that in the Sinai espousal the infants of both sexes
were joined with their parents in the bonds of the covenant, and in the
reception of its baptismal seal. We have seen the young daughters of
Midian purified and admitted to the covenant and church of Israel by the
same sacrament. By these unquestionable facts, the principle of infant
membership in the church, and the mode of its certification by baptism,
are both alike clearly established. The Scriptures contain conclusive
evidence that the children of after generations of Israel were received
to the covenant and the church in like manner, by baptism with the water
of separation.
1. The law of God was explicit that “one ordinance shall be both for you
of the congregation and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you,
an ordinance forever in your generations; as ye are so shall the
stranger be before the Lord. One law and one manner shall be for you and
for the stranger that sojourneth with you.”—Num. xv, 14-16. From this
law, it results as a necessary conclusion, that inasmuch as the
Midianite children were baptized, the same must have been the rule for
the infants of Israel.
2. Circumcision was the seal of the Abrahamic covenant, but not of that
of Sinai. So long as the church was confined to the family of Israel
after the flesh, this rite, as being the proof and seal of membership in
that family was essential as a condition precedent to the enjoyment of
the privileges of the church; but did not, of itself, seal or convey a
right to them. Otherwise, every circumcised person would have been
entitled to those privileges; whereas they were reserved exclusively for
the clean.
3. While such was the case, it was a fundamental article of the faith
from the beginning, that men are all natively unclean. Job, Eliphaz, and
Bildad, each severally states it as an unquestionable proposition that
man born of woman must be so. (Job xiv, 4; xv, 14; xxv, 4.) David cries:
“Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me.... Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be
whiter than snow.”—Psalm li, 5-7. He not only recognizes the radical
nature of his moral corruption as born in him, but indicates the remedy
under the very figure of sprinkling with the water of _nidda_, to which
the hyssop refers. The Lord Jesus, speaking at a time when the Old
Testament ordinances and system were still in full force, testifies,
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born
again.”—John iii, 6, 7.
4. To signalize this native corruption of man and the remedy, the
ordinances concerning the defilement of _nidda_ and its cleansing were
appointed. In them the new born infant was regarded as the product of
overflowing corruption, and as a fountain of defilement to the mother,
who thus became unclean, until purified with the water of separation.
5. The child was identified with the mother in this uncleanness (1) as
being its cause in her; (2) as being subject to her touch, which was
defiling to the clean; and (3) as being bone of her bone and flesh of
her flesh, born of her body.
6. In accordance with the doctrine of man’s native defilement, above
illustrated, it was characteristic of the law that it recognized none as
clean, unless purged by water of sprinkling. The infants at Sinai were
so purified and admitted to the covenant, as well as their parents. So
it was with the daughters of Midian; and no other principle was known to
the law,—no other practice tolerated by it. “The man” (the person) “that
shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut
off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary
of the Lord: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him;
he is unclean.”—Num. xix, 20.
7. It is a very remarkable fact, that while we have in the Scriptures
but one single example specifically mentioned of the purifying of an
infant from this ritual defilement of birth, that example occurs in the
person of Him respecting whom the angel said to Mary, “That holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”—Luke i, 35.
In the same gospel in which is this record, we read, respecting Mary, in
the common version, that “when the days of _her_ purification, according
to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they brought Jesus to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord.”—Ib. ii, 22. But it is agreed by critical
editors that this is a corrupted reading, which is wholly without
authority from any respectable manuscript. Instead of “the days
(_autēs_) _of her_ purification,” it should read (_autōn_), “the days
_of their_ purification;” that is, of both mother and child. Beside all
the other authorities, the three oldest manuscripts, Sinaiticus,
Vaticanus, and Alexandrinus, unite in this reading. How the mothers were
purified, we have seen; and, from these facts, we know the children to
have shared with them in the baptism.
SECTION XIX.—_The Baptism of the Levites._
The case of the Levites, in their cleansing and consecration, was
peculiar. They had already enjoyed with the rest of the congregation the
purifying rites and sprinkled seal of the Sinai covenant; and were thus,
in the ordinary sense of the Mosaic ritual, clean, and competent to the
enjoyment of the ordinances and privileges of Israel. But when they were
set apart to a special nearness to God, in the service of the sanctuary,
they were required to undergo additional ceremonies of purifying. Moses
was instructed to “take the Levites from among the children of Israel
and cleanse them. And thus shalt thou do unto them to cleanse them.
Sprinkle water of purifying upon them; and let them shave all their
flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.”
They were then to bring two bullocks; “and the Levites shall lay their
hands upon the heads of the bullocks, and thou shalt offer the one for a
sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, unto the Lord, to make
an atonement for the Levites. And thou shalt set the Levites before
Aaron and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the Lord.
Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel;
and the Levites shall be mine.”—Num. viii, 6-14.
SECTION XX.—_These all were one Baptism._
The baptism of the Levites was official and peculiar. Its analogies to
the other examples will readily occur to the reader, as we proceed. As
to them, there is a common identity in all essential points, in form,
meaning, and office. The design of the first administration at Sinai,
and of all the attendant circumstances, was to impress Israel with a
profound and abiding sense of the evil of sin, and of their own utter
vileness and ruin as sinners in the presence of a God of infinite power,
majesty, and holiness; and to illustrate to them the manner in which
grace and salvation are given. In accepting that baptism, Israel
professed to submit themselves to his sovereignty and accept him in the
offices of his grace, as symbolized in the baptismal rites. On God’s
behalf, the transaction was an acceptance and acknowledgment of them as
his covenant people. The laws of defilement and the rites of purifying
were continual reminders and re-enactings of the Sinai transaction, and
for the same essential purpose,—the restoring to the fellowship of the
covenant of those who came under its forfeiture. In each several case,
sacrificial elements—blood or ashes—were applied by sprinkling. In each,
those elements were mingled with running water, and the instrument for
sprinkling was a bush of hyssop, and in each, scarlet and cedar were
used.
The meaning of the scarlet, cedar, and hyssop is unexplained in the
Scriptures. Expositors have wandered in conjectures, leading to no
satisfactory conclusions. One result of their use is manifest. To us,
devoid of meaning, they more distinctly mark the essential identity of
the rites, in which they occupy the same place, and perform the same
office. This may have been one design of their use.
The essential identity of these rites is altogether consistent with the
minute variations in their forms. These had respect to the diversity of
circumstances under which they were administered. The inferior dignity
of a single person, a leper, as compared with the whole people, explains
the acceptance of lambs or birds for his offerings, while bulls and
goats were sacrificed for the nation. In the case of ordinary
uncleannesses, the circumstances rendered special provision necessary.
Sacrifice was lawful only at the sanctuary, which was the figure of the
one holy place and altar where Christ ministers in heaven. But death and
other causes of uncleanness were occurring everywhere. The ashes of the
red heifer were, therefore, provided. They presented sacrificial
elements in a form incorruptible and convenient for transportation. They
were a most fitting representation of the “incorruptible blood of
Christ.” And, as the proper place of the priests was at the sanctuary,
and their presence could not be expected on every occasion of
uncleanness elsewhere, it was appointed that any clean person might
perform the sprinkling. This was, in fact, a mere ministerial sequel to
the sacrificial rites, performed by the priest, at the burning of the
red heifer. The probability of the circumstances, and intimations from
the rabbins, lead to the conclusion that, as the priests multiplied and
were released from the necessity of constant attendance at the
sanctuary, they were commonly called to sprinkle the water of purifying.
In fact, the Talmud indicates that in the later times the
administration, when practicable, took place at Jerusalem, by the hands
of the priests, with water from the pool of Siloam, which, flowing from
beneath the temple, was recognized as a type of the Holy Spirit.[11]
Footnote 11:
Compare Ezek. xlvii, 2; John ix, 7. “Go wash in the pool of Siloam,
which is by interpretation, Sent.”
The minute variations traceable in these rites only make it the more
clear that essentially, in form, meaning, and office, they were one
baptism.
SECTION XXI.—_This Symbol was derived from the Rain._
We have seen, in the prophecy of Isaiah, the source whence the figure of
sprinkling or pouring is derived. “I will pour water upon him that is
thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring; and they shall spring up as
among the grass, as willows by the water courses.”—Isa. xliv, 3, 4. It
is the descent of the rain from heaven, penetrating the earth, and
converting its deadness into life, abundance, and beauty.
Herein the rites in question stand in beautiful contrast with the
self-washings of the law. The latter accomplished a surface cleansing,
by a process which neither could, nor was designed to penetrate the
substance, or to affect its essential state or nature. They indicated to
God’s people the duty of conforming the external life to the grace
wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit. But the rite of sprinkling
represented the rain of God, sent down from heaven, penetrating the
soil, pervading and saturating it, converting its hard, dead, and
sterile clods into softness, life, and fertility, and causing the plants
and fruits of the earth to spring forth, saturated with the same
moisture, and thus possessed and pervaded with the same spirit of life.
Thus was typified the work of the Spirit, entering, pervading, and
softening the stony heart, converting all its powers and faculties as
instruments of holiness to God, and causing the plants of righteousness
to spring up and grow in the life and conduct.
The two words, _sprinkle_, and _pour_, are used throughout the
Scriptures with reference to the same figure of rain, the only apparent
difference being that the word, pour, expresses the idea of abundance.
No phenomenon of nature is of greater manifest importance, or more
pervasive and vital in its influences than the rain of heaven, and none
more suitable to illustrate the method of grace. The land from which the
rains are withheld is without fruit, or beauty, or attraction. It is
given over to barrenness, death, and cursing; and, in the language of
the Scriptures, is accounted unclean, as being shut out from the favor
of God, whose favor is life. Hence, the word of God, to the prophet,
concerning Israel: “Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is
not _cleansed_, nor _rained upon_, in the day of indignation.”—Ezek.
xxii, 24. Similar is the significance of our Savior’s words: “When the
unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places”
(_anhudrōn topōn_, “waterless places”), places congenial to him because
unblessed with the Spirit’s presence. (Matt. xii, 43; Luke xi, 24.)
Illustrations from the Scriptures might be multiplied, showing this
origin of the form of baptism. Isaiah says of the blessings to be
bestowed on Israel in the latter days, that the times of desolation
shall continue “until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the
wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a
forest.”—Isa. xxxii, 15. In another place he cries, “Drop down, ye
heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the
earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness
spring up together; I the Lord have created it.”—Isa. xlv, 8. Hosea says
of him: “His going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come
unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the
earth.”—Hosea vi, 3. And again, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness,
reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the
Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”—Ib. x, 12.
The whole conception thus unfolded is assailed and repudiated by writers
who assume that physical phenomena can not be used to set forth
spiritual realities. Dr. Carson insists that “Baptism can not be either
pouring or dipping, for the sake of representing the manner of the
conveyance of the Holy Spirit, for there is no such likeness. Pouring of
the Spirit is a phrase which is itself a figure, and not a reality to be
represented by a figure.”[12] The learned doctor has confounded himself
with his own subtlety. On the day of Pentecost, there was a blessed
“reality” of some kind experienced by the apostles and converts. There
is no absurdity, such as he imagines, in the supposition that the
pouring or sprinkling of water may be an appropriate physical
representation and symbol of that spiritual reality, and that words
descriptive of that symbol may be appropriate for the verbal designation
of the thing signified. If the assertion of Dr. Carson is to be
accepted, it is fatal not to baptism only but to the other sacrament
also. “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye
have no life in you.”—John vi, 53. Shall we be told that this language
of our Savior “is itself a figure, and not a reality to be represented
by a figure.” Then, we may not eat the bread and drink the wine, to
represent this very thing, the feeding of the soul, by faith, on Christ.
To do so is absurd if Dr. Carson’s position is sound. It is true that a
figure of speech _of_ a figure of speech, would be nonsense. But it is
equally true that it is the beauty of a metaphor,—the figure in
question,—to be susceptible of physical representation. Nor is there any
absurdity in the supposition that a spiritual act may be represented by
two co-ordinate figures,—the one a figure of physical action, and the
other a figure of speech, descriptive of that action.
Footnote 12:
Carson on Baptism, p. 167.
Besides, the assertion that “baptism can not be either by pouring or
dipping for the sake of representing the manner of the conveyance of the
Holy Spirit; for there is no such likeness,” is not merely an assumption
of knowledge concerning the invisible things of God which no mortal can
possess. But, if the language is to be understood in any sense pertinent
to the purpose of Dr. Carson, it is a plain contradiction of the
testimony of God himself on the subject. True, there is no _physical_
outpouring predicable of God the Spirit. It is as true of the Doctor’s
own word;—there is no physical “conveyance of the Holy Spirit.” Does it,
therefore, follow that there is _no_ conveyance, _no_ outpouring? He
might with as good reason quibble as to the exaltation of Christ,
because height and depth are mere relative terms, which change their
direction, at every moment of the earth’s motion on its axis and its
orbit. His objection equally applies to the entire ritual of the
Scriptures, robs it of all spiritual meaning and renders the whole
utterly inane and worthless. And yet, if Paul’s testimony be true, the
tabernacle and all the vessels of ministry were “patterns of things in
the heavens.”—Heb. ix, 23. Are those heavenly things not spiritual?
Jesus himself was “the Lamb of God,” the forerunner, John, being
witness. Is there any incongruity between this language, and the fact
that the sacrificial lambs of the ritual law meant the same thing? If
Dr. Carson is right, all this is absurd. Or, is there no spiritual truth
involved in these figures? Either the physical analogies to which the
Word of God constantly appeals, in figures of speech and similitudes,
and upon which the whole ritual system is built, do so correspond with
the spiritual realities as to assist us to true conceptions of them,
however inadequate,—either the Scriptural figures, forms, and rites were
selected because best adapted to convey and illustrate the spiritual
ideas designed, or we are mocked by a semblance of revelation which
reveals nothing. The assertion cuts us off from all knowledge of the
spiritual world. Nay, it leaves us ignorant of the very existence of
angel or spirit. For, what is spirit, but the _spiritus_ or breath of
man, the air or wind? How, then, upon the theory in question, can the
word acquire or convey any idea of immaterial things? Until the
portentous position of Dr. Carson shall have been established by
something more conclusive than mere assertion, the contrary will stand
as the truth of God. Moreover, the assertion, even if admitted, does not
affect in the slightest degree, the argument against which it is
directed. The fact still remains, conspicuous and unanswerable,—that,
whatever be the reason, sprinkling and pouring are, in the Scriptures,
constantly used, both in ritual forms, and in figures of speech, to
signify the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, by the Mediator, from his
throne on high.
SECTION XXII.—_This Ordinance meant, Life to the Dead._
The manner of these rites, and the style of the Scriptures in connection
with them are based upon the fundamental fact of man’s spiritual
condition as by nature dead, by reason of the apostasy and the
curse,—“dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. ii, 1, 5); “being alienated
from the life of God” (Ib. iv, 18), so that they are incapable of
exercising any of the activities of true spiritual life unto God, and
are, therefore, outcast as were the leper and the unclean, from the camp
and society of the clean; being “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenants of promise.”—Ib. ii, 12. In short, the
death which by sin, through one man, entered the world was the death of
the soul. With reference to it, Jesus says,—“I am the resurrection and
the life: he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he
live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”—John
xi, 25, 26. But inasmuch as a dead soul can not sustain life in the
body, the latter too died with the soul, in the day of its death. For a
little time, through the mercy of God, in order to salvation (2 Peter
iii, 15), an expiring struggle is maintained; but it is with bodies ever
stooping to the grave and irresistibly drawn downward into its yawning
gulf. It is in view of these facts that Paul describes the old man, the
carnal or inherited nature, as “the body of this death,” or “this dead
body;” and its works as “dead works” (Heb. vi, 1; ix, 14) which he
represents to be “all manner of concupiscence,” or evil desires, and
consequent evil deeds. (Rom. vii, 8-24.) Hence, the seven days’
uncleanness, signifying the deadness of the soul, and the offensiveness
of its works. Coincident in meaning was the defilement of things by the
contagion of death. For man’s sake, the ground itself is cursed (Gen.
iii, 17), and every product of the earth and every possession of man
upon it is involved in the curse, and until delivered from it, is
unsanctified to man’s use. Hence, the house, the bed, the furniture and
utensils, were defiled by the presence of the dead and unfitted for the
use of the clean, the living.
Such were the conceptions with reference to which the rites of Levitical
baptism were ordained. They were designed to answer the question: How
can these dead be made alive, this defilement be cleansed, and the curse
lifted from man and the earth? They announced life to the dead, and the
healing of their corruption. They proclaimed Christ’s atonement made to
redeem us from the curse, and his Spirit given to implant in us new life
and purge us from dead works to serve the living God. As the descending
rain not only penetrates the soil and instils life into the clods and
hardness, but washes and purges the surface, and gives freshness and
beauty to the scenes of nature, cleansing the face of the impenetrable
and barren rock,—so the Spirit sent down not only penetrates the heart
and creates new life there, but pervades the outward life and conduct
and purifies the whole. Thus, in the one figure of the sprinkling or
pouring of rain, are identified the two ideas of new life and cleansing;
and hence, thus taught, the cry of the psalmist, in which he identifies
both with the sprinkled baptism. “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.... Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.... Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”—Ps. li, 2-10. The
same relation is recognized by Paul, who ascribes our salvation to “the
_washing_ of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he
_shed_ on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior.”—Tit. iii, 5,
6.
In the promise of life signified in this baptism, two things were
included under the one essential conception. These were, renewing to the
soul, and resurrection to the body. These are as inseparably related to
each other as are the death of the soul and of the body; and that,
because of the essential relation between those two parts, as identified
in the one person. Christ gave himself, body and soul, for us, to
satisfy justice; and bought us unto himself in our whole being, body and
soul. If the Spirit of life be given us, it is given both to renew our
dead souls and to make our bodies his temples. And, says Paul, “If the
Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by
his spirit that dwelleth in you.”—Rom. viii, 11.
That this doctrine of the new life was the meaning of the baptismal
rite, appears from many Scriptures. We have just seen the significant
language of the psalmist. By Ezekiel, the Lord says to Israel: “Then
will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean; from all
your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart
of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you.”—Ezek. xxxvi, 25-27.
This view of the work of the Holy Spirit is exhibited very clearly in
Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones, and the promises therewith
addressed to Israel respecting the latter days. “Behold, O my people, I
will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and
bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord,
when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of
your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live.”—Ezek.
xxxvii, 12-15.
In the same sense Paul interprets the Levitical baptisms. Having
designated the ordinances of which they formed a part as figures of the
heavenly things, he says: “If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the
ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying
of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ ... purge your
conscience from dead works, to serve the living God.”—Heb. ix, 13, 14.
Here he contrasts the dead works of the unregenerate with the living
works of those who, as they are alive unto God, serve in newness of life
him who, being the living God, “is not the God of the dead, but of the
living.”—Matt. xxii, 32. Of this he recognizes the sprinklings to be a
figure.
The doctrine thus involved in the water of purifying sheds a beautiful
light on one of the most interesting facts in the life of our Savior.
Upon the death of Lazarus, Jesus so timed his coming as to reach Bethany
on the fourth day. On the previous day, or, more probably, on that very
same day, the sisters and household of Lazarus had been baptized with
the water of purification. And now, as He stands by the sepulcher, the
resurrection, in its highest sense, as including both soul and body, and
rendering both superior to death, is the theme of his discourse. “Thy
brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall
rise again, in the resurrection, at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I
am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die.”—John xi, 23-26.
SECTION XXIII.—_The Gospel in the Water of Separation._
Much of the spiritual significance of these rites has already appeared.
But in order to an adequate appreciation, they should be viewed in
connection.
1. The red heifer was a sin-offering. This is denied by some, who would
draw a fine distinction. Says Bishop Patrick: “Though this was not a
sacrifice, it had something of that nature in it, and may be called a
_piaculum_, an expiatory thing, though nothing was called _korban_, a
sacrifice, but what was offered at the altar.” But, (1.) _korban_ does
not mean a sacrifice, but a gift, a dedicated thing; and is used, not
only to designate sacrifices and offerings at the altar, but even the
wagons and oxen which the princes gave for transporting the tabernacle
and its furniture. (Num. vii, 3.) (2.) The blood of the heifer was
sprinkled by the priest toward the door of the sanctuary. It was thus
brought into a relation to the altar and the mercy-seat, typically as
manifest and close as though it had been actually sprinkled on the
altar. (3.) The law itself expressly declares it to be a sin-offering.
“It is a purification for sin,”—Num. xix, 9. The original, here, is the
same that is in other places literally translated, “It is a
sin-offering.”—Lev. iv, 24; v, 9, 11, 12. In this, its character as a
sin-offering, lay the meaning of the rite as a purification. It
represented atonement for sin, at the price of blood,—the blood of
Christ. Hence its use in purifying those uncleannesses which typified
moral corruption in its forms of intensest malignity and deadliness.
Hence the appeal to this meaning of the rite which the psalmist makes,
in his penitence and sorrow for his crimes. “Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.... Purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.... Hide
thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities.”—Ps. li, 5, 7,
9. The Targum thus paraphrases this place: “Thou wilt sprinkle me, as
the priest which sprinkleth the unclean with the purifying waters, with
hyssop, with the ashes of an heifer, and I shall be clean.” The same
conception is apparent in God’s language of grace to Israel, and to the
nations. “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be
clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse
you.” And, “So shall he sprinkle many nations.” In a word, in every
instance in which this rite is appointed, or figuratively alluded to, it
will be found to indicate a typical impeachment of sin; and the design
and effect of its use was the removal of that impeachment, the cleansing
of the subject. It was _baptism unto the remission of sins_.
2. The heifer was offered without the camp. In the detailed ritual of
the tabernacle and temple service, the holy of holies, the holy place,
and the surrounding court, typified, respectively, God’s heavenly
presence chamber, the church, and the world. In a wider scheme, the
whole sanctuary was representative of God’s house, whilst the camp and
afterward the city of Jerusalem were the figure of the church, and the
outside region stood for the world at large. Hence, the unclean were
excluded from the camp and the city. (Compare Rev. xxi, 27; xxii, 14,
15.) And hence, the red heifer was offered without the camp, to signify
the reproach of Christ, who suffered without the gate, excommunicate and
accursed. (Heb. xiii, 11-13.) The blood of the heifer, sprinkled from
without toward the sanctuary, intimated in a very affecting manner, the
distance to which Christ came from yonder sanctuary in the heavens, to
shed his blood, and therewith to sprinkle the throne of justice on high.
3. Blood only was sprinkled toward the sanctuary, whilst it was water
mingled with the blood or ashes, that was sprinkled on the unclean. For,
his own unmingled blood, offered by Christ himself before the throne on
high, and that alone, makes satisfaction to justice for sin. But the
Holy Spirit is the sole channel and agent through whom Christ bestows on
his people, or they can in any wise acquire, the virtue of that blood in
justifying grace and holiness. Water, therefore, was the vehicle for
communicating to Israel the blood of sprinkling.
4. The blood was sprinkled seven times, to show the complete and
exhaustive efficacy of the sufferings of Christ to satisfy justice,
sanctify the soul, and make an end of sin forever.
5. He that touched the dead was defiled seven days. This tactual
defilement typified not only the guilt and depravity which _we_ derive
from Adam, but, especially, the contagion of man’s guilt which came on
the Lord Jesus, by becoming the Son of man, born in our nature. Though
he knew no sin, yet was he laden with our curse. He signified this very
thing, when in the days of his flesh, he defiled himself by touching the
lepers and the dead, that he might restore them to soundness and life,
at the price of his own life;—“That it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and
bare our sicknesses.”—Matt. viii, 17. The same thing was set forth by
the fact that the priest that sprinkled the heifer’s blood, each
assistant at the burning and gathering of the ashes, and he that
sprinkled the water of separation, all became thereby unclean until the
even. They, together, represented the Lord Jesus, in the exercise of his
mediatorial office, which involved his taking his people’s curse upon
him, to free them. The seven days of this defilement have been already
explained, as typical of our native condition of depravity and guilt,
which, if not purged, involves continuance and condemnation in the
seventh, the last day, when the sentence will be uttered, “He that is
filthy let him be filthy still.”—Rev. xxii, 11.
6. The ashes of the heifer were as familiar to the religious life of
Israel as was the blood of sacrifice. But the significance of the blood
is so much more familiar to us, that a pause is here proper, to call
attention to the wonderful propriety and instructiveness of the ashes.
In the blood we see the penalty of sin paid, and justice satisfied. But
it is satisfied at the price of life, and leaves death in possession.
But, in the ashes, Israel saw the sacrifice come forth from the
exhausted fires of justice, unconsumed and unconsumable. On them, the
fire could no more take hold; but, mingled with the living water, they
represented Christ—the law satisfied and the curse exhausted in his
blood—coming forth by the Spirit, from the expiring flames, robed in
life and immortality. “Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains
of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of
it.”—Acts ii, 24.
7. The ashes were mingled with running water. Prior to the baptism of
Israel at Sinai, we hear of no sacramental rite setting forth the office
and work of the Holy Spirit. But the living water, then ordained in the
divers baptisms of the Mosaic system, became thenceforward the standing
representation and type of the Third Person of the Godhead, as the
Spirit of life, shed down from heaven by the Mediator.
8. The sacrificial elements and water were _sprinkled_ on the unclean.
Two ideas were thus symbolized; the _bestowment_ by Christ from his
throne of the virtues of his blood and Spirit; and, their effectual
influence upon the heart and conscience of him to whom they are given.
As the rain descends from heaven, penetrates the soil, and makes it
fruitful, so Christ’s Spirit shed down from him takes possession of the
inmost heart, purges it from the guilt of past sins, and produces
newness of life and the fruits of holiness. With reference to the mode
thus employed, and its symbolical relation to Christ’s administration of
grace, the fact is worthy of special emphasis, that in every rite or
figure by which was represented the exercise by Christ of his office as
administrator in the Father’s kingdom, the mode is affusion, whether it
be blood, water, or oil, expressive of grace bestowed on the people of
God, or indignation and fire poured down upon his enemies.
9. The water of separation was to be sprinkled on the unclean on the
third day and on the seventh. “And if he purify not himself the third
day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean;” for, Jesus who died
under our curse, rose again the third day. And “Know ye not that so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life. For, if we have been planted
together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection.”—Rom. vi, 3-5. If we do not participate in the
resurrection of Christ on the third day, by rising from the death of sin
to the life of holiness, we can have no part in the resurrection and
life of glory. So, Paul testifies to the Ephesians, that the same mighty
power which raised Christ from the dead and set him far above in the
heavenly places, is at work in all his people, and by it they who were
dead in sins are quickened together with him, and made to sit with him
in the heavenly places. (Eph. i, 20; ii, 6.) Hence, Paul’s earnest
desire and labor for himself,—“That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, ... if by any means, I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead.”—Phil. iii, 10, 11. “Might know the power of his
resurrection,”—by realizing within, the steady vigor of the new life in
Christ Jesus, working holiness and grace.
Of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Paul says, that “he rose again
the third day, according to the Scriptures.”—1 Cor. xv, 4. But where, in
the Scriptures, is the third day thus specified? The Lord Jesus makes a
similar statement, which goes far to answer the question. “These are the
words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in _the law of Moses_, and in the
prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their
understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto
them, Thus it is _written_, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to
rise from the dead _the third day_.”—Luke xxiv, 44-46. In another place,
there is a remarkable allusion to the same thing. When Jesus, in
response to the Jews demanding a sign, said, “Destroy this temple, and
in three days, I will raise it up,” the disciples did not understand.
But “when he was risen from the dead, they remembered that he had said
this unto them; and they believed _the Scripture_, and the word that
Jesus had said.”—John ii, 18-22. It would thus appear that the
resurrection on the third day was _written_ in the Scriptures, and the
reference to the law of Moses, and statement as to the opening of the
understanding of the apostles, as though the matter were not patent on
the face of the record, both lead us to look in that direction for the
prophetic anticipation of the third as the resurrection day. The other
Scriptures will be searched in vain for any thing to fulfill the
requirements of these statements of Christ and of Paul. The law
concerning the sprinkling of the water of separation contains the only
intimation on the subject; and the allusions above cited appear
undoubtedly to have had this typical prophecy in view.
In the design of this ordinance, as a prophecy of the resurrection, we
have the reason of its peculiar relation to that particular form of
defilement which arose from contact with the dead. Although designed as
has been seen for the cleansing of other defilements, also, it was
ordained in immediate connection with this particular uncleanness,
because that is the connection in which this distinctive meaning shines
forth most clearly.
10. He that was purified with the water of separation was required to
follow it with an act of self-ablution. “On the seventh day, he shall
purify himself, and wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and
shall be clean at even.”—Num. xix, 19. It has been asserted that this
rule was meant for the administrator of the rite. But the exposition
afterward given by Eleazar, the priest (Num. xxxi, 21-24), shows this to
be a mistake. The propriety and beauty of the requirement, in the
connection, are apparent. It was a perpetual monition to Israel that
those who have been redeemed with precious blood, and raised up to new
life by the Holy Spirit, should walk worthy of their calling, and keep
themselves from the evil that is in the world, in the blessed assurance
of being freed from all corruption and evil, and made partakers in the
perfection of holiness and life, on the great Sabbath day of redemption.
This thought was more fully developed in the rites concerning the leper.
Immediately upon his baptism, he was required to shave his hair, wash
his garments and bathe his flesh. The hair and the defilement adhering
to the garments and flesh were evident types of the outgrowth and fruits
of his leprous life. Of the shaving and cleansing thus appointed, Paul
may give the interpretation—“That ye put off concerning the former
conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts.”—Eph. iv, 22. After this, the meaning of the like shaving and
washing on the seventh day is apparent. It sets forth the final and
complete putting off of the old carnal nature, in the resurrection of
life, when our bodies themselves also shall be transformed into the
likeness of Christ’s glorious body, and be reunited to our souls,
perfected in holiness.
11. The defilement from the dead, and the purifying use of the water of
separation were not only incident to persons; but the tent or house
where the dead lay, and every thing that was in it, became defiled, and
must be cleansed by the water of separation, sprinkled on the third day,
and on the seventh. (Num. xix, 14, 18; xxxi, 20, 22, 23.) Thus were
Israel taught that the curse of sin is on the earth, also, and all that
is in it, as well as on man; that, only as sanctified to him through the
atonement of Christ, can the productions and possessions of the earth be
blessed, and that in the regeneration, the earth and the creatures
themselves, also, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the sons of God, and “_Holiness to the Lord_,”
be written on the very bells of the horses. (Zech. xiv, 20.) “For,”
saith the Lord, “behold I create new heavens and a new earth.”—Isa. lxv,
17.
Thus, all the great truths of the Gospel, were set forth and symbolized
in this ordinance, the last, the consummate and crowning sacrament of
the Old Testament.
SECTION XXIV.—_These were the Divers Baptisms._
That the sprinkled purifyings were the theme of Paul’s argument is
evident:
1. He distributes the whole ritual system under two categories. His
statement (Heb. ix, 8, 9), literally translated, is, that “the first
tabernacle,” erected by Moses, was “(_parabolē eis ton kairon
enestēkota_), an illustrative similitude, unto the present time (_kath
hen_[13]) _in accordance with which_ (similitude), both gifts and
sacrifices are offered, which, as to the conscience, can not perfect the
worshipers; depending only on meats and drinks and divers
baptisms,—righteousnesses of the flesh, imposed until the time of
reformation.” The word (_dikaiomata_) “righteousnesses” (from _dikaios_,
righteous), is repeatedly so translated in our English version (Rom. ii,
26; v, 18; viii, 4), although in some other places beside the text it is
rendered,—“ordinances.”—Luke i, 6; Heb. ix, 1, 10. The latter rendering,
however, fails to develop the true idea of the word, which
is,—ordinances imposed, _in order to the attaining of righteousness by
obedience_. So it should be in the first verse of this chapter. “Then,
verily, the first covenant had also righteousnesses of worship,” (ritual
righteousnesses), “and an earthly holy place.” By the phrase,
“righteousnesses of the flesh,” the writer indicates the contrast
between the outward ritual righteousnesses of the law,—its circumcision
of the flesh, its offerings of bulls and goats, and its washings and
sprinklings with material elements,—and “the circumcision of the heart;”
“the offering of Jesus Christ,” and “the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost.” The ritual observances fulfilled the law of
carnal commandments, and were thus righteousnesses of the flesh, and
figures of the true, the righteousness of Christ.
Footnote 13:
This reading is attested by codices Bezæ, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus,
Sinaiticus, and is fully sustained by the internal evidence.
Paul distributes these observances into the two categories of offerings
and purifyings. The law required each sacrifice to be accompanied with a
meat offering made of fine flour mingled with oil, and a drink offering
of wine. For the altar was God’s table, where he as a Father fed and
communed with his children. It must, therefore, be furnished with all
the provisions of a table. (Num. xv, 3-5, 7, etc.) Thus, the offerings
upon the altar were all comprehended under the two heads of meats
(_brōmasi_, solid food), and drinks,—nourishments for _the body_. Paul’s
other category is, the divers baptisms. These, of necessity, are the
purifying rites of the Levitical system. For, he describes the whole
system as including “_only_ meats and drinks and divers baptisms;”
whereas all were actually comprehended under the two heads of offerings,
which symbolized atonement made, and purifyings, representing its
application, to the purging of sins. That it is of the purifyings that
he now speaks, is evident not only from the meaning of baptism, itself,
but from the whole tenor of his argument, which is directed exclusively
to the two points just indicated, atonement made, and purification
accomplished.
2. The baptisms of which the apostle speaks were purifyings of persons
and not of things. They were righteousnesses of the flesh, upon which
men in vain relied for the purging of their consciences, (vs. 9, 14.)
3. There were but two ordinances to which Paul can possibly refer.
Except the sprinklings, and the self-performed washings, there was no
rite in the Levitical system in which water was used, or to which the
name of baptism is, or can be, attributed, with any pretense of reason
or probability.
4. The self-washings will be examined presently. As compared with the
sprinklings, they were of minor importance. Separately used only for
superficial defilements, they purged no essential corruption. They were
without sacrifice, administrator, or sacramental meaning. They
symbolized no work of Christ, signified no bestowal of grace, and sealed
no blessing of the covenant. In all this, they stood in eminent contrast
with the sprinkled rites. To suppose that Paul, in a discussion which
has respect to the cleansing efficacy of Christ’s blood and Spirit, and
the Levitical types of it, should refer to the minor rite of
self-washing, which did _not_ symbolize those things, and by an
exclusive “_only_” reject from place or consideration the sprinklings
which did, is absurd; as it is, moreover, to suppose that, in such an
argument, the latter would not, of necessity, have a paramount place and
consideration.
5. This conclusion is fully confirmed upon a critical examination of the
connection of Paul’s argument. The “meats and drinks and divers
baptisms” he characterizes as “righteousnesses of the flesh,” in
confirmation of the assertion just made, that they could not “perfect,”
or purify the conscience of the worshiper. He then, immediately,
presents in contrast the atonement of Christ. “They,” says he, “depended
only on meats and drinks and divers baptisms, righteousnesses of the
flesh imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ being come, ...
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. _For_ if the blood of _bulls_ and _of goats_ and the _ashes of a
heifer sprinkling_ the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the
flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ ... purge your
conscience.” Thus, in immediate exposition of his statement as to divers
baptisms, the apostle specifies the two most conspicuous forms of the
sprinklings of Sinai, that of the whole people, upon the making of the
covenant, and that administered with the water of separation—the one
being the original of the ordinance, and the other its ordinary and
perpetuated form. For, that there may be no mistake as to his reference,
in speaking of the blood of bulls and of goats, he proceeds, a little
farther on to describe particularly its use in the Sinai baptism: “For
when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the
law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet
wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying,
This is the blood of the testament (the covenant), which God hath
enjoined unto you.”—Vs. 19, 20. As we examine Paul’s argument throughout
the chapter, we find his attention directed, from first to last, to the
sprinklings of the law alone, while the self-washings are not once named
nor alluded to. This, afterwards, very signally appears in that
magnificent contrast of Sinai and Sion, in which he sums up the whole
argument of the epistle. The crowning feature in the attractions of Sion
is “the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of
Abel.”—Heb. xii, 24. In the presence of it the self-washings are not
counted worthy to be named.
6. The manner in which, in the next chapter, self-washing is at length
introduced is a singular confirmation of the view here taken. So long as
the writer is occupied in the argument as to Christ’s work of expiation,
he makes no allusion to the self-washings. But when he proceeds to urge
upon his readers the practical plea which his argument suggests, he does
it by referring to the two rites, in the relation to each other which we
have indicated. “Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the
holiest, by the blood of Jesus, ... and having a High Priest over the
house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our own
bodies washed with pure water.”—Heb. x, 19-22. To an unclean person,
desiring to claim the privileges of the sanctuary, the requirement of
the law was, Let him be sprinkled on the third day and on the seventh,
to set forth Christ’s and the Spirit’s grace; and then, let him wash
himself, in token of the maintaining of personal holiness. From the
rites which he has been discussing, Paul’s exhortation takes form, and
in them finds interpretation.
The conclusion is evident. Had Paul meant by the phrase in question to
designate the self-washings, they were by affusion, and it would follow
that that is the mode of baptism. But that his reference was
distinctively and emphatically to the sprinkled rites is beyond candid
contradiction. We, therefore, plant ourselves upon this impregnable
position, and challenge assault. _For fifteen hundred years of the
church’s history, baptism was uniformly administered by sprinkling._ It
was so administered down to the time of Christ. It was so administered
in the time of Paul. The word does _not_ then mean to dip or to immerse;
for, Paul being witness, the rite was not so performed. Had we no
further evidence, this should be conclusive.
PART IV.
THE RITUAL SELF-WASHINGS.
SECTION XXV.—_Unclean until the Even._
The clean, that is those who had been purified by sprinkling, were
liable to contract certain minor defilements, which were characterized
by continuing until the even. Of these there were two classes. First,
were those which resulted from participation in expiatory rites. Among
the most conspicuous examples of this class were the uncleanness of the
priests and assistants by whom the red heifer was sacrificed, the ashes
collected and the water of separation sprinkled on the unclean. These
all were, by participation in those rites, rendered unclean until the
even, and were required to wash their clothes, and bathe their flesh, in
order to their cleansing. (Num. xix, 7, 8, 10, 21.) The meaning of this
is evident. The red heifer was a sacrifice of expiation, “a purification
for sin.”—Ib. 9. In it, the priests and assistants and he that sprinkled
the ashes, with the heifer itself, together, constituted a complex type
of the Lord Jesus, offering himself a sacrifice to justice, sprinkling
the altar in heaven with his own blood, and applying it with his Spirit
to his people for the purifying of their uncleanness. The defilements
for which the ashes of the heifer were provided were typical of our
native depravity and death in sin and the curse. From these, Christ
freed his people, by being himself made a curse for them (Gal. iii, 13),
dying in their stead, that they might live. To represent this the
priests, assistants, and administrator of the water of separation,
became defiled, by participation in the cleansing rites. The same
explanation applies to the defilement which the high priest and others
incurred by participation in the observances of the day of atonement.
(Lev. xvi, 24, 26.)
The curse under which the Lord Jesus came exhausted itself on his
natural life, and expired as he rose from the dead. Of the period during
which he bore its burden, and fulfilled his atoning work, he himself
says: “I must work the works of him that sent me, _while it is day_; the
night cometh, when no man can work.”—John ix, 4. And on the night of the
betrayal he said to the Father, “I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do.”—Ib. xvii, 4. It thus appears that a day is a symbol of
the period of man’s natural life, the period during which the Lord Jesus
was under the curse. Hence the typical uncleanness of the priests and
assistants was limited to the even of the day on which it was incurred.
It was removed by self-washing; for it was by his own power and Spirit
that Christ threw off the curse and rose from the dead. (Rom. viii, 2,
11; John x, 17, 18.)
2. The other class of uncleannesses until the even arose from the more
or less intimate contact of the clean with persons or things that were
unclean in the higher degree; or from other causes essentially similar
in meaning. Defilements resulting from expiatory rites symbolized the
putative guilt incurred by the Lord Jesus, in making atonement for us;
while he ever remained, in himself, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners.”—Heb. vii, 26. But the forms of uncleanness now under
examination resulted from contact with things that were typical of the
debasement, corruption, and depravity of the world. The uncleanness
hence arising signified the spiritual defilement to which God’s people
are liable from contact with evil. Hence, the grades of defilement,
consequent upon the closeness and fellowship of the contact, and the
nature of the uncleanness with which it took place. These were designed
to teach the lesson with which James crowns his definition of pure
religion and undefiled. “To _keep himself_ unspotted from the
world.”—James i, 27. The same idea is presented by the beloved John. “We
know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten
of God _keepeth himself_, and that wicked one” (that “unclean spirit,”
the representative and source of all moral evil) “toucheth him not” (to
defile him, as would the touch of the leper or the unclean). “And we
know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”
Literally,—“lieth in that wicked one,”—in his bosom, and the defilement
of his contact and communion. (1 John v, 18, 19.) And, again, “Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be;
but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him
_purifieth_ himself, even as he is pure.”—1 John iii, 2, 3.
From many such Scriptures, the meaning of these uncleannesses and of the
self-washings is easily gathered. The defilements which they symbolized
are not of a radical nature, but extrinsic and superficial. They
represented those spiritual defilements,—those soilings of heart and
conscience to which God’s people are subject through contact and
intercourse with an ungodly world. It is postulated only of those whose
hearts have already been quickened and sanctified by the blood and
Spirit of Christ, “once for all” (Heb. x, 10); and who are “the
habitation of God through the Spirit.” They do not require a new
atonement and renewing of the Spirit, but the exercise of the graces of
that Spirit which is already in them. For their cleansing, therefore, no
new sacrificial rites nor official administrator were appointed; but
they were required to wash _themselves_. This did not prohibit the
employment of any customary assistance in the washing; as, for example,
that of a servant pouring water on the hands. But such assistance, if
employed, was merely ministerial, and not official. The washing, however
performed, was the duty and act of the subject of it, and therein lay
its significance. Its language was that of the apostle; “Having,
therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear
of God.”—2 Cor. vii, 1.
The termination of the defilement, upon the performance of the appointed
self-washing, with the going down of the sun, certified the deliverance
of God’s people from sin and corruption, with the end of this present
life, in the coming rest of the believer’s grave, awaiting the seventh
day of resurrection and glory.
SECTION XXVI.—_Gradation of the Self-washings._
There was a noticeable gradation in the self-washings.
1. First was the washing of the hands, alone. This was required of the
magistrates expiating a concealed murder. (Deut. xxi, 6.) It is also
indicated in Leviticus xv, 11. It will be further examined hereafter.
The figure of washing the hands, as expressive of innocence and purity,
occurs repeatedly in the Scriptures; and as the hands are the ordinary
instruments of the actions and labors of life, the meaning of the figure
is very manifest. Says Job, in his complaint to God, “If I wash myself
with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge
me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.”—Job ix, 30, 31.
That is, “Though I give the utmost heed to conform my whole life and
conduct to the requirements of thy holiness, yet, in the severity and
penetration of thy judgment, thou wilt discover and reveal me to myself
as utterly unclean.” The psalmist has recourse to the same figure, in a
happier spirit. “I will wash mine hands in innocency, so will I compass
thine altar, O Lord; that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving,
and tell of all thy wondrous works.”—Ps. xxvi, 6, 7.
2. Next in the order of these observances was the ordinance requiring
the priests to wash their hands and feet in preparation for the duties
of their ministry at the sanctuary. This will be discussed hereafter.
3. In certain milder forms of uncleanness till the even, the person was
required to wash his clothes, merely. This rule applied to such as he
that ate or slept in a house shut up on suspicion of leprosy (Lev. xiv,
47); and he that carried an unclean carcase, or ate unclean flesh. (Lev.
xi, 25, 28, 40.) From the time when our first parents, in the conscious
nakedness of guilt, made themselves aprons of fig-leaves, which the Lord
replaced with coats of skins, the garments had a recognized
significance, which is traceable long before the giving of the law; and,
running through all the Scriptures, gives form to the imagery of the
last book of all. When Jacob, on his return from Chaldea, was required
by God to go to Bethel and erect an altar, he called on his household
and followers to be clean and change their garments (Gen. xxxv, 2); that
is, to put off their soiled garments and put on clean. So, at Sinai, in
preparation for its transactions, Moses was directed to “sanctify the
people to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their clothes.”—Ex. xix,
10, 14.
A few other Scriptures will develop the meaning of this symbol. In the
vision of Zechariah: “He showed me Joshua the high-priest, standing
before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to
resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan;
even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a
brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua, was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake to those
that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him.
And unto him he said, Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from
thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.”—Zech. iii, 1-4.
“Others save with fear,” says Jude, “pulling them out of the fire;
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”—Jude 23. With this
compare the definition of “pure religion and undefiled,”—“to keep
himself unspotted from the world.”—Jas. i, 27. “Thou hast a few names
even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and they shall
walk with me in white; for they are worthy.”—Rev. iii, 4. In his
visions, John saw the souls of them that were slain for the word of God,
and a great multitude out of every nation, “clothed with white robes.”
And the angel told him, “These are they that have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”—Ib. vi, 11; vii, 9, 14.
“Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his
garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”—Ib. xvi, 15. To
the bride, the Lamb’s wife, it “was granted that she should be arrayed
in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints.”—Ib. xix, 8. Literally, “is the righteousnesses of the
saints.”
From these Scriptures, it is evident: that clean or white garments
primarily and essentially mean, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, in which his people are robed, so that the shame of their
spiritual nakedness may not appear (Rev. iii, 18; vii, 14; Phil, iii, 8,
9); that keeping them clean, or unspotted, means, the maintaining of
that watchful holiness of heart and life which is becoming those who
have been bought and robed as are Christ’s people; and that washing the
garments signifies recourse to the blood and Spirit of Christ, as the
only and effectual means of making and keeping them free from
defilement.
4. In certain cases, the unclean until the even were required to wash
their clothes and bathe their flesh. The characteristic examples of this
observance, are those who had carried or touched any thing on which one
defiled with an issue had sat or lain. (Lev. xv, 5, 6, etc.) A careful
examination of this class, in comparison with the preceding, proves them
to be essentially one in meaning, the difference being mainly if not
entirely in degree. The defilement in the present case was aggravated by
the fact that its cause was symbolical of man’s depravity, breaking out
in active corruption and transgression. On the other hand, the unclean
animals, from which the milder form of this uncleanness was contracted
represented the evil of man’s nature, simply as native and indwelling,
without the active element of outbreaking depravity and wickedness.
Hence, the difference, in requiring the washing of both the flesh and
the garments, was designed to give emphasis to the admonition conveyed;
and to teach the additional lesson, that whilst all contact with the
ungodly and the world is dangerous to the purity of Christian character,
and renders necessary a continual recourse to the sanctifying power and
grace of the Holy Spirit; especially is this requisite in case of
intimate relations with it, in its active forms of ungodliness and
corruption, dissipation and riot.
5. The only other class, to be enumerated under this head, consists of
those who, in addition to other rites of purifying, were required to
shave off their hair. Such were lepers, in their cleansing (Lev. xiv, 8,
9); the Levites, upon their consecration (Num. viii, 7); a Nazarite,
defiled, before the completion of his vow (Num. vi, 9); and a captive
woman, chosen as a bride (Deut. xxi, 12). With these may be compared the
Nazarite, at the completion of his vow, although this did not belong to
the category of purifying. The Scriptures contain no formal explanation
of this requirement. But the nature and circumstances of the cases as
compared with each other, and the general principles of typical analogy,
indicate the interpretation. The hair of the leper, for example, was the
product and outgrowth of his leprous state, and must therefore be put
off and repudiated, with his entrance on the the new life of the clean.
The same principle applies to all the other cases, except that of the
Nazarite, upon the completion of his vow. His hair was the product of
the time during which, by the consecration of his vow, all belonged to
God. It could not, therefore, be retained, but was shaved off and
offered upon the altar, as holy. (Num. vi, 18.) In the other cases, it
was cast away as unclean. Thus, as in all the preceding regulations, the
same lesson is repeated, which is so needful, and to our stupidity, so
hard to learn;—the lesson of putting off the old man and putting on the
new.
SECTION XXVII.—_Mode implied in the Meaning of the Rite._
The instructiveness and utility of types and symbols consist in an
appreciable analogy between them and the spiritual things which they are
appointed to symbolize. In the case of the Old Testament self-washings,
I suppose it has never entered the imagination of any one that they were
types of the burial of the Lord Jesus. Of such an interpretation there
is not a trace anywhere in the Scriptures. On the contrary, such meaning
is there attributed to them that, in order to a sustained analogy, the
subject of the rite should, by a voluntary and active exercise of his
own powers take and apply the water to his members and person, for their
cleansing. In this respect, they stand in emphatic contrast with the
sprinkled water of purifying. That was designed to concentrate the
attention of Israel upon the active agency of the Mediator, in bestowing
the baptism of his blood and Spirit, for the renewing and quickening of
dead souls. In it, therefore, the subject was the passive recipient of
rites dispensed by the hands of another. But the activity of the
Christian life and warfare were symbolized by the self-washings.
Christ’s grace is given his people, not to sanction supineness and
indolence; but to stimulate to activity in the pursuit of holiness. As
the Spirit is now to them an opened fountain, they are to have recourse
to it, to seek and obtain, day by day, more grace, for the purging of
the flesh, for overcoming the world, for bringing forth the fruits of
the Spirit, for fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on
eternal life.
This, which comprehends the whole matter of practical religion is urged
in the Scriptures, not only by direct and continual admonitions, but in
the use of every variety of figures and illustrations. It was the lesson
taught, under the figure of self-washing. Pure water is alike adapted to
quicken the soil, to quench the thirst, and to cleanse the garments and
the person. But, as the water of life will not quench the thirst of the
soul, unless we _come_ and _drink_, neither will it purge away the
defilements of evil, unless we take it and apply it, with diligence and
labor. “Wash ye! make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from
before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”—Isa.
i, 16, 17. The Spirit thus clearly indicates that self-washing signified
an intense and life-pervasive activity,—an activity applied, in detail,
to each particular relation and duty, so as to purge out every principle
of evil, and conform every act to the law of holiness. To correspond
with this meaning of the rite, its form should be such as to call forth
the active energies of the subject, by the application of the water to
the appointed parts and members of the person in detail; and by such
successive manipulation as is proper to secure a thorough cleansing. The
ordinary mode of washing, among Israel, as we shall presently see,
perfectly met these requirements; whilst immersion would have been
wholly inadequate, not to say directly contradictory to them, since it
indicates a mere passive recipiency, and not an active appropriation and
use of the means of cleansing.
SECTION XXVIII.—_The Words used to designate the Washings._
The discriminating use of words on this subject, in the original
Scriptures is very noticeable, and is susceptible of being brought
within the comprehension of any intelligent reader of the English
version. There are three which are worthy of special notice.
1. _Shātaph_ means, to overflow, or rush over, as a swollen torrent or a
beating rain. Thus,—“Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one,
which, as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty
waters _overflowing_,” shall beat down the crown of pride. (Isa. xxviii,
2.) Again,—“Say unto them which daub with untempered mortar that it
shall fall; there shall be an _overflowing_ shower,” beating it down.
(Ezek. xiii, 11-14.) From this, the radical meaning of the word, is
derived its use to signify the act of washing or rinsing, by means of
water dashed or flowed over the object. It is employed in application to
vessels of wood and of brass (Lev. vi, 28; xv, 12), and to the hands of
the unclean. (Ib. xv, 11.) In all these places it is translated, to
rinse.
2. _Kābas._ The radical meaning of this verb is, to tread, to trample.
The participle from it is used to designate the craft of the fuller, who
fulled his goods by treading them with the feet. Hence its use to
signify the thorough cleansing and whitening of clothing and stuffs. The
word occurs in the Old Testament forty-six times, with this uniform
meaning. It is used whenever the ritual washing of clothes is spoken of.
From it a very striking figure is derived, which appears twice, to
indicate the most thorough self-cleansing, under the idea of a garment
scoured, with “nitre and much soap” (Jer. ii, 22; iv, 14), and twice, to
indicate a like thorough cleansing wrought by the Holy Spirit. “_Wash_
me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.... Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: _wash_ me, and I shall be whiter
than snow” (Psa. li, 2, 7), white, as a garment is made by the fuller’s
art. (Mark ix, 3.) These passages indicate the essential idea of the
word. It is expressive of a scouring, or washing, which searches the
very texture of the fabric. It is, however, worthy of notice that in the
Targum of Onkelos, on Numbers xix, 19, it is rendered, “to sprinkle.”
“The clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean, on the third day and
on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall be clean; and he
_shall sprinkle_ his raiment, and wash with water, and at even he shall
be clean.“ This rendering is very noteworthy, as it indicates the manner
in which the law was understood on this point. In fact, as we have
already seen, sprinkling signified the most thorough cleansing.
_Rāhatz._ While _kābas_ indicates a purifying of the substance, _rāhatz_
signifies a washing of the surface. This is the word which is invariably
used to express the ritual self-washings or bathings of the hands, the
feet, and the person. It is sometimes assumed that, like the English, to
wash, _rāhatz_ is strictly generic in its meaning—that it signifies to
cleanse with, or in, water, without any regard to mode. This is an
error, as a single fact shows. It is never used for the cleansing of
skins, clothes, or garments. Nor is this an accidental omission. Such
washings are mentioned nearly fifty times, and in nineteen places they
are brought into connection with the bathing of the person. But in no
one place is the word in question used either generically, as
comprehensive of both the person and garments, or specifically for the
latter. In every place where the two processes come in the same
connection, the language is accurately discriminated. The directions
are, to _wash_, or scour (_kābas_), the clothes, and to _bathe_
(_rāhatz_) the flesh. This word occurs over seventy times. In five or
six places, it applies to the washing of sacrificial flesh, before it
was placed on the altar. (Lev. i, 9, 13, etc.) In every other instance
it refers to the human person. It expresses cleansing with water
actively applied to the surface. Thus, when Joseph ”_washed_ his face,”
to obliterate the traces of tears (Gen. xliii, 31), and when the Beloved
is described, “His eyes, as the eyes of doves by the rivers [rivulets]
of waters, _washed_ with milk and fitly set” (Cant. v, 12), the
reference is clearly to the familiar mode of washing the face with water
applied. When the Lord, by Isaiah, speaks of the time when he “shall
have _washed away_ the filth of the daughters of Zion” (Isa. iv, 4), and
when the Preacher describes “a generation that are pure in their own
eyes, and yet is not _washed from_ their filthiness” (Prov. xxx, 12),
the idea presented is the same—that of water actively applied to the
surface, so as to detach and carry off the dirt. In another place this
definition is even more imperatively indicated. “Then (_rāhatz_) washed
I thee with water; yea (_shātaph_), I thoroughly washed away thy blood
from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.”—Ezek. xvi, 9. Here three
things unite to determine the meaning of _rāhatz_. 1. It is explained by
_shātaph_, the signification of which we have seen. 2. The defilement
from which the washing is promised, is that of _nidda_, for which
expressly the sprinkled “water of _nidda_” was appointed and named. 3.
The construction is precisely the same in the two clauses of the verse,
“I washed thee _with_ water,” and “I anointed thee _with_ oil.” Of the
mode of the latter there can be no question. In both clauses the element
named is the _instrument_ of the action specified. The ideas of washing
and of immersion are not merely different, but sharply contrasted with
each other. Where there is an immersion, there may also be a washing.
But it must be by additional action. _Rāhatz_ expresses the latter. It
neither expresses nor implies the former.
SECTION XXIX.—_The Mode of Domestic Ablution._
The customs of Israel as to personal ablution would, it is evident,
decide the manner of these self-washings, in the absence of explicit
directions. The indications in their history are very decisive on this
point.
1. The patriarchs were keepers of cattle, dwelling in tents. The
circumstances of such a mode of life forbid the supposition that they
were accustomed to the use of the immersion bath. The possession, the
transportation, and the use of the requisite vessels, are wholly foreign
to that mode of life.
2. Facts in the history of the patriarchs confirm the correctness of the
inference thus indicated. Although in later ages, after Palestine had
been pierced with wells, water was abundant for all the uses incident to
the mode of life of the people, the contrary was true, in earlier times.
Surface streams are of rare occurrence. The substratum is a cavernous
limestone, into the cavities of which the rains quickly percolate. Hagar
and Ishmael were in danger of perishing of thirst, when sent away by
Abraham. (Gen. xxi, 15.) Abraham and Isaac relied on digging for water;
and the scarcity and value of the element were indicated by the violence
with which the other inhabitants of the country seized wells digged by
each of those patriarchs. (Gen. xxi, 25; xxvi, 19-22.) These were
usually deep, and all the water used for personal washings, as well as
for drinking and for culinary uses, must be laboriously drawn and
carried by the maidens of the camp. We can thus see the bearing of the
phraseology of Abraham in tendering his hospitality. “Let a _little
water_, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet.”—Gen. xviii, 4.
3. We may safely conclude that Jacob and his family did not take with
them into Egypt the habit of bathing by immersion. But may they not have
acquired it in the land of their bondage? It happens that we have very
interesting evidence as to the custom of the Egyptians on this subject.
Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, in his splendid work on “The Manners and
Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,” gives an engraved copy of the only
pictorial illustration on this subject found by him among the abundant
remains of Egyptian art. It is taken from a tomb in Thebes. In it, a
lady is represented with four attendants. One removes the jewelry and
clothes which she has put off; another pours water from a vase over her
head: the third rubs her arms and body with open hands; and a fourth,
seated near her, holds a flower to her nose, and supports her, as she
sits. “The same subject,” says Wilkinson, “is treated nearly in the same
manner on some of the Greek vases, the water being poured over the
bather, who kneels or is seated on the ground.”[14] The Greeks were
colonists from Egypt, with which country their relations were always
intimate. And the fact, which will hereafter appear, that this was the
only mode of domestic or in-door bathing, in use among them, is very
significant, as to the customs of Egypt on the point.
Footnote 14:
Wilkinson, vol. iii, p. 388; Abridged edition, ii, 349.
4. It is hardly necessary to insist on the utter impossibility of the
Hebrew bondmen having acquired in Egypt more luxurious habits than those
of their Egyptian taskmasters,—habits, too, requiring much more
expensive appliances, such as would be necessary for immersion-bathing.
And, when they left Egypt, “their kneading troughs being bound up in
their clothes upon their shoulders” (Ex. xii, 34), the supposition that
they had with them a sufficient supply of bath tubs to serve for the
continual immersions which, upon the Baptist theory, the Levitical law
demanded, does not need to be controverted. In fact, the customary mode
of washing, among Israel, as traceable in all their history, was
precisely that which we have seen in use among the patriarchs and the
Egyptians. It was, with water poured on, and the necessary rubbing by
the bather himself, or by an attendant. This custom was universal in
Israel, and throughout the east, from the earliest ages. At first, the
only utensil used was a pitcher or jar, out of which the water was
poured. A case before referred to in the history of Abraham illustrates
the circumstances and manner of this usage. As he sat in his tent door,
in the heat of the day, he saw three men approach. He ran to salute
them, and said, “Let a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and
rest yourselves under the tree.”—Gen. xviii, 1-4. The washing was done
in the open air, and the earth received the flowing water. In the same
region, the Dead Sea expedition found the same custom among the
tent-dwelling Arabs. On one occasion, “having as usual submitted to be
stared at and their arms handed about and inspected, as if they were on
muster, water was brought and poured upon their hands, from a very
equivocal water jar; after which followed the repast.”[15]
Footnote 15:
Lynch’s Dead Sea Expedition, p. 206.
So long as the simplicity of tent life was maintained, this was
all-sufficient. But, afterward, the convenience of a bowl or basin was
added, which was so placed as to catch the water, as it flowed off, in
washing, thus preventing the wetting of the floor. The water, once used,
was not applied a second time, but rejected, as being defiled. The
examples of Bathsheba and Susanna indicate that, in bathing the person,
even in the later times, the primitive custom still so far survived that
resort was sometimes had to a retired place outside the house; no doubt
because of the inconvenience of flooding the floor with the water, as it
was poured over the person. “The History of Susanna,” (one of the
Apocryphal books), dates as far back as two centuries before Christ. The
heroine is described as an eminently modest and virtuous woman. Her
husband, Joachim, “was a rich man, and had a fair garden adjoining his
house.” His house was a place of resort to the Jews, and the magistrates
commonly sat there, to exercise their office. It was Susanna’s custom to
walk in the garden at noon, after the people had left the house. Two of
the elders are described as plotting against her. “And it fell out, as
they watched a fit time, she went in as before with two maids only, and
she was desirous to wash herself in the garden; for it was hot. And
there was nobody there save the two elders, that had hid themselves and
watched her. Then she said to her maids, Bring me oil and washing balls,
and shut the garden doors, that I may wash. And they did as she had bade
them, and shut the garden doors, and went out themselves at private
doors, to fetch the things that she had commanded them.” Her purpose is
prevented by the appearance of the two elders, from whose false
accusation she is in the sequel rescued by the famous “judgment of
Daniel.” The same custom is illustrated by the case of Pharaoh’s
daughter at the finding of Moses, and by the Egyptian picture, from
Wilkinson. A signal proof of the prevalence of the custom of washing
with water poured on by an attendant, presents itself, in the fact that
the designation of a body servant, or personal attendant, was derived
from it. Elisha the prophet had been the minister or attendant of
Elijah, before the translation of the latter. Of this relation, king
Jehoshaphat was informed by the statement that it was he “which poured
water on the hands of Elijah.”—2 Kings iii, 11.
The circumstances render it certain that this was the form of washing in
the expiation of a concealed murder. The elders of the nearest city were
required to take an unbroken heifer down into a rough and uncultivated
valley or gorge, and there, in the presence of the priests, strike off
its head, wash their hands over the carcass, and call God to witness
their innocence in the matter. Thus, the water flowing from their hands
upon the carcass, transferred to it and the barren spot where it lay the
putative guilt of the crime. (Deut. xxi, 3-9.)
From this ordinance, the form seems to have become a familiar mode of
protesting innocence of crime, and is memorable for that occasion when
Pilate “took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I
am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.”—Matt.
xxvii, 24. Two primitive representations of this scene, in sculptured
relief, have been found in the catacombs at Rome. They date from the
first centuries of the Christian era. In them the wife of Pilate appears
in the background, with averted face. An attendant holds a vase or
pitcher in one hand, and in the other a bowl: while Pilate sits rubbing
his hands. The position of the bowl shows it to be empty. “The mode of
washing implied in the empty bowl is characteristic. In the east, the
water is still poured from the vase over the hands, and caught in the
bowl, so that it should not pass over them twice.”[16]
Footnote 16:
Maitland’s “Church of the Catacombs,” p. 261. Also, Withrow’s
“Catacombs,” p. 333.
The manner of washing the feet is illustrated by a fact in the life of
our Savior. At dinner, in the house of Simon, the Pharisee, a woman that
was a sinner “brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his
feet, behind him, weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and
did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and
anointed them with the ointment.”—Luke vii, 37, 38, 44. But how was it
possible for the woman, coming behind him at table, to get access to his
feet: which, according to our custom, would be concealed under the
table? The ordinary mode of sitting, in the east, then as now, was, on
the ground or floor, squat, cross-legged, or reclining. Chairs were not
in common use, but were reserved for purposes of state, and used almost
exclusively by dignitaries. In later times a bench or settee was
introduced, which was without a back. Whether on it or the floor, the
usual position, in eating was the same. The guests reclined on the left
elbow, leaving the right hand free. The person next on the right thus
leaned toward or against the breast of him who was at the head. (John
xiii, 23.) The feet were drawn up behind. Persons who wore sandals,
always, on entering a house, left them at the door. These were not
ordinarily worn by the common people, but only upon occasions of special
travel; and our Savior, therefore, forbade his disciples to take time to
provide them, in the haste of the mission on which he first sent them to
preach. (Matt. x, 10; Luke x, 4.) They poorly protected the feet from
the soiling and roughness of the way.[17] Decency, therefore, and
comfort both,—especially in the case of guests coming from a distance,
required that the feet should be washed, immediately upon entrance, and
the addition of oil or ointment was not only agreeable, for the perfumes
commonly mixed with it, but very soothing and grateful to the weary and
excoriated feet. It was one of the first obligations of hospitality to
provide for this washing of the feet of guests. (Gen. xviii, 4; xix, 2;
etc.) Where special respect was intended, the office was sometimes
performed by the master of the house, or his wife. As the guest
reclined, his feet projecting over the edge of the seat behind him, a
basin was placed beneath, so as to receive the flowing water, as it was
poured over them. To this mode there is an allusion in the language of
our Savior, to Simon the Pharisee, upon the occasion just referred to,
which is lost in our translation. “I entered thine house. Water _upon_
my feet thou didst not give.”—Luke vii, 44.[18] So, the night of the
betrayal, Jesus took water and a towel and washed and wiped the
disciples’ feet, as they reclined; and thus the woman came behind him at
the table, and bedewed his feet with her tears. To this customary rite
of hospitality Paul refers, when he describes a widow—“if she have
lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet.”—1 Tim. v, 10. To
it, Abigail alludes, when, in response to David’s offer of marriage, she
replies,—“Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant, to wash the feet of
the servants of my lord.”—1 Sam. xxv, 41. If the ritual bathings of
Israel were immersions, the mode was without precedent in the domestic
habits of the people; as it was without prescription in the law.
Footnote 17:
“Several of them [Arabs of the Jordan] wore sandals, a rude invention
to protect the feet. It was a thick piece of hide, confined by a thong
passing under the sole at the hollow of the foot, around the heel, and
between the great toe and the one which adjoins it.”—Lynch’s “Dead Sea
Expedition,” p. 282. These thongs were the “latchets” of Mark i, 7.
Footnote 18:
“Ὕδωρ ἐπὶ τοὺς πόδας μου οὐκ ἔδωκας.” The preposition, επι, with the
accusative, means _upon_, with the idea of previous or present
motion,—to wit, (in this place,) of the water, poured and flowing upon
the feet.
SECTION XXX.—_The Facilities requisite._
Not only was the rite of immersion without precedent in the domestic
customs of Israel. It was wholly impracticable as an observance to be
fulfilled with the frequency of the ritual washings of the law. On this
point, delicacy forbids unnecessary detail. But an examination of the
various requirements on the subject of uncleanness, and especially as
contained in the fifteenth chapter of Leviticus, will establish the fact
that recourse to those washings, was a matter of constant,—almost
daily,—necessity, in every household, and for both men and women. In
order to fulfil these obligations, the supposition that immersion was
the mode would render two things imperatively necessary in every
family,—a very large supply of water;—and a capacious bath-tub or tank
in which the immersions might be performed. As to these points, but few
words are necessary. The people of Israel did not usually live on their
lands in the country; but, like all other populations of the east, were
gathered in towns and villages, to which they resorted at night; going
forth in the day-time to their labors in the field. This mode of life
was rendered necessary to avoid exposure to the depredations of bands of
wandering marauders; and was equally congenial to the social disposition
and habits of the people. The population of each village was accustomed
to depend, for the supply of water, upon a well to which all resorted,
and which was usually near the gate of the village. From this source,
each household was supplied; the water being carried in pitchers, or
jars, on the shoulders of the females of the family.[19] It is
unnecessary to protract argument. The facts are of themselves
conclusive. The washings can not have been immersions.
This conclusion is confirmed by the absence of vessels of any kind
suited to the performance of such a rite. Neither in the Old Testament
nor the New, neither in the Apocrypha, Philo, nor Josephus is there any
mention of such facilities, or such a rite, nor allusion to them. In
fact, with all the advantages and appliances of modern civilization,
there is not, and there never was a people on the globe of whom one in a
hundred could comply with the law of Moses, if interpreted in the
Baptist sense. And it is certain that no primitive people ever adopted
that mode of domestic bathing—a mode which implies a very great advance
in luxury and its appliances. The Greeks themselves did not use it,
except as they sometimes resorted to rivers and streams. In their
arrangements for bathing, domestic and public, the immersion bath was
unknown until introduced with the luxury of imperial Rome. In Homer’s
description of the bath of Ulysses in the palace of Circe, the hero is
described as seated in a vessel which contained no water, but was
designed to receive that which was poured over him; and the bathing was
performed in a manner identical with that which we have seen practiced
in Egypt. In the remains of antique Greek art, the bath is frequently
represented. But the mode is invariably the same. The bather is placed
_beside_ the vessel containing the water, which is taken thence in a
dipper or jar, and poured over him.[20]
Footnote 19:
Gen. xxiv, 13.—; Ex. ii, 15-19; Judges v, 11; Ruth ii, 1-4; 2 Sam.
xxiii, 15; 1 Sam. ix, 11; John iv, 7; Matt. xx, 1-7.
Footnote 20:
See Wilkinson, above quoted, and Smith’s Greek and Roman Antiquities,
_article_ “Balneæ;” and below pp. 200, 207.
Homer’s description of the bath of Ulysses is thus rendered by Bryant:
A nymph—“the fourth
Brought water from the fountain, and beneath
A massive tripod kindled a great fire,
And warmed the water. When it boiled, within
The shining brass, she led me to the bath,
And washed me from the tripod. On my head
And shoulders, pleasantly, she shed the streams
That from my members took away the sense
Of weariness, unmanning body and mind.”[21]
Footnote 21:
Bryant’s Odyssey, Book X, 429-437.
SECTION XXXI.—_The Washings of the Priests._
Writers upon the types and symbols of the Scriptures too often fail to
recognize or appreciate their unity, symmetry, and completeness as a
system, and the just proportion and propriety of each several part in
its relation to the whole. That such must have been their character was
impressively intimated to Israel by the emphasis with which Moses was
admonished to “look that thou make them after their pattern, which was
shewed thee in the mount.”—Ex. xxv, 40; xxvii, 8; Num. viii, 4. The
reason of this particularity is stated by Paul. “Who serve unto the
example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God
when he was about to make the tabernacle; for, See, saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the
mount.”—Heb. viii, 5. The tabernacle and its appurtenances were a
systematic and luminous exposition of the plan of grace. Approaching it
from without, the first object that presented itself was the brazen
altar of burnt-offering, exhibiting the price of redemption. Between it
and the door of the tabernacle stood the laver, the pure water of which
symbolized the Holy Spirit, through whom is the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, the essential condition precedent to
admittance to the fold of Christ. Entering the tabernacle, the first
apartment represented the church on earth, the fold of the covenant. In
it the light always shone from the seven branched golden candlestick,
the lamps of which, continually replenished with oil by the priest,
symbolized the church shining as the light of the world, through the oil
of grace, the unction of the Holy One, ministered by our great High
Priest. The table of show bread always supplied with twelve loaves,
according to the number of the twelve tribes, set forth that Bread of
life ever abundant for all, which nourishes the people of God in the
earthly church, in preparation for the heavenly. Immediately before the
veil, and before the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies stood the
altar of incense, the fire of which, kindled with coals from the altar
of burnt-offering, set forth the prayers of God’s people, made
acceptable and fragrant before the throne, by virtue of the atonement
and intercession of Christ. Within the veil,—thin curtain between the
earthly and the heavenly house,—the mercy seat covering the ark, and the
tables of the covenant law enclosed therein, represented the throne of
God’s grace resting upon the firm foundation of his eternal law, thus
showing that mercy to man is conditioned upon satisfaction to that law
by the blood of atonement sprinkled there. All the other features of the
system, its rites and ceremonies, were constructed and ordered in a
strictly symmetrical and congruous relation to these. A recollection of
these points will aid in a just appreciation of the points involved in
the present discussion.
Of the form and dimensions of the laver, the Scriptures give no account,
except that it stood on a foot or pedestal. (Ex. xxx, 18.) It was,
however, of such size and proportions as to be carried about with Israel
in their journeyings, probably with bars, borne on the shoulders of the
Levites, as was the altar. In preparing facilities for the purpose of
immersion, our Baptist brethren invariably sink the font to such a level
that the minister and the subjects of the rite may descend into it. And
this arrangement is a dictate, not of convenience only, but of decency,
in the performance of the service. But, to suppose the laver
sufficiently large and deep to serve as an immersion font, and then
place it upon a pedestal, involves an elevation which must have rendered
it, practically, inaccessible for such purposes, and precludes the idea
that it was intended to be so used. In fact, the laver was not a bath
tub, nor ever used as such, but a containing vessel from which was drawn
water for all the uses of the sanctuary. The engravings which appear on
pages 200, 207 below, precisely correspond with the Mosaic description
of the laver, and probably give a very closely approximate idea of its
form, size, and proportions.
In the temple of Solomon, the one laver of the tabernacle was replaced
by a “sea of brass,” and ten lavers. The sea was appropriated to the
washings of the priests, whilst the lavers were used for washing the
sacrifices. That they were used as fountains of supply, and not as
vessels in which the sacrifices were washed, appears from the fact that
they rested on bases four cubits square, by three cubits high, and were
of the same proportions. (1 Kings vii, 27, 38.) The Hebrew text gives
the length, breadth, and height of the bases, but only the length and
breadth of the lavers. The Septuagint and Josephus give the former
dimensions, and add the height of the lavers—three cubits. Thus, the
bottoms of the lavers were four and a half feet above the pavement on
which they stood, and their brims, nine feet above it. They were,
moreover, provided with wheels, so as to be removed from place to place,
as occasion required. That the sacrifices were not immersed in them is
evident. The Talmud states that they were washed upon marble tables; and
this is the mode for which provision is made in the vision of Ezekiel.
(Ezek. xl, 38-43.)
The sea of brass was ten cubits in diameter, and five cubits high; that
is, about fifteen feet by seven and a half. It was elevated on twelve
brazen oxen, the height of which is not given. But if we allow them no
greater height than the bases of the lavers, the whole height was about
twelve feet; a height not suggestive of convenience for immersions.
2. The brazen sea was no part of the tabernacle furniture when God
directed Moses to “bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation and wash them with water.”—Ex. xl, 12;
comp. xxix, 4. “And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing
which the Lord commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his
sons and washed them with water.”—Lev. viii, 5, 6. Respecting this, the
facts are so evident as to admit but one conclusion. (1.) The command
given was not to immerse Aaron and his sons, but (_rāhatz_), to wash
them, according to the proper meaning of that word, as already shown,
and after the ordinary manner of ablution. (2.) The transaction is
thrice described, in the places referred to above; but the laver is not
once mentioned, nor any means of immersion. (3.) The place of the
washing is so described as to exclude immersion. Thrice repeated, it is
still, “_at_ the door,” of the tabernacle. (Lev. viii, 4.) If the
priests were immersed, on this occasion, the laver was the only vessel
in which it can have been done; and, not only was it so constructed as
to render its use impossible, but the language of the account is such as
to conceal the fact. But here was no immersion. As commanded, Moses
_washed_ Aaron and his sons.
3. When Moses was ordered to make the laver, its purpose was stated:
“Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat; when
they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with
water, that they die not; or, when they come near to the altar, to
minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord. So they shall
wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a
statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their
generations.”—Ex. xxx, 19-21. Not only were the priests thus to wash
their hands and their feet, but also certain parts of the
sacrifices.—“The priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head
and the fat in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the
altar; but his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water; and the
priest shall burn all on the altar.”—Lev. i, 8, 9, 13; viii, 21; ix, 14.
Should we set aside the arguments arising from the meaning of the word
employed,—from the customs of the people as to personal ablutions,—and
from the form and elevation of the laver, the present facts discover an
insurmountable objection to the idea of immersion. Or, will it be
insisted that the priests as they came into the sanctuary at the
appointed times of service, successively, climbed to the top of the
laver and, balancing on its brim, immersed their hands and feet; and,
then, in fulfillment of their official duties, immersed in the water
thus fouled, the inwards, or bowels and intestines, and the pieces of
the sacrifices, about to be offered to God? The supposition would be
indecent and profane. And yet, this is the unavoidable result of
demanding immersion, in this case. For, the same language is used in
requiring the washing of the priests and of the sacrifices, and there
was but one laver, to supply all demands for water at the sanctuary.
4. But, again: On the day of atonement, the high priest was required, at
a certain time in the order of observances for the day, being alone in
the sanctuary, to “wash his flesh with water in the holy place.”—Lev.
xvi, 24. Here, at least, there is no room for controversy. The laver was
outside the door of the tabernacle. The priest was within, “in the holy
place.” In it, there was no vessel in which an immersion could take
place. Immersion was not merely improbable.—It was impossible. The
circumstances compel us to accept the language of the place, just as it
stands; and to believe that the high priest, on this occasion _washed_
himself, and that he did so, as all washings of the person are
performed, “_with_ water,” as an instrumental means; and that it was
applied with his own hands to his own person.
5. Living or fresh water is the most familiar Scriptural symbol of the
Holy Spirit. This is fully considered elsewhere. In the symbolism of the
tabernacle and temple, the water of the lavers and sea of brass was the
appointed symbol of that blessed Person, as the source of all cleansing
and sanctifying influences. In this view, the fact is instructive, that,
in the temple of Ezekiel’s vision, (Ezek. xl-xlviii) there was no laver;
but, instead, the waters of the river of life flowed from the spot on
which the laver should have stood. Jewish tradition states the laver to
have stood on the south side of the door of the tabernacle, which looked
toward the east. That was the position of the brazen sea. “He set the
sea on the right side of the house, eastward, over against the south.”—1
Kings vii, 39. “On the right side of the east end, over against the
south.”—2 Chron. iv, 10. In Ezekiel, “the forefront of the house stood
toward the east, and the waters came down from under, from the right
side of the house at the south side of the altar.”—Ezek. xlvii, 1. Nor
is it unworthy of consideration, that, if the laver was designed as a
baptistery or immersion font, the living stream described by Ezekiel was
wholly inadequate to such a purpose; being, at that point, but a
rivulet, not ankle deep. (Ib. 3-5.)
6. The meaning of the water, taken in connection with the relation which
Moses, by divine appointment, sustained to Aaron, suggests the
interpretation of the washing of the latter by Moses. Moses was to Aaron
“instead of God” (Ex. iv, 16); and since Aaron’s priesthood was typical
of that of the Lord Jesus, it follows, that the action of Moses, in
washing his brother, and then robing him in the holy garments of the
priesthood, was typical of the agency of the Father, in endowing our
great High Priest, through the Holy Spirit, with a sinless humanity,
(Heb. x, 5-7) and in it, investing him with the eternal priesthood which
he now fulfills. This washing of Aaron is to be discriminated from his
official anointing. The latter signified the official gifts and
qualifications of Christ, whilst the former had respect to his birth and
growth in personal holiness. (Luke ii, 52.)
7. The significance of the feet, in the figurative system of the
Scriptures, appears in the proverb, which, among the things that the
Lord hates, enumerates “feet that be swift in running to
mischief.”—Prov. vi, 18. On the other hand, the Psalmist says,—“I turned
my feet unto thy testimonies.”—“I refrained my feet from every evil
way.”—Ps. cxix, 59, 101. The hands and feet, together, represent, fully,
the active energies of man. And the priests washing their hands and
feet, when they came to minister at the altar was typical of the active
righteousness of the Lord Jesus. This is the more apparent, when
associated with the other fact, that in fulfilling the office for which
they thus washed themselves, they were required, as already stated, to
wash the inwards and the legs of the burnt offerings, (Lev. i, 9, 13;
etc.); the inwards, or bowels representing the affections, and the legs
the active powers. Thus, the priests and the sacrifices together
typified the essential holiness and the active obedience of the Lord
Jesus, “who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself, without spot,
to God.”—Heb. ix, 14. In all this, there is still nothing to demand, to
suggest, or allow, the idea of immersion. The significance of the rites
accords perfectly with all the other irresistible indications, which
lead us to the conclusion that under no circumstances was immersion ever
used in the washings of the priests, or the rites of the tabernacle and
temple service.
SECTION XXXII.—_Like these were the Washings of the People._
The conclusion just indicated as to the washings of the priests, carries
with it a like decision respecting all the self-performed washings.
1. The word _rāhatz_, to wash, is used in the same manner, in the
directions given with respect to all the various cases, of hands, feet
and person,—of priests and people, and of the sacrificial pieces, alike.
2. The self-washings imposed on the people were of the same essential
nature and meaning as those of the priests. In both, the idea was that
of holiness and purity of heart and life, maintained by personal
watchfulness and efficiency through the grace of the Holy Spirit. If
this idea was properly symbolized by the priestly ablutions without
immersion, the conclusion is unavoidable, that among the people
immersion was unknown. To them, the mode used by the priests would be
the standard of propriety.
3. It is impossible to elicit any consistent meaning out of the supposed
immersions. The ritual system was characterized by congruity in all its
parts, and meaning everywhere. What else upon Baptist principles, can
the immersions be thought to mean, if not the burial of Christ? But how,
then, are we to understand the grades of washings, of the hands, and
feet, and garments, as so carefully distinguished from each other, and
from that of the person? What means the fact, which is so clearly
marked, that these washings were self-performed? Did Christ entomb
himself? How are we to explain the washing of Aaron by Moses? If
immersion is typical of the burial of the Lord Jesus, what pertinence
could it have to his birth and inauguration as priest? What mean the
peculiar times at which the self-washings were to be performed,—the
priests being required always to wash _before_ offering sacrifice or
ministering at the altar; whilst, the unclean for seven days performed
the same rite at the end of the seven days, _after_ they had been
restored from typical death? Was Christ buried _before_ he had made of
himself an offering and a sacrifice? Or, again, was it _after_ he had,
by the Spirit, risen from the dead? On the immersion theory, the facts
can not be reconciled.
Whilst all these considerations point decisively to one conclusion,
there is not a fact nor a circumstance to occasion even a moment’s
embarrassment in its acceptance. Assume the washings to have been
immersions, and confusion and perplexity invest the subject. Recognize
them in their true character as ablutions and not immersions, and all is
clear and congruous. The customs of the people,—the circumstances in
which the rites were performed,—the words used to describe them,—the
ritual relations in which they occur,—the analogies of the whole
system,—the examples of the priests, and every casual incident and
allusion,—all find, in this view, a center around which they cluster and
shine, in perfect harmony, clearness and congruity of meaning.
The conclusion is impregnable. Immersion, as a rite of cleansing or
purifying, was utterly unknown to Israel. And, particularly, there is
nothing whatever to be found, in all the records of the Levitical system
to which the advocates of immersion can point and say,—“Here are the
ordinances of which Paul speaks, wherein divers immersions were imposed
on Israel, until the time of reformation.” It is therefore certain that
_in the vocabulary of Paul_, BAPTIZO _did not mean, to immerse, and
baptism is not so performed_.
SECTION XXXIII.—_Defilements and Purifyings of Things._
Things, as well as persons, were liable to defilements, both the major
and the minor, and the law made correspondent provision for their
cleansing.
1. To the class of minor defilements belonged those of wooden vessels,
and bags of cloth or skin, which had been touched by the dead carcase of
an unclean animal. “It must be put into water,” and be unclean until the
even. (Lev. xi, 32.) Here, at last, is an immersion; the only one found
in the entire law. The case is of great interest as illustrating the
ease and clearness with which immersion is expressed when it was
intended. We search in vain for any corresponding directions, in the
case of persons:—“They must be put into water.” This rule moreover is of
great importance, as constituting a standard of reference by which to
ascertain the divine estimation of the value of immersion as a ritual
purifying. Of certain animals, the ordinance was that “whosoever doth
touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even. And upon
whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be
unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack,
whatsoever vessel it be wherein any work is done, it must be put into
water, and it shall be unclean until the even;—so it shall be
cleansed.”—Ib. 31, 32. Thus, it appears, from both examples,—of persons
and of things,—that the uncleanness described was of the minor grade,
which continued only till the even. In fact, it seems to have been the
lightest form of this grade. For, while the law provided that he that
bore such carcase must “wash his clothes,” (vs. 25, 28) and be unclean
until the even,—it directed, concerning the present case of mere casual
and momentary contact by touching it, that he shall be “unclean until
the even,” without any prescription of cleansing rites. (Compare also,
v. 29.) The meaning of this may be gathered from a comparison of 1 Cor.
v, 9-13. In the Levitical system, unclean beasts seem to represent
unregenerate men. To God’s people, a certain amount of contact with them
is inevitable; from which, therefore, and its defiling influences, the
only remedy is to be looked for in the ending of this life, and the
entrance upon heaven’s rest. The emphasis of the ritual warnings was,
therefore, directed, not against involuntary and casual contact with the
evil, but against dalliance with it, expressed by carrying and eating
the unclean. The immersion which we have found to be prescribed, was
appointed, not for persons, but for things,—and for things tainted with
this slightest of all the defilements known to the law. On the other
hand, as we shall presently see, for major defilements of things,—by the
dead and by leprosy,—the same sacrificial rites, and sprinkling of water
were ordained, as in the case of persons. Such is the divine testimony
as to the relative ritual value of immersion and sprinkling. I will not
wrong the intelligence of the reader, by discussing the possibility of
this immersion, being what Paul meant by the “divers baptisms” of the
law.
Other minor defilements of things were, (1.) Brazen vessels used for
cooking the flesh of the sin offerings. They were to be “scoured and
rinsed in water.” If the vessel was of earthenware, it was to be broken.
(Lev. vi, 28. Compare 1 Cor. xi, 24.) (2.) “The vessel of earth that he
toucheth, which hath an issue, shall be broken; and every vessel of wood
shall be rinsed in water.”—Ib. xv, 12.
2. Things defiled by the dead, were to be sprinkled with the water of
separation, on the third day and on the seventh. (Num. xix, 14, 15, 18.)
In the case of the spoil of Midian, there was a further
purifying.—“Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go
through the fire; and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be
purified with the water of separation; and all that abideth not the fire
ye shall make go through the water.”—Num. xxxi, 23. The word “go
through,” here, is the same that is used when Jesse is said to have
caused seven of his sons to “pass by,” and to “pass before” Samuel, (1
Sam. xvi, 9, 10); when Jacob caused his household to “pass over” the
brook, (margin, Gen. xxxii, 23); and when God promised to make all his
goodness to “pass before” Moses. (Ex. xxxiii, 19.) The alternatives here
of fire and water seem to have reference to the two great facts of
purgation in the world’s history, of which Peter speaks. (2 Pet. iii,
5-7.) The deluge was a purifying of the earth, defiled by sin, and so
will the fire be, in the final day.
3. A house infected with leprosy, when cured, was treated in a manner
essentially the same as was a person so afflicted. (Lev. xiv, 34-53.)
PART V.
LATER TRACES OF THE SPRINKLED BAPTISMS.
SECTION XXXIV.—_Old Testament Allusions._
The rite of purifying with the ashes of the red heifer was one of the
most familiar and impressive of the Mosaic institutions. That its
observance was maintained through the whole course of Israel’s history,
is evinced by the frequent allusions of the sacred writers. King Saul
found in the ordinances on this subject an explanation of David’s
absence from his table.—“Something hath befallen him. He is not clean:
surely he is not clean.”—1 Sam. xx, 26. The words of David himself have
been referred to already, as he cries,—“Purge me with hyssop, and I
shall be clean.”—Psa. li, 7. This was written about five hundred years
after the giving of the law. Three centuries later, the Lord says to
Israel by Hosea,—“Their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of
mourners,” (that is, bread made or touched by those that were defiled by
the dead), “all that eat thereof shall be polluted.”—Hosea ix, 4. Isaiah
began his prophecy about twenty-five years later,—about B. C. 760-698.
In his time a great revival took place, under the hand of King Hezekiah,
in connection with which the laws of purification came into prominent
notice. It began with the exhortation of Hezekiah, to the priests and
Levites.—“Hear me, ye Levites; _sanctify_” (or, cleanse) “now
yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers; and
carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.”—2 Chron. xxix, 5.
When this was done, the king appointed a service of dedication. In it
“the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt
offerings; wherefore, their brethren the Levites did help them, till the
work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves:
for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than
the priests.”—vs. 34. Immediately afterward the king kept a great
passover, gathering the remnants of the ten tribes, with Judah. “And the
priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves, ... for
there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore
the Levites had charge of the killing of the passovers for every one
that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord. For a multitude of
the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had
not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it
was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon
every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his
fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the
sanctuary. And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the
people.”—Ib. xxx, 15-20.
In Isaiah, occurs that prophecy of God’s grace for the Gentiles, “Behold
my servant, ... as many were astonied at thee, his visage was so marred
more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men; so shall he
_sprinkle_ many nations.”—Isa. lii, 13-15. There are two words in the
original Hebrew, meaning, to sprinkle. That which here occurs is used to
describe the purifying of the leper, and of those defiled by the dead.
The priest, with the scarlet wool, cedar wood and hyssop, “shall
_sprinkle_ upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy, seven
times.”—Lev. xiv, 7. “A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the
water, and _sprinkle_ it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and
upon the persons.”—Num. xix, 18. The Jewish translators of the
Septuagint, have rendered the passage, “so shall he _astonish_ many
nations.” But this only shows how willingly those writers would have
obliterated from the text the promise of salvation for the Gentiles,
which it contains. We know that the Gentiles were by the law, held to be
unclean—“dead in trespasses and sins.”—Eph. ii, 1, 11; Acts x, 14-16,
28; xv, 9. We have seen baptism by sprinkling to have been appointed for
the purifying of every kind of uncleanness, and witnessed its use in the
reception of the children of Midian. Moreover, the word here found in
the original is everywhere else used in the sense of sprinkling. With
one exception, it is invariably employed as descriptive of the ritual
purifyings. The exception describes the sprinkling or spattering of the
blood of Jezebel, when she was hurled from the height of the palace. (2
Kings ix, 33.) There is no conceivable reason for making the text an
exception to the meaning thus invariably indicated. Christ, the
Baptizer, will sprinkle many nations. He “will pour out of his Spirit on
all flesh.”—Acts ii, 17; Joel ii, 28. Of this it is that Isaiah speaks
in the place in question.
The same grace was promised to Israel by the prophet Ezekiel (B. C.
595-574), in language which we have already quoted, “Then will I
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.”—Ezek. xxxvi,
24-27. In this prophet’s vision of the future temple, he says of the
priests: “They shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but
for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or
for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves. And
after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. And in the
day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court to minister
in the sanctuary he shall offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord
God.”—Ezek. xliv, 25-27.
About fifty years after the close of Ezekiel’s prophecy Haggai was sent
to Judah (B. C. 520). He inquires of the priests, respecting “bread, or
pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat,” “If one that is unclean by a
dead body touch any of these shall it be unclean? And the priests
answered, and said, It shall be unclean.”—Hag. ii, 13.
Except the brief testimony of Malachi, Zechariah was the last of the
prophets. His ministry closed, about B. C. 487. In his prophecy occurs
that promise of “a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”—Zech. xiii, 1.
The word, “fountain,” in the original means a flowing spring, “opened,”
as was the rock in the wilderness; of which the Psalmist says, “He
opened the rock and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places
like a river.”—Psa. cv, 41. The language of Zechariah seems to be an
allusion to this.
We have thus traced the baptism of purifying with the water of
separation through the writings of the prophets for a thousand years,
from the time of its institution to within less than five hundred years
of the coming of Christ. We shall presently follow it down to the time
of Christ and to the destruction of Jerusalem.
SECTION XXXV.—_Rabbinic Traditions as to the Red Heifer._
According to Jewish tradition the burning of the red heifer took place
but nine times, from the beginning, until the final dispersion of the
nation. The first was by Eleazar, in the wilderness. (Num. xix, 3.)
This, they say, was not repeated for more than a thousand years, when
Ezra offered the second, upon the return of the captivity from Babylon.
From that time, until the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus was about
five hundred years, during which they report seven heifers to have been
burned—two by Simon, the just, two by Johanan, the father of Matthias,
one by Elioenai, the son of Hakkoph, one by Hananeel Hammizri, and one
by Ishmael, the son of Fabi. Since then, it has been impossible for them
to fulfill the rite according to the law, as the altar and temple are no
more. The tenth they say will be offered by the Messiah, at his
coming.[22] Lightfoot finds in the increased frequency with which the
heifer was burned, during the later period of Jewish history, a
circumstantial illustration of the growing spirit of ritualism, which
multiplied the occasions of using the ashes. It is, however, impossible
to accept the account, at least, as to the earlier period, as authentic
history. It is probably mere conjecture, suggested by the silence of the
Scriptures, and is most improbable in itself. But the later tradition is
more reliable; as, at the time when it was put upon record, the Jews
were undoubtedly in possession of abundant historical materials, for the
period subsequent to the return of the captivity under Ezra. According
to this account, seven heifers served all the purposes of that form of
purification, for five hundred years. In that time, over fifteen
generations, or not less than fifty millions of Jews were consigned to
the sepulcher, and the consequent sprinkling administered to the
families, attendants, houses, and furniture. If we ignore all other
applications of these ashes, to those defiled by the slain in battle,
and to those subject to other causes of defilement, it is still evident
that the sufficiency and virtue of the rite were not held to depend upon
the quantity of the ashes employed, and that the amount actually used
was so minute that it can not have been perceptible in the water. The
manner of administration was thus true to the nature of the ordinance,
as having no intrinsic virtue, in itself, but only in its significance
as addressed to intelligence and faith. And it prepared the minds of the
people to witness without perplexity, the change from water in which an
inappreciable quantity of ashes appealed to the imagination, to that in
which, while no ashes were used, the association of ideas and meaning
remained the same.
Footnote 22:
Juchasin, fol 16, in Lightfoot.
SECTION XXXVI.—_The Festival of the Outpouring of Water._
Not only are the Old Testament Scriptures full of the doctrine of the
outpouring of the Spirit, under the figure of living water; but one of
the most remarkable of the institutions observed by the Jews from the
days of the prophets here last quoted, had immediate relation to the
same thing. It was called “The festival of the outpouring of water.” Its
origin was by the Jews attributed to the prophets Haggai and Zechariah,
under whose ministry the temple was rebuilt, and the ordinances
restored; a tradition which is confirmed by internal evidence. The
festival was incorporated with the feast of the ingathering, or
tabernacles. That feast seems to have been the pre-eminent type of the
prosperity, the rest and gladness of the kingdom of Messiah. By the law,
the people were required to gather “the boughs” (in the margin, “the
fruit”) “of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of
thick trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the
Lord your God seven days.”—Lev. xxiii, 40. They used the fruit of the
citron or lemon, with branches of the palm and the myrtle, and willows
from the brook Kedron. These tied together in one bunch were called, the
_lulab_. Early on the morning of the first day of the feast, the people,
clothed in holiday garb, assembled at the temple, each having a lulab in
one hand and a citron in the other, and each carrying a branch of
willow, with which they adorned the altar round about. As soon as the
morning sacrifice was placed on the altar, a priest descended to the
fountain of Siloam, which flowed from the foot of the temple mount,
bearing a golden vase or pitcher, which he filled with water. As he
entered the court, through that gate which was hence called “the water
gate,” the trumpets sounded. He ascended to the great altar of burnt
offering, where were placed two silver bowls, one on the east side of
the altar and the other on the west, one of which contained wine. Into
the other, he poured the water from the golden vessel, and then mingling
the water and wine, slowly poured it on the ground, as it would seem, to
the east and to the west, as the bowls were placed. (Compare Zech. xiv,
8.) In the mean time the temple choir sang the Hallel to the
accompaniment of instruments of music.[23] Then, the people who thronged
the court marched in procession about the altar, waving their lulabs,
and setting them bending toward it, the trumpets sounding and the people
shouting, “Hallelujah!” and “Hosanna!” with ejaculations of prayer,
thanksgiving and praise, selected from the Psalms. In this service, even
the little children, as soon as able to wave a palm branch, were
encouraged to join. After this they went home to dine, and spent the
afternoon reading the law or hearing the expositions of learned scribes.
In the evening commenced the festive joy of the outpouring of the water.
The water was drawn and poured out, at the time of the morning sacrifice
and in connection with it,—a solemnity in the presence of which any
hilarious demonstrations were inopportune. The festivity was therefore
reserved until the evening. The multitude then assembled in the court of
the women, that being the largest court, and the nearest approach that
the women as a body could make to the holy house. On this occasion they
occupied the galleries which surrounded the court, whilst the men
thronged the open space. At suitable places, in the court there were
great candelabra of such size and height that they overlooked the whole
temple mount. A ladder stood by each, by means of which young priests
from time to time ascended and replenished the oil, of which each bowl
is reported by the Talmud to have held seven or eight gallons. Many of
the people also carried torches, so that the whole mount was flooded
with light. The festivity was begun by the temple choir of priests, who,
standing in order upon the fifteen steps that led down from the court of
Israel to that of the women, chanted some of the “songs of degrees,” to
the accompaniment of instruments; whilst such of the people as were
skilled in music joined their voices and instruments. Then, the chief
men of the nation, rulers of synagogues, members of the sanhedrim,
scribes, doctors of the law, and all such as were of eminent rank or
repute for gifts or piety laid off their outer robes, and joined in a
joyous leaping and dancing, in the presence of the multitude, singing
and shouting Hosannas and Hallelujahs, and ejaculating the praises of
God. Thus a great part of the night was expended, each one emulating the
others in imitation of the humility of David, at the bringing up of the
ark (2 Sam. vi, 15, 16); for, the excitement now indulged in, the
leaping and dancing, were, at other times, accounted unbecoming the
dignity of the nobles of Israel. At length, two of the priests, standing
in the gate of Nicanor, which was at the head of the stairway, sounded
their trumpets, and descending the steps continued to sound as they
traversed the court, until they came to the eastern gate. Here they
turned around toward the west, so as to face the temple. They then
cried,—“Our fathers who were in this place, turned their backs to the
temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east.[24] But as for us,
we turn to Him, and our eyes look unto Him.” The assembly then
dispersed. With slight variations, the same order was observed each of
the seven days of the feast.[25]
Footnote 23:
Ps. cxiii-cxviii, were known among the Jews as, the Hallel, that is,
Praise, being sung at the temple on the first of each month, and at
the annual feasts.
Footnote 24:
See Ezek. viii, 16.
Footnote 25:
Lightfoot on this Feast and that of Tabernacles. Lewis’s “Origines
Hebraeæ.” Pool’s “Synopsis,” etc.
The joy of the people at the ingathering of the harvest and the
prosperous end of the labors of the year,—the gay and festive appearance
of the city, every housetop and open space, and even the sides and top
of the mount of Olives, covered with the green booths,—the extraordinary
services at the temple, where more sacrifices were offered during the
week than in all the other feasts of the year together,—the green
willows adorning the altar and daily renewed—the processions around it,
the branches carried by the people,—the trumpets, songs, and
Hosannas,—and, at night, the flaming lights, the jubliant concourse, the
waving of the lulabs, the music and dancing, the shoutings, songs, and
trumpets, must have presented a scene of exhilaration and gladness hard
to conceive. It was a saying of the rabbins, that “He that has not
witnessed the festivity of the pouring out of the water, has never seen
festivity at all.”
The rabbins are obscure in their explanations of the observance here
described. Some would represent it as a thanksgiving for the rains by
which the soil had been fertilized and the harvests matured. But with a
better appreciation, Rabbi Levi is reported in the Talmud, “Why is it
called the drawing of water? Says Rabbi Levi, Because of the receiving
of the Holy Spirit, according to that which is written,—With joy will we
draw water from the wells of salvation.”—Isa. xii, 3. That the
outpouring had reference, not to the receiving of the Spirit by Israel,
but to its outpouring upon the Gentiles, in the days of the Messiah, is
confirmed by the tenor of the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, the
authors of the observance, and by language of our Savior, which
expositors agree in referring to this rite. Both of those prophets
encouraged Judah in rebuilding the temple by the assurance that “the
Desire of all nations should come” to it.—Hag. ii, 7. Said the Lord, by
Zechariah, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just and having
salvation: lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of an
ass.... It shall come to pass, in that day, that I will seek to destroy
all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the
house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace
and of supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have
pierced, and they shall mourn for him.... In that day there shall be a
fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.... And it shall be in that day,
that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them toward the
former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea. In summer and winter
shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: In that day
there shall be one Lord, and his name one.... And it shall come to pass
that every one that is left of all the nations which came against
Jerusalem, shall even go up, from year to year, to worship the King, the
Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”—Zech. ix, 9; xii,
9, 10; xiii, 1; xiv, 8, 9, 16.
To all this, reference is evidently had in the incident related by the
evangelist, John, as occurring at this feast.—“In the last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was
not yet glorified.”—John vii, 37-39. These words of Jesus, as will
hereafter appear, had distinct reference to the giving of the gospel to
the Gentiles. A few additional facts will shed a clearer light upon the
meaning of the festival.
The feast of tabernacles, strictly so called, was of seven days’
continuance; during which the people dwelt in booths. On the eighth day,
they removed the booths and re-entered their houses. They observed that
day as a distinct and peculiar festival. “On the eighth day shall be a
holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire
unto the Lord; it is a solemn assembly.” (Lev. xxiii, 36; Deut. xvi,
13-15.) During the seven days the offerings upon the altar had a very
remarkable order. On the first day, they were “thirteen young bullocks,
two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year,” and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering. These were in addition to the ordinary daily
offerings. On each successive day, the number of the bullocks was
reduced by one, whilst the other offerings remained the same. But on the
eighth day the offering was one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs, and
one goat for a sin offering. (Num. xxix, 12-38.) On this peculiar order
of sacrifices, the explanations of the scribes are various. In the
Talmud, Rabbi Solomon states the bullocks, whose aggregate number for
the seven days was seventy, to have represented the seventy idolatrous
nations; that being, as the Jews supposed, their number. These must be
continually diminished, while Israel, represented by the other
offerings, remains.[26] Says Pool,—“The eighth day was the great day,
not by divine appointment, but from the opinion of the Jews, who
regarded the sacrifices and prayers of the other days as made, not so
much for themselves as for the other nations; but the eighth, as being
solely for themselves.”[27] Hence the Targum,—“_The eighth day shall be
holy_. Thou seest, O God, that Israel in the feast of tabernacles,
offers before thee seventy bullocks, for the seventy nations, for which
they ought to love us. But for our love, they are our adversaries. The
holy blessed God therefore saith to Israel, Offer for yourselves on the
eighth day.”[28]
Footnote 26:
Rabbi Solomon on Num. xxix, in Lightfoot on this feast.
Footnote 27:
Pool’s Synopsis, on John vii, 37. He refers to Grotius.
Footnote 28:
Lewis’s Origines Hebraeæ, p. 606.
The gospels render us familiar with the religion of the scribes. By the
help of tradition it sought to divest the law of God of its claim upon
the allegiance of the heart, to obscure and set aside the spiritual
meaning of its rites, and to substitute a system of minute outward
observances, and a fanatical pride in the blood of Abraham, which looked
scornfully down on all other nations as unclean and accursed. This
system was embodied in the Talmud, and culminated in the compilation of
that work, several centuries after the destruction of the temple and the
downfall of the nation. When, therefore, among the idle traditions which
fill the pages of that work, we come upon occasional traces of a
profounder spiritual exegesis, and sentiments respecting the Gentiles
more in harmony with the spirit of Old Testament prophecy, we may
confidently recognize them as precious vestiges of truth, which have
escaped obliteration, as they were transmitted through that uncongenial
channel, from a distant and purer antiquity.
Such is the conviction which will result from a careful comparison of
the traditions above cited with the accounts of the rites in question,
the language of the prophets, and the words of Jesus to which reference
has just been made. By the light thus concentrated, we see, in the
ingathering of the harvest of the holy land and the festivities
following, a type and prophecy of the ingathering of the nations into
the fold of Israel, under the scepter of Messiah, and the songs and joy
that hail their coming. Then the solemnity of the eighth day may have
anticipated the time when, opposition withdrawn, all nations “shall go
up from year to year to worship the King the Lord of hosts, and to keep
the feast of tabernacles,” when “the Lord shall be King over all the
earth, and there shall be one Lord, and his name One.” In this light,
Israel appears in her lofty character and office as the priest-kingdom,
standing as mediator for the nations, and making for them offerings of
atonement and intercessions. Nor less significant was the drawing of the
water from
“Siloah’s brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God,”
and its outpouring by the priest upon the earth, mingled with wine. From
that same fountain, during the same period of Israel’s history, it was
the rule to draw all water that was used at Jerusalem for purification
with the water of separation, especially for those who came to the
annual feasts. To this, Zechariah alludes in his prophecy of that day
when “there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”—Zech. xiii, 1.
By her great High Priest, was to be dispensed to Israel and through her
to all the earth, the Spirit’s grace, conveying to the nations of the
Gentiles the virtue of the blood of Calvary. Jerusalem and the temple
were to be the source of those healing waters which were to flow to the
east and to the west, “toward the former sea, and toward the hinder
sea,” to gladden the world. (Zech. xiv, 8.)
SECTION XXXVII.—_The Hellenistic Greek._
After the close of Old Testament prophecy, the conquests of Alexander of
Macedon, the consequent diffusion of the Greeks, and the favor which
that prince and his successors showed to the Jews, introduced an
intimate intercourse between them and the Greeks. By him Alexandria in
Egypt was founded, designated by his own name, and intended to be the
western capital of his empire. In this new Greek capital, its founder
assigned the Jews an extensive section, and equal privileges with the
Macedonians. After the death of Alexander, and the subdivision of his
empire, the Ptolemies, the Greek kings of Egypt, continued to favor the
Jews, treating them on terms of equality with the Greeks. During the
same period, the persecutions suffered by the Jews of Palestine from the
kings of Syria, drove multitudes into exile, many of whom were attracted
to Egypt, so that the Jewish population of Alexandria was at one time
estimated at nearly a million of souls, occupying two of the five
districts of the city; and at least, for a time, governed by their own
ethnarch, or superior magistrate. Among these Jews, and those elsewhere
scattered in the Greek colonies, their own language was gradually
superseded by the Greek, into which, at length, the Old Testament
Scriptures were translated, in a version known as the Septuagint. Of the
precise time and circumstances in which this version was made, there is
no reliable information, except that it was done in Alexandria, within
the first quarter of the third century before Christ. In the time of
Christ, the Greek had become the language of literature and of commerce
for the civilized world. Among the Jews dispersed everywhere, it was
prevalent, and was extensively used even in Palestine itself, and thus
became the divinely prepared channel for communicating the gospel to all
nations.
But the language thus employed—the Greek of the Septuagint, the
Apocrypha and the New Testament—was not what is known as classic Greek.
The Jews did not learn it in the schools of Greece, nor from a study of
her poets, orators, and philosophers. It was the product of social and
business contact and intercourse of the one people with the other, in a
land foreign to both.
Already the purity of the Attic had been lost, by the commingling of the
Macedonians with the various tribes of Greece proper and her
dependencies, in the armies from which Alexander’s colonists were taken;
and still further by the mixed multitude which flocked to their new
settlements. In the process of adaptation to the expression of Jewish
thought, it was inevitably subjected to further modifications, in
definition, in syntax, in order and construction—in the very tone and
spirit which pervade the whole. By these modifications, the language,
which had grown up as the native and coeval expression of the idolatrous
religion, the arts and philosophy of pagan Greece, was adapted to become
a repository for the system of divine and saving truth, contained in the
Scriptures. Those Jews who resided in Alexandria and other Greek cities,
who spake this Greek language, and were more or less conformed to the
manners of the Gentiles among whom they lived, were known among their
brethren, as Hellenists, that is, Greek Jews, and hence, the Greek
dialect used by them has acquired the designation of Hellenistic Greek.
The authors of the New Testament adopted this as the language of their
writings, and, in their references to the Old Testament, their
quotations are mostly made, not from the Hebrew, but from the
Septuagint, or Hellenistic version. It was ordinarily used by the Lord
Jesus himself in his discourses. It thus appears as the source and
standard of the language of the New Testament.
Together with these Greek Scriptures of the Old Testament, there have
been transmitted to us several other Jewish documents of the same
period, written in the same Hellenistic Greek. They are invaluable for
the light which they shed upon the history, customs, and modes of
thought and language of the Jews of that time; although the attempt of
the church of Rome, to exalt some of them to an equal authority with the
Scriptures, has tended to fix a stigma on them, as known to us under the
name of Apocrypha. Incautious recourse to the rules and definitions of
classic Greek is liable to deceive and mislead us in the critical study
of the New Testament. But conclusions intelligently deduced from the
language of the Septuagint and of the other Jewish writers of that age,
are to be respected as of the highest authority on all questions of the
New Testament language. On the subject of our present investigation,
these authorities shed a flood of light. In them, we first find the
verb, _baptizo_, used to designate rites of religious purifying. Once in
the Septuagint, and twice in the Apocrypha, it is applied to Hebrew
rites of this nature.
That the use of the word to designate religious observances is peculiar
to the Hellenistic, as contradistinguished from classic Greek, is
indisputable; and it is worthy of consideration, how it came to be
selected from the Greek vocabulary for this purpose. The Hebrews of
Egypt, in their exile from the land of their fathers, had not abandoned
but rather augmented their zeal for the institutions of Moses. A
circumstance in their own history, which at first might have seemed to
threaten a dissolution of the ties that bound them to the temple at
Jerusalem, operated in fact to renovate and strengthen them. This was,
the erection by some of their number, of a temple at Onias in Egypt, in
imitation of that at Jerusalem. Here, the Levitical rites were
punctually observed under priests of the Aaronic line and Levites of the
sacred tribe. For this they claimed warrant from the prophecy of Isaiah,
xix, 19.—“In that day, shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst
of the land of Egypt.” The adherents of this movement do not seem to
have been numerous, and its effect was rather to increase the devotion
of the people to the temple at Jerusalem, and the ordinances there
maintained. Among them, was developed the same disposition which was
prevalent in Judea to give undue importance to multiplied rites of
purifying; and hence an increased and constant necessity of finding, in
the Greek language which they were now adopting, some word suitable to
designate these rites. In that language was the verb, _bapto_, meaning
(1) to dip; (2) to wet by dipping; (3) to wet, irrespective of the
manner; (4) to dye by dipping, and thence, to dye, without respect to
mode—even by sprinkling. But, as we have seen, the rites in question
were not dippings, nor were they dyeings, and the word was never used by
the Jews to designate them. From this root, the Greeks derived the verb
_baptizo_. (1.) Its primary meaning, as used by them, was,—to bring into
the state of mersion. This meaning had no respect to the mode of action,
whether by putting the subject under the fluid, pouring it over him, or
in whatever manner. In other words, it expressed not _im_mersion, but
mersion,—not the mode of inducing the state, but the state induced,—that
of being embosomed in the mersing element. From this primary
signification, was derived a secondary use of the word. As any thing
that is mersed is in the possession and control of the mersing element,
the word was hence used to express the establishing of a complete
possession and controlling influence. As we say that a man is
drowned,—immersed,—overwhelmed, in business, in trouble, in drunkenness,
or in sleep; having, in these expressions, no reference whatever to the
mode in which the described condition was brought about; so the Greeks
used the verb _baptizo_. They spoke of men as baptized with grief, with
passion, with business cares. An intoxicated person was “baptized with
wine,” etc. In such use of the word, the essential idea is that of the
action of a pervasive potency by which the subject is brought and held
in a new state or condition. On this subject, no authority could be
better or more conclusive than that of the Rev. Dr. T. J. Conant, a
scholar of unquestioned eminence and whose researches on this subject
were undertaken at the request of the American (Baptist) Bible Union.
The result of his investigations he thus states. “The word, _baptizein_,
during the whole existence of the Greek as a spoken language, had a
perfectly defined and unvarying import. In its literal use, it meant, as
has been shown,—to put entirely into or under a liquid, or other
penetrable substance, generally water, so that the object was wholly
covered by the enclosing element. By analogy it expressed _the coming
into a new state of life or experience_, in which one was, as it were,
inclosed and swallowed up, so that temporarily or permanently, he
belonged wholly to it.”[29] Dr. Dale has been at the trouble to list and
enumerate no less than forty different words which Dr. Conant employs in
his translations of this word of “perfectly defined and unvarying
import.” It is, however, enough for our present purpose, that this
distinguished scholar here expressly admits with Italic emphasis, that
“by analogy,” the word “expressed the coming into _a new state of life
or experience_, in which one was, as it were, inclosed and swallowed up,
so that temporarily or permanently he belonged wholly to it.”
Footnote 29:
“The Meaning and Use of _Baptizein_, Philologically and Historically
investigated for the American Bible Union. By T. J. Conant, D. D.,” p.
158. The italics are by Dr. C.
Now, here was the very word required to designate the Mosaic rites of
purifying. Of dippings and immersions, Israel had none; and, if these
had been found in their ritual, the verbs, _bapto, to dip, and kataduo,
to plunge into, to immerse_, and the nouns, _baphē_ and _katadusis_,—_a
dipping, an immersion_, were at hand and specific in meaning. But they
did want words to express that potency by which the unclean were, in the
words of Dr. Conant, introduced into “a new state of life,”—a state of
ritual cleanness, typical of the spiritual newness of life in Christ
Jesus which God’s people receive, by the baptism of the Spirit. To
express the working of that change, they appropriated the word _baptizo,
to baptize_; that is, to cleanse, to purify. Then, to give name to the
rites by which that change was accomplished, they formed from it the two
sacred words, _baptisma_ and _baptismos_, words wholly unknown to
classic Greek literature. They are, as to etymology and meaning
identical. By grammarians, the termination, _mos_, is said generally to
indicate the act signified by the verb, while _ma_ indicates its effect.
But the rule is neither absolute nor universal; and the sacred writers
do not maintain the distinction. By them _baptisma_ is used alike to
signify the act of baptizing, and the effect, the new state produced by
it. In their writings, the distinction seems to consist in the
employment of _baptismos_ generically, as designating divers kinds of
purifying rites; while _baptisma_ is specifically applied to the baptism
of John and of Christ. It is found in no other writings of that or
preceding ages. Outside the Scriptures, _baptismos_ occurs once, in the
works of Josephus, who thus designates John’s baptism.[30]
Footnote 30:
“Antiquities of the Jews,” XVIII, vi, 2.
SECTION XXXVIII.—_The Baptism of Naaman._
In the Septuagint or Greek Scriptures, _baptizo_ first appears in the
account of the healing of Naaman. “Elisha sent a messenger unto him
saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come
again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.... Then went he down, and dipped
himself seven times in Jordan according to the saying of the man of
God.”—2 Kings v, 10, 14. It is asserted that here is clearly an
immersion.—“He went down and _dipped_ himself seven times.” Respecting
the question thus raised, it is, in the first place, to be distinctly
noticed, that the decision, whatever it be, can not in any way
neutralize or diminish the force of the argument already developed from
the divers baptisms of the epistle to the Hebrews. Were we to allow that
Naaman was immersed, that fact would constitute no reply to the
demonstration that no immersions were “imposed on Israel,” although
divers baptisms were imposed. But, that there was no immersion in this
case, will appear in what follows.
1. The word upon which the immersion argument here rests, is the Hebrew
_tābal_, which is translated, “he dipped.” As to its meaning in this
place, there are several available sources of information. First, is the
manner in which the word is employed elsewhere in the Scriptures. It
occurs, in all, but fifteen times. It is evident, that while these
places are sufficient to establish the fact that the word was used as
they illustrate, they are wholly insufficient to constitute a basis for
the assumption that it was never used in a sense not there found, or in
a sense not there doubly illustrated. For example, Gesenius gives, “to
immerse,” as one of the meanings, and appeals to the text of Naaman as
the only example. Without pretending to emulate the learning of that
great scholar, I venture to assert that, although the definition be not
illustrated by other examples, there is abundant and various evidence
that the word is here used as the equivalent of _rāhatz, to wash_,
according to the proper sense of that word as already ascertained. The
primary and essential idea of _tābal_ appears to be contact by touch, a
contact which may be of the slightest and most superficial kind, as when
the priest was directed to dip the finger of his right hand in a few
drops of oil held in the palm of his left hand (Lev. xiv, 15, 16), and
when those who bore the ark dipped the soles of their feet in the brim
or edge of Jordan and the waters instantly fled away. (Josh. iii, 13,
15.) Again, it is used to describe the staining or smearing of Joseph’s
coat with the blood of the kid. (Gen. xxxvii, 31.) In this case, there
can have been no immersion, since the blood of a kid would have been
wholly insufficient, and the uniform stain thus induced would have
detected the fraud of Joseph’s brothers, as the violence of a wild beast
would not have produced such a result. How the word, in this place was
understood by the rabbins of Alexandria, is shown by the Greek of the
Septuagint, in which it is represented by _moluno_, to soil, to stain,
to smear. “They stained or smeared his coat with the blood.” The same is
no doubt the meaning of Job, when he says to God, “Yet shalt thou
_plunge me_ in the ditch and mine own clothes shall abhor me.”—Job ix,
31. Not the mode of action, but the soiling contact, was the thought
present to Job’s mind. The usage of the word in the Scriptures does not
justify the belief that it is ever employed in the energy of meaning
expressed by “_plunge_.” “Yet shalt thou _soil_ me in the ditch.”
Another source of information is the direction given to Naaman by
Elisha. He dipped himself seven times “_according to the saying_, of the
man of God.” What was that saying? Did Elisha direct him to be immersed
seven times? Elisha sent to him, saying “Go, _wash_ in Jordan seven
times.” The verb, _rāhatz_, to wash, we have examined. It means, to
perform ablution _with water applied to the person_. It does not mean,
to immerse, nor can the action expressed by it be accomplished by
immersion. It is, moreover, observable, that, as though to emphasize the
employment of this word, it is twice repeated in the narrative. Upon
receiving Elisha’s message, Naaman exclaims,—“Abana and Pharpar.... May
I not _wash_ in them and be clean?” And his servants reply,—“If he had
bid thee do some great thing, ... how much rather, when he saith to
thee, _Wash_, and be clean.” Manifestly, the thing which the Syrian was
commanded, was not, to immerse, but, to _wash_ himself. And when to the
meaning of that verb, we add the facts already developed as to the
customs of ablution in those lands, the conclusion is manifest. Naaman
was not directed to dip or immerse himself, but expressly, to wash; and
if he was in fact dipped, it was not “according to the saying of the man
of God,” but in express contravention of it. It may be objected, that a
sprinkling is not a washing. But the Psalmist gives a different
testimony. “_Purge me_ with hyssop, and I shall be _clean_. _Wash me_
and I shall be whiter than snow.” Here, the word, “Wash,” which is made
parallel and equivalent to “Purge me with hyssop,” is not _rāhatz_, but
the yet stronger term, _kābas, scour me_. The very designation of “the
unclean,” for whose “cleansing” those rites were appointed is conclusive
on the point. That the sprinklings thus ordained were, in the law
everywhere, viewed as washings, is undeniable; and in fact, to wash with
water applied, which is the meaning of _rāhatz_, is the very action of
sprinkling. Moreover, in Ezek. xvi, 9, the cleansing of the defilement
of _nidda_, for which sprinkling was the ritual remedy, is described as
a washing of the most vigorous and thorough nature. “Then (_rāhatz_)
_washed_ I thee with water; yea (_shātaph_), _I thoroughly washed away_
thy blood from thee.” How the sprinkling of water can be expressive of
such thorough cleansing, we have already seen. It is very strikingly
illustrated by the language of the Lord to Israel by Ezekiel. “Then will
I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean; from all your
filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.”—Ezek. xxxvi, 25.
The usage of the Scriptures, as to words equivalent to _tābal_, will
shed further light on the present question. The word is ordinarily
represented in the Septuagint Greek, by _bapto_. Of this verb, we have
already stated that it means to dip; to wet, by dipping; to wet in any
mode; to stain or dye by dipping; to dye, even by sprinkling. In the
Chaldee of the book of Daniel, the word equivalent to _tābal_ is
_tzeba_. It thrice occurs in the description of the calamity of
Nebuchadnezzar, when he was cast out with the beasts of the field, and
“his body _was wet_ with the dew of heaven.”—Dan. iv, 23, 25, 33. In
each of these places, the Septuagint has _bapto_, an illustration of the
fact that the latter word, even, does not “always mean, to dip.” If
_tābal_ followed the analogy of these its Greek and Chaldee equivalents,
we are to expect among its secondary meanings that of wetting by
affusion. In the place concerning Naaman, the word by which _tābal_ is
translated into the Greek is _baptizo_. This fact of itself makes it
certain that the Septuagint translators did not understand Naaman to
have been dipped, or immersed; else they would have expressed the fact
by _bapto_, or _kataduo_, instead of _baptizo_, which, in their
vocabulary, as we shall presently show, was used to express purification
by sprinkling with the water of separation; as we have already seen Paul
to employ it in the same way.
2. While these facts, of themselves, make it certain that Naaman was not
immersed, there remains evidence even more conclusive, in the relation
which Elisha himself and this whole transaction sustained to the
covenant law, as given to Israel at Sinai. In considering this case,
there are certain fundamental facts to be held ever in view. (1.)
Leprosy was, at once, a disease and a ritual uncleanness; and was
distinctly recognized in these two several aspects, in the law of God;
and hence the leper could not but be ritually unclean, whilst the mere
healing of the disease left him still unclean. He must be purified as
well as healed. (2.) The ritual law was not a scheme of arbitrary or
unmeaning regulations, but a system of accordant symbols, each of which
had its own distinct meaning, and all of which together constituted a
complete and intelligible exposition of the doctrine of sin and
redemption. Particularly had the ritual respecting leprosy a meaning at
once manifest, impressive, and profound. So important was it, in the
estimation of the divine Lawgiver of Israel, that the strict observance
of all its requirements was enforced by a new and special admonition
addressed to them on the banks of Jordan, after the forty years
wandering in the wilderness. “Take heed, in the plague of leprosy, that
thou observe diligently and do according to all that the priests the
Levites shall teach you; as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.
Remember what the Lord thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye
were come forth out of Egypt.”—Deut. xxiv, 8, 9. (3.) This law had now
been in operation for six hundred years, whilst its regulations were
such as to arrest and fix the attention of all observers. (4.) To
Naaman, a Syrian, of a country immediately contiguous to the land of
Israel, and belonging to a people of kindred blood, language,
traditions, and customs, the Hebrew ideas on this subject, so
interesting to him, can not have been unknown or strange. Even had he
been otherwise ignorant, he could not but have been informed by the
Hebrew maiden at whose suggestion he undertook his journey to the court
of Israel, in quest of healing. That hers must have been a character of
both intelligence and piety, is evident from the whole narrative, and
especially from the fact that it inspired such confidence as led the
Syrian, at her suggestion, to obtain from his king letters to the king
of Israel, and to go to that court, in the hope of cure, bearing with
him rich gifts, designed as tokens of gratitude. (2 Kings, v, 2-5.) (5.)
The whole history shows this episode in the life of Elisha to have been
any thing but a casual incident. It bears every mark of a special and
extraordinary providence, designed to bring home to the Syrians and to
Israel a signal testimony to the power and grace of the true God. The
peculiar relation which Elijah and Elisha bore to the Syrians is
illustrated by the fact that, at this very time, the latter held a
commission from God through Elijah to anoint Hazael to be king of Syria,
instead of the reigning king Benhadad; by Elisha’s subsequent presence
in Damascus, in fulfillment of that commission, and by the application
which Benhadad made to him, to inquire of the Lord as to the issue of
the disease which was then upon him. (1 Kings xix, 15-17; 2 Kings viii,
7-13.)
3. Elisha treats the case of Naaman as typical in its nature, and as
coming under the provisions of the law for the cleansing of leprosy.
This is manifest from three things which appear in the very brief
narrative. (1) In his message to Naaman, he distinguishes between the
physical healing, and the ritual cleansing. “Thy flesh shall _come
again_ unto thee; and, thou shalt _be clean_.” Thus each is separately
promised. (2.) He requires Naaman to “wash _seven times_.” The meaning
of this seven times we have seen. It symbolized a radical cure of the
evil of heart leprosy, the native corruption of sin—a cure by which the
sinner will be presented pure and sanctified in the seventh, or judgment
day. The mode of this cure was represented in the law by sprinkling
seven times. The priest “shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed
from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean.”—Lev. xiv,
7. (3.) He must wash in the river Jordan, and nowhere else. But why
there? Because the cleansing of the leper, according to the law must be
by sprinkling with “running water.”—Lev. xiv, 5, 6, 50-52. For the
self-washing, no such prescription was given. The Jordan was appointed,
because healing to the leper meant life to the dead. It meant the
renewing grace of the Holy Spirit, and for this none but the water of
life that flows in the river of the heavenly Canaan will suffice. And
inasmuch as the land of Israel was typical of that better country, no
water so proper for the present occasion as that which flowed in the one
river of Israel. If Palestine was made a type of heaven, the one river
of Palestine at once became the proper type of that “river of God, which
is full of water.”
4. Naaman recognized the significance of the directions given by the
prophet, and was offended at them.—“Behold, I thought, He will surely
come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and
strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and
Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I
not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.”—2
Kings v, 11, 12. Here (1.) Naaman sharply distinguishes between the
healing and the cleansing. For the latter purpose, the waters of Abana
and Pharpar were sufficient for him,—better than all those of Israel.
All he wanted was, that the prophet should heal him; and for this he was
ready to reward him liberally. But, instead of being treated with the
consideration due to a lordly patron, he feels himself insulted, by
being expected to take the position of an unclean and humble suppliant;
and that, too, at the feet of the God of Israel. For, (2.) he indicates
his understanding of what was meant by the prophet’s message. If Elisha
had come out and healed the leprosy, as Naaman expected, it would have
been perfectly consistent with the idolatrous religion of the Syrian to
recognize Elisha as a great prophet, and the God of Elisha as one of the
great gods; although entitled to no exclusive worship from the Syrians,
whose tutelary deity was Rimmon. But, when the prophet, instead of this,
sent him to _Jordan_ to be _cleansed_, and that by washing seven times,
the Syrian recognized that he was thus required to own allegiance to the
God of Israel, and to humble himself, as utterly unclean in His sight,
and look to him, as alone able to heal his leprosy, or cleanse his sins.
In a word, he was, by the message of the prophet, brought face to face
with the glad but humbling word of the gospel, as it spake so clearly in
the rites of cleansing for leprosy. That, in the result, he accepted the
good tidings thus announced, may not be asserted with confidence. But,
that he professed to do so, the narrative assures us. “Behold, now, I
know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.”—vs. 15. By
this profession of faith, and by his application to Elisha for two
mules’ burden of the earth of Canaan, with which to make an altar to the
God of Israel, the Syrian showed his intelligent appreciation of the
issues involved in the observances required by Elisha, and of the
typical meaning of the land and river of Israel. The purpose of the
earth for which he asked was to make an altar, after the manner of those
appointed in the law; which appear to have been frames or boxes filled
with earth on which the fire was kindled. (Ex. xx, 24.)
5. The attempt of some writers to derive countenance to the idea of
immersion, in this case, from the Levitical rites of purifying for
leprosy, is wholly futile. They refer to the self-washings which were
required of the cleansed leper, and assume, without a pretense of proof,
that they were immersions. We have seen that they were not immersions,
but affusions. But, that it was not to them, but to the sprinklings of
the law that the directions of Elisha refer, is unmistakably indicated
by the seven times required. The self-washings were to be performed but
twice. On the first day, the seven sprinklings were administered, and
the person was then, by the priest, officially _proclaimed to be clean_.
(Lev. xiv, 7.) It was after this, that the man thus clean, was required
to perform the first self-washing. This was repeated once only,—on the
eighth day. This distinction between the sprinklings which cleansed the
leper, and the self-washings which were required of him as being clean,
is not casual, but essential, and intimately involved in the difference
of meaning between them. By no system of interpretation, therefore, can
seven supposed immersions of Naaman be identified with the two
self-washings required by the law. To imagine the Syrian to have been
directed to seek cleansing by means of the latter, and not by the seven
sprinklings, would be to suppose him instructed by the prophet to seek
to his own outward righteousness as the means of purging away his sins,
and not to the virtue of the blood and Spirit of Christ, penetrating to
his heart and renewing the inner man. Self-washing, as dependent upon
and subordinate to the sprinkling of the water and blood, is beautifully
significant of that evangelical obedience and holiness which believers
cultivate, whilst resting wholly on the righteousness of Christ; and
which is acceptable only thus. But a self-washing, without the
sprinkling, or even magnified to equality with it, can mean nothing else
than a disparagement and rejection of Christ’s blood and Spirit, and a
trusting to our own works of righteousness,—to a cleansing and holiness
self-attained. It would be a denial of the need of the Spirit’s renewing
grace.
6. Israel and the ordinances given her were appointed to be a gospel
beacon to the nations. In furtherance of this purpose, the rites and
ordinances with which she was endowed were clothed in forms of
transparent significance, selected by divine wisdom as best adapted to
set forth the gospel for men’s instruction. To suppose Elisha, on this
occasion, to have ignored or essentially modified those respecting
leprosy, would imply him to have deliberately veiled the light which God
had kindled for the Gentiles. If any ritual observances were required of
Naaman, the alternative was inevitable, that they be those appointed in
the law, or that by neglect these be dishonored. No motive for the
supposed change can be suggested that will not imply a disparagement of
the neglected rite.
7. The distinctive office successively filled by Elijah and Elisha was
that of prophet to the separated kingdom of Israel, to whom they were
sent to vindicate the repudiated covenant of Sinai against the
apostasies and sins of that people. (1 Kings, xix, 8, 10, 14-18.) They
were appointed to keep alive in Israel the knowledge and faith of the
covenant God and King whose worship and ordinances at Jerusalem they had
wickedly abandoned. In the extraordinary circumstances of Naaman the
offerings which the cleansed leper was required to make at the temple on
the eighth day after his purifying, may have been omitted. But the
supposition that the rites proper to the purifying, itself, were changed
without necessity or apparent motive, so that instead of being
_sprinkled_ seven times, Naaman was seven times _immersed_, would imply
that Elisha not only thus publicly repudiated the authority of the
Levitical law, but at the same time and in so doing gave direct sanction
to the conduct of Israel, in separating themselves from the temple at
Jerusalem and the ordinances and worship which, by divine command, were
there observed. The rites of purifying were part and parcel of the
system of ordinances given to Israel and concentrated at the
sanctuary,—a system, in all its parts, congruous and interdependent;
each shedding mutual light on all the rest. If Naaman was sprinkled
seven times, according to the Levitical order, that fact would of itself
have referred him to the Word and ordinances of God, for light and
information, as to the vastly important questions suggested to him by
the nature and manner of his disease and cleansing. But, if he was
immersed, the observance was without authority in the law; without
example in the Word, then possessed or afterward given to Israel;
without point of contact or principle of congruity or connection with
the system therein unfolded; without explanation anywhere, and without
conceivable motive or meaning, unless it was, to repudiate the authority
of the Levitical law. Instead, therefore, of the ordinance being a guide
line, to lead Naaman to the Word and worship of the true God, the
natural effect of such a change as is supposed would have been to deter
him from any such inquiries. The facts would have certified him that the
God of Elisha was not the same that reigned at Jerusalem;—that the
doctrine of the one, set forth in the rite of sprinkling, was manifestly
different from that of the other expressed by immersion,—and that,
therefore, the Word and ordinances of the God who dwelt in Zion were
likely to mislead him, rather than to shed a true light upon the
character of the God of Elisha, by whom he had been healed. The snare
thus presented to the mind of Naaman would have been the more insidious
and fatal in proportion as he should still have recognized an intimate
relation, or even a kind of identity, between the God of Israel and the
God of Judah. It was a general characteristic of the ancient idolatries,
that the same gods, as worshiped at different places, were supposed to
be endowed with different attributes and affinities, and to require
different rites of worship. Thus, Zeus Olympius, Jupiter Capitolinus,
and Jupiter Amon, were looked upon as the same deity; but revealing one
character, as on Olympus he was worshiped by the tribes of Greece;
another, as, on the Capitoline hill he presided over the destinies of
mighty Rome; and yet another to the dark tribes who assembled at his
temple in Thebes in Upper Egypt. Such was the idolatry which the
supposed rite would have tended to confirm in the mind of Naaman. To all
this we are to add the fact that the very purpose of the miracle wrought
by Elisha was to let the Syrian “know that there is a prophet in
Israel.”—2 Kings v, 8. Not, certainly, that Elisha thus proposed to
glorify himself: but to announce himself a prophet and witness, for the
only living and true God, the God of Israel, whose sanctuary was in
Zion. (Compare Ib. 15-18.)
8. The fact that no administrator is mentioned, but Naaman is said to
have “baptized himself,” is no embarrassment to our position. The
self-baptism implied by the phrase, in the English translation, is not
required by the form of the Greek nor of the Hebrew. The same kind of
expression is used, in the directions originally given as to the water
of separation. “If he purify not _himself_ the third day, then the
seventh day he shall not be clean. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of
any man that is dead, and purifieth not _himself_ ... the water of
separation was not _sprinkled on him_; he shall be unclean.... A clean
person shall _sprinkle on the unclean_ on the third day and on the
seventh.”—Num. xix, 12, 13, 19. The form of expression is intended to
emphasize the responsibility of the person in the matter of his own
cleansing, and is equivalent in meaning to the phrase,—“cause himself to
be sprinkled.” Although he can not cleanse himself, he is not therefore
irresponsible. He must seek to the cleansing, if he would enjoy it. The
same form is used by Paul, who speaks of Ananias as saying to him
(_Anastas_, _baptisai_), “Rising, baptize thyself, and wash away thy
sins.”—Acts xxii, 16. In the parallel account, we are told that “he
arose and was baptized.”—Acts ix, 18.
It has been shown already that, in the epistle to the Hebrews,
_baptismoi_ means the sprinklings ordained in the law for defilements of
which leprosy was one. In our next section, it will appear that the
sprinkling of the water of separation, upon those defiled by the dead,
was familiarly known as a _baptizing_. And as to the case of Naaman, the
considerations here presented render it certain that _baptizo_ is there
used in the same sense. He was not immersed, but sprinkled seven times,
according to the law. _Tābal_ is here used, not in a modal sense, but to
express a cleansing, without defining the manner of it.
SECTION XXXIX.—“_Baptized from the Dead._”
The book of Ecclesiasticus, or “The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach,”
is one of the Apochrypha. It was written by Joshua ben Sira ben Eliezer,
a priest, at Jerusalem, about two hundred years before the coming of
Christ. “The original Hebrew, with the exception of a few fragments in
the Gemaras and Midrashim, is no longer extant, but we have translations
in Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. The work has been always held in high
esteem, by both Jews and Christians, and was judged by some of the
Talmudists to be worthy of a place among the canonical Scriptures.”[31]
In this work, the priestly author has written this proverb, “He that is
baptized from the dead, and again toucheth the dead, what availeth his
washing?”—Ecclus. xxxi, 30 (xxxiv, 25 of the English version). Here, it
is unquestionable that reference is had to the cleansing of those who
were defiled by the dead. Such persons were “baptized from the dead,”
that is, purged from the defilement, incurred through the touch of the
dead, by the sprinkling of the water of separation. It has been said, by
Baptist writers, that the author of the proverb meant to designate the
self-washing which was required of those who had been thus sprinkled.
But, in the first place, we must again repeat it, the self-washings were
not immersions. In the second, they were not the purification from the
dead. On that point, the law was express. “The man that shall be
unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from
among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the
Lord: _the water of separation_ hath not been _sprinkled_ upon him; he
is unclean.”—Num. xix, 20. The self-washings are never called
purifyings, nor alluded to by that name. Besides, as before remarked, on
another point, the pre-eminence thus assigned to those washings, as
compared with the sprinklings, is contrary to the whole spirit and tenor
of the law, and would imply a preference given to our own righteousness,
which the former symbolized, over the blood of sprinkling of the Lord
Jesus, and his renewing Spirit, typified by the latter. Moreover, upon
this view, we are to suppose that the author of the proverb, himself a
priest, ignored that official sprinkling which must be performed by a
clean person, acting in priestly capacity, and which, in his days, was
performed almost invariably by the priests, and falsely attributed the
consequent cleansing to the self-washing, which was a private personal
duty of the cleansed. On the relative position of the two ordinances,
the prayer of the Psalmist, in his deep sense of guilt and defilement is
very significant. “Purge me with hyssop. Wash me.” He does not once
think of self-washing, but looks up to the great High Priest for all. It
was unquestionably of the sprinkled water of separation that this writer
says, “He that is baptized from the dead, and again toucheth the dead
what availeth his washing?” Here again we have an impregnable
demonstration. We have before seen that Paul testifies that the
sprinklings of the Mosaic system were baptisms. We now have the added
voice of the son of Sirach certifying the same thing. By the mouth of
two or three witnesses shall every word be established. These witnesses
are ignorant or false, or else _baptizo_ does not here mean, to dip, to
immerse.
Footnote 31:
J. W. Etheridge, in “Jerusalem and Tiberias.” P. 105.
This conclusion is yet farther confirmed by the light which the above
proverb sheds upon a passage in the writings of Paul, which has greatly
perplexed expositors. “Else what shall they do which are baptized for
the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for
the dead?”—1 Cor. xv, 29. Paul is discussing the doctrine of the
resurrection. As elsewhere in the epistle, so here, he assumes his
readers to know the law of Moses. (Compare 1 Cor. ix, 8-10; x, 1-10.) To
it, he, therefore, appeals.—“You know that there is in the law an
ordinance for the ritual restoration of such as, by contact with the
dead, have become ritually dead. But what means this rite? If the saints
shall not really be raised up, to what intent is this ritual
resurrection?” That such was the meaning of Paul, will hardly be
questioned by any who consider, (1.) That the law of defilement by the
dead, and of purification with the water of separation, was a statute of
universal obligation to Israel, at home, and in foreign lands: (2.) That
the ordinance and its observance were so familiar that, two hundred
years before Christ, it was made the ground of the proverb above cited.
As we shall presently see, it is mentioned by Philo and by Josephus as,
in their days, universally observed: (3.) That it was known to Paul by
the name of baptism: (4.) That it meant the giving of life to the dead:
(5.) That, hence, whatever might be Paul’s allusion, it was a fact,
throughout the dwellings of Israel, that, whenever death visited a
house, it involved the consequent necessity of the baptism of the family
and attendants,—a baptism which signified the resurrection of the dead.
It is, therefore, beyond question that Paul meant to refer to that
Levitical purification. Such were the facts that his readers could not
but so understand him. Moreover, his expression here, and that which we
have heretofore examined concerning the divers baptisms of the law,
mutually illustrate each other and confirm all our conclusions on the
subject.
Thus, starting with the “divers baptisms” of the epistle to the Hebrews,
we have identified them with the seal of the Sinai covenant and the
water of separation. We have traced the ordinance in the historical
books, the Psalms and the prophets; have found it, in the time of the
son of Sirach, familiarly known as baptism, and have recognized it in
the New Testament itself, referred to by the same name, by that Hebrew
of the Hebrews, the apostle Paul. We may add that the same apostle again
refers to imitations of this ordinance in his dissuasive against
“doctrines of baptisms.” (Heb. vi, 2.) Here, he alludes to those
Pharisaic rites which under the same name were condemned by the Lord
Jesus, who reproved them as “teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men,” concerning their baptizings. (Mark, vii, 7, 8.)
SECTION XL.—_Judith’s Baptisms._
Returning to the Apocrypha, the next example of baptism occurs in the
book of Judith. The book dates from the period of the Maccabean kings of
Judah, between one and two hundred years before Christ; is a historical
fiction, and is designed to present, in the person of Judith, an ideal
type of female piety, courage, and virtue, as conceived by the Jews of
that age. According to the story, “Nabuchodonosor, the king of Nineveh,”
being incensed against the Jews, had doomed them to destruction. He
therefore sent Holofernes, with a large army to execute his vengeance.
This army being re-enforced by the Ammonites and the sons of Esau, the
mighty host, enters on the siege of Bethulia, a frontier city of Judah.
Surrounding the city and filling the whole country, they seize “the
water and the fountain of waters,” upon which Bethulia depended for its
supply. Soon, “all the vessels of water failed all the inhabitants of
Bethulia, and the cisterns were emptied, so that they had not water, to
drink their fill, one day; for they gave them drink by measure.”—Judith
vii, 12-21.
In this extremity, the elders of the city yield to the clamor of the
famished populace, and promise that if succor should not come within
five days they will surrender the city to the Assyrians. It is now that
the young and beautiful widow, Judith, appears on the scene. Rebuking
the elders, for their lack of faith and courage, she decks herself and
goes forth to beguile Holofernes, whom, in the sequel, she slays, in his
drunkenness, with his own sword, and so delivers her nation. When she
came to the Assyrians, “the servants of Holofernes brought her into the
tent, and she slept until midnight, and she arose at the morning watch,
and sent to Holofernes, saying, Let my lord now command that thy
handmaid be allowed to go out for prayer. And Holofernes commanded his
body-guard not to hinder her; and she remained in the tent three days,
and went out nightly into the valley of Bethulia and _baptized_ in the
camp, at the fountain of water. And as she returned, she besought the
Lord God of Israel to direct her way to the raising up the children of
her people”—Jud. xii, 5-8.
Judith’s _baptism_, was evidently not one of those required by the law.
It was performed statedly every night, as a preparation for prayer, and
was, no doubt, one of those washings which Jewish tradition was, at that
time, multiplying, and which were so rife in the days of our Savior.
Judith’s maid was with her, and this baptism was no doubt performed in
the ordinary mode of washing, with water poured on her hands. As to the
place of her baptism, the language is explicit. It was (_en_) _in_ the
camp, but (_epi_) _at_ and _not in_ the fountain. Not only does the
language thus forbid the supposition that she was immersed in the
fountain, but the circumstances were equally conclusive. She was a young
and beautiful woman, in the midst of a host of rude and licentious
soldiers and followers of the army. They held the fountain with jealous
care, both for the convenience of their own supply, and as the sure
means of bringing Bethulia to surrender. Judith could not there be
private for a moment, even at midnight, and such exposure as is imagined
would have been an invitation to certain violence, even though there had
been no question of defiling the very fountain whence the camp drew its
supply of water.
Baptist writers, to prove that Judith, nevertheless, immersed herself,
cite the fact that “as she _went up_ (_anebē_), she besought the Lord
God of Israel to direct her way to the raising up of the children of her
people.” But Dr. Dale has pointed out the fact that the very same
language occurs in a parallel place in the Septuagint Greek, where no
one ever pretended to find an immersion. Rebekah “went down to the well,
and filled her pitcher and _went up_ (_anebē_).”—Gen. xxiv, 15, 16. The
fountain of Bethulia was in the valley, to which Judith had to go down
from the head-quarters of Holofernes, which would be in an elevated
position, so as to command a view of the situation. To suppose the
_going up_ to be out of the water, would give her a time for prayer so
brief and in circumstances so peculiar as to give the suggestion an air
of ridicule.
It is well known that the impostor Mohammed was assisted in constructing
his institutions by renegade Jews, who early became his proselytes. The
following precept of the Koran will illustrate the practice of baptism
before prayer: “O true believers, when ye prepare to pray, wash your
faces and your hands unto the elbows; and rub your heads and your feet
unto the ankles; and if ye be polluted ... wash yourselves (all over).
But if ye be defiled, and ye find no water, take fine sand, and rub your
faces and your hands therewith. God would not put a difficulty upon you.
But he desireth to purify you, and to complete his favor upon you, that
ye may give thanks.”[32] This regulation by Mohammed is remarkable in
relation to that request of Peter,—“Lord not my feet only, but also my
hands and my head.”—John xiii, 9. Both he and the prophet of Mecca would
seem to have had in view the same custom of the scribes.
Footnote 32:
Sale’s “Koran,” chapter v.
From the passages thus examined it appears that in Hellenistic Greek the
word, _baptizo_ was employed to designate two classes of cleansings,—the
sacramental sprinklings of the law, and the self-imposed washings of
tradition, the mode of which, whether performed by affusion or
sprinkling, is not clear. As to the former: the proverb of the son of
Sirach is clearly a reference to the sprinkled water of separation. To
the same class, the arguments adduced entitle us to refer the baptism of
Naaman. To the rites of self-washing the case of Judith is to be
assigned,—not to those appointed by the law, but those imitations of the
scribes which obscured the meaning of the ordinance, as appointed of
God.
SECTION XLI.—_The Water of Separation in Philo and Josephus._
Philo, commonly called Judæus, was a Jew of Alexandria, who was
cotemporary with the apostles. He thus expounds the laws of
purification:—
“The law requires him who brings a sacrifice to be clean in body and
soul;—in his soul, from all passions, disorder and vices, whether in
word or deed; and pure in body, from such things as ritually defile
it.[33] And it has appointed a purification for each of these; for the
soul, by animals suitable for sacrifice;—for the body, by (_loutrōn kai
perirrhantēriōn_) ablutions and sprinklings.... The body is purified, as
I have said by washings and sprinklings; nor does the law allow a person
washed and sprinkled once to enter immediately the sacred courts; but
requires him to wait without, seven days; and to be sprinkled twice, on
the third day and on the seventh; and after these, having washed
himself, it admits him to enter and share the sacred rites. It is to be
considered what judgment and philosophy there is in this. For, nearly
all other people are sprinkled with mere water, the most drawing it from
the sea; some from rivers, and others again out of vessels of water
replenished from fountains. But Moses, providing ashes from sacrificial
fire (and in what manner will be shown presently), directed that some of
these should be put into a vessel, and water poured upon them; and then
dipping twigs of hyssop in the mixture, to sprinkle those who were to be
cleansed.
Footnote 33:
ἀφ’ ὡν ἔθος αὐτο μιανεσθαι.—“From those things which custom causes to
defile it.” Ἔθος, commonly means a custom grounded in law. (Compare
Acts vi, 14; xv, 1; xvi, 21; xxi, 21; xxv, 16; xxvi, 3; xxviii, 17;
etc.)
“It is now proper to explain the suitableness of these ashes. For they
are not bare ashes of wood, consumed by fire, but of an animal suited to
such purification. For it is required that a red heifer which has never
borne the yoke be sacrificed outside the city, and that the high priest,
taking some of the blood, shall seven times sprinkle with it toward the
front of the temple, and shall then burn the whole animal with its hide
and flesh, its viscera and dung. And when the flame declines, that these
three things be cast into the midst of it;—a stick of cedar, a stick of
hyssop, and a bunch of cummin. And when the fire has wholly expired, it
is required, that a clean person collect the ashes and deposit them
outside the city, in a clean place.”[34]
Footnote 34:
Philonis Judæi Opera omnia, Frankofurti, 1691, De Victimas
Offerentibus.
Josephus was a Jewish priest, who was made prisoner by Titus, in the war
which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem. He afterward, at Rome,
wrote his Jewish “Antiquities,” and his “History.” He thus describes the
manner of purifying with the ashes of the heifer. “Any persons being
defiled by a dead body, they put a little of these ashes and hyssop into
spring water, and _baptizing_ with these ashes in water, sprinkled them
on the third day and on the seventh.”[35] This is a literal translation
from the Greek of Josephus; but differs from the popular version of
Whiston. He renders it,—“They put a little of these ashes into spring
water with hyssop, and dipping part of these ashes in it, they sprinkled
them with it,” etc. But this is a very incorrect translation, is
incongruous to the ordinance as described by Moses, and converts the
account into nonsense. According to it, the ashes are in the first place
put into the water, and then part of them “dipped in it!” How they were
recovered from the water, in order to the dipping, and how the ashes
could be _dipped_ in the water at all, we need not inquire, as the
translation is incorrect. “Baptizing with these ashes-in-water,” truly
represents the original.[36] “Baptizing,” was the action; the mixture of
“ashes in water,” was the element; “sprinkling,” the mode; and “the
third and seventh days,” the time. In fact, in using the water of
separation, according to the law, there was no dipping of any sort,
except of the hyssop bush, with which the water was sprinkled. The only
action to which Josephus can refer,—that to which he does undoubtedly
refer,—by the word, “baptizing,” is the purifying rite, of which he
immediately states the form to have been a _sprinkling_.
Footnote 35:
Josephus, Antiquities, IV, iv, 6.
Footnote 36:
“Βαπτίσαντες τε καὶ της τέφρας ταύτης εἰς πηγὴν.” Τῆς τέφρας ταύτες is
the partitive and instrumental Genitive, and indicates the
ashes-in-water, as that with which the baptism was to be performed.
(Compare John ii, 7.—“Fill the water pots _with_ water.”)
To get rid of the force of this passage, Baptist writers have proposed
an arbitrary alteration of the text, by the erasure of the entire clause
(_te kai—pēgēn_) “with these ashes in water.” The change thus suggested
is purely gratuitous. The reading which they propose is without the
pretense of sanction from any manuscript of Josephus, and is sustained
by no sound principles of criticism. Its only warrant is the necessities
of the Baptist position. On the contrary, the rendering which we have
given is, in some of the manuscripts of Josephus, enforced by the
preposition (_meta_) _with_, after the word, “baptizing.” According to
this version, the passage can be read no otherwise than as we have given
it. “Baptizing _with_ these ashes in water.”
In the writings of Josephus there is another and very characteristic
notice as to the use of the water of separation. Speaking of the funeral
rites, he says, “Our law also ordains that the house and its inhabitants
shall be purified after the funeral is over, that every one may thence
learn to keep at a great distance from the thought of being pure, if he
hath once been guilty of murder.”[37] We are not to suppose that the
spiritual meaning of these rites had been so utterly lost by the Jews,
that Josephus, a priest, a Pharisee, a man of extensive learning and
reputation, imagined this to be a true account of the nature and meaning
of the ordinance. But he was speaking in defense of Judaism, against the
assaults of Apion, a Greek philosopher of Alexandria, at the bar of the
pagan philosophy of Greece and Rome. He affects, for himself, a
profoundly philosophic style and spirit, and aims to vindicate a similar
character for the laws and institutions of Moses. Knowing that the
truths of God as committed to Israel would be foolishness to the wise,
to whose applause he aspired, he sets them aside in favor of his own
“philosophic” inventions. He seems to have taken the suggestion from
certain heathen observances, of which we shall see more further on.
The foregoing extracts not only illustrate the law as to the water of
separation, and the use of the word, _baptizo_, with reference to it,
but indicate the place held by the ordinance among the observances of
Israel, down to the time of Jerusalem’s desolation.
Footnote 37:
Josephus against Apion. Book ii, 27.
SECTION XLII.—_Imitations of these Rites by the Greeks and Romans._
Placed as was Israel in the very center of the civilization of the
ancient world, and on the direct line of communication between its
peoples and empires, her influence upon the institutions and religious
rites of other nations must have been very great, and is traceable in
every direction. There is reason to believe that Greece and its colonies
in Italy, from which sprang the republic and empire of Rome, derived
from Israel the first great impulses of their civilization, as well as
continual subsequent contributions to its maintenance and growth. Israel
had dwelt in the land of Canaan about three hundred years before the
supposed era of the siege of Troy, and seven hundred before the reputed
date of the great poems of Homer, from the silence of which it is
evident that to him letters were wholly unknown. According to the
earliest Greek tradition, Cadmus, “the man of the east,” coming with a
colony of Phœnicians settled in Greece, bringing with him the art of
alphabetic writing. But at what age he lived, or whether he was not, in
fact, wholly a mythical character is a matter of conjecture. The
tradition, however, distinctly points to Phœnicia as the land whence the
art was introduced into Greece; and the circumstances accord with this
supposition. That the Greek letters were derived from those called
Phœnician is an undoubted fact. The extensive commerce maintained by the
ships of Phœnicia was a constant and efficient means of disseminating
the seeds of her advancing civilization; and besides, the sages of
Greece were accustomed to travel to Egypt, Phœnicia, and the east, in
search of knowledge; and returned thence with acquisitions of which all
Greece was the beneficiary. About four hundred years before Christ,
Plato himself was in Egypt in search of knowledge, a student of the
priests of On. At this time, Egypt was full of Jews, and it is not to be
imagined that such an inquirer would wholly fail to catch some glimpses
of the light which shone in the institutions and literature of Israel.
Many things concur to show that neither Egypt nor Phœnicia was the
original fountain of much that was thus disseminated to Greece. In some
instances, the attendant circumstances, and in others the internal
evidence, unmistakably indicate an Israelite origin. Phœnicia was a
strip of sea-coast, ten or twelve miles wide, lying between the northern
part of the land of Israel and the Mediterranean Sea. Tyre and Sidon,
its two chief cities, were the only practicable sea-ports on the coast
of Palestine. They were distant, the former, about one hundred and
twenty miles, and the latter, one hundred, from Jerusalem. Their
supplies were derived largely from the fields, the vineyards, and the
olive groves of Israel. (2 Chron. ii, 10; Acts xii, 20.) Except slight
provincial differences, the language of the two people was the same; and
the intimacy of the relations is seen in the fact that the drift of
dialect in the two closely coincided. Hiram king of Tyre, was David’s
intimate friend, and Solomon’s faithful and efficient ally, in the
erection of the temple and his own palace, in adorning Jerusalem, and in
commercial enterprises. His relation with David, and his message of
salutation to Solomon (2 Chron. ii, 12) argue him a professed worshiper
of the God of Israel. Thus, whilst the Phœnician territory was a mask by
which Israel was concealed from the Mediterranean countries, the
Phœnicians, themselves, can not but have realized a profound impression
from the wonderful system of religious rites and the testimonies of
religious truth which were maintained in Israel and centered around that
temple on Mount Sion, which was a monument of Phœnician skill in
architecture and the mechanic arts. The ideas thus communicated and the
impressions thus produced must have been borne abroad by every wind that
filled a Phœnician sail, and disseminated to every land that was touched
by a Phœnician prow.
The art of alphabetic writing is an illustration of this. It did not
originate in Phœnicia, but, as internal evidence demonstrates,—with the
Arameans, of whom Israel was a branch. The Phœnician characters were the
same as the Old Hebrew. Once acquired by that maritime people, the art
was diffused to Greece, to Rome, and the world. The Egyptians no less
than the Phœnicians were idolaters, having lords many and gods many.
When, therefore, the sages of Greece returned from their explorations,
prepared to whisper to their confidential disciples the sublime doctrine
of the divine unity, and even to erect an altar “_To the Unknown
God_,”[38] we are justified in the conviction that at some point in the
course of their travels, they had caught an echo of that voice which
spake to the twelve tribes in the wilderness,—“Hear, O Israel: the Lord
our God is one Lord.”—Deut. vi, 4. To the same originals undoubtedly are
to be referred many of the ceremonials of their religion. Of this, the
rules of uncleanness, and rites of purifying are remarkable
illustrations.
Footnote 38:
That this altar was the expression of a blind though real groping
after the true God, is distinctly attested by Paul.—“Whom therefore ye
ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.”—Acts xvii, 23. To suppose
as do some that the altar was erected by one who was uncertain which
of the tutelary deities he should propitiate, implies Paul to have
resorted to a weak pretense, founded on the mere jingle of words,
which, so far from constituting an appropriate and impressive basis
for his argument and appeal, would have invited the derision and
contempt of his skeptical audience. He adopted no such artifice; but
appealed to a recognized and affecting fact.
Of the various forms of purification among the Greeks, Plato makes an
enumeration.—“The _purifications_ (_katharmoi_) both according to
medicine and vaticination, both the pharmacial _drugs_, (_pharmakois_),
and the vaticinal _fumigations_ (_peritheiōseis_) as also the _washings_
(_loutra_) in such rites, and the _sprinklings_ (_perirrhanseis_);—are
not all these effectual to one end,—to render a man pure, both as to
body and soul?”[39]
Footnote 39:
Plato, in Cratylo, xxii.
On this subject, the historian Grote makes some noteworthy
statements.—“The names of Orpheus and Musaeus (as well as that of
Pythagoras, looking at one side of his character), represent facts of
importance in the history of the Grecian mind, ... the gradual influx of
Thracian, Phrygian and Egyptian religious ceremonies and feelings, and
the increasing diffusion of special mysteries, schemes for religious
purification, and orgies (I venture to Anglicize the Greek word, which
contains in its original meaning no implication of the ideas of excess
to which it was afterward diverted), in honor of some particular god,
distinct from the public solemnities, and from the gentile solemnities
of primitive Greece.... During the interval between Hesiod and
Onomakritus [B. C. 610-510], the revolution in the religious mind of
Greece was such as to place both these deities [Dyonisus and Demeter,
the Bacchus and Ceres of the Latins] in the front rank.... From all
these countries [Egypt, Thrace, Phrygia and Lydia], novelties unknown to
the Homeric men found their way into the Grecian worship; and there is
one amongst them which deserves to be specially noticed, because it
marks the generation of the new class of ideas in their theology. Homer
mentions many guilty of private or involuntary homicide, and compelled
either to go into exile, or to make pecuniary satisfaction; but he never
once describes any of them to have either received or required
purification for the crime. Now, in the times subsequent to Homer,
purification for homicide comes to be indispensable. The guilty person
is regarded as unfit for the society of men, or the worship of the gods,
until he has received it; and special ceremonies are prescribed whereby
it is to be administered. Herodotus tells us that the ceremony of
purification was the same among the Lydians and the Greeks. We know that
it formed no part of the early religion of the latter, and we may
reasonably suspect that they borrowed from the former.... The
purification of a murderer was originally operated not by the hands of
any priest or specially sanctified man, but by those of a chief or king
who goes through the appropriate ceremonies in the manner represented by
Herodotus, in his pathetic narrative respecting Crœsus and Adrastus.[40]
The idea of a special taint of crime, and of the necessity, as well as
the sufficiency of prescribed religious ceremonies, as a means of
removing it, appears thus to have got footing in Grecian practice
subsequent to the time of Homer.”[41]
Footnote 40:
But Herodotus does not “represent” the manner of the purifying of
Adrastus. Moreover, the legend of Crœsus and Adrastus, is fabulous, as
appears from internal evidence (see Rawlinson’s note on the place);
and with it, the theory of Grote, as to the Lydian origin of the Greek
purifying rites falls to the ground. See Rawlinson’s Herodotus, Hist.
I. 35.
Footnote 41:
Grote i, 29-35.
Again he says,—“Herodotus had been profoundly impressed with what he saw
and heard in Egypt. The wonderful monuments, the evident antiquity, and
the peculiar civilization of that country acquired such preponderance in
his mind, over his own native legends, that he is disposed to trace the
oldest religious names or institutions of Greece, to Egyptian or
Phœnician original, setting aside, in favor of this hypothesis, the
Grecian legends of Dyonisus and Pan.”[42]
Footnote 42:
Ib. 530.
In these statements, the eminent historian seems studiously to avoid a
recognition of the direction to which all his facts so distinctly point.
All the countries mentioned by him border on the Mediterranean, and were
in constant and intimate communication with Egypt and Phœnicia, the
relations of which with Israel are too well known to need emphasis. They
were, in fact, the channels through which Hebrew ideas must ordinarily
pass, in order to gain access to Greece and the continent of Europe. To
whatever source the Greeks may have been immediately indebted for the
novel ideas of a special stain or defilement, resulting from crime, and
of ritual purifying from it, we know that they were incorporated in the
laws and ritual of Moses ages before there is a trace of them in any of
the countries mentioned. The disposition of Herodotus to refer them to
Egypt and Phœnicia is therefore entitled to more respectful
consideration than our author gives it. That the Gentile rites in
question, however grossly corrupted, were derived from divine originals,
must be manifest to any one who will compare the significance and beauty
of the Scriptural rites as connected with the spiritual truths of
revelation, which they symbolized, with the bareness and absurdity by
which they are characterized, in their distorted Gentile forms, detached
from the spiritual connection to which they natively belonged.
On the matters of which it treats, no authority is higher than Dr. Wm.
Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. As to the present
subject, it testifies that their purifyings, “in every case of which we
have any certain knowledge were _connected with sacrifices_ and other
religious rites, and consisted in the _sprinkling of water_, by means of
a _branch of laurel or olive_; and at Rome, sometimes by means of the
_aspergillum_, and in the burning of certain materials the smoke of
which was thought to have a purifying effect.”[43]
Footnote 43:
Smith’s Greek and Roman Antiquities, _article_, “Lustratio.”
Of the Greek heroes the Abbe Barthelemi says,—“They shuddered at the
blood they had spilt, and abandoning their throne and native land, went
to implore the aid of expiation in some distant country. After the
sacrifices enjoined them by the ceremony, a purifying water was poured
upon the guilty hand, after which they again returned into society and
prepared themselves for new combats.”[44]
Footnote 44:
Travels of Anacharsis, Introduction.
Of the Romans, Ovid says:—“Our fathers believed purifications to be
effectual for blotting out every crime and every cause of penalty.
Greece was the source of the custom. She believes the guilty, when
purified with lustral rites, to be freed from the guilt of their evil
deeds. Thus Peleus purified the grandson of Actor; and thus Acastus,
with the waters of Hæmus, cleansed Peleus himself, from the blood of
Phocus.—Ah credulous people! who suppose that the dreadful crime of
murder can be obliterated by (_fluminea aqua_), running waters.”[45]
Footnote 45:
Ovidii Fast. ii, vs. 27-46.
The same poet describes the festival of Pales, the tutelary goddess of
shepherds. Some days before her festival, cows were sacrificed and the
unborn offspring torn from their bowels and burned with fire by the
eldest of the Vestals, “that their ashes may purify the people on the
day of Pales.” On the festival day he sings: “I am called to the
Palilia.... Often, truly, have I carried in my full hand the ashes of
the calf and the bean stalks, hallowed purifiers. Truly I have leaped
over the fires kindled in three rows, and the dripping branch of laurel
has scattered the water.... Go, ye people, seek the fumigation from the
altar of the virgin! Vesta will give it. By the grace of Vesta, you
shall be purified. The blood of a horse shall be your fumigatory, with
the ashes of the calf, and third the empty husk of the hard bean.
Shepherd, purify your full fed flocks in the early twilight. Water
should first sprinkle them, and a twig broom should sweep the
ground.”[46] Again, he tells of “a fountain of Mercury near the Capanian
gate. If we choose to believe those who have tried it, it has a divine
virtue. Hither comes the merchant with purse-girdled tunic, and being
purified, draws water which he may carry away in a perfumed vase. In
this, a branch of laurel is moistened, and with the wet laurel all
things are sprinkled that are to have new owners. He sprinkles his own
locks, also, with the dripping bush, and with a voice familiar with
deceit offers his prayers. ‘Wash away my past perjuries,’ says he: ‘Wash
away the falsehoods of the past day. Whether I have called thee
(Mercury), to witness, or have called upon the great majesty of Jove,
wishing him _not_ to hear; or, if I have been false to any other god or
goddess, let the swift zephyrs carry away my dishonest words, and let my
perjuries be obliterated by to-morrow. Let not the superior powers give
heed to what I may say.’”[47]
Footnote 46:
Ib. iv, 633-640; 731-736.
Footnote 47:
Ovidii Fast. ii, v, 673-688.
In Virgil, Æneas, preparing for flight from the overthrow of Troy, says
to his father,—“Do you, my father, in your hand take the consecrated
things and the ancestral gods? To me, just returned from such and so
recent a battle and slaughter, it were sacrilege to touch them, until I
shall have washed in a living stream.”[48] In another place the closing
rites at the funeral pyre of Misenus are thus described,—“The same
(Chorinaeus) passed thrice around his companions with water, sprinkling
them with a gentle spray, and with a branch of the auspicious olive
purified the men and uttered the parting words.”[49]
Footnote 48:
Æn. ii, 717.
Footnote 49:
Ibid. vi, 229.—The (novissima verba) last or parting words, were
addressed to the deceased,—“Vale! Vale! Vale!” Farewell! Farewell!
Farewell!
Of funeral lustrations at Rome, Adams in his Antiquities, gives this
account: “When the remains of the dead were laid in the tomb, those
present were, three times, sprinkled by a priest with pure water, from a
branch of olive or laurel, to purify them.... The friends when they
returned home, as a further purification, after being sprinkled with
water, stepped over a fire.[50]... The house itself also was purified
and swept with a certain kind of a broom.” The classic writers
frequently refer to similar observances among the Greeks. Thus, in
Euripides, the people are perplexed as to the death of Alcestis, king
Admetus’ wife, because “they do not see the lustral water before the
door, as is customary at the doors of the dead.”[51]
Footnote 50:
Compare above, p. 138.
Footnote 51:
Euripides in Alcest. 398. See, also, Aristophanes in Eccl. 1025.
The census of the population of Rome was taken every five years, and was
followed by a lustration of the city. From this custom the word
_lustrum_ (a lustration), came to signify a period of five years. There
was also a lustration for new born infants, when their names were given.
For boys it was usually on the ninth day after birth; for girls, by
some, on the eighth day, and by others, on the fifth, or the third day,
while some performed it on the last day of the week wherein the child
was born. “On the lustral day, a feast was prepared, over which the
goddess Nundina was supposed to preside. The assembled women handed the
child backward and forward around the fire burning on the altar of the
gods; after which they sprinkled it with water, in which were mingled
saliva and dust.”[52]
Philo Judaeus, was a resident of the Greek colony of Alexandria. He was
a man of learning, and especially versed in the religious doctrines and
rites of the Gentiles, as well as of Moses, of which he wrote largely.
We have seen that, in contrasting the purifying rites of other nations
with those of Israel, he says that “nearly all other people are
sprinkled with unmixed water, mostly drawing it from _the sea_, some
from rivers and others again from vessels replenished from
fountains.”[53] This preference of the water of the sea, probably
originated in a desire to differentiate the Gentile imitations from the
divine originals as observed by Israel. Of it an illustration appears in
Euripides. Iphigenia speaks of Orestes and his companions, defiled with
dreadful crimes,—“First would I (_nipsai_) _imbue_ them with holy
purifyings.”
Footnote 52:
Rees’s Encyclopedia, article, “Lustration.”
Footnote 53:
Above, p. 175.
KING THOAS. “From springs of waters? Or, from spray of the sea?”
IPHIGENIA. “The sea spray (_kluzei_[54]) washes away all the crimes of
men.”[55]
Footnote 54:
Κλυζω (klyzō) to besprinkle, to water, to rinse, to dash over. “The
sea, besprinkling, washes away all the crimes of men.”
Footnote 55:
Iphigenia in Taur. 1192-1194.
The rites used in the Greek _mysteries_ illustrate the same subject.
“The benefits which the initiated hoped to obtain were security against
the vicissitudes of fortune and protection from dangers both in this
life and in the life to come. The principal part of the initiation, and
that which was thought to be most efficacious in producing the desired
effects, were the lustrations and purifications, whence the mysteries
themselves are sometimes called _katharsia_ or _katharmoi_.”[56]
Footnote 56:
Smith’s Dictionary, _article_ “Mysteria.”
Those of Eleusis were a manifest imitation of the Levitical feast of
ingathering or tabernacles. They were celebrated at the same
season,—immediately after the bringing in of the harvest; and were in
honor of Demeter, or Ceres, the patroness of agriculture. The
celebration proper, continued for seven days, after which there was an
additional eighth day, appropriated to the initiation of those who had
been too late for the regular observances. This, again, was followed by
a ninth day, which was named _plēmochoai_, from a vase called
_plēmochoē_. “Two of these vessels were on this day filled with water or
wine,” (Should it not be “water _and_ wine?”) “and the contents of one
thrown to the east, and those of the other to the west, while those who
performed this rite uttered some mystical words.”[57] From the
appropriating of a ninth day to the outpouring of the water and wine, it
seems probable that the mysteries were originally imitated from the
Levitical feast before the festival of the outpouring was instituted;
and that when the latter rite was introduced, an additional day was
appropriated to it, so as to avoid any change in what had become the
established and consecrated order of the preceding days.
Footnote 57:
Smith, _article_ “Eleusinia.” Compare above, p. 144.
These mysteries were of two orders. The less were celebrated at Agræ,
and were essential as a preparation for the greater at Eleusis. In the
preparatory rites, the candidates were required to keep themselves
continent and unpolluted for nine days; and were purified with water
sprinkled on them, by an officer who was thence called the
_hydranos_.[58] At Eleusis they offered sacrifices and prayers, wearing
garlands of flowers; and, standing on the skin of a sacrificial animal,
were again purified by the sprinkling of water by the _hydranos_.
Footnote 58:
“Ὑδρανος (hydranos), a waterer, a sprinkler with water; from ὑδραινο
to water, to sprinkle any one with water, to pour out
libations.”—Liddell & Scott’s Greek Lexicon.
That the observances thus illustrated were corrupted forms derived from
the rites and institutions of Moses, is apparent. So manifest is this,
that in the third and fourth centuries it was made the ground of a
specious theory by means of which the advocates of paganism sought to
stay the progress of Christianity. “Among those who wished to appear
wise, and to take moderate ground, many were induced to devise a kind of
reconciling religion, intermediate between the old superstition and
Christianity, and to imagine that Christ had enjoined the very same
things which had long been represented by the pagan priests, under the
envelope of their ceremonies and fables.”[59]
Footnote 59:
Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., Book II., Part i, § 18.
There was, no doubt, an element of truth in this conception. The rites
of Gentile idolatry were, it is evident, corrupted forms derived from
divinely appointed institutions, partly, it may be, by tradition, from
the parents of the race; but chiefly by imitation of the ritual of
Moses.
SECTION XLIII.—_Baptism in Egypt and among the Aztecs._
I am indebted to the courtesy of W. H. Ryland, F. S. A. Secretary of the
(British) Society of Biblical Archæology, for a copy of the proceedings
at a meeting held on the 4th of May, 1880. From it I make the following
extract including part of a communication read from M. Paul Pierret. It
is descriptive of “the Libation Vase of Osor-ur,” preserved in the
Museum of the Louvre (No. 908), an inscription on which has been
deciphered by M. Pierret.
“The vase, of the Saitic epoch, is of bronze, and of an oblong form,
covered with an inscription, finely traced with a pointed instrument.
The text has been published, by M. Pierret in the second volume of his
‘Recueil d’Inscriptions du Louvre,’ in the eighth number of the ‘Etudes
Egyptologiques.’ The goddess, Nout, is represented standing in her
sycamore, pouring the water which is received by the deceased, on one
side, and by his soul, on the other. ‘Saith the Osiris, divine father
and first prophet of Ammon Osor-ur, truthful;—Oh, Sycamore of Nout! give
me the water and the breath [of life] which proceed from thee. That I
may have the vigor of the goddess of vigor; that I may have the life of
the goddess of life; that I may breathe the breath of the goddess of the
respiration of breaths; for I am Toum. Saith Nout;—Oh the Osiris, divine
father, etc., thou receivest the libation from my own hands; I, thy
beneficent mother, I bring thee the vase, containing the abundant water
for rejoicing thy heart by its effusion, that thou mayest breathe the
breath [of life] resulting from it, that thy flesh may live by it. For,
I give water to every mummy; I give breath to him whose throat is
deprived of it, to those whose body is hidden, to those who have no
funeral chapel. I am with thee. I reunite thee to thy soul, which will
separate itself no more from thee, never.’”
The Saitic epoch, to which this vase is referred, began with the
accession of Psammetichus I, about 664, B. C., and closed with the
conquest of Egypt by Cambyses in 525. The parallel period of Jewish
history extends from the closing years of Manasseh’s reign to the time
of the machinations by which the decree of Cyrus for rebuilding the
temple was suspended. But, although the date thus given is such as might
suggest the idea of derivation from the institutions of Moses, it seems
highly probable that the inscription presents a vestige, in a greatly
corrupted form, of the primitive faith touching the resurrection, as
held by Noah and the patriarchs of the old world, and transmitted to the
founders of the Egyptian empire. Whatever the view adopted on that
point, the relation of the inscription to the subject of the present
treatise is manifest and very interesting. Not only does it very
strikingly illustrate the doctrine of life to the dead, as symbolized by
the effusion of water, but it brings together the two symbols of water
and the breath of life, in such a manner as presents a very remarkable
analogy to the similar association of ideas presented in the scene of
Pentecost, as unfolded hereafter.
Very remarkable was the rite of infant baptism, as it was found by the
Spanish conquerors among the Aztecs of Mexico.[60]
Footnote 60:
As this work goes into the hands of the printers, the newspapers
announce that “the Rev. Professor Campbell of Montreal has discovered
that the Hittite and Aztec alphabets are identical, and by applying
the latter to the former, he has been enabled to read inscriptions
belonging to the ninth century before Christ.” Should this
announcement prove true, it brings the Aztecs into a relation to
Israel which the reader will at once recognize.
“When everything necessary for the baptism had been made ready, all the
relations of the child were assembled, and the midwife, who was the
person that performed the rite of baptism, was summoned. At early dawn,
they met together in the court-yard of the house. When the sun had
risen, the midwife, taking the child in her arms, called for a little
earthen vessel of water, while those about her placed the ornaments
which had been prepared for the baptism in the midst of the court. To
perform the rite of baptism, she placed herself with her face toward the
west, and immediately began to go through certain ceremonies.... After
this she sprinkled water on the head of the infant, saying, ‘O, my
child! take and receive the water of the Lord of the world, which is our
life, and is given for the increasing and renewing of our body. It is to
wash and to purify. I pray that these heavenly drops may enter into your
body and dwell there: that they may destroy and remove from you all the
evil and sin which was given you before the beginning of the world;
since all of us are under its power, being all the children of
Chalchivitlycue goddess She then washed the body of the child with
water, and spoke in this manner: ‘Whence thou comest, thou that art
hurtful to this child; leave him and depart from him, for he now liveth
anew, and is born anew; now is he purified and cleansed afresh and our
mother, Chalchivitlycue, again bringeth him into the world.’ Having thus
prayed, the midwife took the child in both hands, and lifting him toward
heaven, said,—‘O Lord, thou seest here thy creature, whom thou hast sent
into the world, this place of sorrow, suffering, and penitence. Grant
him, O Lord, thy gifts, and thine inspiration, for thou art the great
God, and with thee is the great goddess.’ Torches of pine were kept
burning during the performance of these ceremonies. When these things
were ended, they gave the child the name of some one of his ancestors,
in the hope that he might shed a new luster over it. The name was given
by the same midwife or priestess who baptized him.”[61]
Footnote 61:
Sahagun. Hist. de Nueva Espana, vi, 37. In Prescott’s “Conquest of
Mexico.” Vol. III, p. 385.
How like, yet how different, the Græco-Roman, the Egyptian, and the
Mexican rites, from each other, and from those of Israel and of Christ,
appears at a glance.
SECTION XLIV.—_The Levitical Baptisms in the Christian Fathers._
The writers of the primitive church distinctly recognize the Old
Testament sprinklings, and especially the water of separation, by the
name of baptism. By the same name, they designate the idolatrous
imitations above described. Tertullian was born about fifty years after
the death of the apostle John. In allusion to the renewing efficacy
which he attributed to Christian baptism and the futility of the Gentile
rites, he says,—“The nations, strangers to all understanding of true
spiritual potencies, ascribe to their idols the self-same efficacy. But
they defraud themselves with unwedded waters; for they are initiated, by
washing, into certain of their sacred mysteries—as for example of Isis,
or Mithras. Even their gods themselves they honor with lavations.
Moreover, everywhere, country seats, houses, temples and whole cities
are purified by sprinkling with water carried around. So, it is certain
they are imbued (_tinguntur_) in the rituals of Apollo and Eleusis; and
they imagine this to accomplish for them renewing and impunity for their
perjuries. Moreover, among the ancients, whoever was polluted with
murder, expiated himself with purifying waters.... We see here the
diligence of the devil, emulating the things of God, since he even
administers baptism to his own.”[62]
Footnote 62:
Tertull. de Baptisma, chapter v.
Here, Tertullian expressly designates these rites of the Gentile
idolatries by the name of baptism, and represents them as imitations of
the divinely appointed ordinance. Some he distinctly describes as
sprinklings, and among them evidently refers to Ovid’s representation of
the dishonest merchant, sprinkling himself to wash out his “perjuries.”
He does not allude to immersion, and in fact that form of rite was not
found among the Greek and Roman superstitions. The only difference which
Tertullian recognizes between the idolatrous rites and Christian baptism
is indicated by the phrase (_viduis aquis_), “unwedded,” or “widowed,
waters,” by which he designates the element used in the pagan rites. His
meaning, here, is to be found in the doctrine of baptismal regeneration,
which already prevailed in the church; according to which, it was
believed that, in baptism, in response to the invocation of the
officiating minister, the Holy Spirit descended upon the water,
imparting to it a divine potency to produce a new birth in the recipient
of the rite. Thus, the waters of Christian baptism were married waters,
as being capable of generating life; whilst the others were
unmarried,—unendowed with any “spiritual potency.”
It is further worthy of special notice, that Tertullian here refers,
among other Gentile imitations of baptism, to that purgation for murder,
by affusion of water, from which evidently Josephus derived his
preposterous explanation of the sprinkling of the water of separation,
for defilement by the dead. The probability is great that the Greek
purgation was derived from that appointed for the elders of Israel, in
the case of a concealed murder.
Jerome, living between A. D. 340 and 420, comments thus upon Ezekiel
xxxvi, 25-27.—“I will pour out or sprinkle (effundam sive aspergam),
upon you clean water and ye shall be cleansed from all your defilements.
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a right spirit within
you.... I will pour out the clean water of saving baptism.... It is to
be observed that a new heart and a new spirit may be given by the
pouring out or sprinkling of water.” Again, he paraphrases;—“I will no
more pour out on them the waters of saving baptism, but the waters of
doctrine and of the word of God.”—Jerome v, 341.
Ambrose, bishop of Milan from A. D. 374 to 391, thus expounds the 7th
verse of Psa. li.—“He asks to be _cleansed with hyssop_, according to
the law. He desires to be washed according to the gospel, and trusts
that if washed he will be whiter than snow. He who would be purified by
typical baptism was sprinkled with the blood of a lamb, by a hyssop
bush.”[63]
Footnote 63:
Ambrosii Opera, in Psa. li.
Again he says, “He (the priest), dipping the living sparrow, with cedar,
scarlet and hyssop, into water in which had been mingled the blood of
the slain sparrow, sprinkled the leper seven times, and thus was he
rightly purified.... By the cedar wood, the Father, by the hyssop the
Son, and by the scarlet wool, having the brightness of fire, the Holy
Spirit, is designated. With these three, he was sprinkled who would be
rightly purified, because no one can be cleansed from the leprosy of
sins, by the water of baptism, except through invocation of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit.... We are represented by the
leper.”[64]
Footnote 64:
Ibid., in Apocal. cap. 6.
Again, addressing the newly baptized, he says,—“You took the white
garments, to indicate that you cast away the cloak of sin and put on the
spotless robe of innocence; whereof the prophet said: ‘Thou shalt
sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be clean, thou shalt wash me, and I
shall be made whiter than snow.’ For he that is baptized appears
cleansed both according to the law and the gospel; according to the law,
since Moses, with a bunch of hyssop sprinkled the blood of a bird;
according to the gospel, because the garments of Christ were white as
snow, when, in the gospel, he showed the glory of his resurrection. He
whose sins are forgiven is made whiter than snow.”[65]
Footnote 65:
Ibid. Lit. ad initiandos. c, 7.
Cyril lived in the next century. He was bishop of Alexandria, A. D.
412-444. In his exposition of Isaiah iv, 4, he says, “We have been
baptized, not with bare water, nor with the ashes of a heifer,—We are
sprinkled [with these] to purify the flesh, alone, as says the blessed
Paul,—but with the Holy Spirit, and fire.”
Thus, from the translation of the Old Testament into Greek down through
the time of Christ and the apostles, and to the middle of the fifth
century, the Levitical sprinklings were known and designated as
baptisms. Further we need not trace them.
PART VI.
STATE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ARGUMENT.
SECTION XLV.—_Points established by the foregoing Evidence._
A review of the preceding pages will discover the following points to
have been established.
1. Baptism was a rite familiar among the Jews at the time of Christ’s
coming, and not a new institution then first introduced.
2. Paul being witness, it was an ordinance imposed on Israel at Sinai,
as part of the Levitical system.
3. There is no trace, in the Levitical law, of an ordinance for the
immersion of the person, in any circumstances, or for any purpose
whatever.
4. There is not, anywhere, in the Old Testament an allusion to immersion
as a symbolic rite, nor a figure derived from it, although those
Scriptures are full of allusions and figures referring to the symbolic
import of the pouring and sprinkling of water.
5. There was an ordinance for the immersion of certain things very
slightly defiled; which at once illustrates the ritual value of
immersion as compared with sprinkling, and the plainness of the language
where immersion was meant.
6. The baptisms, therefore, to which Paul refers as having been “imposed
on” Israel, could not have been immersions, and the word, _baptizo_, did
not in his vocabulary mean, to immerse.
7. The only institutions to which he can have referred are comprehended
under the two heads of, administered rites, and self-performed washings.
8. The self-washings were not sacraments, or seals of the covenant, but
monitory symbols of duty.
9. The gradation of these washings, the frequency and circumstances of
their observance, and the limited facilities available, render it
impossible that they can have been immersions.
10. Their symbolic significance, the words used to describe them, the
customs as to ablutions, and the washings of the priests in the court of
the sanctuary, and of the high priest in the holy place, concur to
demonstrate that they were ablutions performed by affusion.
11. The administered rites were sacramental seals of the covenant. They
were essentially one in meaning, office, and form; and were invariably
performed with a hyssop bush, by an official administrator, sprinkling
the recipient with living water, in which was the blood or ashes of
sacrifice.
12. In the Hellenistic Greek, the language of the Septuagint, the
Apocrypha, and the New Testament, these purifications by sprinkling were
called _baptisms_, and they were known and designated by that name by
the primitive fathers of the Christian church.
13. These sprinklings of the law were the “divers baptisms” of Paul. So
far, therefore, from _baptizo_ meaning to dip, or, to immerse, and
nothing else, it is an indisputable fact that for at least fifteen
hundred years after the first institution of the rite, baptism was
always performed by sprinkling.
14. The ordinance was first instituted to seal the covenant by which the
church of God was founded in Israel; and that form of it in which the
ashes of the red heifer were used was divinely appointed as the ordinary
rite for the reception of applicants to the privileges of that covenant
and church.
15. Its symbolism set forth all that is recognized in the Scriptures as
meant by Christian baptism. Especially and distinctively was it the
sacrament of the purification, or remission of sins.
16. The figure presented in the form of sprinkling or pouring is derived
from the rain descending out of heaven, penetrating the earth and making
it fruitful; and it signifies the Spirit of life from God imparted to
the dead, entering the heart, purging its corruption, and creating new
life. To the case of indwelling corruption, with reference to which this
rite was appointed, no external washing, such as immersion is supposed
to represent, can be of any avail.
17. Affusion is the constant form of action in the ritual law, whether
with water, blood, or oil, to signify the efficient agency of the Lord
Jesus, in all the functions of administration in his mediatorial office.
18. The recipients of the Levitical baptism, were, at its first
institution, the whole congregation of Israel, old and young, thus
purified from the defilements of Egypt, sealed unto the covenant of God,
and installed as his church. Afterward, they were all, without
distinction of sex, age, or nation, who having been suspended for any
cause from the communion of the church of Israel, sought in the
appointed way restoration; or who were received into it, as infants or
proselytes.
19. While this rite was the door of admission to the privileges of the
covenant, at Sinai, and so long as the Levitical system survived, it is
appropriated by the Spirit, as the chosen figure by which is set forth,
in prophecy, the bestowal of the grace of Christ upon the Gentiles, in
the gospel day, and upon Israel, restored. “So shall he sprinkle many
nations.” “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be
clean.”
20. The figures of speech corresponding to the forms of sprinkling and
pouring appear everywhere in the Old Testament. Pervading and
determining the entire structure of the ritual law, they reappear
continually, in the historical records, in the devotional and penitent
utterances of the Psalmist, the discourses of the Preacher, and the
expostulations and warnings of the prophets, and in their glad
anticipations of the grace of the coming Messiah. With one and the same
spiritual meaning everywhere, these figures pervade and control the
whole texture of thought and mode of expression of the sacred writers.
21. This rite of purification by sprinkling was not only thus familiar
to Israel, but, under corrupted forms, it had been disseminated
throughout the civilized world; so that when the apostles went forth to
carry the gospel to the nations, the ideas of sin and guilt, defilement
and cleansing, thus nourished, were a very important element in the
providential preparation of the world to appreciate and accept the
salvation of Christ. While such was the case, the fact is equally
significant that among the nations contiguous to Israel there is no
trace of ritual purification by immersion,—a form of observance which,
had it existed in Israel, could not have failed of imitation by her
idolatrous neighbors.
Thus assiduously and multifariously were the people of Israel taught,
and trained—by instructions, by warnings, by promises, by rites and
ceremonies, enjoined and observed at the sanctuary and at home, which
laid hold upon them in every relation of their being and every function
of their lives—to conceive of themselves in all their sinfulness and
need, and of the coming Messiah in his offices of grace, in the light of
this ordinance, and according to the similitude embodied in it. For
fifteen centuries these influences were continually at work, until the
very bent and tendency of their thoughts and conceptions, in so far as
they yielded themselves to the divine agencies thus applied, were
moulded to the forms of those rites.
In view of the facts thus developed, two questions present themselves
for thoughtful consideration as we proceed with our inquiry. (1.) Is it
to be imagined that John and Jesus, in coming to fulfill the prophecies
of the Old Testament, which were embodied in sprinkled baptism, would
ignore that ordinance, and silently substitute in its place the rite of
immersion; thus bringing to naught and repudiating the products of the
divine discipline so assiduously pursued through all those centuries,
and dissolving every tie of association between the gospel of Christ and
the hopes and expectations which the saints had been taught to cherish,
by the unanimous testimony of the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, all
speaking in the language of the repudiated rite? (2.) Since the name of
_baptism_, was, beyond question the designation used for the Levitical
sprinklings, how else can we understand John, Christ, and the apostles,
than as meaning the same thing, in the similar use which they make of
the same word?
[Illustration:
THE GREEK BATH.—From Sir. Wm. Hamilton’s
vases, in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities; article “_Balneæ_.”
]
BOOK II.
NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY.
PART VII.
INTRODUCTORY.
SECTION XLVI.—_State of the Question._
Before entering upon an examination of the New Testament, it will be
well to notice distinctly what, at this stage of our inquiry, is the
precise state of the question to which our attention is directed. In a
word, two rites present themselves, each claiming to be the true and
legitimate ordinance which Christ commanded to be dispensed to all
nations.
On the one hand is the ritual sprinkling of water. In this rite, we
have an ordinance instituted at Sinai by divine command, with specific
directions as to the mode of observance, and abundant exemplification
in the history of Israel and the writings of the Old Testament,—an
ordinance by which the tribes of Israel and the Gentile children of
Midian were both alike received and sealed unto the covenant of
God,—its rites replete with the richest gospel meaning, as expounded
by poets and prophets, and constituting in connection with the Lord’s
supper, a clear and symmetrical representation of the whole plan of
grace. In this ordinance, the sprinkling of water for the ritual
purging of sin, is a lucid symbol of the very baptizing office which
is now fulfilled from the throne of heaven by Him whom John
fore-announced as the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost. That the doctrine
which the New Testament identifies with Christian baptism was
symbolized by the ordinance, in its Old Testament form, can not be
successfully questioned; nor that there was a beautiful symmetry,
congruity and significance in each several part and feature of the
observance. It thus stands forth, luminous with most precious gospel
truth. Appointed of God at Sinai, as the most fitting form under which
to figure the first act of His grace, in the bestowal of salvation on
sinners,—honored as the rite by which the church was at the beginning
consecrated to her exalted office, as God’s witness and herald to the
nations,—it comes to the New Testament church, hoary and venerable
with a history of fifteen centuries,—embalmed and hallowed by
commemoration in the poetic strains of the psalmist and the brightest
visions of the prophets, and fragrant from association with the
profoundest and most precious experiences of God’s people, in all
those centuries, and with every beam of hope for a better life beyond,
which shone into their stricken hearts, in the times of bereavement
and mourning. It comes, its image indelibly stamped on the face of
God’s word, and its conceptions therein transmitted to blend with the
clearer visions of hope revealed to the gospel church, by Him, in whom
life and immortality are brought to light.
On the other hand is that form of observance in which the person of the
subject is immersed in water, as a symbol of the burial of the Lord
Jesus. For this rite, no higher antiquity is claimed, by its advocates,
than that involved in its supposed institution by the Lord Jesus, after
his resurrection. It has no precedent in the Levitical ritual, nor place
among the figures employed by the Old Testament writers. The prophets
did not foreshadow it in their imagery, nor the psalmist in his strains.
All other rites of divine authority, are distinctly described, both as
to office and form. But, of the rite of immersion, there is neither
description nor explanation anywhere in the Scriptures. Its evidence
stands wholly in definitions, contrary to the unanimous testimony of
lexicographers, unsustained by any broad inductions from the facts and
analogy of Scripture, and at variance with the conclusions which such
induction demands.
And when we examine the relations and details of the rite, we find
incongruity and contradiction conspicuously displayed. If the rite be
regarded as a typical seal of the covenant of grace, as are all
sacraments, it follows that the administrator represents the Lord Jesus,
administering the true baptism, the real seal of that covenant. But, if
baptism is by immersion, to represent the burial of the body of the Lord
Jesus, we are reduced to the alternative that the office of the
administrator means nothing, in which case we have a burial with no one
to perform it;—or, that he represents Joseph of Arimathea, and
Nicodemus; by whom the body of Jesus was laid in the sepulcher.
Again, in the Scriptures everywhere, and especially, and in the most
express terms, by the Lord Jesus himself (John iv, 14; vii, 37-39),
living water is recognized as the divinely appointed symbol of the Holy
Spirit, as the Spirit of quickening and life. How beautifully and richly
appropriate to this purpose it is, we have seen. But, according to the
immersion theory, the dipping of the person in this element,—that is,
mersion in water of life, represents the consigning of the body of Jesus
to the grave, the den of corruption and death!
Besides, the supposed resemblance of this rite to the burial of Christ’s
body is a transparent misconception. It results from the transfer to
Palestine of ideas derived from the wholly different western method of
interment. In the sense required by immersion, Jesus never was “buried.”
The sepulcher of Joseph, in which his body was laid was not a grave, but
a spacious above-ground chamber. Such were its dimensions that, at one
time, on the morning of the resurrection, there were present in it “Mary
Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and other women,” at
least five or six persons, and with them the two angels before whom they
fell prostrate. (Luke xxiv, 1-10.) To this day, the hillsides around
Jerusalem and throughout Palestine are pierced with innumerable such
chambers, excavated horizontally in the rock, and frequently used as
dwellings by the present inhabitants. Such was the sepulcher of
Jesus,—an artificial chamber with a perpendicular door, so that Peter
and John and the women could by stooping walk into it.—John xx, 5-8. The
entombing of Jesus was no more a burial, in the sense required by the
immersion theory, than was the laying of the body of Dorcas in an upper
chamber. (Acts ix, 37.) The supposed similitude of immersion in water is
a figment of the imagination, in entire disregard of the real facts.
But, even should we allow the ordinance to be a true and fitting symbol
of the burial of Christ, it remains void of all spiritual significance.
Study it as we may, it teaches nothing,—it means nothing. In all other
sacraments the plan of salvation, in one or other of its grand features,
is lucidly represented. The Lord’s supper is the acknowledged symbol of
Christ’s atonement and death, and of the manner in which he imparts to
his people the benefits of that death,—while they by faith feed upon his
broken body. According to the immersion theory, baptism represents and
shows forth the burial of the dead body of Jesus, contradistinguished
from his death, as symbolized in the Lord’s supper. But that burial is a
thing wholly unimportant and insignificant, in itself, whether viewed as
to the fact or the mode. No emphasis is ever in the Scriptures put upon
either, nor spiritual meaning attributed to them. Thus, if we admit
immersion to a place among the ordinances, it must remain a mere form,
shedding no ray of divine light,—an opaque spot among the luminaries in
the instructive constellation of Scripture rites. The result moreover of
accepting this ordinance is, to strip the New Testament church of all
sacramental knowledge of the power and glory of Christ’s triumphant
sceptre. In Levitical baptism, the Old Testament church had a most
beautiful pledge of his triumph over death and a symbol of his grace
shed down from the throne of his glory. But, upon the immersion theory,
all this is utterly ignored in the New Testament ritual, and all
attention directed to the humiliation, sufferings and death,—one
sacrament setting forth his death, and the other his burial; whilst both
are left void of meaning; since the intent of the abasement can only be
found in his exaltation, and the baptizing office exercised from his
throne. We are to believe that at the very moment when his exaltation
became a glorious reality, and his baptizing office an active function,
and when these facts had become the very crown and sum of the gospel
thereupon sent forth to the world, all trace of them was obliterated
from the sacramental system, to the marring of its symmetry and the
utter destruction of its completeness and adequacy as a symbolical
gospel.
Moreover, it is the office of the rite of baptism, to seal admission to
the benefits of the covenant, in the bosom of the visible church.
Appropriate to this office, the Old Testament rite was a symbol of that
renewing and cleansing which the Lord Jesus by his Spirit gives, in the
bestowal upon his people of the benefits of the better covenant, and the
fellowship of the invisible church. The same import is attributed to
baptism throughout the New Testament. But in the rite of immersion, as
symbolizing the burial of the Lord Jesus, not only is this meaning
excluded, but the ordinance has no conceivable congruity to the office
which it fills. Dr. Carson attempts to evade this difficulty by the
assumption that there are two distinct emblems in baptism,—one, of
purification by washing; another of death, burial and resurrection, by
immersion.[66] Then, we are to understand that in baptism, the
administrator represents at once, the men by whom the body of Jesus was
laid in the sepulchre, and the Lord Jesus himself, dispensing the
baptism of his Spirit! The water symbolizes both the grave which is the
abode of death and corruption, and the Holy Spirit of life! And the
immersion of the person of the baptized represents at one and the same
time, the placing of the body in the grave, and the bestowal of his
Spirit by Jesus, for quickening and sanctifying his people! Manifestly,
the two sets of ideas thus brought together, as involved and represented
in the one form, are wholly irreconcilable. They are not merely
incongruous, but mutually destructive. To assert water, in one and the
same act, to signify the Spirit of life, and the corruption of the
grave; or an immersion to symbolize, at once, the burial of the dead
body, and the quickening of dead souls, is to deny it to have any
meaning at all. The rite may be labelled with these incongruous ideas.
But they can not be made to cohere in it. The theory ignores and
contradicts the true nature of the rites of God’s appointment; which are
not mere mnemonical tokens, but representative figures, ordained as
testimonies, which convey intelligible expression of their meaning by
their forms; and are therefore constructed upon fixed and invariable
principles, and characterized by definiteness and unity of meaning.
Footnote 66:
Carson on Baptism, pp. 265-268.
Are these difficulties evaded by falling back to the position of the
first Baptist confession,—that baptism “being a sign, must answer the
thing signified, which is, the interest the saints have in the death,
burial and _resurrection_ of Christ; and that as certainly as the body
is buried under the water and risen again, so certainly shall the bodies
of the saints be raised by the power of Christ, in the day of the
resurrection?” This is, to abandon the very citadel of the cause, which
consists in the position that the form and meaning of the ordinance are
to be determined by a strict interpretation of the classic meaning of
the word _baptizo_. That word _never_ means “burial and
resurrection,”—the immersion and _raising up_ of the subject. It
_sometimes_ means a submersion; that, and nothing more. This is now
distinctly admitted by the ablest representatives of the immersion
theory, as we shall see abundantly evinced before we close.
Such are some of the considerations that present themselves, as, at this
point in our inquiry, we view the two diverse rites which assume the
name of Christian baptism. Their claims are now to be judged, by a
comparison of the New Testament evidence, with what has been already
concentrated from the law, the prophets, and the Psalms;—writings all of
them equally authoritative and divine.
[Illustration:
THE GREEK BATH.—The god, Eros, presides. From
Sir. Wm. Hamilton’s vases, in Smith’s Dictionary
of Greek and Roman Antiquities; article “_Balneæ_.”
]
PART VIII.
THE PURIFYINGS OF THE JEWS.
SECTION XLVII.—_Accounts of them in the Gospels._
The fact has been referred to already that at the great passover, in the
days of Hezekiah, to which the remnant of the ten tribes were invited by
the king, “a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh,
Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the
passover otherwise than it was written,” not being “cleansed according
to the purification of the sanctuary;” that, thereupon, a plague was
sent among them; but at the intercession of the king, the Lord healed
the people. (2 Chron. xxx, 17-20.) In the law, it appears that, at the
entreaty of certain persons, who, at the regular time of the passover,
were defiled by a dead body, provision was made for a second passover,
to be kept a month later, by such as, by reason of defilement, or
absence at a great distance, could not keep it at the appointed time.
(Num. ix, 6-11.) These facts illustrate the statement of John respecting
a certain occasion when the “passover was nigh at hand; and many went
out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify
themselves.”—John xi, 55. The self-washings could all be performed by
the people at home. But, in the later period of Jewish history, the
ashes were kept at Jerusalem, and the sprinkling of the unclean usually
performed there by the priests alone. Hence, the coming of these Jews to
Jerusalem for purifying before the feast. It is thus evident that at all
the annual feasts, the preparatory purifying of the people must have
been a very conspicuous feature of the occasion, a fact of no little
significance, as bearing upon the observances in the Eleusinian
mysteries, already referred to.
We have shown the name of _baptism_ to have been used to designate both
the Levitical rite of sprinkling with the water of separation and the
ritual purifyings invented by the scribes. With the growth of
ritualistic zeal, the occasions for the latter observances were
multiplied. The earliest allusion to them, in the life of our Savior,
appears in connection with his first miracle, wrought in Cana of Galilee
at the marriage feast. “There were set there six water pots of stone,
after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three
firkins apiece.”—John ii, 6. That this provision for the purposes of
ritual purifying upon such an occasion was absolutely necessary, in
obedience to the traditions of the scribes, will presently appear.
The next occasion on which these rites come into notice, is recorded by
Luke. In the course of our Lord’s second tour through Galilee, after
having preached the gospel to a vast concourse, “a certain Pharisee
besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. And
when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first _baptized_
(_ebaptisthē_), before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye
Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your
inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he
that made that which is without make that which is within also? But
rather give alms of such things as ye have; and behold all things are
clean unto you.”—Luke xi, 37-41.
The next incident is mentioned very briefly by Matthew (xv, 1-9), and
more fully in Mark. The apprehensions of the rulers at Jerusalem seem to
have been aroused by reports of Christ’s ministry, and the excitement
caused by it among the people of Galilee. And as they had formerly sent
messengers to challenge John, so, now, scribes and Pharisees from
Jerusalem were on the watch to find occasion against Jesus. And “when
they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say,
with unwashen hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the
Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition
of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they _baptize_
(_ean mē baptisōntai_), they eat not, and many other things there be
which they have received to hold, as the _baptisms_ (_baptismous_), of
cups and pots, brazen vessels and tables” (or “beds.” So the margin and
the Greek.)—Mark vii, 1-4.
These are the only places in which the ritual purifyings of the
Pharisees are so mentioned as to shed light upon the subject of our
inquiry. In them, we trace three distinct observances. These are
enumerated by Mark, who represents them as common to “the Pharisees and
all the Jews.” They are, (1) Washing the hands, before meals; (2)
Baptism, after coming from the markets; (3) The baptisms of utensils and
furniture.
SECTION XLVIII.—_Washing the Hands before Meals._
It appears to have been a custom, enjoined by tradition and observed by
all the Jews, always to wash the hands ritually before eating. The
origin and meaning of the tradition may probably be inferred from a few
Scriptural facts. (1.) Flesh was used for sacrifice, before it was given
to man for food. Compare Gen. i, 29; iv, 4; viii, 20; ix, 3. It was thus
transferred from the altar to the table. (2.) One essential idea in the
Levitical system as to sacrifice, was communion of Israel with God at
his table. Of this, the passover was but one among many illustrations
which the books of Moses contain. (Deut. xii, 17, 18, 27, etc.) (3.)
Hence, all eating of flesh was treated as sacrificial in its nature,
and, therefore, the prohibition of blood—a prohibition perpetuated in
the church by the apostles. (Gen. ix, 4; Lev. xvii, 3-14; Deut. xii,
20-27; Acts xv, 20, 29.[67]) If, to these facts be added the rule which
required the priests to wash themselves before entering upon their
official duties, one of which was the eating of the sacrificial flesh in
the holy place, and the words of the Psalmist,—“I will wash mine hands
in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord” (Psa. xxvi, 6), we
will have the probable foundation of the ritualistic structure.
Footnote 67:
This is not the place to enlarge upon the present obligation of this
law. In the above places, the reader will find it, as at first given
to Noah, as expounded and perpetuated under the Levitical
dispensation, and as again re-enforced upon the Gentile churches by
the apostles. When and why was it abrogated?
As to the mode of these washings, the rules given in the ritual law are
very significant. But two cases in which the washing of the hands was
required are there found. One of these is the washing of the hands of
the elders in expiation of a concealed murder. (Deut. xxi, 3-9.) Here
the circumstances render it certain that the water was poured on the
hands. The other is mentioned in Lev. xv, 11, where the English,
“rinsed,” represents the Hebrew, _shātaph_, to dash, or pour on with
violence. If the Jews imitated the Levical rites they did not immerse
their hands. Mark throws but little light upon the mode of the Pharisaic
washing. In the expression, “except they wash their hands _oft_,” the
last word of the original (_pugmē_,—“oft”), probably had a technical
meaning, by which the mode was designated. But if such was the case,
that meaning has been lost. By some writers, it is interpreted, “to the
elbows,” “to the wrist,” “with closed fist,” etc. But all this is mere
conjecture, as is the opinion of Dr. Lightfoot, that it denoted a
certain form of the affusion of water upon the hands.
The account of the marriage feast affords ground for surer deductions.
There were set six water pots of stone, holding two or three firkins
apiece. Whatever were the rites referred to by Mark, under the two
designations of “washing the hands,” and “baptism,” it was necessary
that sufficient water should be provided for all occasions of both kinds
which were likely to occur, in the large concourse of wedding guests, of
whom Christ and the apostles were but a small proportion. For, whilst
the guests, generally, were expected, of course, to make use of the
ordinary rite, by washing their hands, there might be numbers who had
incurred such exposure as to require the appointed _baptism_. What,
then, are the indications as to the nature of the rites thus provided
for?
The capacity of the water-pots, according to the most probable estimate,
was not more than ten gallons each. The highest supposition sets them at
about eighteen. They were, therefore, altogether too small to have been
used as bath-tubs, for the immersion of the guests. The possibility,
therefore, of such a necessity, did not enter into the calculations of
those who provided for the occasion. Were the waterpots, then, used for
immersing the hands? The customs of the east, then and to this day,—the
fact that Jesus and his disciples evidently appear as but a small
proportion of the guests,—and the quantity of wine miraculously made by
Jesus for their supply, unite to certify that the great body of the
community of Cana was present at the feast. The first suggestion,
therefore, that presents itself is, that the supposed process must soon
have rendered the water disgusting, from its use in the manner supposed,
by a succession of persons. Another and conclusive fact is the use made
by our Savior of these waterpots. The feast had been some time in
progress, so that the guests had “well drunk,” before the exhausting of
the wine. All had been purified, and the pots, appropriated to that use,
stood with the remaining water, as thus left. When, Jesus said to the
servants,—“Fill the waterpots with water,” “they filled them to the
brim,” and immediately carried the wine to the governor of the feast.
The servants were ignorant of the purpose of Jesus, and, as the
narrative shows, simply did as they were directed. There was no emptying
of foul water. There was no cleansing of the waterpots. There is no
consciousness, manifested in the narrative, of occasion for it. Nor was
there time. It was in the midst of the feast; and the wine was already
exhausted, although the ruler of the feast and the guests were unaware
of it. (V. 9.) The account of the transaction was written by John, an
eye-witness, for the information of cotemporaries who were familiar with
the rites of purifying, whatever they were. And had they been performed
_in_ the water, in any way, an explanation was necessary, or the
inference became inevitable that the vessels were used just as they
stood. In these circumstances, is it to be imagined that the waterpots
already contained the washings of the guests; or even that they were
emptied of these and then appropriated as recepticles of the wine, which
was immediately served to the very persons who had just washed in them?
Clearly, the facts compel the conclusion that “the purifyings of the
Jews,” here provided for were not done _in_ the waterpots, but with
water taken from them, and poured or sprinkled on the guests.
This conclusion is confirmed by the explicit testimony of the rabbins.
Rabbi Akiva was a doctor of the law of the most eminent reputation, his
disciples being numbered by thousands. He was president of the
sanhedrim, less than one hundred years after the death of Christ. Being
made prisoner by the Romans, upon the suppression of the insurrection of
Bar Kokeba, of which he was an active promoter, he was thrown into
prison awaiting execution. When food was brought to him, the jailer
thinking the supply of water too liberal, poured the greater part on the
ground. The rabbi although famishing of thirst, directed what remained
to be _poured upon his hands_, saying, “It is better to die with thirst
than to transgress the traditions of the elders.”
SECTION XLIX.—_Baptism upon return from Market._
Another point in Mark’s statement is, that, “When they come from the
market, except they _baptize_, they eat not.” Here, it would seem that
Mark means something different and more important than the ordinary
washing of the hands, to which he has just before referred. It is an
additional statement, of other rites employed on special occasions. The
word, _agora_, which is translated “the market,” has a much more
extensive signification than the English word. Its primary meaning is, a
concourse, an assembly, of any kind. And while it was used among others,
to designate the assemblies for traffic, and hence the places of such
assemblies, it is not, in the text, to be understood in that limited
sense; but as comprehensive of all promiscuous assemblages of the
people, in which a person was liable unwittingly to come in contact with
the unclean. It was upon occasion of our Savior’s coming from such an
assembly, that the Pharisee of whom Luke informs us was surprised that
he had not first _baptized_ before dinner. He had been preaching in the
midst of a multitude “gathered thick together” (Luke xi, 29), when he
received and accepted the invitation to dine. He had thus been exposed
to a contact which the Pharisees would have carefully avoided, as liable
to involve them, unaware, in the extremest defilement, and to render
necessary special rites of purifying. This was undoubtedly the cause of
the surprise of the Pharisee at the conduct of Jesus.
As to the mode of the baptism here referred to, the gospels are silent.
In favor of the supposition that it was immersion, there is nothing
whatever in the Scriptures. It rests wholly upon the assumption that
that is the meaning of _baptizo_. The circumstances all very strongly
favor the conclusion, that as the major defilements of the Mosaic law
were all purged by sprinkling, so this, the major defilement of
Pharisaic tradition was cleansed in a kindred way. Among the indications
in favor of this conclusion are, the fact that the provision made for
purifying at the marriage feast excludes the idea of immersion;—the
entire silence of the Scriptures as to any facilities for that
purpose;—the incongruity of the supposition to the circumstances of
Jesus, in the act of sitting down at the Pharisee’s table;—the absence
from the narrative of any allusion to means provided by the Pharisee for
the performance, in that mode, of a rite by him so highly esteemed, and
for which special provision was necessary;—and the improbability of such
a form gaining prevalence among “the Pharisees and all the Jews,”
involving, of necessity, both expense and labor, to an intolerable
extent. If, on the contrary, as we may reasonably suppose, the house of
the Pharisee was provided with appliances, “after the manner of the
purifying of the Jews,” they would consist of water pots set at the
door, as at the marriage feast, out of which the guests, as they
entered, could take water for pouring on their hands, or baptizing their
persons by sprinkling, without inconvenience or delay.
We have formerly seen that the self-washings of the Mosaic law,—in which
alone its advocates have ever pretended that immersion may be found in
the Old Testament,—were of continual recurrence in every family. We find
in the time of Christ the rites supplemented by those now in question,
which were of even more frequent occasion. If they were performed by
self-washing, by affusion, or by sprinkling, such provision of vessels
as thus indicated was all-sufficient. But if they were immersions of the
person, the almost daily necessities of every family would have required
not only an extraordinary supply of water, but a capacious bath tub in
every house. Without such a vessel and supply, at home, immersion of the
person, with the frequency required, was not merely improbable; it was
impossible. But such arrangements would have involved an amount of
expense and of labor which no people could endure.
If we open the Scriptures to inquire what is their testimony on this
point, on which, if the system of immersion was in operation, some hints
could not fail to appear, we find that the one only statement or
allusion is contained in the account of the six water pots at the
marriage feast. They were set “after the manner of the purifying of the
Jews.” This expression, alike in itself, and in the attendant
circumstances, as already considered, is exclusive of the supposition
that any purifying rite was observed among the Jews, for which the water
pots were not a sufficient provision. In short, all the evidence concurs
to determine that “the purifying of the Jews,” however performed, was
not by immersion of the person.
SECTION L.—_A Various Reading._
There is a various reading, in the Greek manuscripts, which is full of
meaning with reference to our present inquiry. Whilst many manuscripts,
including the Alexandrian, which is referred to the fifth century, read
_baptisōntai_,—“except they _baptize_ they eat not,” (Mark vii, 4); the
two oldest and of the highest authority, the codices Sinaiticus and
Vaticanus, both dating from the fourth century, and with them numbers of
a later date, read, _rantisōntai_, “except they _sprinkle_ they eat
not.” The presumption is very strong in favor of _rantisōntai_ being the
true reading. Its bearing on the logical connection of Mark’s statement
is worthy of note. According to it, he describes three classes of rites.
He specifies, first, _self-washings_ of the hands, as always used before
dinner; second, certain _sprinklings_, resorted to upon supposition of
more serious defilements; and third, _baptisms_ of pots and cups, etc.,
the modes of purifying, for which, prescribed in the law, were various.
The relation of these purifyings to those appointed by Moses is
apparent. They coincide with the self-washings, the sprinklings, and the
purifying of things prescribed by him. The various readings here involve
considerations of great importance. As before stated, _rantisōntai_ is
the reading of the two oldest and most highly esteemed manuscripts,
dating back to within about two hundred and fifty years of the death of
the apostle John. These manuscripts are recognized by critical scholars
as being so far independent of each other that their various readings
indicate the gradual divergence which would progress from copy to copy
through several generations of manuscripts; so that the reading on which
they unite must have originated, if not with the evangelist, at least
very soon after the first publication of his gospel. On the other hand,
the reading, _baptisōntai_, first found in the Alexandrian codex, of the
fifth century, appears in the great majority of extant manuscripts. We
may confidently conclude that there must have been earlier copies of
high authority in which this reading was found. It thus appears that at
a time but little if any removed from the age of the apostles, these two
readings existed side by side in the received copies of the gospel.
This fact is the more significant in view of the jealous care with which
the purity of the New Testament text was guarded. So long as the last of
the apostles survived, his inspired authority was an available resort on
all questions of controversy, arising in the churches. (2 Cor. xi, 28; 3
John 9, 10.) During this period, the importance of an absolutely pure
text of the writings of the apostles and evangelists was not fully
appreciated. The work of transcription was left to the zeal of private
individuals, who were often wanting in the necessary qualifications;
whilst there was no system of responsible revision. It was probably
during this period, closing about fifty years after the death of the
apostle John, that the most important variations and errors crept in.
About that time, the importance of a pure text, as an authoritative
standard of appeal on questions of controversy, began to be felt; and,
thereafter, great vigilance was exercised by the officers of the church
in securing correct copies. The transcriptions were made from the best
and most accurate manuscripts. And when a copy was made, it appears to
have been subjected to a critical revision, after having been first
collated usually by the scribe himself, with the copy from which it was
taken, for the purpose of correcting any clerical errors, that might
have occurred in the transcription. The manuscript was then handed over
to “the corrector,” whose business it was to revise the text by a
comparison with other available manuscripts. In this office the services
of the most learned and able men in the church were employed; and it was
not until sanctioned by such revision that a manuscript was accepted as
an authentic copy. Beside the process here described, the ancient
manuscripts abound in changes made by subsequent critics. The codex
Sinaiticus exhibits alterations “by at least ten different revisers,
some of them systematically spread over every page, others occasional or
limited to separate portions of the manuscript, many of them being
cotemporaneous with the first writer; far the greater part belonging to
the sixth or seventh century, a few being as recent as the twelfth.”[68]
Footnote 68:
Scrivener’s Collation of the Codex Sinaiticus, Introduction, p. xx.
In view of the diligence of the criticism thus systematically exercised,
the fact is very remarkable that the two readings, _baptisōntai_, and
_rantisōntai_ should have been transmitted side by side, and traceable
back nearly to the apostolic age. And it is further remarkable, that no
one of the ten successive critics whose revisions are traceable on the
codex Sinaiticus has corrected the place in question so as to read
_baptisōntai_, although it is certain that reading did extensively
prevail. Nor is the variation alluded to in the writings of the fathers.
It is immaterial to the present argument which is the true reading. If
it was _rantisōntai_, the language of Mark explains the meaning of Luke.
What the Pharisee expected was that Jesus should have _baptized_ himself
by _sprinkling_. And, whichever is the true reading, this fact is patent
that at an age so early as to be undistinguishable from that of the
apostles and evangelists, so intimate was the relation between
sprinkling and baptism that the one word was inadvertently substituted
for the other, in transcription; and the alteration received by the
ablest men in the church, without question or protest, then or
afterward, or the betrayal even of a consciousness of change; despite
the watchfulness of a criticism systematic in its exercise and jealous
for the purity of the text. If the primitive church understood baptism
to mean immersion, if the rite was administered in that, as the only
Scriptural mode, the occurrence of the case here presented would have
been plainly impossible. It could only happen where the two words were
identified as designating the same rite. How easily the words might be
confounded will appear by a comparison of them as written in the
primitive Greek, known as uncials, or capital letters:—
ΒΑΠΤΙΖΩΝΤΑΙ.
ΡΑΝΤΙΖΩΝΤΑΙ
Were the first and third letters dimly written, or blurred, the one word
might readily be taken for the other.
SECTION LI.—_Baptisms of Utensils and Furniture._
Another point in Mark’s statement is the baptisms of cups and pots,
brasen vessels and tables. It is unnecessary to insist upon the argument
which is deducible from the practical impossibility of the immersion of
these things; nor to notice the theories which have been devised to
overcome the difficulties which it interposes to the Baptist mode. The
reader who has followed the course of this history will recognize, in
the Levitical ordinances respecting the purifyings of things, the source
whence was derived the hint of these supererogatory rites. And a
comparison of the various Mosaic regulations on the subject will satisfy
the candid reader that the list here given is not designed to be
exhaustive, but an exemplification merely of the observances in
question. This is further evident from the fact that the enumeration, as
made by the Lord Jesus (v. 8), was of pots and cups, only; which Mark in
his subsequent account amplifies by the other additional examples.
Respecting them, the ritual of Moses provided modes of purifying varied
both with respect to the nature of the things to be cleansed, and the
character of the defilements; as we have formerly seen. We may well
suppose that the scribes did not fail to imitate every form of the legal
purifyings, in their additions to the law of God. It is not only
possible, but very probable that some of these inventions were in the
form of immersion. For, as we have formerly seen, that was one of the
forms appointed in the law, for the purifying of things. But the
evangelist speaks, not of one, but of various rites; which he designates
by the plural and generic name of (_baptismous_),—baptisms. The word
thus selected is the very same which is used by Paul as the
comprehensive designation of the purifying rites of the Mosaic law,—the
“divers baptisms,” imposed at Sinai. The conclusion is therefore
irresistible, that whilst Paul used the word in a generic sense, as
comprehending the various forms of legal purification, among which the
immersion of person is not to be found, Mark uses it in a like generic
sense as comprehensive of the various forms for the purifying of things,
among which immersion _may_ have been one, although, if such was the
fact, the proof is yet to be produced.
The result of our examination is, that among the Pharisaic rites, no
trace of the immersion of the person is to be found.
PART IX.
JOHN’s$1BAPTISM.
SECTION LII.—_The History of John’s Mission._
The account of John’s ministry in the evangelists, is invariably
introduced by an appeal to the prophecies which foretold his coming and
office. A remarkable passage from Malachi is alluded to by the angel
Gabriel, in announcing to Zacharias the birth of the forerunner (Luke i,
17), and by Mark in his introduction to the gospel. (Mark i, 2). A
prophecy of Isaiah is cited in all the gospels; as is also John’s own
account of his commission and office. It will be convenient for the
purposes of the present discussion to bring these passages together.
Says the Lord by Malachi, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he
shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall
suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the covenant whom ye
delight in; behold he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may
abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For
he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap; and he shall sit as
a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an
offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and
Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in
former years. And I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a
swift witness against the sorcerers.... Remember ye the law of Moses my
servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb, for all Israel, with the
statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet,
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he
shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of
the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth” (the
land of Israel) “with a curse.”—Mal. iii, 1-5; iv, 4-6.
The citation from Isaiah (xl, 3-5), together with John’s exposition of
it, is thus given by Luke. “John came into all the country about Jordan,
preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; as it is
written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every
mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall
see the salvation of God. Then said he to the multitude that came forth
to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to
flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of
repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to
our father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise
up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of
the trees; every tree, therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down, and cast into the fire.... I indeed baptize you with water;
but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not
worthy to unloose; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with
fire; whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor,
and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn
with fire unquenchable.”—Luke iii, 3-17. In John’s gospel, some
additional points are given. “John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and
saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred
before me; for he was before me. And I knew him not; but that he should
be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven,
like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not, but He that sent
me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt
see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which
baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record, that this is
the Son of God.”—John i, 29-34.
The title by which, in the prophecy of Malachi, the Lord Jesus is
designated,—“the _Messenger of the covenant_,” carries us back to the
scene at Sinai, when the covenant was made and sealed. In the close of
the prophecy, our attention is expressly directed to that occasion.
“Remember the law of Moses, which I commanded unto him in Horeb, for all
Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” The intimations thus given
lead us up to the originating occasion of John’s testimony.
Immediately after the coming of Israel to Sinai, among the
communications which expounded the covenant, preparatory to its sealing,
the Lord said to them, “Behold I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee
in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Beware of him and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will not
pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him.”—Ex. xxiii, 20, 21.
This Angel is by the Lord elsewhere called “My Presence” (Compare Ex.
xiv, 19; xxxii, 34; xxxiii, 2, 14, 15), and by Isaiah, “the Angel of His
presence.”—Isa. lxiii, 9. He is thus announced to Israel as sent to be
God’s servant in the fulfilling of the Sinai covenant, and is hence by
the prophet called “the Messenger of the covenant.”
Another line of facts leads in the same direction. When, at the mount,
Israel was overwhelmed with the terror of the great fire and of God’s
audible voice, and entreated Moses, “Speak thou with us, and we will
hear; but let not God speak with us lest we die” (Ex. xx, 19; Deut. v,
22-27), their proposal thus to accept Moses as Mediator between them and
God was graciously approved. “They have well said, all that they have
spoken.”—Deut. v, 28. Moses was accepted in that office, and Israel
dismissed from the assembly at the mount. (Ib. 28-31.) But, afterward,
Moses revealed to them how much more richly their abasement and prayer
had been answered than they had asked or imagined. “The Lord thy God
will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; according to all that
thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly,
saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let
me see this great fire any more that I die not. And the Lord said unto
me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them
up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my
words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall
command Him.”—Deut. xviii, 15-18. Compare John xiv, 31; xvii, 8, 14.
We are thus brought to the relation which Moses and the Sinai covenant,
sustained to the Lord Jesus, and that better covenant of which he is the
Mediator. (Heb. viii, 6.) The covenant of Sinai as formally accepted by
Israel and ratified through the mediation of Moses, was of unspeakable
moment, as being the installation of the visible church. But it was, at
the same time, an outward type, a manifestation and announcement of the
covenant of grace made with the invisible church. Of the one, Moses was
the Mediator;—of the other, the Lord Jesus. The one is founded upon the
public professions and promises of Moses and the assembly of Israel (Ex.
xxxiv, 27);—the other on the engagement of the Lord Jesus to fulfill all
righteousness. The former was graven on tables of stone; the latter is
written in the fleshly tables of the hearts of Christ’s people. (Jer.
xxxi, 33; 2 Cor. iii, 3; Heb. viii, 10.) The former was sealed with the
blood which was partly sprinkled on the Sinai altar, and partly mingled
with water and sprinkled on Israel; the latter, with the blood of
sprinkling of Jesus Christ offered in the holy place in heaven, and the
baptism of the Spirit which, through the merits of that blood, he gives
his people.
We can now see the bearing of certain memorable words uttered by the
Lord Jesus. When Moses sealed the covenant, he sprinkled the book and
the people with the sacrificial blood and water, saying, “Behold, the
blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all
these words.” At the table, the night of the betrayal, the Lord Jesus
took the cup, and having given thanks, gave it to the disciples, saying,
“This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the
remission of sins.”—Matt. xxvi, 28. He thus signified the typical nature
of the transaction in the wilderness, as relating to him, and announced
himself about to fulfill all that it foreshadowed. Particularly did his
language, by appropriating that of the Sinai baptism, recognize both it
and the supper as symbols and seals of the remission of sins, of which
his own blood bestows the reality.
To the same relation between the Sinai transactions and Christ’s office
and work, Peter bears witness. A few days after Pentecost, upon occasion
of the healing of the impotent man, he reminded the wondering assembly
of the promise made by Moses to the fathers.—“A prophet shall the Lord
your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me.... Yea and
all the prophets, from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as
have spoken, have likewise foretold _of these days_.”—Acts iii, 22-24.
SECTION LIII.—_Israel at the Time of John’s Coming._
When John came, the Jews had been for four hundred years without a
prophet, or any sensible token of God’s presence among them. The
captivity and return from Babylon and subsequent circumstances in their
history had effectually and finally cured the inveterate tendency to
idolatry, which had characterized them from the days of the Egyptian
bondage. But this change did not bring with it an awakening of true
spiritual devotion to the service of God. Instead thereof an intense
zeal of self-righteousness was cherished, under the two forms of a
fanatical pride in the blood of Abraham, and an ardent devotion to the
external forms and rites of religion, to tithes and offerings, to
fastings and purifyings,—to “righteousnesses of the flesh,”—whilst the
spirituality and power of the divine law were obscured and set aside by
the glosses and interpretations of the elders. Such was the religion of
the scribes, who “sat in Moses’ seat,” as the instructors of the people.
The great mass of the nation, led by these blind guides, were with them
hastening to destruction; while the few who still sought after the God
of their fathers were as sheep without a shepherd. In the meantime,
Jerusalem and Judea had been the prey alternately of the Ptolemies of
Egypt, the Seleucidæ of Syria, and factions among themselves. After the
successful revolt of the Maccabees, a brief time of peace and prosperity
was enjoyed under the sceptre of that family. But the rivalry and
seditions of its members brought in the Romans, under whose patronage
the Herodian family, of Edomite origin, had come into power.
During the progress of these events, the whole land had been polluted
with crimes and atrocities of every kind, and of the deepest dye. The
high priesthood was habitually subject to barter and sale, one possessor
of the office giving place to another in rapid succession, as the
respective aspirants were able to purchase the office from the kings of
Syria, or of Judea, or to seize it by violence or the favor of the
rabble. The temple itself had been desecrated by being formally set
apart to the worship of Jupiter Olympius. And as though that was not
enough, it had been yet more horribly defiled by fratricidal blood; an
aspirant for the high priesthood having secured and held the office by
the murder of his own brother, in the very precincts of the temple. The
entire social system was rotten, and the nation was fast ripening for
the developments about to be witnessed, in the denial and crucifixion of
the Son of God, the rejection of the gospel, and the crimes which
precipitated society into a chaos of anarchy and a reign of terror,
ending in the destruction of the temple, the desolation of Jerusalem,
and the dispersion of the nation to this day.
Thus, when John began his ministry, the land of Israel, the city, the
temple, and the nation were lying under the burden of the unexpiated and
unrepented crimes of many centuries. (Matt. xxiii, 29-36.) The covenant
was forfeited and trampled under foot, and the land and the people were,
in every sense, moral and ritual, utterly unclean. At the beginning of
the declension, the prophet Haggai had been sent to the priests with a
lesson out of the law.—“Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,
If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt
do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be
holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one
that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean?
And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered
Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me,
saith the Lord: and so is every work of their hands, and that which they
offer there is unclean.”—Hag. ii, 11-14. After the cotemporaneous
ministries of Haggai and Zechariah, the Spirit of prophecy was withdrawn
for about one hundred years. Then suddenly, a trumpet note from Malachi
broke the silence, with a brief and startling call.—“If ye will not
hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name,
saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will
curse your blessings. Yea I have cursed them already.... From the days
of your fathers, ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept
them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of
hosts.—Mal. ii, 2; iii, 7. But they did not return. Thereupon, God their
King withdrew from all communication with them as a people, for four
centuries following.
Such was the situation of that people at the coming of John. They had
the oracles of God, his ordinances, and his temple; of which Haggai had
said,—“I will shake all nations; and the Desire of all nations shall
come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of
hosts.”—Hag. ii, 7. But all this was as a piece of holy flesh in the
skirt of a garment. It did not purify the nation, while their
uncleanness defiled these and all their hallowed things.
SECTION LIV.—_The Nature and End of John’s Baptism._
Whilst Israel was thus apostate and excommunicate from God, the
Messenger of his covenant was about to appear, in that character the
aspect of which, as toward the rebellious and unbelieving, had been
especially emphasized in the prophecies above cited; and the exercise of
which resulted in the desolation of the land, and the dispersion of the
nation a byword and a hissing in all lands. “Beware of him and obey his
voice. Provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for
my Name is in him.”—Ex. xxiii, 21. “Who may abide the day of his coming?
And who shall stand when he appeareth?”—Mal. iii, 2. So, John announced
him.—“Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor,
and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire.”—Matt. iii, 12. His coming was, to Israel, the great
crisis in their history. Therefore the mission of John. Said the angel
to Zacharias, “He shall go before Him in the Spirit and power of Elias,
to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to
the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord.”—Luke i, 17.
When the ten tribes had forsaken the worship of God on mount Zion,
abandoned his covenant, and devoted themselves to the worship of Baal
and Ashtoreth, Elijah was sent to them as the vindicator of the forsaken
covenant, and messenger of grace, of warning and of judgment. His first
work was to demonstrate the sovereignty and Godhead of Jehovah, and the
imbecility of their false gods, by the famine of three years and six
months, and by the fire from heaven consuming both sacrifice and altar
on Carmel. He then executed judgment upon the prophets of Baal and
Ashtoreth, the seducers of Israel, eight hundred and fifty in number. On
this occasion, Israel professed to recognize and do homage to the God of
their fathers. But Elijah saw too clearly, that it was a conviction
without root in their hearts and affections. When therefore he received
Jezebel’s message of vengeance, his faith failed, and he fled to the
wilderness, where he was fed by an angel and led forty days and forty
nights “to Horeb the mount of God,” the spot where the covenant was made
and sealed with the twelve tribes. (1 Kings xix, 8, 9.) “And he came
thither unto a cave and lodged there; and behold the word of the Lord
came to him, and He said to him, What dost thou here, Elijah?” The
interview held at that place exhibits the prophet as the ordained
champion and avenger of the covenant. To the foregoing question twice
proposed, he twice responds,—“I have been very jealous for the Lord God
of hosts: for the children of Israel have _forsaken thy covenant_,
thrown down thine altars; and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I,
even I, only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away.”—vs. 10,
14. Thereupon, he was commissioned to anoint Hazael, king over Syria;
and Jehu king of Israel, and Elisha to be prophet in his stead;—“And it
shall come to pass that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu
slay; and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.
Yet I have left seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not
bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”—vs. 15-18.
The office thus fulfilled by Elijah, as a messenger of grace, calling
Israel back to the allegiance of the abandoned covenant; and of wrath,
announcing and inflicting its penalty upon the transgressors, is the key
to the closing words of the book of Malachi.—“Remember ye the law of
Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel,
with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord;”
the day, to wit, of the coming of “the Messenger of the covenant;” “and
he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of
the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a
curse.”—Mal. iv, 4-6. The same characteristics of John’s ministry were
the occasion of the statement of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias, before
cited, “He shall go before Him, in the Spirit and power of Elias.” In
the points here noticed, we have the explanation of the scene of the
transfiguration, in which Moses, the mediator of the Sinai covenant,
Elijah its vindicator against apostate Israel,—and Jesus, the mediator
of the new covenant, talked together “of his decease which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem,” on behalf of the true Israel, and in
fulfillment of the terms of the new covenant, typified in that of Sinai.
(Luke ix, 31.)
The same office, of warning and testimony on behalf of the forsaken
covenant, which Elijah exercised toward the ten tribes, John fulfilled
to the Jews. To understand the full force and significance of his
mission, the fact must be distinctly appreciated that Christ’s
humiliation and sufferings, however momentous in themselves, and however
transcendently important to us, were a mere transient incident in the
work undertaken by him. His coming into the world was a coming to the
throne, to which the cross was a mere stepping stone,—a means to his
exaltation, and to the achievements of his sceptre, in purging the
Father’s floor. In those achievements, justice and judgment are as
conspicuous as grace; and if the latter witnessed a first signal and
glorious display in the scenes of Pentecost, the former was as signally
illustrated in the destruction and desolation of the city and land that
rejected their King. It was with a view to the crisis thus created in
the history of Israel by the coming of Christ, that John was sent as his
forerunner and herald. John did not ignore that abasement of Christ
which was the antecedent condition and means of his exaltation and
glory. But his distinctive theme, the subject which filled his heart and
inspired his tongue, was the throne, the kingdom, the power and justice.
Of it he was the official herald, and from it his preaching and baptism
took their form and significance. His commission was threefold; (1) To
announce the kingdom of heaven at hand, and herald the coming of the
King, the Messenger of the covenant, the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost
and with fire; (2) To identify and point him out in the person of Jesus;
(3) To prepare the way before him. In fulfillment of the first and
second of these functions, John preached the coming of “One Mightier
than I,” who should baptize Israel with the Holy Ghost and with fire. He
pointed out and announced the Lord Jesus as that coming One,—“the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world,”—“the Son of God.” And by
connecting this testimony with his proclamation and baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins, he anticipated the preaching of
the apostles, and summed and published the gospel of atonement and
remission through the blood of Christ. By this preaching and by the seal
of baptism to those who received his testimony he fulfilled the third
function above mentioned, and “made ready a people prepared for the
Lord.”—Luke i, 17.
There were two termini to which John’s baptism sustained peculiar and
intimate relations, and from which his ministry derived all its
significance. The first was that “day of the assembly” at Sinai, when
Israel entered into the covenant by which she took God as her King and
received the baptismal seal sprinkled by the hand of Moses. It was the
office of John to announce the personal coming of the King of Israel; to
warn them of the penalty of the violated covenant; announce the
remission of sins and restoration of the covenant, to those who should
repent and return to their allegiance; and to certify this by the
renewal of the broken seal.
The second terminus to which John’s baptism looked was that day when the
covenant King of Israel should appear in person, assume his throne, and
enter on the functions announced by John, under the figures of the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the baptism of fire. Of the former, so
conspicuous in the prophecies, the baptism of Israel by Moses, and that
now administered by John, were alike typical. The grace of the Holy
Spirit, administered by the enthroned Baptizer, was the end and
fulfillment of both.
SECTION LV.—_The Extent of John’s Baptism._
The public ministry of John commenced about six months before the
baptism of Jesus, and was terminated by his imprisonment soon after that
event. (Mark i, 14; Luke iii, 20, 21.) At first, his preaching was
peripatetic. “He came into all the country about Jordan,
preaching.”—Luke iii, 3. But as his fame extended and the throng of his
hearers increased, he took his station at Bethabara (or, Bethany, as the
critical editions read), on the eastern side of the Jordan, and
afterward at “Enon, near to Salim,” where he seems to have been, when
arrested by Herod. During the brief period of his ministry, there “went
out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about
Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their
sins.”—Matt. iii, 5, 6. The facts as to the extent of John’s ministry
and baptism, are stated in terms equally strong by Mark and Luke. (Mark
i, 5; Luke iii, 21.) Of these statements, we are asked to believe that
they are extravagant hyperbole,—that they only mean that there were some
present from every place in the regions specified. As “if I should say
that in the political convention of 1840, all Tennessee was gathered at
Nashville to hear Henry Clay, I would not mean that every man, woman,
and child in the State was there; but only that there were some from
every part. Just so, Matthew says Jerusalem came,—that a great many
people from Jerusalem and Judea and the country round about Jordan came.
That is to say, the country as well as the city was fully represented in
the crowd. Besides, John did not baptize all who came. He positively
refused the Pharisees and Sadducees, who composed a great part of the
Jewish nation.”[69] This explanation forgets that the language in
question is not the exaggerated statement of excited and partisan
newsmongers; but sober history dictated by the Spirit of God, and
reported to us by “two or three witnesses,” in concurrent language. As
to the assertion concerning the Pharisees, every thoughtful reader of
the gospels knows that in comparison with the whole body of the people,
they were very few. In all their conspiracies against Jesus they were
constantly embarrassed by fear of “the people.”
Footnote 69:
Theodosia Ernest, Vol. I, p. 79. Published by the Baptist Publication
Society.
Of the vastness of the multitude who were baptized by John we have not
only the express testimony of the evangelists, but certain incidents
related by them remarkably confirm it. The first is, that Herod was
restrained, for some time, from the murder of John, by fear of the
people, “because they counted him as a prophet.”—Matt. xiv, 5. Another
is, the use made of the same popular sentiment, by the Lord Jesus. A few
days before his betrayal and death, upon occasion of his second purging
of the temple, the rulers came to him demanding by what authority he did
these things. Jesus answered, “I will also ask you one thing; and answer
me: The baptism of John, Was it from heaven, or of men? And they
reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will
say, Why then believed ye him not? But and if we say, Of men; all the
people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet. And
they answered, that they could not tell whence it was.”—Luke xx, 3-7;
Matt. xxi, 24; Mark xi, 29. Such and so strong and universal was the
conviction of the people, that John’s commission was from God, that
neither Herod nor the whole united body of the priests, scribes and
elders,—the great council of the nation,—dared to antagonize it. This,
too, was three years after the close of John’s ministry.
It may be said that no intimation is here given that the people spoken
of had been baptized of John. But, in the first place, the evangelists
had already expressly stated the universal fact, in their distinct
account of his ministry, and did not, therefore, need to repeat it; and,
in the second, the issue involved in his ministry was too vital and
sharply defined to allow any to profess, even, to recognize his divine
authority, and yet neglect his baptism. But there is yet further
testimony on the point.
Jesus had been preaching about two years, when John from his prison sent
two of his disciples to ask,—“Art thou he that should come, or do we
look for another? On this occasion Jesus uttered a testimony concerning
John, of which it is said that, “all the people that heard him, and the
publicans, justified God, _being baptized with the baptism of John_. But
the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God against
themselves; being not baptized of him.”—Luke vii, 29, 30. This occurred
in Galilee, which district was not included in any of the statements of
the evangelists, respecting the attendance on John’s ministry. He does
not seem ever to have preached in Galilee. And yet, from that
comparatively distant region, the people had so flocked to his baptism,
that two years afterward the evangelist could state that all the people
had been baptized of him, the lawyers and Pharisees excepted, and find
in this the explanation of the universal acceptance of Christ’s
testimony. The exception here greatly strengthens the former clause of
the statement, and establishes the fact of the universal reception of
John’s baptism by the common people.
In fact, this conclusion is involved in the very nature of the
circumstances of Israel. However viewed, the ministry of John created a
most momentous crisis in the history of God’s dealings with that people.
John came to them, the fore-announced,—the last,—the greatest, of all
the prophets. He came on the loftiest mission that had ever been
entrusted to man,—to act as the immediate personal messenger and herald
of the coming King. He came to Israel, excommunicate from God, to call
them individually, and as a people, to repent and return to the fold of
God’s longsuffering mercy; and to seal the offered grace, by baptizing
those who professed to obey his call. The alternative which his ministry
set before them was plain and imperative. To absent themselves, or to
attend on his preaching without receiving his baptism, would have been
an open act of treason to the coming King, an express and aggravated
rejection of his authority and of this extraordinary and final overture
of grace to the nation. John’s ministry thus compelled a decision by
which a broad and public line was drawn among the people. On the one
side, were those who professed to repent and return to the forsaken
covenant and God of their fathers, and to own the authority of the
promised King of Israel; and whose profession was sealed by the
reception of John’s baptism;—on the other, those who, in rejecting
John’s testimony and turning their backs upon his baptism, repudiated
the coming King and spurned his overture of mercy. Of the significance
and importance of all this, the evangelists were fully aware. To suppose
them in such circumstances to have indulged in a loose and exaggerated
style of statement, asserting that Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the
region round about Jordan were baptized, when, in fact, not one in a
hundred of the people received the rite, would be a contradiction of the
divine testimony, which nothing but ignorance and lack of consideration
can excuse or palliate. It is further to be considered that every class
of the people, and both men and women resorted to John’s baptism, the
lawyers or scribes, that is, the Pharisees and Sadducees, only excepted.
(Matt. xxi, 31, 32; Luke vii, 29; xx, 6.)
5. His rejection of the Pharisees is adduced as proof that “though great
multitudes came to John and followed Christ, yet comparatively few
brought forth fruit to justify their baptism.”[70] But how is it
supposed that John could know any thing, ordinarily, as to the fruits
manifested by those who sought his baptism? It is perfectly evident
that,—as at Sinai, on the day of Pentecost, and on every other occasion
that is on record in the ministry of the apostles,—so, in the case of
John’s hearers,—a good profession was the sole ordinary condition of
baptism. Is it asked,—How, then, came John to refuse the Pharisees? That
he did, in fact, refuse them, is an assumption, without proof or
probability. He warned them; and that is all we are told of the matter.
As to the occasion of such warning,—the ruling sin of that sect was
self-righteousness. The pride of it found expression in unmistakable
tokens. Says Jesus, “All their works they do for to be seen of men. They
make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their
garments.”—Matt, xxiii, 5. The phylacteries were parchments on which
portions of the law were written. They were folded in the form of a
cube, and bound to the forehead or the arm, with ribbands. The borders
were fringes and ribbands of blue, which God directed Israel to wear on
the skirts of their garments, as a memorial of their covenant relations
to him. (Num. xv, 38, 39.) These the scribes and Pharisees made broad,
so as to be seen of men. The first step therefore toward a true
repentance, on their part, would have been a putting off of these badges
of self-righteousness. And their being worn by any of John’s hearers was
to him an instant and evident token of vain glory and self-righteousness
unabased; whilst putting them off would have been a manifest fruit and
evidence of repentance.
Footnote 70:
Theodosia Earnest, vol. i, p. 80.
The facts, therefore, as set forth in the gospels, clearly indicate that
the ministry of John was attended by an apparent revival of religion,
but little short of that which occurred at Sinai, when the covenant was
first made. And although, like the tribes in the wilderness, many of
those who received John’s baptism failed to profit, for lack of true
repentance and faith,—many brought forth fruit out of good and honest
hearts. Of such, the college of the apostles was formed; and of such, no
doubt, largely consisted the firstfruits of the gospel, in Judea and
Galilee,—as we see repeated traces of it in the ministry of Paul, among
the far off Gentiles. (Acts xiii, 24, 25; xviii, 25; xix, 3.)
SECTION LVI.—_John did not Immerse._
As to the mode of John’s baptism, there are several circumstances which
interpose insuperable objections to the supposition that it was by
immersion.
1. That form would have been utterly incongruous to John’s office as the
herald of the covenant. No rational account can be given of the origin
and meaning of such a rite, in that connection. The Levitical law was,
in all its ordinances, a testimony to the covenant; and of it John was a
minister. But in that law there was but one _administered_ baptism, and
that by sprinkling, whilst there were no immersions of persons,
whatever. It therefore furnishes no trace of the origin of the supposed
form. On the other hand, it certainly did not originate with John.
Baptism,—the rite which he administered, was in his day, no novelty
among the Jews. The only remaining supposition, if we assume John to
have immersed his disciples, is, that it may have been borrowed from the
inventions of the scribes. But, in the first place, there is not a trace
of evidence nor of probability that such a rite was _then_ included in
the ritual of the scribes;—and in the second, it is preposterous to
suppose that, in such circumstances and on such a mission, John would
have turned his back on the ordinances of God’s law, by which for
fifteen centuries the covenant had been sealed, and chosen for the
characteristic and seal of his ministry one of those inventions by means
of which that law was made void and God’s people led astray. (Mark vii,
6, 8, 13.) This too, when he in the most open and decisive manner set
himself in opposition to the inventors of those rites, whom he denounced
as a generation of vipers!
2. The meaning of the rite, in supposed connection with John’s ministry,
is as inexplicable as its origin. Neither the law nor the Old Testament
Scriptures anywhere give a clue to it. John in his ministry is equally
silent. Or, rather, his statements are altogether incongruous to the
supposed form.—“He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and
gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire.”—Matt. iii, 11, 12. Thus, John, announced the Lord
Jesus, not in his character of humiliation and death; but in his
exaltation and royalty, as he appeared at Sinai, the covenant King of
Israel,—as he is now, the enthroned Baptizer, dispensing his Spirit and
grace to his people, and pouring out the fire of his justice on his and
his Father’s enemies. In such circumstances, and in connection with such
a preaching, what meaning could the disciples of John have discovered in
the rite of immersion? Respecting it, they ask no questions, and John
makes no explanation. If it be supposed to have meant the burial of
Christ, this much at least is certain, that the resemblance was not so
close as to have been self-evident to the people. And even though
understood by them in that sense, it would have been so far aside from
the immediate intent and end of John’s ministry, and so defective in its
testimony, since it knows nothing of the resurrection, that it would
have been calculated to distract and perplex his hearers, rather than to
serve the object of his preaching. But John was explicit as to the
meaning of his baptism. _Whatever its form, it meant—not the burial of
the Lord Jesus, but the baptism of the Spirit by him dispensed. “I
baptize you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”_
3. The great discomfort, and the gross indecency which are inevitably
involved in the supposition that John immersed his followers are
decisive against it. Neither had John a water-proof suit in which to
officiate, nor were his auditors supplied with “immersion robes,” nor
change of garments, so needful, now, to obviate the discomfort and
danger of the dripping attire. But this, even, is a less consideration
than the indecent exposure which the supposed rite would have involved.
The garments of the Jews were of two patterns. That next the person was
in the form of a sleeveless shirt, descending to the knees. A second
garment was of the same shape, but usually of more costly materials,
which reached to the ankles. Over all were thrown one or two shawls or
blankets, large enough to enwrap the entire person. Beside sandals,
which were not ordinarily worn, except by those in easy
circumstances,—these were the only articles of apparel. Those of the
women were of nearly the same shape; the distinction of sex appearing
mainly in the materials and ornaments. When at rest, the garments were
left free. But in preparing for labor or for travel, they were drawn up
to the knees, and fastened with a girdle at the loins, thus leaving the
lower limbs unencumbered. That, with such clothing indecent exposure
must have been a constant incident to the extemporaneous and hasty
immersions which the Baptist theory requires, is manifest; and the
weight of the consideration needs no enforcing.
4. The number resorting to John was such as to preclude the possibility
of their having been immersed. When Israel came out of Egypt, they were
“about six hundred thousand on foot, that were men, beside children; and
a mixed multitude went up also with them.”—Ex. xii, 37, 38. When about
to enter the promised land, the census was six hundred and one thousand,
seven hundred and thirty men, from twenty years old and upward, beside
the Levites, who numbered twenty-three thousand males from a month old.
(Num. xxvi, 51, 62.) Upon this basis, the whole number of the people was
between three and four millions. In the days of David, in the
enumeration from which the tribes of Levi and Benjamin were omitted, the
number of fighting men was one million five hundred and seventy
thousand. If we make a proportional addition for the omitted tribes, it
gives a total of one million, eight hundred and fifty-five thousand
seven hundred and fifty-four. These would represent a population of
seven or eight millions. From two independent statements occurring in
Josephus, it appears that the population, just before the destruction of
the nation, was at least as much as four million souls.[71] If we
suppose John to have stood in the water three hours a day, during the
six months of his ministry, and to have administered the rite at the
rate of one per minute, during the entire time, the total results of
such miraculous labors and endurance, would have been about thirty-two
thousand seven hundred and sixty persons baptized, that is, one in every
one hundred and twenty-two of the people. Without the intervention of
miracle—and John did no miracle—even this was utterly impossible. And
yet, how entirely it falls short of the statements of the evangelists,
upon any candid interpretation of them, is evident.
Footnote 71:
Jewish war. II. xiv, 3; and VI. x, 3.
That the theory of immersion is encumbered with difficulties of the most
serious nature must be evident to every candid reader.
SECTION LVII.—_John Baptized by Sprinkling with unmingled Water._
We are now to consider an important feature in the history of this rite,
which has not yet been brought into distinct notice. It has appeared how
thoroughly the sprinkled baptisms of the Levitical system are identified
in their meaning and office with the prophecies concerning the
sprinkling of Israel and the nations, and the outpouring of the Spirit,
in the days of the Messiah. The point of present interest concerning
those prophecies is, that in all the expressions referred to, the figure
is that of water alone,—the sacrificial elements never being alluded to
in that connection. A coincident fact appears, with relation to John’s
ministry. In his own announcement he uses language which seems to be
emphatic and exclusive,—“I indeed baptize you _with water_.”—Matt. iii,
11; Mark i, 8; Luke iii, 16; John i, 26. So, Jesus says,—“John truly
baptized _with water_.”—Acts i, 5. And Peter refers to it in the same
terms. (Ib. xi, 16.) This form of expression constantly used, and the
antithesis always stated, between his baptism and that of the Holy
Spirit, to be administered by the Lord Jesus, render it certain that
John baptized with water alone, without any sacrificial elements. A
careful examination of the prophecies above referred to and a
consideration of the subject matter of John’s preaching, may furnish the
explanation of these facts. The Mosaic ritual was constructed with a
view to a very full and systematic exposition of the gospel, in the
symmetry of its parts and proportions. In the baptisms of that ritual,
therefore, provision was made for showing forth, not only the power and
grace of the Lord Jesus in the bestowal of the Spirit, but, also, the
virtue of his blood, which was the procuring cause of the Spirit’s
grace. But that blood is the token of humiliation and sufferings. On the
contrary, the theme of the prophecies here referred to is, the
exaltation and glory of Christ’s throne, and the conquests of his saving
scepter, after the days of humiliation and sorrow shall have been
forever ended. This was the distinctive meaning of the water of the
Sinai baptisms, and by the figure of the sprinkling or pouring of bare
water, the prophets represent the same thing.
So, when John came in the spirit and power of Elias, he did not, indeed,
ignore the office of Christ as the atoning Lamb of God. But his
distinctive commission, and the controlling function of his ministry was
to herald the coming of their covenant King, in his exaltation and power
to an apostate and rebellious nation—to warn them of the office which he
would fill, and the judgment which he would execute, who should baptize
them, not with the Holy Ghost only, but with fire also. As appropriate,
therefore, to this, his office and message, he dispensed a baptism of
water alone, which spake of authority, power, and royal grace, and
omitted that element which signified humiliation and death.
Whilst the rite was thus modified—its nature and significance remained
the same. As already indicated, the quantity of ashes used in dispensing
the Levitical baptism was so small as to be wholly inappreciable to the
senses. The instruction therein conveyed was dependent upon the
association of ideas, and not upon the quantity of the elements used.
The bestowal of the Spirit by the Lord Jesus, of necessity, presupposes
the sacrifice of himself as the condition and price of his exaltation
and power, by which the Spirit is sent and salvation bestowed. What the
Levitical blood and ashes of sprinkling expressed the baptism of John
implied. The two rites thus conveyed the same instruction, and filled
the same office. They were essentially one and the same baptism. The
latter form anticipated the immediate sending forth of the gospel to the
Gentiles, divested of the sacrificial system and the burdens of the
ritual law. That they were the same in mode will not be questioned by
any who have candidly traced the foregoing line of investigation. With
an enumeration of some of the points therein involved, we will close
this branch of our subject.
1. Hitherto the Baptist argument has been entrenched in the definition
of _baptizo_. After the same example we now plant ourselves on the
ascertained meaning and use of the word, as illustrated in the foregoing
pages. We have found it to be the accepted designation for the
administered rites of Levitical purifying, which, in all their
circumstantial variations, were performed always by sprinkling. The rite
dispensed by John was an administered baptism. It was, therefore,
administered after the example of the Levitical system, by sprinkling.
2. John was the herald and champion of the covenant, and the messenger
of the Lord Jesus as its surety and king. His commission, as announced
by Malachi, was, in God’s name, to admonish Israel to “Remember the law
of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all
Israel, with the statutes and judgments;”—Mal. iv, 4.—“The law of
Moses,”—that covenant law by the acceptance of which Israel became the
people of God. His ministry derived all its significance from the terms
of that covenant, and from the office of its Surety, in purging his
floor with the baptisms of the Holy Ghost and of fire. This was the
whole theme of his ministry, as it was the whole substance of the
prophetic terms of his commission. To seal such a testimony, no rite
could have been so appropriate as the perpetuated and familiar form of
the Sinai baptism, the original seal of the same covenant, by which its
scope and intent were so luminously set forth.
3. John preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, in
the name of Him whom God was about to exalt “to be a Prince and a
Savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”—Acts
v, 31. In the Levitical baptism the administrator represented the Lord
Jesus in this very function of his grace, and the sprinkled water
represented the Holy Spirit shed by him upon his people, by whom that
repentance is wrought, and remission conveyed. It was the “purification
for sin,” the symbol of remission. It was thus a visible representation
to his hearers of the very things which John was commissioned to utter
in their ears.
4. At the time of John’s coming, all the thoughts and conceptions of
Israel on the subjects involved in his ministry, except as perverted by
the traditions of the scribes, had been molded by the Mosaic ritual
respecting the purifying of the unclean, and by the testimonies of the
prophets, uttered in the language of that ritual. John was sent, not to
ignore or obliterate the impress thus made by the instructions and
discipline of fifteen centuries, but to confirm and build upon it, to
reiterate and seal the same testimonies. To this end, no other rite was
appropriate or congruous, but the old familiar baptism by sprinkling,
the interpretation of which was so abundant in the prophets, and the
meaning of which was known to all Israel.
5. The baptism administered by the Lord Jesus is never known nor alluded
to in the Scriptures under any other form than that of affusion. It is
the antitype of the ritual sprinklings of the Old Testament, the
fulfillment of all the prophecies of the sprinkling of Israel and the
nations, the outpouring of the Spirit upon them; and its fulfillment is
in the New Testament invariably spoken of in the same style. To
symbolize this, John’s baptism must have been by affusion.
6. In the use of this rite, all the difficulties which embarrass the
hypothesis of immersion disappear. As, at Sinai, all Israel were
baptized at once, so, under John’s preaching the number to be baptized
would involve no embarrassment, exposure, or exhaustion. As many as were
assembled at one time could be baptized in one group, with the hyssop
bush. Thus, no excessive fatigue was involved; no time was consumed in
mere manual labor; no danger to the health, nor liability to indecent
exposure was incurred. The meaning of the rite was familiar to all, and
in its use congruity and symmetry were maintained in every part and
relation of John’s ministry.
The view thus presented is not inconsistent with the supposition that
many of John’s disciples may have received the rite while standing in
the waters of the Jordan. The law requiring the use of running water,
the propriety of the one river of Palestine as a type of the river of
the heavenly Canaan, and the necessities of the multitudes who waited on
his ministry, united in bringing him to the river. And the rite would be
performed by the baptist dipping a hyssop-bush into the stream, and
therewith sprinkling those who presented themselves around him. That, in
these circumstances many of the people would enter the water is beyond
question. The suggestion is to be considered in the light of eastern
habits and modes of dress. The people were clothed in loose garments,
with no covering to the feet except sandals worn by a few. Coming, the
most of them, from a distance on the rocky roads of that country,—the
feet sore and lacerated, and the climate hot,—no impulse would have been
more natural or more congruous to custom, than to step into the water,
for the sake of its refreshing coolness. A curious illustration of this
occurs in the Phædrus of Plato. He describes Socrates walking in the
environs of Athens accompanied by Phædrus:—
SOCRATES. “Here; let us turn aside to the Illyssus, and, where you
prefer, we can recline in quiet.”
PHÆDRUS. “For the occasion, as it seems, I happen to be barefoot, while
you are always so. Thus it will be quite convenient for us, wetting our
feet in the shallow stream, to walk not without enjoyment, especially at
this season of the year and of the day.”[72]
Footnote 72:
Platonis Phæd., v.
It is altogether supposable that Philip and the eunuch stepped thus into
the water, as the most convenient way of access to it; and it is equally
possible that such may have been the case with many of John’s disciples,
and that Jesus himself may have been thus baptized. Nor is this a mere
fanciful conjecture. Among the remains of Christian art which have been
transmitted to us from the third and fourth centuries of our era, there
are several representations of the baptism of our Savior, some of them
in bronze bas-relief, and some in Mosaic. In them all, John pours water
on the head of Jesus. In several, Jesus stands in the Jordan, and John
from the bank administers the rite. In others, both are on dry ground.
In no instance does John appear in the water. At the date of these
representations, immersion is supposed to have been almost universally
prevalent in the church. They, therefore, the more forcibly demonstrate
the strength and prevalence of the tradition which still survived,
representing John to have baptized in the Jordan, by affusion. In them
the idea of immersion is doubly excluded,—by the direct representation
of the water poured upon the head of Jesus; and by the fact that the
invariable position of John, out of the water, renders immersion
physically impossible, as administered by him.
PART X.
CHRIST’s$1BAPTISMS AND ANOINTING.
SECTION LVIII.—_The Meaning of his Baptism by John._
“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of
him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee;
and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to
be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he
suffered him.”—Matt. iii, 13-15.
Several theories have been advanced, and much discussion had as to the
nature and intent of the baptism of Jesus by John. Archbishop
Thomson,[73] supposes it to have been, (1.) That the sacrament by which
all were hereafter to be admitted into His kingdom might not want his
example to justify its use. (2.) That John might have an assurance that
his course as the herald of Christ was now completed by his appearance.
(3.) That some token might be given that he was indeed the anointed of
God. Dr. Dale thinks that it was a public and official announcement of
his entrance upon the work of fulfilling all righteousness. He
strenuously denies that Jesus was baptized with the baptism of John. “It
is one thing to be baptized by John and quite another to receive the
‘baptism of John.’ The ‘baptism of John’ was for sinners, demanding
‘repentance,’ ‘fruits meet for repentance,’ and promising ‘the remission
of sins.’ But the Lord Jesus Christ was not a sinner, could not repent
of sin, could not bring forth fruit meet for repentance on account of
sin, could not receive the remission of sin. Therefore, the reception of
the ‘baptism of John’ by Jesus is impossible, untrue, and absurd.” But
this baptism was his inauguration into the office of fulfilling all
righteousness. “No one could share in such an inauguration with a
fitness comparable with that of the great Forerunner. And to this
fitness of relationship, reference is had in the words—‘Thus it becometh
us.’ ‘Thus,’ by baptism, ‘us,’ administered by thee, my Forerunner, to
me the Coming One proclaimed by thee; ‘now,’ entering upon my covenant
work, which I now declare and am ready to begin,—‘to fulfill all
righteousness.’ Can there be, in view of the persons, the time, and the
circumstances, any other satisfactory interpretation of these great
words?”[74]
Footnote 73:
In Smith’s Bib. Dict. article, “Jesus.”
Footnote 74:
Dale’s Christic Baptism, pp. 27, 29.
According to another theory, it is held that as the consecration of
Aaron was by baptism, anointing, and sacrifice, so all these were
realized in the priestly consecration of Jesus. First, He was baptized
by John. Then, the heavens were opened unto Him, and the Spirit of God
descended upon Him, and He was thus “anointed with the Holy Ghost and
with power.” The sacrifice was not till the end of His earthly ministry,
when he offered up Himself.
This latter is perhaps the most commonly received theory on the subject.
And yet, a more perplexing and unsatisfactory exposition could hardly be
devised. According to it Christ’s consecration to the priesthood was a
confused imitation of that of Aaron, was partly ritual without meaning,
and partly real, and took place, part of it in the beginning of his
public ministry, and part at its close, so that until his very death his
priesthood was inchoate and incomplete. Upon this explanation, the
baptism of Jesus was a mere unmeaning form, in supposed imitation of
something in the consecration of Aaron. But Aaron and his consecration
and priesthood were, in every part and aspect of them, figures of the
true,—of the realities which are in Christ. Aaron’s anointing is
admitted to have been a symbol of the real anointing of the Holy Spirit,
shed upon Jesus. The sacrifices offered at the consecration of Aaron,
although by this theory misconceived, are so far correctly spoken of as
that their fulfillment was had in Christ’s one offering of himself. What
then could be meant by Aaron’s so called baptism, if its antitype is to
be found in the ritual baptism of the Lord Jesus? One rite representing
and setting forth another, which is nothing but a defective imitation of
the first!
In fact, the washing of Aaron by Moses was not a sacramental baptism at
all—a rite, that is, by which blessings of grace are represented and
sealed to the recipient. It was as we have already explained a
symbolical act setting forth the endowment of the Lord Jesus by the
Father with a sinless humanity.
It is not, however, to this washing of Aaron, that reference is usually
made by the exponents of this theory. It is said that the priests
entered upon their official duties at thirty years of age, and were then
set apart by baptism, and that hence Jesus, when “he began to be about
thirty years of age,” came to be baptized, and enter upon his official
work; and reference is made to Num. iv, 3; viii, 7. But the places thus
referred to are directions respecting the Levites, the priest’s
servants, and not concerning the priests at all. Moreover, twenty-five
years was the ordinary age of entrance upon the Levitical service. (Num.
viii, 24.) The age of thirty seems to have been prescribed with
reference to the special labor and responsibility incident to the
carrying of the tabernacle and its furniture from place to place, during
the sojourn in the wilderness. (See the whole of Num. iv.) Upon such
slender foundations are theories built. The law set no limitation to the
ages of the priests. The rabbins say that they could not enter on the
office until twenty years old. But Aristobulus the son of Alexander was
high priest when less than seventeen years old.[75] On the other hand,
while the definition as to the Levites was, “from thirty years old and
upward even until fifty years old,”—Eli was high priest when he died at
ninety-eight. (1 Sam. iv, 15.)
Footnote 75:
Josephus’ Antiquities, XV, iii, 3.
Christ’s baptism was not his inauguration to the priesthood. His
priesthood was neither Aaronic nor earthly. For “if he were on earth, He
should not be a priest; seeing that there are priests that offer gifts
_according to the law_; who serve unto the _example_ and _shadow_ of
heavenly things.”—Heb. viii, 4, 5. If any part of the ceremonial of
Aaron’s investiture was a rule of conformity to Jesus, the whole of it
was equally so. But he was made a priest, “_not_ after the law of a
carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he
testifieth, Thou art a priest forever after the order of
Melchisedec.”—Heb. vii, 16, 17. Christ’s consecration to the priesthood
and exercise of its functions belong to that “true tabernacle which the
Lord pitched and not man.”—Heb. viii, 2. He was not installed by human
hands. “For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity. But
the word of the oath which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is
consecrated forevermore.”—Heb. vii, 28.
Dr. Dale understands the Lord Jesus in the above place to mean,—Thus it
becomes us, by a united and public act, to announce “my entering upon my
covenant work which I now declare, and am ready to begin, ‘to fulfill
all righteousness.’” But, in the first place, that was not the time of
Jesus’ entering on the work of fulfilling righteousness. Had it been so,
it was too late. He was “made of a woman, made under the law.”—Gal. iv,
4, 5. From the hour of his birth, he was fulfilling righteousness,—in
the obedience of his childhood, as truly as in the sufferings of the
cross. The work on which he entered, after his baptism and anointing by
the Spirit, was his prophetic office, in which he announced and offered
himself to Israel as her promised King and Savior. So he himself
testified in the synagogue in Nazareth. (Luke iv, 18-20.) But this
office will not fit into the above exposition. Moreover, it would seem
that if any words can express the idea of a thing done as a duty of
righteousness those of Jesus do so. Dr. Dale says,—“It can not be
claimed that the Lord Jesus was under obligation to undergo this baptism
as a part of ‘all righteousness;’ (1) Because there is no righteousness
in it; (2) Because what there is in it is just what he did not come to
do. He did not come to repent for sinners, nor to exercise faith for
sinners.” The latter argument has the fatal fault that it proves too
much. Upon the same ground the Lord Jesus should not have been
circumcised or purified with his mother. He should not have kept the
passover, nor any of the Levitical feasts and ordinances. All these
implied and required in others a state of heart and mind and exercises
of repentance and faith which were foreign to the holy nature of the
Lord Jesus.
But is it so that there was no righteousness to be accomplished by Jesus
in complying with John’s baptism? The answer depends wholly upon the
response to be made to the question which Jesus proposed to the
Pharisees,—“The baptism of John, was it from heaven; or, of men?” If
from heaven, it came with the sanction of the first clause of the Sinai
covenant,—“If ye will obey;” and was entitled to obedience from every
soul. John’s baptism,—Is it necessary to say it?—washed away no sin.
Like all ritual baptisms, of the Old Testament and the New, alike, it
affected the ritual and outward status, alone, of the party, as toward
the church, and the ordinances. Moreover, his ministry was not addressed
to the ungodly only. But, if there were any of the people still looking
and praying for the Consolation of Israel, they, as much as others, were
called upon, as being defiled by the contact of the unclean nation, to
receive this baptismal seal of the covenant renewed, and their
acceptance in it with God. Pre-eminently was it true of the Lord Jesus,
that he was defiled by contact with the sinful nation. To ritual
uncleanness, he was as liable as any man, and became thereby subject to
the same obligation of ritual purifying, by which others were bound.
Jesus, therefore, as a true Israelite, came to John’s baptism, as being
an ordinance of divine authority; and in his answer to John indicates
the fact that his omission of the duty thus resting on him as “made
under the law,” would have derogated from his perfect righteousness.
Nor is this all. John was the herald of Jesus in his distinctive
character as “the Angel of the covenant,”—the Mediator of that “better
covenant” which was enclosed in the outward form of that of Sinai. (2
Cor. iii, 3-6.) In that better covenant, and Christ as its Surety, all
the transactions relating to the Sinai covenant had their significance
and end; as they were also the end of John’s ministry. The repentance
which he preached was a call to apostate Israel to return from
transgression to the obedience required by the covenant, and his baptism
was a seal to its promises, upon that indispensable condition of
obedience. In coming to John’s baptism, therefore, Jesus formally and
publicly came under the bond of the covenant for obedience, and thus
presented himself to Israel as her Surety therein. The baptism which he
received from John sealed to him its promises on condition of his
obedience, and the descending Spirit and the voice from heaven announced
the Father’s approval and acceptance of him as Surety for his people,
the true Israel of God. It was with a view to this office of Christ as
the Messenger and Surety of the covenant, and to his own relation as the
herald of Christ in that capacity, that John says, “That he should be
made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water;”—John
i, 31—that he should be made manifest to Israel, as her covenant Surety
and King; as the Lamb of God and King of Israel.
The distinction drawn between “the baptism of John” and “baptism _by_
John,” overlooks the profounder aspects of the subject here indicated.
It is true that John’s baptism addressed to sinners a call to
repentance, and announced remission, on that condition. But this special
form of its message, is no more than the call to _obedience_, in terms
adapted to the particular case of transgressors. And the significance
and propriety of the baptism depended upon its own essential meaning as
heretofore unfolded. In the Levitical institutions, the ordinary form of
the rite had its primary relation, as we have seen, to a ritual
uncleanness by contact with the dead, which symbolized the judicial
defilement of the Lord Jesus by contact, through birth of a woman, with
our dead nature, and his consequent death under the curse. The baptism
symbolized the resurrection of Christ, and of his people with him, in
the renewing of their souls, and the final quickening and rising of
their bodies. Both of these are identified by Paul with the resurrection
of Christ. (Eph. ii, 5; and i, 19-ii, 10; Rom. vi, 2-5; viii, 11, etc.)
It is by virtue of union with him, by the baptism of his Spirit,
bestowed upon and dwelling in us, that we are enabled to “know the power
of his resurrection” (Phil. iii, 10), by our own death to sin and life
to holiness. This was the signification of John’s baptism. To the Lord
Jesus it was a symbol and pledge of his own triumph over the exhausted
power of the curse, in his resurrection; and of the deliverance of his
people, in him, from the bondage of sin and death, by his Spirit
bestowed and dwelling in them. Through this they receive repentance and
remission of sins. The same meaning precisely was signified and sealed
to the people by their believing reception of the same rite.
Thus, on the one hand, Jesus, as being the Son of man, one of the family
of Israel, was as much bound to come to the baptism which, by the
authority of God, John dispensed, as he was to obey or observe any part
of the law, ritual or moral; as much as was any true son of Israel. On
the other hand, by coming and receiving that baptism, he announced
himself, the Surety of the covenant which it sealed, and was so
certified and accepted by John, by the descending Spirit and by the
Father’s voice.
SECTION LIX.—_The Anointing of the Lord Jesus._
The Scriptures inform us of three distinct bestowals of the Spirit, upon
the Lord Jesus, by the Father. The first, was that whereby he was
begotten through the Holy Ghost, and his humanity so invested with the
Spirits influences, as to be born and live in perfect holiness, so that
he was designated by the angel, “that holy thing.”—Luke i, 35. The
second was the anointing bestowed at the time of his baptism by John.
And the third was that endowment of the Spirit, which was conferred on
him, at his ascension to the throne. The intimate relation of his
anointing to his baptism by John, and the close analogy which is
traceable between baptism and anointing, bring the latter within the
purview of the present inquiry.
Immediately after his baptism, as he was praying, “the heaven was
opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon
him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved son:
in thee I am well pleased.”—Luke iii, 21, 22. The Baptist adds some
facts:—“I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it
abode upon him. And I knew him not. But he that sent me to baptize with
water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit
descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the
Holy Ghost. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.”—John
i, 32-34. This anointing of the Lord Jesus with the Holy Spirit
fulfilled a three-fold purpose.
1. It was a manifestation to Israel of the long-expected Messiah,—a
confirmation from heaven of John’s testimonies respecting him, and a
designation of him, the coming One, as being Jesus of Nazareth. From the
whole account given in the first chapter of John, it seems evident that
the Baptist and his disciples had distinctly in mind the language of the
second Psalm, which determined the form of their conclusions, deduced
from the scene at the baptizing. “Why do the heathen rage ... against
the Lord, and against his Anointed?... Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto
me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” The glorious
personage here announced is, thus designated by three titles,—as the
Lord’s Anointed, his King, and his Son. It was as herald of this King
that John came preaching, the kingdom of heaven. And when, with his own
eyes he saw the anointing Spirit descend upon Jesus, he identified the
Anointed with the Son. He saw and bare record “that this is the Son of
God.” So, John’s disciple Andrew says to his brother Peter, “We have
found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ,”—the
Anointed. Not only so, but, at the same time and by the same token, John
recognized in Jesus “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the
world!” Thus fully, by this anointing, was Jesus certified to Israel;
and therein the chief intent of John’s ministry was accomplished.
2. The anointing was an attestation and seal to him of the Father’s
favor, in view of the spotless righteousness of his character as already
proved in the life which he had lived, as a private person, the
carpenter of Nazareth. Of his earlier youth, it is said that he
“increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”—Luke
ii, 52. And now, in the fulness of his manhood, in connection with his
anointing, a voice from heaven testifies, “This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.”—Matt. iii, 17. To this, the Psalmist refers his
anointing. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of thy
kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest
wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows.”—Psa. xlv, 6, 7. “The joy of the Lord is
your strength” (Neh. viii, 10), said Nehemiah to Israel; and in the joy
of his Father’s favor, testified in the anointing, Jesus fulfilled his
ministry to the close.
3. It was his endowment for the prophetic office, as he himself
testified in the synagogue of Nazareth. “He found the place where it was
written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.... And
he began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your
ears.”—Luke iv, 18-21. From the same source he derived the miraculous
powers, which attested his word. (Matt. xii, 28.) “God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.”—Acts x, 38. Of the
relation of his anointing to the fulfillment of his priestly office, in
view of which John called him “the Lamb of God,” Paul says that he
“through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God.”—Heb.
ix, 14. His anointing was not his consecration to the priesthood, but
his endowment with grace, by which he was qualified to perform that
priesthood, to prepare and offer an unspotted, sufficient and acceptable
sacrifice on the altar of justice. And, having completed that work, by
the same Spirit was he raised from the dead. (1 Pet. iii, 18; Rom. viii,
11.)
Such and so signal was the meaning and intent of that fact from which
Jesus derived the name of, the Christ. Its close relation in many
respects to the doctrine of baptism, is apparent. As to the question of
mode, a few points may here be noted.
1. In it the Holy Spirit was given to the Lord Jesus, as an indwelling
fountain of all gifts for his ministry.
2. It came by a descent from the opened heavens.
3. It was in the form of a dove,—beautiful symbol of the kindness of
God, and the “meekness and gentleness,” the “grace and truth” of the
Lord Jesus!
4. It abode on him.
5. As the result, he was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke iv, 1),
brought under his active control and guidance, and endowed with his
extraordinary gifts, for the fulfillment of his ministry.
6. The symbol which by divine appointment represented it was the pouring
of oil upon the head and person. (Lev. viii, 12, 30; 1 Sam. x, 1; xvi,
1, 13; 1 Kings i, 34, 39; xix, 16; 2 Kings ix, 6.)
SECTION LX.—“_The Baptism that I am Baptized with._”
It was his resurrection from the dead. We have seen that the Mosaic
baptism was a symbol and seal of the imparting of life to the dead. We
have seen it so referred to by Paul in his argument in proof of the
resurrection. The fact has been pointed out that the Lord Jesus in
receiving the baptism of John, not only fulfilled the law of
righteousness as a faithful Israelite, but received, therein, a symbol
and seal of his own resurrection and triumph over death and the curse,
under which he was already held. Twice, in the course of his ministry as
reported by the evangelists, did Jesus refer to his resurrection under
this figure of baptism. Matthew thus records one of these occasions,
“Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons,
worshipping him.... And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto
him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand,
and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said,
Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall
drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink
indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
with; but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give
(_all’ hois ētoimastai_), _save to those for whom it is prepared_ of my
Father.”—Matt. xx, 20-23. Luke records a similar expression. “I am come
to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled? But
I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell
you, nay; but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five
in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The
father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father;
the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother;
the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law
against her mother in law.”—Luke xii, 49-53. Of these expressions,
expositors have proposed two interpretations. According to one, the cup
and the baptism are equivalent figures meaning the sufferings and death
of the Lord Jesus. Hence, Baptist expositors would explain it as an
immersion in sorrow; but they do not show by what example or argument
the word “_baptism_” can be made, thus, of itself, to signify _such_ an
immersion. A conclusive objection lies against this interpretation. In
both the gospels the distinction between the cup and the baptism is
carefully preserved, in Christ’s original question, and in his
rejoinder. “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and
to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” “Ye shall
indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with.” It can not be admitted that a second clause, so
particular and detailed in statement, and so carefully repeated in the
rejoinder, is a mere blank, adding nothing to the meaning already
expressed. But it is agreed that the figure of the cup indicates all
that suffering by which the Lord Jesus made atonement for our sins.
The other interpretation proposed is but a modified form of that here
given. It discriminates between the cup and the baptism, by interpreting
the latter of Christ’s sufferings viewed as “consecrating
sufferings—sufferings by which he was to be separated unto God’s service
as a royal priest.” “That the reader may understand how Christ could use
such language in the sense which we give it, let him consider such
passages of Scripture as these: ‘Unto him that loved us and washed us
from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us _kings_ and _priests_
unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever,
Amen.’—Rev. i, 5, 6. ‘And Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you,
that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man
shall sit on _the throne_ of his glory, ye also shall sit upon _twelve
thrones_, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’”—Matt. xix, 28.[76]
Footnote 76:
Armstrong on the Sacraments, pp. 48, 49.
The Scriptures cited by this respected author do certainly prove that
the royalty and priesthood of the saints in heaven are the purchase of
Christ’s blood and the gifts of his love. But they do not even hint at
the idea, much less prove it, in support of which they seem to be cited;
to wit, that the sufferings and death of Christ were his consecration to
the priesthood. On the contrary, they are in harmony with all the
Scriptures, which testify that those sufferings were an offering for our
sins, made by a priest already consecrated. “For every high priest is
_ordained to offer_ gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer.”—Heb. viii, 3. Here, it
appears that, inasmuch as he was a priest, he must have an offering; the
very reverse of the theory that his offering was in order to his
consecration to the priesthood. This man who by the word of the oath,
was consecrated a priest forevermore, needed not, like those priests to
enter often into the holy place with blood. “For then must he often have
suffered since the foundation of the world,” the original date of his
priesthood. “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”—Heb. ix, 26. Of Christ’s
sufferings, in their _atoning_ character, the Scriptures are full and
explicit. And, of them, the cup is the undoubted symbol. But of
“consecrating sufferings,” and especially, of such contradistinguished
from the others, as here supposed, we fail to find a trace. Is it
asserted that although they are the same sufferings, yet are they viewed
in a different light? Still the distinction is without warrant in the
Scriptures. But, even conceding that point, can it be imagined that the
Lord Jesus, in the circumstances of the case as relating to James and
John, would pause upon and emphasize that distinction, by separate
definitions, requiring distinct consideration and answer, by them, when
at last the sufferings in question were one and the same? Nothing but an
absolute necessity could justify such an interpretation.
In order to a right solution of the question here considered, let us
ascertain what were the facts and conditions necessarily present in the
mind of the Lord Jesus, in making his answer to James and John.
1. Their application immediately followed, and was no doubt suggested by
a statement made by our Lord, in reply to a question from Peter. Upon
occasion of the sorrowful turning away of the young ruler, Peter said to
Jesus, “Behold we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we
have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye
which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall
sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”—Matt. xix, 27, 28. Here are
several indications of the time of enthronement. (1.) It is the time
“when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory.” This phrase,
“the throne of his glory,” is not used in the Scriptures to designate
the invisible throne of majesty and power in the heavens, now occupied
by the Son of man; but that revelation to men of his glory, of which he
said to his disciples, “the Son of man shall come in the glory of his
Father, with his angels.”—Matt. xvi, 27. To this time he expressly
refers that throne. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all
the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his
glory.”—Matt. xxv, 31. So Paul declares that the Lord Jesus “shall judge
the quick and the dead at his _appearing_ and his _kingdom_;” and in
view of his own finished course, exults in the fact that, “Henceforth
there is laid up for me a _crown_ of righteousness, which the Lord the
righteous Judge shall give me _at that day_; and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love _his appearing_.”—2 Tim. iv, 1, 8. (2.) It
is the time of the judgment. The apostles shall sit with him, judging
the tribes of Israel. (3.) It is the period of “the regeneration.” Some
expositors, indeed, refer this word to the preceding clause, which they
read, “Ye which, in the regeneration, have followed me.” According to
this reading, the regeneration means, the introduction of the gospel, as
being the beginning of a new life to the world. But others understand,
by it, the resurrection of the saints which precedes the final judgment
of the world. According to this, which I take to be the true
interpretation, the resurrection is called the regeneration, because, in
it, the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, first experienced, in the
renewing of the souls of believers, and in making their bodies his
temples, will then take full possession of the whole man, quickening and
transforming our vile bodies into the likeness of Christ’s glorious
body, and reuniting soul and body in glory. In like manner, and at the
same time, the work of “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken
by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts iii,
21), will be accomplished. Beginning, as it does in the spiritual world,
in the preaching and triumphs of the gospel, it will be consummate in
the regeneration of the physical system, in the new creation, the new
heavens and the new earth. That the thrones promised to the apostles
could only be possessed after the resurrection, is evident from the fact
that, physical death being an element of the curse, the blessedness of
the saints may, indeed, be unspeakable, even in a disembodied state; but
there can be no properly royal triumph, so long as the bodies are in the
bonds of corruption and the grave.
2. While the time of the kingdom of the saints is thus clearly defined,
there are also certain conditions precedent, revealed with equal
clearness and emphasis. “Ye which have followed me,” says Jesus.
Elsewhere he explains more fully. “He that taketh not his cross, and
followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall
lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”—Matt.
x, 38, 39. The following must be a bearing of the cross, with the life
in the hand. A pertinent illustration appears in the life of the apostle
Paul. He thus states the motives and policy which governed his
course.—“I have suffered the loss of all things, ... that I may win
Christ, and be found in him; ... that I may know him and the power of
his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead.”—Phil. iii, 8-11. Paul’s meaning in the phrase
to “know the power of his resurrection,” elsewhere appears. He prays for
his readers, that they “may know,”—that is, may realize by a blessed
experience,—“what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who
believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought
in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places.... And you hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins, ... together with Christ, ... and hath raised us
up together.”—Eph. i, 16-20; ii, 1, 5, 6. In another place, Paul, in
view of his finished course and assured reward raises the triumphant
shout,—“I have fought a good fight! I have finished my course! I have
kept the faith! Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, shall give me at that
day;”—the day, to wit, of “his appearing and kingdom.”—2 Tim. iv, 1, 7,
8.
It thus appears that the time of the kingdom is the resurrection;—and
that the condition of its possession is not physical sufferings and
death, which are common to all men; but a conformity to Christ’s
sufferings and death, by being, in him, crucified and dead to the world.
With this condition is inseparably identified the possession of a part
in the resurrection and life of Christ. “If we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with him.”—Rom. vi, 8. “I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me.”—Gal. ii, 20. We can be dead with Christ, dead to sin and the world,
only by being alive to God.
Not only is the resurrection of the saints the time of their kingdom,
but worthiness of part in the resurrection is stated with emphasis, as
the final and conclusive condition precedent to the throne. “They,” says
Jesus, “which shall be accounted _worthy_ to obtain that world and the
resurrection of the dead.”—Luke xx, 35. “If, by any means,” says Paul,
“I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Herein is the
propriety of the form of the question put by Jesus to the two
brethren:—“Can ye ... be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
with?” That is, “Are ye ready to endure and to do all that will be
required of those who would be counted worthy of that world, and of the
resurrection of the dead?”
3. The same word (_palingenesia_) _regeneration_, which Jesus employs,
is used by Paul, who describes God’s mercy as saving us, “by the washing
of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us
abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior.”—Titus iii, 5, 6. It is the
very grace, therefore, of which, under the Old Testament as well as the
New, baptism with water was the appointed symbol and seal. And
particularly was it true of the sprinkling of the water of separation,
that it symbolized the resurrection of the Lord Jesus on the third day,
and of his people on the seventh, the day of the Lord. Add to these
considerations the fact that from the time of his tour in the region of
Cæsarea Philippi, where he was transfigured, Jesus had been earnestly
endeavoring to impress on the reluctant minds of the apostles the fact
that “he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders
and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed and be _raised again the
third day_.”—Matt. xvi, 21. We have already seen that Jesus and the
apostles distinctly recognized and referred to the third day’s baptism
with the sprinkled water of separation as being a prophecy the
fulfillment of which required his rising from the dead on the third day.
“These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in _the law of
Moses_, and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.... Thus it
is written and thus it _behooved_ Christ to suffer, and to _rise from
the dead the third day_.”—Luke xxiv, 44-46. In the law of Moses,
concerning the water of separation, and there only is the third day thus
defined.[77]
Footnote 77:
See above, p. 100.
The points suggested in these considerations are intimately and
inseparably related to the matter involved in the petition of James and
John. They are constantly so treated by the Lord Jesus himself, in his
personal teachings, and by his Spirit in the writers of the New
Testament. And yet, we are to suppose that, in his response to the
brethren, Jesus absolutely ignored all this, which he had, just before,
emphasized in his reply to Peter; and that he directed their attention
solely to the sufferings which he was to endure, and in which they were
to share! The alternative is, that on the contrary he referred to
baptism, in the meaning in which unquestionably it was used throughout
the Old Testament, as a type and figure of the resurrection, and thus,
by that single word, suggested all that was involved in the vastly
important considerations above mentioned, as connected with the
subject.—“Ye know not what ye ask. Ye neither appreciate the true nature
of the honors which ye seek, nor the time and circumstances of their
enjoyment, nor consider the conditions precedent. Are ye able to drink
of the cup that I shall drink of,—the cup of the crucifixion of the
flesh and the world; and to be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with, doing and enduring all that is involved in attaining to
the resurrection of the dead? For it is not till the resurrection that
the thrones which you seek can be possessed; and only by those who are
found worthy of that world and of the resurrection.”
That such was the meaning of our Savior would seem to be certain. This
is confirmed by the words already cited from Luke xii, 49-53. “I have a
baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished.” The matter present to the mind of Jesus, as the occasion
of this utterance, was that discrimination which he was to exercise and
separation which he was to make, in purging his floor and dividing
between the wheat and the chaff, bringing division into families and
dissolving the closest and tenderest ties. It is of this that he says,
“I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already
kindled?” That is, Why should I wish to restrain it? “But I have a
baptism; ... and how am I straitened!” He thus indicates a straitening
of the full exercise of that function which he has just described. The
cause of it is an unaccomplished baptism. What then were the facts out
of which this language is to be explained? (1.) Christ was under
judicial condemnation for us from his birth, under the curse and
sentence of death. (2.) While in that condition, a servant to the law
and the curse, he could not fully exercise the prerogatives proper to
his royalty. (3.) Especially must his office as personally the Baptizer
with the Holy Ghost and with fire,—as the dispenser of grace to his
people and wrath to his enemies,—be in abeyance, till his resurrection
and assumption of the throne. Thus, he was from the beginning straitened
and looking forward to his resurrection as the time and means of his
enlargement. And, hence his saying,—“I have a baptism.” That baptism was
the bestowal upon him, by the Father, of the Spirit of life, raising him
from the dead to the throne, whence he now dispenses grace and judgment
to the world.
PART XI.
CHRIST THE GREAT BAPTIZER.