Bible Question:
Word study ... mikvah (Strong's 04348) ... Mikvah means "burnt spot, burn scar" and is found in Leviticus 13:24, 25, 28. I did some research. I always check out what people say, to see if it is true. Leviticus 11:36 is quoted. However, the word is miqveh. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering (miqveh) together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good (Gen 1:10). In Exodus 7:19 it is the pools of water, that were turned to blood. It is linen yarn (1Ki 10:28) I didn't find where God had a person get in water. Can you cite in the OT, where God did so? I believe it was oral tradition, not the Law. |
Bible Answer: Searcher, I am glad to hear that you, like the Bereans did, check to see “if things are so”. The Hebrew term mikvah (spelled mikveh by some) literally and always means “gathering of water” as Strong’s states in Gen. For centuries before Christ it was a “ritual bath” that, according to “oral tradition” originates in Exodus. When the Law required “cleansing”, the initial ritual of mikvah, or mikveh, took place. Sprinkling or dipping WOULDN’T cleanse, so “completely under” they went. The priest and Levites know WHAT John the Baptist WAS doing. He was doing what had been done for centuries. They needed to know WHO he was. Had it only taken a “little” water, why did people meet him at the river? Why not by a well? A wedding, as in Rev. 19:7, “the bride has made herself ready” means she underwent the ritual of mikvah. For sure she "bathed" herself completely. Many men used, and still use, the ritual to prepare themselves for Passover, for Yom Kippur, for the Day of Atonement. Some participate before the Sabbath, every Friday. You wrote: “I didn't find where God had a person get in water. Can you cite in the OT, where God did so? I believe it was oral tradition, not the Law.” Even though there is no direct mention of mikvah in the Old Testament, the Jews STILL use the story from Exodus 19 as their basis for having a ritual bath. Right before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses, God told Moses to have the people sanctify themselves (make clean, purify) and have them “wash their garments.” Jews still believe these two "things" happened together. Strong’s 3526 sort of defines the word “wash”, “To trample with the feet”. BUT you must notice where else the word is used and that will “cancel” such a lone concept of separate “cleansing”. Psalm 51:7 “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” Concerning the “ancient rituals of mikvah” still in effect today, I am reminded of Col 2:17 and 2 Cor 15:46, among other portions of God’s word. Baruch ata Adonai ... Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the universe. Taleb |