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.