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Washing in Water - Trajectories of Ritual Bathing In the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature

Poster

American Schools of Oriental Research 2001
Society of Biblical Literature 2001

In the Pentateuch, the primary motivation for bathing is to preserve the purity and holiness of the Tabernacle. In general, an individual had to bathe after exposure to some sort of impurity. Several Second Temple period texts apply these same general bathing scenarios to the Temple cult. Recent scholarship has largely assumed that this Second Temple usage reflects direct continuity from the Tabernacle to the First Temple and on to the Second Temple.

However, a closer examination of the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple literature raises questions about this assumption. First, many biblical texts referring to the First Temple do not specifically mention bathing in contexts where it would have been expected for the Tabernacle. Second, several biblical texts use bathing in a metaphorical rather than physical manner, often unrelated to the Temple cult. Finally, while some Second Temple period texts use ritual bathing as part of the Temple cult, others use it differently : as preparation for practices unrelated to the Temple, for symbolic or metaphorical reasons, or as part of initiation into a community.

Thus the use of bathing for cultic purity in the Second Temple period must be viewed against the background of these different uses and emphases. Rather than being a direct continuation of practices dating back to the Tabernacle, it becomes instead one of many Second Temple uses, some of which can be traced to diversity within the Hebrew Bible, itself.
This project will examine the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Jewish literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the New Testament to trace the different uses of bathing: cultic purity, initiation, and the symbolic. In this way, I hope to clarify the relationship between Second Temple ritual bathing and earlier practices and texts.

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