Washing

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

The custom of washing hands before meals or of feet after a journey or on entering a stranger’s house was not only a polite ceremony but a religious observance

(Matt. 15:2; Mark 7:3; Luke 11:38). After the salutation the first act of hospitality was to proffer a basin of water to the guest for washing the feet (Gen. 18:4; Ex. 30:19,21; Judg. 19:21; 1 Sam. 25:41; Luke 7:37-38,44; John 13:5-14).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

A requirement of frequent literal recurrence under the law, but in the New Testament a term bearing commonly a moral force and application. Important truth may be learned from the different significations of the Greek words used for “washing” in John 13. The word in John 13:10 is λούω, “to cleanse, wash thoroughly.” One who is cleansed in this sense never needs to be thus washed again; he is, as the Lord said, “clean every whit,” yet in order to have “part with” Christ, he needs, because of the defilement of the way, that his feet should be washed (here the word is νίπτω), John 13:5-14, an action which is applied to parts of the body only. The same difference was typified in the cleansing of Aaron and his sons. They were at their consecration once “washed” by Moses, but were thenceforward required continually, when executing their service, to wash only their hands and feet in the laver (Ex. 40:12, 30-32).

“329. Washing Hands” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

2 Kings 3:11. Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.

As no knives or forks are used in the East, it is absolutely necessary to have a plentiful supply of water for the hands at the close of every meal.

For this a pitcher and basin are provided. The hands are held over the basin while a servant pours water from the pitcher. The basin has a double bottom, the upper part of which is full of holes, through which the water as soon as used passes out of sight into the lower part. From the center of the bottom there rises a small projection which is used as a receptacle for the soap. The expression in the text, “poured water on the hands,” is intended to show that Ensile performed the work of a servant for Elijah. He was Elijah’s assistant as well as his disciple.

“431. Symbolical Hand Washing” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Psalm 26:6. I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord.

There were several occasions on which the Jews were accustomed to wash their hands in connection with religious rites. The Psalmist may have had one or all of these in mind when he uttered the text. See also Psalm 73:13.

1. There was the washing required of the priests in the service of the tabernacle and temple. The brazen laver was made for this purpose. See Exodus 40:30-32. It is said to have been customary for the priests, when they had bound the sacrifice to the horns of the altar to march around it, after they had washed their hands. Thus David says, “So will I compass thine altar, O Lord.”

2. The Jews were also accustomed to wash their hands before engaging in prayer. Paul is thought to refer to this in the expression “holy hands” in 1 Timothy 2:8.

3. There were certain ceremonies directed to be observed in cases of murder where the murderer was unknown. The elders of the city nearest to which the body of the murdered man was found were directed to strike off a heifer’s head, and then it is commanded that they “shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it” (Deut. 21: 6-7). This was considered a most solemn asseveration on their part of their innocence in the matter. Pilate, though a Gentile, had probably lived long enough among the Jews to understand this custom, and is, therefore, supposed to refer to it when, on the demand of the people that Barabbas be freed and Jesus crucified, “he 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. 27:24). The custom is said to have been Gentile as well as Jewish; but this is denied. See Bloomfield, Greek Testament, see Matthew 27:24.

Since David desires in this text to symbolize inward purity by outward washing, any one of these customs may serve for illustration.

“739. Diligent Hand Washing” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Mark 7:3. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.

There is great diversity of opinion among critics as to the proper rendering of πυγμή “oft.” Its primary signification is the fist, and hence Robinson renders the text, “unless they wash their hands (rubbing them) with the fist, that is, not merely dipping the lingers or hand in water as a sign of ablution, but rubbing the hands together as a ball or fist in the usual Oriental manner when water is poured over them.”—Lexicon of the New Testament. From this he supposes the word to be taken in the sense of “sedulously, carefully, diligently.”

The “traditions of the elders” required the Pharisees to wash is illustrated by Lightfoot in extracts from Rabbinical writers. See Mira Hebraicae on Matthew 15:2. He states that they make mention “of the quantity of water sufficient for this washing—of the washing of the hands, and of the plunging of them; of the first and second water; of the manner of washing; of the time; of the order, when the number of those that sat down to meat exceeded five, or did not exceed; and other such like niceties.” Not content with the ordinary usage of washing after eating (see note on 2 Kings 3:11, #329) they carefully washed before eating, lest they should be injured by Shibta, “an evil spirit, which sits upon men’s hands in the night; and if any touch his food with unwashen hands that spirit sits upon that food, and there is danger from it.”

“813. Need of Feet Washing” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

John 13:10. He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet.

The meaning of the passage will be more readily perceived if, for washed, we read bathed, which is the idea conveyed by the original word. Allusion is probably made to the fact that one who has been to the bath need only, on returning to his house, wash the dust of the road from his sandaled feet. Thus he that has bathed need “not save to wash his feet.”