In the last year we have all become familiar with calls to wash our hands frequently. With COVID-19 spreading across the world, everyone has been told use soap, hand sanitiser and disinfectants, and now we are being encouraged to take a vaccine as soon as we can.
“Hand-hygiene” and “social distancing” are on everybody’s lips as we try to avoid the disease and save lives.
Here in Victoria, Australia, we are told, “Wash your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds, using soap and water or use a hand sanitiser that contains at least 60 percent alcohol.”[1]
Many people have observed that the Law of Moses has a strong concentration on cleanliness and frequently mentions washing, and it is not the only part of the Bible where this is true.
In this article, we will look at some aspects of washing, cleanliness and hygiene in the Bible.
In Bible times, one of the most common reasons for needing washing was that they wore sandals.[2]
Walking on dusty roads in sandals made dusty feet common and there are plenty of references to people washing their feet or having others do it for them.[3] As you might imagine, washing someone’s feet was not a coveted job, and it appears that if people were rich enough to have servants, a servant would wash the feet of visitors.[4] This is part of the point Jesus was making in John chapter 13 when he washed the feet of his disciples. If Jesus, our Lord, was willing to do
something as demeaning as to wash the feet of his disciples, we should be willing to be servants to others also.[5]
When we read the Bible, we also read of people washing their hands,[6] their face,[7] their entire body,[8] their clothes[9] and even in one case a chariot.[10]
The Law of Moses had instructions for washing many other items, particularly if they had been in contact with unclean things such as dead bodies,[11] the carcases of unclean animals,[12] items touched by people who were unclean for various reasons, and so on.[13] There were even instructions for washing to remove uncleanness due to menstruation[14] and sexual intercourse.[15] Priests and Levites must wash as part of their consecration,[16] and during their subsequent work as
priests.[17] Offerings must be washed,[18] and if the blood of offerings was spilt on clothes, they must be washed.[19]
The people conducting particular religious observances also had strict requirements for washing, particularly on the Day of Atonement. The High Priest had to wash both before going into the Most Holy Place,[20] and after leaving it.[21] The man who went outside the camp to burn the skin, the flesh and the dung of the bull and goat offered as sin offerings had to wash his clothes and bathe his body with water before he could re-enter the camp of Israel,[22] as did the man who led the
scapegoat away and released it in the wilderness.[23]
However, some things could not be washed if they were religiously unclean or holy – such as pottery.[24]
People with diseases often had to wash themselves and/or their clothes as part of their treatment,[25] and this was also true with fabric or buildings in which “leprosy” was found (probably referring to what we would call moulds or fungi).[26]
With all of this concentration on washing, it’s no surprise that by Jesus’ time, the Jews had decided that washing was very important, to such an extent that they had added many extra rules about washing.[27] It seems that they began to treat physical cleanliness as if it were godliness.[28]
Disinfectants
Most of the washing described in the Bible seems to be with water only. However, there are a few references to products that can be used as disinfectants.
In Luke chapter 10, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan in which a Samaritan poured olive oil and wine on an injured Jew.[29] We can assume that these would be known to work as disinfectants or sanitisers.[30]
Other products such as soap[31] and lye[32] are also used for cleaning, but we will talk more about them in the next article.
Next time
In the next article, we will look at the more symbolic meanings of washing.
[30] see “Antimicrobial activity of olive oil, vinegar, and various beverages against foodborne pathogens” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17536679/
[31] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap
[32] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lye
