Your Daily Slice

 

SHEVAT 24

Wash Yourselves

  

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; PUT AWAY the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Stop doing evil!  Learn to do good! Seek right-ruling, reprove the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” (Isa 1:16, emphasis mine)

 

Much of what is written by the prophets included in the Tanakh (the Old Testament) concerns the act of teshuvah, or repentance, and was specifically directed to the nation of Israel that had deliberately gone astray.  Our opening verse is no exception.  Sûr (Strong’s H5493), a verb, is the Hebrew that has been translated as ‘put away’, and means to turn aside, to depart, or as in this verse from Isaiah, to put away.  Literally speaking, this is teshuvah, making an about face, returning to where one started from, which in this case, would be Elohim, and His Torah.

 

Ancient Jewish wisdom believes there are only two types of sin: 1) sins against Elohim, such as breaking the laws concerning Sabbath, and 2) sins against other people, such as theft.  Concerning the sins we commit against our Creator and His Torah, atonement can only be reached by first admitting the wrongdoing, and then doing teshuvah – turning our backs on the dark way of destruction we were headed in, and then turning, and returning to the paths of righteousness.  For many, it is at this point that the mikveh, or immersion, becomes relevant.

 

The westernized church system has made a strong doctrine concerning ‘baptism’, and in some ways, they are correct.  Immersion done as a mikveh can signify a change in status, or a milestone in your life.  For example, many synagogues now expect young adults to immerse prior to bar or bat mitzvah, and most require women to immerse at the completion of their monthly cycle.  However, to do mikveh as a sign of teshuvah, of true repentance is especially symbolic.

 

The Hebrew word that has been translated as ‘wash’ in our opening verse is the word râchats (Strong’s H7364) and is the same word that is used in Ex 30:18-20, describing the bronze basin to be used by the Levitical priesthood.  The priests were to wash their hands and feet in this basin, signifying a cleansing from all the impurities and filthiness the world has to offer.  This washing must be done before they could minister to Elohim – under penalty of death – a process that was emblematic of the ritual of mikveh.

 

Is mikveh mandatory as part of teshuvah?  There are those that say no, it is not mandatory, for we are ‘washed by the water of the Word’ (Eph 5:26).  And truthfully, it is the act of teshuvah itself, the act of turning away from the evil that we were doing that is of primary importance.  Is it harmful to do mikveh as well?  Never, if it is done with the correct attitude and for the right reasons.  Yes, I have done mikveh – several times – and was very humbled by the experience.  Unlike the baptism that westernized churches teach, mikveh is not necessarily limited to a one-time shot.  It is something that is available to those of us who walk in covenant with the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, when it is needed and desired.

 

“O Yerushalayim, wash your heart from evil, and be saved.” (Jer 4:14)

 

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