 Egyptian Princess in her Bath Wall painting in tomb in Thebes. Text: 2 Samuel 11:2
"It came to pass in an eventide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself." The act of bathing is one of mankind's oldest behaviors that was performed out of a need to be clean and for the sake of comfort. Early bathing usually took place in open water, such as in pools or streams. However, filling bowls or basins with water so that water could be poured or splashed over the body, or used to wet cloths for rubbing over the body, became a popular alternative. The earliest constructed baths (bathing rooms) containing tubs for immersing the body, are believed to have been the baths in the palace complex at Knossos, Crete that date from the mid-2nd millennium BC. In the Bible, the first mention of bathing or washing is found in Genesis 18:4 and tells of Abraham offering to fetch water for his Holy visitors so that they might wash their feet. In ancient times, bathing the feet was a common practice. Not only was it a necessity and a comfort but also a social nicety. There are many instances foot washing found throughout scripture. The Bible's first account of full body bathing occurs In Exodus 2:5, when Pharaoh's daughter went down to bathe in the river (Nile) while her women servants walked alongside the river. From Herodotus: The ancient Egyptians were known to be great bathers. They practiced both private and public bathing, and allowed mixed bathing in public --as did the later Greeks and Romans. Egyptians preferred cold baths, and their priests bathed twice each day and twice at night. (Herod, ii, 37). From Porphyry: Egyptian priests bathed three times a day, and one nocturnal ablution. From Sir John G. Wilkinson: "We have little knowledge of the nature of their (Egyptian) baths, but as they were forbidden in deep mourning to indulge in them, we may conclude they were considered as a luxury, as well as a necessary comfort. In paintings in a tomb at Thebes, a lady is represented with four attendants, who wait upon her, and perform various (bathing) duties. One removes the jewelry and clothes…another pours water from a vase over her head… the third rubs her arms and body with her open hands…and a fourth seated near her holds a sweet scented flower to her nose, and supports her as she sits. The same subject is treated nearly in the same manner on some of the Greek vases (with) the water being poured over the bather who kneels, or is seated on the ground. (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians Vol. 3, 1837 edition. P. 388.) While the Greek and Roman world enjoyed public bathing, and mixed bathing at various times in their culture, the Jews were generally private bathers. Most homes had an inner courtyard where the family could wash hidden from public view. However, the Bible describes the pools of Siloam, Hezekiah and Bethesda as having coverings, porches and walls, which leads researchers to believe that these pools were used for public bathing. (The Pool of Hezekiah was built in in 701 BC.) (Nehemiah. 3:15, John 5:2, and John 9:7). Besides bathing for body cleanliness, ancients also performed ritual bathing for religious reasons. Ablution, as these ceremonial washings were called, were usually done to render the person clean from sin or free from disease. God was strict with ancient Israel on bodily cleanliness as well as ethnic and spiritual purity. Hebrew priests were commanded to perform different types of washings as part of their priestly duties: ~Ex. 30:19-21: Aaron and his sons were commanded, upon penalty of death, to wash their hands and feet before each entry into the Tabernacle to offer a sacrifice. 1. Leviticus 8:6: Priests were washed with water and then anointed with oil before they assumed their priestly duties. 2. Leviticus 14:8, 9: Priests were required to bathe their entire body after pronouncing someone cured of leprosy. 3. Leviticus 16:4, 24: High Priests were required to bathe before each official act on the Day of Atonement. 4. Numbers 19:7: Priests who were ceremonially defiled were cleansed by bathing their body and washing their clothes. Ritual bathing could have other meanings as well. It could mark the end of mourning. (Ruth 3:3). Naaman was commanded to dip in the Jordan seven times to be cured of leprosy. (2 Kings 5:10). In the wilderness, John preached the baptism of repentance and baptized accordingly. Baptism was the full immersion of the body in water and was a physical expression of belief Mark 1:4. While many ancient tribes and cultures observed ritual bathing for one reason or another, the Jews, were especially zealous about the custom. Hand washing was of particular concern to them. From Easton's Bible Dictionary- Commentary on Mart 7:1-7: "The Jews, like other Orientals, used their fingers when taking food, and therefore washed their hands before doing so, for the sake of cleanliness. These verses in Mark make reference to the ablutions prescribed by (Jewish) tradition, and according to which the disciples ought to have [obeyed and] gone down to the side of the lake, washed their hands thoroughly, rubbing the fist of one hand in the hollow of the other, then placing the ten finger-tips together, holding the hands up so that any surplus water might flow down to the elbow and thence to the ground. To neglect to do this had come to be regarded as a great sin; a sin equal to the breach of any of the Ten Commandments. Moses had commanded washings oft, but always for some definite cause. But the Jews multiplied the legal observance till they formed a large body of precepts." (Washing) Copyright by Ancient Bible History - Eden Games Inc.
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Man with mud sealing his eyes.
Courtesy of Free Bible Images Text: Isaiah 44:18 "He hath shut their eyes that they cannot see and their hearts that they cannot understand."
In the Hebrew, the word for shut is tuach – as meaning to smear, daub or overlay, such as with lime. From Gesenius: "Tuach means to besmear, as to plaster – with the idea of permanently closing the eyes in a way that makes it impossible for them to be open. Sealing the eyes may or may not have been a means of causing permanent blindness." In the ancient world, blinding was a common practice that took different forms. 1. Prisoners of war often had their eyes put out by gouging, cutting, stabbing, or branding. A blinded soldier became incapable of fighting or escape. 2. Criminals found guilty of certain crimes were punished by blinding. The following account tells of Prince Khusrau, son of the Great Mogul Salim Nuruddin Mogul Jahangir (September 20, 1569 – November 8, 1627) with whom the Edward Terry and Sir Thomas Roe had spoken. (Edward Terry was the chaplain to the English Ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe): “The son, having been cast into prison for staging a rebellion against his father, had his eyes sealed up by having something put before (over) them. After three years, the sealing substance was removed that he might with freedom enjoy the light, though not his liberty. After much effort by the physicians vision was eventually restored to one eye.” ("A Relation of Sir Thomas Roe's Voyage into the East Indies”. Published by J. Macock; London. 1665.) More often, shutting up or sealing the eyes was done to cure sick eyes. Pliny the Great wrote extensively on medial cures, which included Egyptian and Roman eye salves that contained such ingredients as kohl, bees wax, honey, olive oil, liver and leek juice (among others). From Pliny the Great: "The mixtures, in their final form, were slathered or painted onto the sick or infected eyes and allowed to remain overnight or several days." And: "Hieracium" is the name given to eye-salve, which is essentially composed of the following ingredients: four ounces of salammoniac, two of Cyprian verdigris, the same quantity of the kind of copperas which is call chalcanthum, one ounce of misy and six of saffron. All these substances being pounded together with Thassian vinegar and made up into pills*. It is an excellent remedy for incipient glaucoma and cataract, as also for films upon the eyes, eruptions, albugo and disease of the eyelids. ("The Natural History of Pliny", Vol. 6, Ch.27; Transcribed, London (1857). Occasionally, eyes were sealed for ceremonial reasons. From Dr. Alex Russell, M.D: (At a Jewish wedding in Aleppo) “The bride is seated in an open arm-chair, in the middle of the open Divan, or Alcove, with three enormous painted wax tapers burning before her. She is covered with a red gauze veil, through which her face and dress are plainly enough discernible. She is richly dressed in Venetian silks, and besides the usual jewels of gold, she is adorned with precious stones and a profusion of pearls. One of the solemnities of the wedding was to fasten the eyelids together with a gum, and the bridegroom is the person) to be the one who opens the bride’s eyes at the appointed time." ("Ritual Blinding ", Natural History of Aleppo, P.132. Published 1756) In the Bible, Shut the Eyes is an ancient idiom that figuratively means deliberate mental blindness –to make a conscious choice not to see what is. In this chapter of Isaiah, God is admonishing Israel against making idols and giving adoration to gods other than Himself. In this particular text, those who fashioned and worshiped idols are spoken of as self-blinded by choice; that in spite of all the evidence to the contrary that God is the one and only supreme god, these folks have sealed themselves into total darkness. And because they have made conscious choice to be spiritually blind, God condemns them to remain in their state of ignorance. This same idea can be found in Jeremiah. 5:21. “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not." *It has been suggest that perhaps this salve was put into pill (dry) form so as to preserve it or make it easier to store until needed; and then, before it was administered to the eye, an excipient was added to it to put it into salve form. Copyright by Ancient Bible History - Eden Games Inc.  Stele of "Baal Holding a thunderbolt" found in the ruins of Ugarit (Ras Shamra in Syria). Text: Judges 9:33
"The Children of Israel...made Baal-Berith their god." Baal-Berith means "lord of a covenant" or the "god who enters into a covenant with his worshipers. He was just one of many gods chosen from surrounding cultures that the Israelites worshiped at different times and caused them to wander away from Yahweh. There is little history of Baal-Berith and no description of him. According to Mela and Pliny, he received his name from the Phoenician city of Berytus. The Phoenician historian, Sanchoninatho, believed that his name came from the Phoenician deity, Beruth. Also, there is no recorded religious ceremony associated with his worship. Either the Shechemites or the Israelites built a temple to him at Shechem (Judges 9:46). And some Bible scholars believe that the Jews imitated their religious rituals of Yahweh with this new god in his temple. Baal-Berith is also known as Elberith, the covenant-keeping god, though it is unknown what kind of a covenant Israel made. The Vulgate understands it to be an agreement for Baal to become Israel's god. Some sources believe that Baal-Berith ruled over a league of Canaanite cities and that perhaps the covenant had something to do with Israels relationship with these Canaanite people or the Canaanite inhabitants of Shechem. In ancient times, an alliance between two tribes would frequently be cemented by a common worship ceremony. The continued practice of this worship ceremony kept the agreement intact. Israel entered into a number of these political-religious alliances and it led them into idolatry. One suggestion concerning what the alliance may have been was that the Shechemites traced their origin back to Hamor, which literally means ass. According to the Mari Documents, among the Amorites the expression "killing the ass" was synonymous with "making a treaty". Hence the "sons of Hamor" or "sons of an ass" may mean "members of a confederacy". Baal-Berith may have been the god summoned to witness such a treaty. Copyright by Ancient Bible History - Eden Games Inc.  Amphitheater in Ephesis Text: Acts 19:31 "Certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater."
In this text, the chief of Asia are the Asiarchae. The Asiarchae were a group of wealthy and influential men chosen from the important cities of Asia to preside over the Roman Empire's annual religious festivals and public games held each May to honor the Roman gods and the Emperor. It was from their ranks that the high priest of the imperial cult was appointed annually. The duties of the Asiarchae included: 1. Presiding over all the public events associated with the festivals and games. 2. To insure that all religious services and honors of the emperor (at the events) were performed and observed properly. 3. To promote the cult of the emperor and of Rome. 4. To secure allegiance to Rome. Because their duties were semi-religious, some scholars believe that the Asiarchae may have been called priests and their office a priesthood. According to The Expositor's Bible Commentary: "Each year, an Asiarchae was elected for the entire province, and an additional Asiarchae was elected for each city that had a temple honoring the emperor. Once their election was confirmed and made valid at Rome, the members of the league bore their titles for life…and while it (the league) did not have political authority, it served Rome's interests by securing loyalty to Roman rule."(Zondervan, 2007) Each man served for one year but could be re-elected. According to Manners and Customs of the Bible - #849: "to being a member of the Asiarchae was a greatly coveted position. It was important that all the men serving be wealthy. Their duties took them to various cities throughout the empire and the games at which they officiated were costly. While being a member of the Asiarchae was a high honor, they were still required to meet all of their own expenses." (James Freeman, Whitaker House, 1996.) Among each group who served, one was designated as the president. How the officiating duties were divided is still a matter of scholarly controversy. Whether all presided over the games as a group or whether one was made chief and the others assisted is still not known. No matter the way it happened, while performing their ceremonial tasks, all members dressed in purple and wore garlands on their heads. The introductory text is the conclusion of the account of Paul's wishing to preach in the 24,500 seat theatre in Ephesus and the crowd taking offense. Paul's friends among the Asiarchae warned him of the crowd's riotous mood and Paul was saved from encount-ering a mob. Bible commentators have speculated that while these Asiarchae friends of Paul's may not have been Christian converts, it would appear that they held a respect for Paul and possibly his work. Copyright by Ancient Bible History - Eden Games Inc. |
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