Original Post May 24th 2012 – 2018 update below
3 Sivan 1313 BC
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.” Exo 19
And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Cor 6:18-7:1
Update May 24th 2018 by Randy
Today is the 5th day of the 7th week of seven weeks. Today is the 47th day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.
Baptize them
I have been studying baptism for a long time but a lot recently, so maybe it is no surprise that this scene of the Israelites getting ready to meet Jehovah face to face reminded me of baptism.
In Exodus 19 God tells Moses to consecrate them and have them wash their clothes, seems to me immersing their bodies would be an obvious part of this preparation.
So I read deeper, this word consecrate isn’t really used before this point, how does Moses know what to do? I did find God giving him some real specific instructions on consecrating in Exodus 29 –
Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to minister as priests to Me: … “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. “You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. Exodus 29
I read “bathe them and put them in clean clothes” the Amplified version mentions that the door of the Tent of Meeting is where God told them to set the laver for washing. I have no idea how big this laver was, I believe the one outside Solomon’s Temple was huge? But they were camping and this is a tent.
I have a hard time picturing Moses washing these guys personally so I am guessing that his job really was to witness that they cleansed themselves thoroughly, some versions translate the word “consecrate” as purify. At the time of Jesus, when gentiles came to believe and wanted to convert, part of the ritual was to purify in pools made for that purpose called mikvahs, their cleansing needed to be witnessed by three men.
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