Bible Dictionary
Bath, Bathing
Bathing was used for ordinary cleanliness and was prescribed in various cases of ritual impurity. Priests and others were required to wash before particular religious duties or after defilement.
Definition
Bathing was both an ordinary practice of cleanliness and a prescribed part of Jewish purification. Washing was required after various forms of uncleanness, including accidental or ordinary defilement, leprosy, mourning, and before particular religious duties. Perfumes were also used with bathing.
Biblical Usage
Scripture associates bathing with ritual purification, priestly and religious service, recovery from defilement, and mourning. The pools of Siloam and Hezekiah, and the pool with porticos mentioned in John, provide biblical indications of bathing places.
Historical Background
The eastern climate made bathing important for health and pleasure. Pools were sometimes sheltered by porticos, and the use of perfumes added a customary element of luxury.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Smith's Bible Dictionary
This was a prescribed part of the Jewish ritual of purification in cases of accident, or of leprous or ordinary uncleanness, (Leviticus 15; 16:28; 22:6; Numbers 19:7; 19; 2 Samuel 11:2,4; 2 Kings 5:10) as also after mourning, which always implied defilement. (Ruth 3:3; 2 Samuel 12:20) The eastern climate made bathing essential alike to health and pleasure, to which luxury added the use of perfumes. (Esther 2:12) Judith 10:3; Susan 17. The “pools,” such as that of Siloam and Hezekiah, (2 Kings 20:20; Nehemiah 3:15,16; Isaiah 22:11; John 9:7) often sheltered by porticos, (John 5:2) are the first indications we have of public bathing accommodation.