Bible Dictionary
Washing
Washing can refer to ordinary cleansing or to ceremonial handwashing. In the New Testament, Jesus criticized traditions that treated ritual washing as a greater authority than God’s commands.
Definition
Washing is the cleansing of the body or hands and may include ceremonial ablution. In the New Testament context, the term especially concerns traditional handwashing before eating.
Biblical Usage
The disciples were criticized for eating with unwashed hands according to established tradition. Jesus contrasted these multiplied ceremonial precepts with God’s commandment and condemned treating human tradition as equivalent to divine authority.
Historical Background
People commonly used their fingers when eating from a shared dish, making clean hands practical. Traditional washing involved detailed actions and had become regarded as a serious religious obligation, beyond washings required for definite causes.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Mark 7:1-9). The Jews, like other Orientals, used their fingers when taking food, and therefore washed their hands before doing so, for the sake of cleanliness. Here the reference is to the ablutions prescribed by tradition, according to which “the disciples ought to have 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 placed 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. To such precepts about ceremonial washing Mark here refers. (See ABLUTION.)