And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet out of it.
The bronze basin has just been described. Now comes its use: the priests are to wash their hands and their feet there. There is no blood here and no offering, and the washing is repeated. So what cleansing does a person already set apart for God still need?
The basin stood between the altar of burnt offering and the door of the tent. A priest met it after the sacrifice and before the sanctuary. The order matters.
The basin was to stand between the bronze altar and the door of the tabernacle. It too was to be made of bronze — a picture of the demands that flow from the holiness and righteousness of God. The blood on the altar met those demands first. The water that filled the basin met them second, for the priests who would enter the sanctuary. There they had to wash both hands and feet every time they entered. They were never to carry anything of the dust or defilement that was outside into the presence of God.
What the basin held matters as much as where it stood. The priests bathed all over once, when they were set apart, and never again.
Washing the whole body is a picture of being born again, and this cannot be repeated. Our Lord taught this truth in John 13. In reply to Peter He said, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean." The feet — or with the priests, the hands and the feet — might be defiled and need cleansing again and again. But the body never did, for it was cleansed once and for all in water at the new birth. Notice, too, that it is water and not blood in the basin. People have often tried to deduce from this rule for the priests that the believer needs the repeated application of the blood of Christ. Such a thought is foreign to the whole teaching of Scripture, and it tends to undermine the power of the one sacrifice of Christ.
The metal itself tells part of the story. It came from mirrors.
Between the altar and the door of the tabernacle stood the basin, which held water for the washings of the priests. Bronze mirrors went into making it and its base (Ex. 30:17-21; 38:8). The mirror and the water together are clearly meant to point us to something that can both reveal defilement and remove it.
The verse names two parts of the body. Commentators read them as two parts of a life.
The hands and the feet stand for our works and our ways. If we want to go on happily with God, His word must test all of these. "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word." … The word of God acts on the heart and conscience through the light and power of the Holy Spirit. That answers to the use of the basin in the picture. It is "the washing of water with the word." But if we allow in our works or ways what the word of God condemns, the freshness and power of our Christian character are gone.
Commentators do not read the two parts alike. The hands raise a caution; the feet carry a daily need.
The hands suggest working, since works are what the law demands. But our place as Christians is "not because of works done by us in righteousness." It is the feet, our ways, that constantly need cleansing by the word of God… The entire life, even to thoughts and desires, is to come under the cleansing of the Word.
Holiness and communion are tied together. What we allow in our ways shows up in our worship.
There can be no true communion with God unless we carefully keep up personal holiness… Our constant failure in priestly ministry can be explained by our neglect of the proper use of the basin. If we do not let the word cleanse our ways, the energy of our priestly character will certainly be missing. The same is true when we keep doing what our own consciences tell us the word plainly condemns. Deliberately continuing in evil and true priestly worship cannot go together.
The New Testament calls Christians priests. So the basin still has someone standing at it — and someone to do the washing.
Now, Christians are part of a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), and so they resemble the priests of Aaron's line… But as the washing of the feet after the bath might be needed, so the saint who picks up defilement in his walk on earth needs that service done for him. To keep him clean for heaven, the Lord washes his feet.
- Order. Blood at the altar came first, water at the basin second. The cleansing that fits us for His presence never replaces the sacrifice that gives us the right to be there.
- Once. No one repeated the full bath that set the priests apart. It pictures new birth, which cannot happen twice.
- Again. The priests washed hands and feet every single time, because ordinary service and travel pick up defilement. The Lord still does that washing for His own.
- Mirror. Made from mirrors and filled with water, the basin both shows the dirt and washes it away — the work the word of God does.
- Cost. Worship and service lose their power when we will not let the word cleanse our works and ways.
When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they may not die; or when they come near to the altar to serve, to burn an offering by fire to Jehovah.
The laver stood in the open court, filled with water. Every priest going into the tent of meeting, or turning back to the altar, had to stop and wash. The penalty makes the verse arresting. Neglect meant death, so the washing was never a courtesy but a condition of drawing near.
A priest met the laver after the sacrifice and before the sanctuary. One writer reads the order of the two vessels as the order of two provisions.
The laver was to stand between the bronze altar and the door of the tabernacle. It too was to be made of bronze — a picture of the demands that flow from the holiness and righteousness of God. Those demands were met first by the blood on the altar, and second, for the priests who would enter the sanctuary, by the water that filled the laver. There they had to wash both hands and feet every time they entered. They were never to carry anything of the dust or defilement from outside into the presence of God.
The command covers both directions of priestly work: going into the tent, and coming near to the altar. Skipping it carried a death sentence.
A priest had to wash before serving in the tabernacle and before offering a sacrifice on the copper altar (v. 20). Attempting such service without washing would be punishable by death (v. 21). How careful we should be to give due respect to the holiness of God in all matters of worship and service.
At their consecration the priests bathed all over. At the laver they washed only hands and feet, again and again. One writer explains why, and answers a wrong conclusion often drawn from the laver.
The washing of the priests' bodies at their consecration is never repeated. The priests wash only their hands and feet again and again in the laver. The reason is obvious. Washing the whole body is a figure of being born again, and that cannot be repeated. Our Lord taught this in John 13. He answered Peter, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean." The feet — or, for the priests, the hands and the feet — might be defiled and need cleansing again and again. But the body never needs that. It was cleansed once and for all in water at the new birth. Notice, secondly, that it is water and not blood in the laver. People have often tried to argue from this rule for the priests that the believer needs the blood of Christ applied again. That idea is foreign to the whole teaching of Scripture, and it undermines the one sacrifice of Christ. The blood of Christ deals with guilt, and the moment a sinner comes under its value before God he is cleansed forever.
The priests washed their hands and their feet. Those two parts picture two things in our lives.
The hands and the feet stand for our works and our ways, and if we would go on happily with God, all of these must be tested by His word. "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word." (Ps. 119:9) The word of God, acting on the heart and conscience through the light and power of the Holy Spirit, answers to the use of the laver. It is "the washing of water with the word."
In John 13 our Lord left the hands out. The reason touches how we stand before God, and how far the washing reaches.
The priests were to wash their hands as well as their feet at the laver, but our Lord washed only the disciples' feet. The hands suggest working, since works are what the law demands. But our place as Christians is "not because of works done by us in righteousness." It is the feet, our ways, that need constant cleansing by the word of God. This comes through the advocacy of Christ our Lord and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. But the walk includes the believer's entire earthly life. We must make no distinction between our service and our path.
Neglecting the laver still has a cost today.
There can be no true fellowship with God unless we keep up personal holiness with care. "If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." (1 John 1:6) Our constant failure in priestly ministry may be explained by our neglect of the proper use of the laver. Suppose we keep doing what our own consciences tell us the word plainly condemns. Then our priestly character will surely lose its energy.
- Blood, then water. The altar came first, the laver second: sacrifice settled the priest's standing, washing fitted him to go in.
- Bathed once. The full washing at consecration pictures new birth. It never happens twice. Only hands and feet return to the laver.
- Washed often. The water, not blood, is the word of God applied to works and ways — a cleansing needed again and again.
- Feet, for us. In John 13 the hands drop away, because our standing is not by works; it is the walk, the whole of daily life, that needs the word.
- So they may not die. Nothing defiled could be carried inside, and neglect of the laver still shows up as lost fellowship and powerless service.
And they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they may not die; and it shall be an everlasting statute for them, for him and for his seed throughout their generations.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.