Hebrew Word Study – Wash – Rachaz – Resh Cheth Sade

Exodus 40:30-31: “He set the laver between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water there for washing;  (31) and Moses, Aaron, and his sons would wash their hands and their feet with water from it. 

John 13:5-8: “After that, he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. (7) Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. (8) Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.”

Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were commanded to wash their hands and feet before entering in the temple to perform the service of the sacrifice. At other times they were only required to wash their hands.  Why are they now required to wash their feet and their hands? 

I read something today in the Sefer Avoda Biat Hamikdash  (Order of service (for the) tabernacle/temple).  This may shed some deeper understanding of the events of John 13 when Jesus washed his disciple’s feet. I have always heard that this was a demonstration of servanthood on the part of Jesus which no doubt it is.  But when Jesus went to wash Peter’s feet and he objected Jesus hinted at something even deeper that was taking place that Peter was not understanding.  Jesus had to point out to him that if he would not allow Him to wash his feet Jesus would have not been part of him.  The expression of having “no part” is a Hebraic expression related to an inheritance.  Obviously, Jesus was doing more than performing a cultural ritual, He was giving a deep spiritual lesson. 

In the Biat Hamikkdash chapter 5 we learn that there are two levels of sanctity. The first level of sanctity is purity.  The second level is holiness. Washing of the feet was the removal of impurities and becoming pure.  Yet, that was not enough for the priest to achieve sanctity. To be truly sanctified one needs to achieve holiness.  Holiness can only come after one is purified. If one is purified there would be no need to wash the feet, one just needed to wash their hands. Even today Orthodox Jews will wash their hands before prayer but not their feet. They believe they live in that first level of sanctity but to pray they must be holy and hence they wash their hands. 

To the Jew as long as there was a temple you could achieve holiness as a sacrifice was offered in the temple to provide the cleansing of the sin.  However, after the sacrifice, the High Priest would offer up incense from the altar of incense. There were only two items in the temple that never became impure, the brazen altar where the sacrifice was made and the altar of incense where prayers were made.  When the temple was destroyed and no sacrifice could be offered, prayer took the place of sacrifice. 

At the time Jesus was washing his disciples’ feet, the temple still stood and sacrifices were offered. However, Jesus was going to be that sacrifice that Peter did not yet understand.  The ritual of washing the disciples’ feet had a deep spiritual significance.  The word wash in Hebrew is rachatz which means to wash thoroughly and immerse in a liquid.  But it also means to make and maintain purity in a spiritual sense.

The hands of Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. The hands of Jesus were pure and the purity of the hands of Jesus washing his disciple’s feet made them holy for it is the purity of the hands that bring holiness in Jewish thought. Jesus was demonstrating that by washing the disciple’s feet He would remove the impurities to make them pure to bring them into holiness, that second level of sanctity.  If he were not allowed to wash that is rachatz the feet of Peter, Peter would never be holy and hence would not inherit the Kingdom of God.

There is this delightful elderly woman, we will call her Gloria, who lives in a senior citizen’s apartment building.   She is a real servant of God and loves God with all her heart, soul, and might.  Yet, she is still human. She told the story of another woman who lives in an apartment down the hall from her.  She was a real sour, prune-faced, bitty of a woman who seemed to hate Gloria for no other reason than she was always so happy and talking about the Lord.  She started gossiping to the other residents that Gloria stole some of her personal belongings when she visited her apartment. She warns others to beware of inviting Gloria into their apartment as all her good Christian behavior was just an excuse to case out their apartment and seek an opportunity to steal from them.  

When Gloria learned of this she confronted this woman and sort of lost her sanctification. She declared that she would never speak to this woman nor have anything to do with her. She also shared a few other little unchristian words.  She felt bad about her behavior but was unrepentant, as she felt this woman deserved it and more. 

One day she got a call from this very woman who was in tears. She pleaded with Gloria to come to her apartment and help her remove some bandages. This woman needed to change these bandages and no one was willing to help her.  Gloria found herself whispering to God: “No, no, no!”  But she gave in, not out of any love but just pity.  

When she entered this woman’s apartment she was horrified to see her feet covered with bandages soaked in blood. She had these bleeding ulcers on her feet and the bandages should have been changed days earlier.  Gloria immediately grabbed a basin of warm water and soaked off the bandages. The woman’s feet were covered with sores and Gloria had no choice but to rachatz – wash these sores on her feet and apply fresh bandages. As she was cleansing these sores she was repeating over and over in her mind: “Lord, why are you making do this for this woman? Why do I have to wash her feet.”  Then it hit her: “I’m washing her feet!”  Like the woman in Luke 7:36-50 who washed Jesus’s feet with her tears, Gloria wept while washing this woman’s feet, confessing her bitterness to God and this woman, asking for forgiveness. 

I believe both women entered into qodesh – holiness by the washing – rachatz of the feet.

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