Don’t Forget to Rinse

Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.  Psalm 51:2 NASB

Wash/ cleanse – David employs two verbs in this verse.  They don’t mean the same thing.  The first, translated “wash,” is kābaš.  “This root occurs fifty-one times, all in verbal forms. Of these, all but nine appear in the Pentateuch, thirty-one in Lev alone, and twenty-one in Lev 13–15.”^[1]  The predominance of occurrences in Leviticus should tells us something important.  Kābaš is most often associated with guilt and atonement.  But there are some interesting intricacies.

In Hebrew it means “to full,” that is “to make stuffs clean and soft by treading, kneading and beating them in cold water” (KB, p. 422). Thus it is always used of clothing, “to launder” and never of “washing” the body, where raḥaṣ (rāḥaṣ which see) is used or of “rinsing” which is denoted by šāṭap.^[2]

In every occurrence except 2 Samuel 19:24 this verb is connected to ceremonial cleansing.  It is significant that the verb is associated with outside purity, that is, typically clothing, not with inner moral purity.  David’s use here suggests that this sin is a stain on him.  It is not a constitutional defect.  The misdeed, ʿāwōn, is a twist, a deviation from the way.  Like dirty clothing, it can be corrected, cleaned.  The guilt David has incurred is on the surface of his character.  It isn’t him, that is, it isn’t who he really is.  It’s a tragic mistake.  “Guilt” is attached to the act, not to the person.

But David also uses the verb ṭāhēr.  “It is used almost exclusively of ritual or moral purity.”^[3]

All told ṭāhēr and its derivatives occur 204 times. In the great majority of cases they appear in the priestly literature: about forty-four percent in Lev and Num, about sixteen percent in Ex (especially of the pure gold for the cult), and about fourteen percent in Chr and Ezk.

The LXX generally translates ṭāhēr and its derivatives by katharizō, katharos, katharismos, etc. “to purify,” “pure,” “purity.”^[4]

Kābaš is about washing away the guilt, removing the stain.  ṭāhēr is about being rinsed in purity, both moral and ritual.  It’s one thing to have God remove the outer stain.  It’s another to have Him raise the inner character.  David needed both.  Two distinct actions.  Perhaps there’s a lesson for us here.

Topical Index: kābaš, wash, ṭāhēr, cleanse, guilt, purity, Psalm 51:2

^[1] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 946 כָבַס. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 428). Moody Press.

KB L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, 2nd ed., Eng.-Ger., 1958

^[2] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 946 כָבַס. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 428). Moody Press.

^[3] Yamauchi, E. (1999). 792 טָהֵר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 343). Moody Press.

LXX The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament in Greek

^[4] Yamauchi, E. (1999). 792 טָהֵר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 343). Moody Press.