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In the law of lepers, the priest was instructed to “dip [tabal]… the live bird into the blood of the bird that was slain over the running water” (Leviticus 14:6). The treatment of the two birds represent death and life, but the live bird in particular correlates first with Christ who was raised from the dead, and secondarily with the healed leper.
The main focus of baptism is life, not death. This is also why the first bird had to be killed in an earthen vessel over running (living) water. Water baptism focuses on life, not on death, contrary to many people’s way of thinking. Again, when Israel kept Passover in Egypt, the focus was upon the death of the lamb, while their Red Sea crossing (baptism) focused upon life.
When Elisha instructed Naaman the Syrian leper to wash (rachats) in the Jordan seven times (2 Kings 5:10), Naaman “dipped [tabal] himself seven times in Jorday, according to the saying of the man of God” (2 Kings 5:14). This probably indicates that rachats and tabal have the same meaning, but more important (for our purpose) is to show that Naaman acted according to the law in Leviticus 14:6. The live bird was dipped (tabal), and Naaman dipped (tabal) in the Jordan.
This also shows that tabal is baptism, and therefore baptism is commanded in the law of lepers. Further, this means that baptism is not (necessarily) immersion. Tabal is rendered “dip” in both cases, but dipping is not the same as immersion.
The priest could not possibly have immersed the second bird in the blood of the first bird, because there is no way to squeeze enough blood out of the first bird to immerse the second. It was sufficient that the priest should apply blood to the second dove in order to make its baptism effective. So also with Naaman.
When Jesus comes again, “He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood” to signify resurrection life and to identify Him with Joseph—the only man in the Old Testament whose robe was dipped in blood (Genesis 37:31). He came the first time from the tribe of Judah to claim His throne rights, but He comes the second time to claim Joseph’s birthright. He is the second bird released into the open field, because “the field is the world” (Matthew 13:38).
Dr. Stephen Jones has been writing blog posts since 2005 on a variety of topics from Bible Studies to World News, and he has been writing books since 1992. Dr. Jones' most important writings came after God brought him back into the full-time ministry in 1991. It is here that all his earlier years of searching the Scriptures began to come into clear focus. He combines a knowledge of the Old and New Testaments with a personal revelation of God that began and developed during the "wilderness" period of his life, which he often refers to as God's True Bible College... Read More
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