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These are sample frames from a 30+ frame Power Point on the subject of the Jewish miqveh or ritual bath and its links to Christian baptism. The outline is as follows:
The miqveh: the Jewish Ancestor of Christian Baptism
For a long time controversy has raged over the mode of baptism: sprinkling or immersion?
This Power Point will explore the issue from archaeology, with particular emphasis on the Jewish ritual bath or miqveh.
Jews will tell you that such procedures and installations have their origin in the Torah: Lev.14:8, 9; 15:5, 7, 8; 16:24; 17:15; Num.19:7-8, 19 etc.
Certainly this was standard Jewish practice in the Intertestamental period, as can now be seen from the dozens of miqva’ot now revealed by excavations.
Locations of miqveh installations
- Herod’s palace near Jericho
- On the Temple Steps
- In homes and pilgrim-hostels in the Temple vicinity
- In the homes of the wealthy (not shown)
The Gospels bear witness to this usage: Mark 7:4; Luke 11:38; John 2:6.
Where did the water come from? “Solomon’s Pools”, and note aqueducts in the Herodian Palace area.
Miqva’ot were also used for Jewish proselyte baptism:
The Cardo has one prominent installation used for this purpose (not shown).
Christian usage adopted the miqveh for baptism
Dr. Bargil Pixner has identified the miqveh connected with the Jewish-Christian chapel of the Apostolic period (the latter now part of the traditional “Room of the Last Supper” of the Crusader period).
Three early Christian churches manifest baptismal fonts:
1. Dura Europos: the earliest such chapel known. Font now in Yale Museum (pictured above)
2. Qalaat Samaan: where St Symeon sat on his pole. Dates from 450s A.D.
3. Jerash: St Theodore’s Church, dating from 490s A.D.
Points to note:
Link to Jewish miqveh in design, especially the double-staircase example
Connection with Christ’s resurrection à la Rom.6:3-5, as seen in artwork, and the eight-sided baptistery
All baptisms were by immersion, just as with the Judaistic predecessors.
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