Ezekiel ~ The prophet

[Rella]

I am posting in this forum for you experts to help me understand something.

When I look into  immersing in a mikveh as a ritual to compare it to baptism I find... simply stated that Baptism stems from the practice of immersing oneself (an act called tevilah) in a ritual bath called a mikveh in Hebrew. And this started in and around the first century BC.

So a person bathes and removes all physical impurities before entering the mikveh, the purpose of the mikveh is spiritual cleansing.

The actual water symbolizes life and is seen to cleanse a person of sin, purify the ritually impure, and express rebirth to new life.

This practice of mikveh comes from commands in the Old Testament to cleanse oneself at appointed times or for certain reasons.

IF I am wrong please correct me.

Long before this came Ezekiel in or around the 6th century BC

Ez 36:1 tells us that God is speaking.

1 Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:

And the entire rest of the chapter are God's words as impressed upon the prophet Ezekiel to relay to the people.

Verses 25, 26, and 27 sound suspiciously like what we are told today about our "Christian" baptisms.....

These are the words of our Lord God

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

But...

God said

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you."

So can we conclude that at one time God found sprinkling acceptable? Is it possible that 5 centuries later when Mikvehs came into expected ceremonies that it just naturally followed immersion into Christian baptism became the norm?