Have you never wondered what it would be like to be inside a mikveh in ancient Israel. Well, even if you were born in the wrong time period you are in luck because there was a ritual pool discovered in Jerusalem. Arutz Sheva for Israel National News takes you on a tour led by Benyamin Eliezer Storchan around the archaeological site. You will be able to see a bit of the inside and learn about the water collecting systems that would’ve been used to make the mikveh efficient.
Purification is very important in the Bible. There are various examples and reasons for ritual cleansing in the Torah. Here is one example, “He who is to be purified must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water. Then he will be clean; and after that, he may enter the camp; but he must live outside his tent for seven days. On the seventh day he is to shave all the hair off his head, also his beard and eyebrows -- he must shave off all his hair; and he is to wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; and he will be clean” (Leviticus 14:8-9). Washing is a great way to decrease a chance of spreading germs and causing infection, but it is also a symbol of washing away sin.
“So then, are we to say, 'Let’s keep on sinning, so that there can be more grace'? Heaven forbid! How can we, who have died to sin, still live in it? Don’t you know that those of us who have been immersed into the Messiah Yeshua have been immersed into his death? Through immersion into his death we were buried with him; so that just as, through the glory of the Father, the Messiah was raised from the dead, likewise we too might live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will also be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:1-5).
Just as we can feel so much better and refreshed after getting cleansed from soiled clothing and smelly sweat, God wants to remove the dirty stench of sin from our lives. The cleaner you are the more sensitive you tend to be to feeling dirty, but if we are used to being dirty, we might not even notice how unclean we are or how noticeable our body odor is after a while and how much better we would feel to be clean. As you think about the mikveh, let God wash your heart from anything that stands between you and the Lord and pray to stay close to God so your senses are sharp enough to notice when your thoughts are not pure.
