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The point both these writers bring out is that in this first baptism the Israelites were
baptized with (en) the cloud and the sea and the result was that they were baptized unto
(eis) Moses, being identified with all that he stood for. However, is there any link in the
O.T. between baptism and identification?
The Greek translation of the O.T., The Septuagint (LXX), used bapto to translate the
Hebrew tabal which is a primitive root meaning to dip and is translated to dip and plunge
in the K.J.5: The first occurrence is in the passage describing the institution of the
passover.
"Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And
ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip (tabal) it in the blood that is in the bason, and
strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason . . . . . The Lord
will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel,
and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the
destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you" (Exod. 12: 21-23).
The people were identified with the lamb. Its death was in place of the death of the
firstborn in the household and this was guaranteed by the symbol of dipping (baptizing)
the hyssop in the blood and striking the lintel and two side posts.
Leviticus 4: deals with the sin offering of ignorance and there, after the sacrifice of
the bullock, "the priest shall dip (tabal) his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood
seven times before the Lord, before the vail, of the sanctuary" (Lev. 4: 6; see also
verse 17). Lev. 4: 4 shows the strong link with identification. The priest "shall lay his
hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the Lord" (see also verses 15,
24 and 29).
Lev. 14: deals with the cleansing of lepers and their houses. Verses 4 and 5 record
that two birds were taken and one sacrificed. "As for the living bird, he shall take it, and
the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip (tabal) them and the living
bird in the blood of the bird that was killed" (verse 6, see also verse 51). Thus the living
bird was identified with the one that had been sacrificed.
The link between baptism and identification is seen in the N.T. in such passages as:
"I indeed baptize you with (en) water unto (eis) repentance" (Matt. 3: 11).
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in (eis) the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28: 19).
"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized unto (eis) Jesus Christ were
baptized into (eis) His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into (eis)
death" (Rom. 6: 3, 4).
"For as many of you as have been baptized into (eis) Christ have put on Christ"
(Galatians 3: 27).
"And were all baptized unto (eis) Moses in (en) the cloud and in (en) the sea"
(I.Cor.x.2).
An important word in the above passages is the preposition eis. The Companion Bible
note in Appendix 104 is as follows: