sprin ́k'l, sprin ́kling (זרק, zāraḳ, נזה, nāzāh; ῥαντίζειν, rhantízein): The first word means “to toss” or “scatter abundantly,” e.g. in handfuls, as dust on the head (Job 2:12) or blood from a bowl (Exodus 9:8). The other Hebrew word is used of sprinkling with the finger (Leviticus 14:7; 16:14, etc.). In the account of Jezebel’s death the word is used in its literal meaning of “spurt” (2 Kings 9:33).
Sprinkling (blood, water, oil) formed an important—if not the essential—part of the act of sacrifice. A consideration of the chief passages in the Old Testament will reveal the prominence and the significance of sprinkling as a feature of the sacrificial act. The significance of the sprinkling of blood is seen in the account of the establishment of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel (Exodus 24:6-8). Half the blood was sprinkled on the altar as representing the Deity, while the remainder was put into a basin and then sprinkled on the people. This ceremony is a survival in a modified form of the communal meal in which the tribal god and his worshippers sat together and participated in the same food, and in this way came to possess the same life. The two-fold sprinkling of blood resulted in the establishment of an inviolable bond (Numbers 18:17; 2 Kings 16:15). In the account of the consecration of Aaron and his sons (Exodus 29:16, 20-21) the blood of the ram of the burnt offering was sprinkled on the altar, while the blood of the ram of consecration was put on the altar and sprinkled on Aaron and his sons and on their garments. Water of purifying was sprinkled on the Levites at their ordination (Numbers 8:7). Lev gives detailed information in regard to sacrificial sprinkling. In the case of burnt offering the blood was sprinkled round about upon the altar (Leviticus 1:5, 11). The same practice obtained in the case of peace offerings, whether ox, lamb or goat (Leviticus 3:2, 8, 13). When a sin offering for sins inadvertently committed was made, the priest dipped his fingers in the blood and sprinkled it seven times before Yahweh, before the veil of the Holy Place (Leviticus 4:6). Elsewhere (Leviticus 16:11, 15) we read that Aaron took the blood of the sin offering and sprinkled it with his finger upon the mercy-seat, eastward, 7 times (see also Numbers 19:4). Sprinkling constituted part of the process of purification. But it is obvious that the sprinkling, even in this case, was a religious act, and not part of the actual physical cleaning. A simple kind of sprinkler was made by fastening a bunch of hyssop to a cedar rod by a piece of scarlet thread or wool and then the patient was besprinkled 7 times (Leviticus 14:7), while oil was sprinkled with the finger, also 7 times, before Yahweh (Leviticus 14:16; see also Exodus 12:22; Numbers 19:18; Psalms 51:7). The house in which the leper lived was disinfected in the same thorough manner (Leviticus 16:51).
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Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia
Keywords: Sprinkle, Sprinkling
Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.