The oldest, both in the original
and in the Greek, is the only one that still allows comparison with its Hebrew
equivalent. The story is that of the cleansing of Naaman in the Jordan. The
prophet Elisha has ordered the Syrian to bathe seven times in the Jordan in
order to be cleansed: λουσαι επτακις . . . και καθαρισθηση 4 Reg. 5.10. Irritated, Naaman
thinks that he would do better to bathe in the rivers of Damascus but his
servants exhort him to carry out the command by the prophet. The original text
three times uses rḥṣ translated every time by λουειν. However, when Naaman finally
washes himself in the Jordan the Hebrew uses ṭbl q. intransitively, an
unusual voice of βαπτιζειν: και κατεβη Ναιμαν και εβαπτισατο εν τω Ιορδανη επτακι . . . και εκαθαρισθη ib. 5.14.
The Hebrew text describes the bath
that Naaman finally takes as a ‘plunging of oneself into the river’. One may
take into account that rḥṣ does not refer clearly to a complete bath
since it is also sued for the washing of hands and feet. Now ṭbl
indicates that the washing was complete and the use of this term in the story
of Naaman may have influenced its rise as the normal technical term for the
ritual bath.
In the Septuagint the translator
shows understanding of the emphatic description of Naaman’s bath as a sevenfold
plunging. To the usual rendering by βαπτειν
he prefers the intensive βαπτιζειν
and translates the intransitive usage of the Hebrew term by the middle voice.
As a result the middle voice of βαπτιζειν obtains
a new meaning for an immersion without the connotating of perishing. The spread
of this verb as the Greek technical term for the Jewish ritual washing, instead
of simply the middle voice of βαπτειν,
may now be explained by the fact that the translator used it in the episode of
Naaman. (Joseph Ysebaert, Greek Baptismal Terminology: Its Origins and Early
Development [trans. M. F. Foran Hedlund; Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Dekker
and Van De Vegt N.V., 1962], 29-30)
Irenaeus quotes 2 Reg. 5.14
concerning the curing of Naaman with βαπτιζειν in the middle voice but himself uses the passive in order to
explain how this purification is a prefiguration of Christian baptism: εβαπτισατο, φησιν, εν τω ‘Ιορδανη επτακις ου ματην παλαι Ναιμαν λεπρος ων βαπτισθεις εκαθαιρετο αλλ’ εις ενδειξιν ημετεραν fr.Gr. 35 (33). (Ibid., 79)