Sprinkle water of purifying— In the Hebrew, as Dr. Beaumont observes, the sin-water, i.e. the water of purification from sin, is called the sin-offering. The manner of preparing this water is seen, chap. Numbers 19:17. Sprinkled with this water, the Levites were next to shave all their flesh; another sign of their entering into a state of purity, the study whereof is incumbent upon all, but especially on the ministers of religion; see Leviticus 14:8-9. Calmet thinks it probable, that the same ceremony was observed by the priests on the day of their consecration, though we have no precept concerning it. The priests of Egypt, in like manner, shaved their whole bodies every third day, as a mark of purity and cleanliness. Hence they are sometimes characterised by the name of the bald tribe; grege calvo. Juv. Sat. 6. And so the heathens had their water of lustration, (probably borrowed from the Mosaic law) wherewith they were accustomed to sprinkle themselves in token of purification, as in Virgil, AEneid vi. l. 229, 230.
Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda, Spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivae.
"A verdant branch of olive in his hands, He mov'd around, and purify'd the bands; Slow as he pass, the lustral waters shed," &c. PITT.