Bible Geek Word Nerd – Samson – TAME / TAHOR

Mr. Clean

I love old advertisements that have staying power.  Mr. Clean, from consumer goods behemoth Proctor & Gamble, has been around since 1957, when he was introduced as the company's mascot by advertising agency, Tatham-Laird & Kudner.  In the beginning, there was even a jingle (all advertising have jingles).  How does Mr. Clean fit into Samson's story?  Well, we are glad you asked! 

We have been looking at the tragic life of the Biblical Judge, Samson.  Not only are the object lessons plentiful and familiar in his story, but there are also remarkable insights to draw from some Hebrew words that underlie the Text.

We have been unpacking some of the terms in this verse from Judges 13:

Now see to it that you DRINK no WINE or other FERMENTED DRINK and that you do not EAT anything UNCLEAN.  You WILL BECOME PREGNANT and have a son whose HEAD is NEVER to BE TOUCHED by a RAZOR because the boy is to be a NAZIRITE, DEDICATED to God from the WOMB.  He will take the lead in DELIVERING Israel from the hands of the Philistines.’
Judges 13:4-5

We have thus far explored eating (AKHAL), drinking (SATHAH), wine (YAYIN), and fermented drink (SHEKHAR).  Today, let’s look at “unclean”, which comes from the Hebrew word TAME (טָמֵא), pronounced, “TAH-MAY”.

TAME – and words that derive from it – occurs 124 times in the Hebrew Bible, first in Leviticus 5:

If anyone becomes aware that they are guilty – if they unwittingly touch anything ceremonially UNCLEAN (whether the carcass of an unclean animal, wild or domestic, or of any UNCLEAN creature that moves along the ground) and they are unaware that they have become UNCLEAN, but then they come to realise their guilt; or if they touch human UNCLEANNESS (anything that would make them UNCLEAN) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realise their guilt…

Its opposite is expressed with the Hebrew word TAHOR (טָהוֹר), which is usually translated as clean or pure, a word that appears 188 times in the Text.

So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and PURIFY yourselves and change your clothes.
Gen 35:2

 Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, ‘Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially UNCLEAN – surely he is UNCLEAN.’  (in both uses, the Hebrew Test says “not clean”)
1 Samuel 20:26

The majority of the uses of TAME relate to ritual purity.  Anyone – such as a Priest – who approaches the LORD in the Tabernacle or the Temple must be TAHOR, or must not be TAME.

Neither word is necessarily pejorative.  There is not usually guilt associated with the terms.  For instance, when a person touches a corpse, they are ceremonially unclean.  When a woman is menstruating or has just given birth, she is unclean.  If someone is bleeding, they are unclean, as is anyone who comes in contact with her.  TAME and TAHOR do not typically have a moral connotation, but rather a technical, ceremonial one. 

Tim Mackie, one of the founders of The Bible Project, uses a helpful analogy to explain it.  In the operating room of a hospital, everyone and everything must be in a clean state.  The medical staff wears clean OR scrubs and gloves to maintain the cleanness of the room.  Instruments are sterilized to ensure they are clean.  Someone who is not clean – not washing his hands or not wearing OR scrubs  – does not belong in the OR.

This ritual aspect adds texture to many stories from the Gospels.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Levite and the Priest usually get grief for ignoring the near-dead traveler on the road.  Neither was willing to risk his ritual purity by approaching a corpse.  Jesus, on the other hand, elevated compassion over TAHOR and TAME by making the disfavored Samaritan the hero of the parable.  The Samaritan did not regard his state of purity above the well-being of his fellow man.

TAHOR and TAME interplay throughout the Gospels as Jesus interacts with and touches ritually impure people: Gentiles, tax collectors, lepers, and others.  A well-known story is about a woman who has been bleeding for years.  Her bleeding put her in a state of TAME.  And anyone who touched her would also be TAME.  Imagine the isolation that must have been her lot in life.  Her own family could not be near her without taking on her impurity.  Told in three of the Gospels, here is the version from Matthew:

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.  She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”  Jesus turned and saw her.  “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.”  And the woman was healed at that moment.
Matthew 9:20-22

Why did the Messiah’s close contact with the unclean and impure not make Jesus unclean?  I think the answer is found in Leviticus, in the instructions for the Sin Offering.

Whatever touches any of the flesh will become holy
Leviticus 6:27

Jesus is the Perfect Sin Offering, and anyone who touches him becomes Holy by that touch.  We are made TAHOR (pure) by our embrace of the Risen Messiah.  Jesus is the real Mr. Clean.  Blessed be His Name.