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Cleaning clothing is destined to get dirty, so we regularly take the walk to the local Laundromat or our laundry room to do the laundry. People living in Bible times wore clothes that also collected dirt, stains, and odors, so they too had to wash their clothing. Thanks to some very specific language used by the biblical authors we can trace mention of the literal and figurative clothes washing in their writing.
The method and frequency with which people washed their clothes varied between the ordinary and elite members of society. Ordinary people carried their soiled clothes to a water source, soaked them in water -often without any soap added-and rubbed them on rocks in an effort to loosen the ground-in dirt before rinsing them and laying them out to dry. The scarcity of water in the Promised Land dictated that ordinary people rarely enjoyed a full body wash; so we presume that clothes washing was an equally rare occurrence.
By contrast, the royalty and the well-to-do had others do this job for them. The pharaoh had a member of his royal court designated as “Chief Launderer of the Palace.” Thanks to a new kingdom tomb painting, we have a reasonable idea of how an Egyptian commercial laundry worked. The Laundry was first soaked in a cold tub before immersion in a second tub that contained warm, soapy water.
If dirt or stains remained, the workers rubbed and beat the clothes on rocks before rinsing them in the river and hanging them up to dry. Though we lack this sort of detail in the Bible, it seems the Washerman’s Field, mentioned several times as a Jerusalem landmark, may have been a commercial laundry that served those who could afford it (2 Kings 18:17; Isa 7:3; 36:2). We presume that the elite members of Israel’s society washed their clothes more frequently than ordinary folks.
Mephibosheth shunned this luxury during the time David fled the capital city (2 Sam 19:24). The great majority of instances in which the biblical authors mention people washing their clothing or being directed to do so link this activity to ritual and worship. Because clothing that people wore was not regularly washed, the command to wash one’s clothing marked a day as quiet extraordinary. For example, Moses directed the Israelites to prepare themselves to receive divine communication at Mount Sinai by washing their clothing
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