We can wash the outside of our bodies and everything around us, but still have thoughts and behaviours that are doing us no good. That's true in ancient Bible times and true today. No amount of hand washing will give us a clean heart. The Bible writers would say that the need for internal cleansing is just as obvious as this need for external washing. In fact, large sections of the Old Testament are dedicated to keeping people clean from ceremonial hand washing and the removal of dirt from everyday items, right down to how we should clean ourselves after going to the toilet.

But what does the Bible have to say about cleanliness and hygiene? Psalm 24 He made £9 (and in case you were wondering, he planned on buying a kebab with the proceeds). UK Government ministers have been emphasising the need to wash our hands, perhaps based on recent research into hand washing that showed of all people in the UK, 31 per cent of women and 57 per cent of men don't wash their hands after going to the toilet.Įarly on in the coronavirus pandemic, our supermarkets were sold out of hand sanitisers and hand wash, and we read the news about how a student was temporarily excluded from her school for selling his hand gel for £1 a pump. Have the hands of the world ever been cleaner than they are in this moment? The answer is: probably not.

Tehillim clean hands pure heart