Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you
Not baptismal water, as Jerom; an ordinance indeed of the Gospel,
and to which the Jews will submit when converted; and which is
performed by water, but not by sprinkling, nor does it cleanse
from sin; and is administered by men, and is not an operation of
God, as this is: rather the regenerating grace of the Spirit;
though this does not purify from all sin, and besides is intended
in the next verse: it seems best to understand it of the blood of
Christ, the blood of sprinkling, and of justification from sin,
and pardon of it by it; so Kimchi and Jarchi interpret of
purification by atonement; and the Targum is,
``I will forgive your sins, as one is cleansed by the water of sprinkling, and the ashes of a heifer, which is for a sin offering:''and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols