Clean (Hastings' Dictionary)

1. The orig. meaning of the word is clear, free from impurity, as applied to glass, gold, and the like, as Wyclif's tr. of Rev 21' ' The citee it silf was of cleene gold, lijk to cleene glas.' Whence it is used of the transparent jsuWiy of white garments. Rev 19"" 'fine linen, c. and; white ' (xatfapis, RV 'pure'). And then it is applied to anything that is not dirty (its modern use), as Pr 14' ' Where no oxen are, the crib is c' (i;) ; Is SO'-' 'c. provender' (j-3.7, salted, RV 'savoury'): Zee 3"'" Amer. RV % c. mitre' (-luv, AV and RV 'fair'); Mt 27»» 'a c. linen cloth ' (KaBapbs). • Rawlinson, Anc. Man. ii. 521, ed. 1879. t Layiird, yin^jeh and it$ lieinaint, passim (1840X t Schlifinann, Troja, ch. i. et seq. (1&34). 9 Iliiwlinson, Anf, Mon. i. ch. iv. j Layorii, Sinereh, U. 185 (cd. 18-19). il Smith, ChaliifEnn account of Genesis. " Savce, RP, N. Ser. ii. iii. i». and v.; PEFSt, 1892-93. The Vel el-Amarns tablets have been translated by Wincklcr (1896). 2. Before passing from its physical uses we may notice an early application in the sense of complete, still retained in such a phrase as ' a c. sweep.' The only example of the adj. is Lv 23' ' thou shalt not make c. riddance of the comers of thy field when thou reapest ' (RV ' shalt not wholly reap the coraers of thy field '). But the adv. is more frequent, Jos 3" ' all the peoj)le were passed c. over Jordan' (lu^S !sri were Jinished crossing), so 4'-", Ps 77" 'Is his mercy c. gone for ever?' Jl 1' ' he hath made it c. bare' ; Zee 11" ' his arm shall be c. dried up ' ; Wis 2'- ' he is c. contrary to our doings ' (^i-ai-xtoDrai) ; 2 P 2'" ' tliose that were c. e.scaped ' (TR ivruis iiro^'vydnTas, edd. dMyios dTo(peijyoi'ras, RV ' those who are just escaping ') ; and Ezk 37" RV 'we are c. cut oU' (AV 'cut off for our parts'). Cf. Hooker, Eccl. Pol. III. i. 13 ' Excommunication neither shutteth out from the mystical, nor clean from the visible Church.' 3. At a very early period the word passed into the language of religion to designate (1) that which does not ceremonially defile, whether (a) beasta, as Gn 7^ ' of every c. beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens'; Dt 14" 'Of all c. birds ye shall eat'; or (6) places, as Lv 4'^ 6" ' without the camp untx) a c. place ' ; or (c) things, as Is 66'- ' the children of Israel shall bring an ofl'ering in a c. vessel ' ; Ezk 36^ ' I will sprinkle c. water upon you ' ; Lk 1 1" 'all things are c. unto you' (where the ethical [see 4] closely approaches) ; and Ro 14' RV ' All things indeed are c' (/caSap6s, AV 'pure'); (2) persons who are not ceremonially defiled, as Lv 7" 'all that be (RV 'every one that is') c. shall eat thereof ' ; 1 S 20-" ' Something hath befallen him, he is not c. ; surely be is not c.'; Ezk 36^ (see above) 'ye shall be c' (passing into 4). 4. Closely related to this ceremonial use is the ethicnl, and quite as old. In passages like Ezk 36 Lk 11-", and esp. Jn IS'""" 15' we see the one passing into the other ; in others the ethically stands out from the ceremonially religious mean- ing. Take first of all some passajjes where the Heb. is the usual vb. {idlier) or adj. (tdhdr) used for ceremonial cleanness: Ps 19 'The fear of the Lord is c' (that is, the religion of J" is morally undefiled, in contrast to heathen religions ; ct. Ps 12" ' the words of the Lord are pure words,' where the Heb. is the same, a word freq. applied to 'pure' gold) : Lv le* 'from all your sins sluill ye be c' ; Gn 35'-' ' Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be c., and change your garments'; Ps 51' 'purge me with hyssop, and I sliall be c.'; 51'"" 'Create in me a clean lieart.' Next, where the Heb. is bar, that is, 'clean' because cleansed, 'bright' because polislied (as a p. arrow. Is 49-) ; Ps 73' ' such as are of c. heart ' ; Job 11 ' I am c. in tliine eyes' ; cf. Is 52" ' be ye c. that bear the vessels of the LORD ' (-n.;). Finally, where the Heb. is zAklidh or zitk/iak, 'bee.,' zak, 'c.,' always in a moral sense. Job 15" 'What is man that lie should be c. ?' ; 9** ' If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so c' j 15" 'the heavens are not c. in his sight'; 33' 'I am c, without transgression'; Pr 16''' 'all the ways of a man are c. in his own eyes.' 5. In Ac 18" ' Your blood be upon your own heads ; I am c.,' the sense is guiltless, a very rare meaning for this word. Skene (1G09) says, ' Gif he be made quit, and cleane : all his gudes salbo restored to him.' See under CLEAR. J. Hastings.