Old Testament references to Holy Baptism with

water
As with the other sacraments, references to Holy Baptism with water can be found in the Old
Testament.

The deliverance of Noah and his family in the ark is regarded in 1 Peter 3: 20-21 as an "antitype of
baptism" and a reference to future salvation. In Christian tradition, the Israelites' passage through
the Red Sea–their deliverance from Egyptian captivity–is also understood as a reference to the
deliverance that occurs through baptism with water.

The Mosaic Law strictly distinguishes between "clean" and "unclean". Water is one of the means
used to bring about ritual purity. Persons who were unclean in a religious sense had to subject to a
bath of purification (Leviticus 13-15).

Ezekiel 16: 9 mentions a washing with water and an anointing with oil, through which Jerusalem
was received into a covenant of salvation. This can also be understood as a reference to Holy
Baptism with water and Holy Sealing.

Likewise, the situation of the Aramaic commander Naaman can be related to baptism: at the
instruction of the prophet Elisha, the leper washed himself by dipping his body seven times into
the Jordan, and the disease abated (2 Kings 5: 1-14). This can be understood as a symbol for the
washing away of original sin through baptism.