Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
BATH, BATH'ING. In Eastern lands bathing is a necessity as well as a luxury. It is characteristic of the Mosaic cultus that it enjoins such frequent washings; e.g. Lev 14:8; Lev 15:5; Lev 17:15. The high priest on the day of atonement must pay particular attention to this regulation. Lev 16:4, Lev 16:24. The Jews bathed in running water or in pools in courts. It was not until their subjection to Greece and Rome that public baths were known. Then
came in also the luxurious bathing-customs of those peoples.