Dictionaries :: Anointing

Anointing:

a-noint'-ing: A distinction was made by the ancient Hebrews between anointing with oil in private use, as in making one's toilet (cukh), and anointing as a religious rite (mashach).

1. Ordinary Use:

(1) As regards its secular or ordinary use, the native olive oil, alone or mixed with perfumes, was commonly used for toilet purposes, the very poor naturally reserving it for special occasions only (Ru 3:3). The fierce protracted heat and biting lime dust of Palestine made the oil very soothing to the skin, and it was applied freely to exposed parts of the body, especially to the face (Ps 104:15).

(2) The practice was in vogue before David's time, and traces of it may be found throughout the Old Testament (see De 28:40; Ru 3:3; 2Sa 12:20; 14:2; 2 Chron 28:15; Eze 16:9; Mic 6:15; Da 10:3) and in the New Testament (Mt 6:17, etc.). Indeed it seems to have been a part of the daily toilet throughout the East.

(3) To abstain from it was one token of mourning (2Sa 14:2; compare Mt 6:17), and to resume it a sign that the mourning was ended (2Sa 12:20; 14:2; Da 10:3; Judith 10:3). It often accompanied the bath (Ru 3:3; 2Sa 12:20; Eze 16:9; Susanna 17), and was a customary part of the preparation for a feast (Ec 9:8; Ps 23:5). One way of showing honor to a guest was to anoint his head with oil (Ps 23:5; Lu 7:46); a rarer and more striking way was to anoint his feet (Lu 7:38). In Jas 5:14, we have an instance of anointing with oil for medicinal purposes, for which see OIL.

2. Religious Use:

Anointing as a religious rite was practiced throughout the ancient East in application both to persons and to things.

(1) It was observed in Canaan long before the Hebrew conquest, and, accordingly, Weinel (Stade's Zeutschrift, XVIII, 50 ff) holds that, as the use of oil for general purposes in Israel was an agricultural custom borrowed from the Canaanites, so the anointing with sacred oil was an outgrowth from its regular use for toilet purposes. It seems more in accordance with the known facts of the case and the terms used in description to accept the view set forth by Robertson Smith (Religion of the Semites, 2nd ed., 233, 383 ff; compare Wellhausen, Reste des arabischen Heidenthums, 2nd ed., 125 ff) and to believe that the cukh or use of oil for toilet purposes, was of agricultural and secular origin, and that the use of oil for sacred purposes, mashach, was in origin nomadic and sacrificial. Robertson Smith finds the origin of the sacred anointing in the very ancient custom of smearing the sacred fat on the altar (matstsebhah), and claims, rightly it would seem, that from the first there was a distinct and consistent usage, distinguishing the two terms as above.

(2) The primary meaning of mashach in Hebrew, which is borne out by the Arabic, seems to have been "to daub" or "smear." It is used of painting a ceiling in Jer 22:14, of anointing a shield in Isa 21:5, and is, accordingly, consistently applied to sacred furniture, like the altar, in Ex 29:36 and Da 9:24, and to the sacred pillar in Ge 31:13: "where thou anointedst a pillar."

(3) The most significant uses of mashach, however, are found in its application, not to sacred things, but to certain sacred persons. The oldest and most sacred of these, it would seem, was the anointing of the king, by pouring oil upon his head at his coronation, a ceremony regarded as sacred from the earliest times, and observed religiously not in Israel only, but in Egypt and elsewhere (see Jud 9:8,15; 1Sa 9:16; 10:1; 2Sa 19:10; 1Ki 1:39,45; 2Ki 9:3,6; 11:12). Indeed such anointing appears to have been reserved exclusively for the king in the earliest times, which accounts for the fact that "the Lord's anointed" became a synonym for "king" (see 1Sa 12:3,5; 26:11; 2Sa 1:14; Ps 20:6). It is thought by some that the practice originated in Egypt, and it is known to have been observed as a rite in Canaan at a very early day. Tell el-Amarna Letters 37 records the anointing of a king.

(4) Among the Hebrews it was believed not only that it effected a transference to the anointed one of something of the holiness and virtue of the deity in whose name and by whose representative the rite was performed, but also that it imparted a special endowment of the spirit of Yahweh (compare 1Sa 16:13; Isa 61:1). Hence the profound reverence for the king as a sacred personage, "the anointed" (Hebrew, meshiach YHWH), which passed over into our language through the Greek Christos, and appears as "Christ".

(5) In what is known today as the Priestly Code, the high priest is spoken of as "anointed" (Ex 29:7; Le 4:3; 8:12), and, in passages regarded by some as later additions to the Priestly Code, other priests also are thus spoken of (Ex 30:30; 40:13-15). Elijah was told to anoint Elisha as a prophet (1Ki 19:16), but seems never to have done so. 1Ki 19:16 gives us the only recorded instance of such a thing as the anointing of a prophet. Isa 61:1 is purely metaphorical (compare Dillmann on Le 8:12-14 with ICC on Nu 3:3; see also Nowack, Lehrbuch der hebraischen Archaologie, II, 124).

LITERATURE.

Jewish Encyclopedia, article "Anointing"; BJ, IV, ix, 10, DB, article "Anointing," etc.

Written by George B. Eager

Anointing: Of the Body

Deu 28:40; Rth 3:3; Est 2:12; Psa 92:10; 104:15; 141:5; Pro 27:9, 16; Ecc 9:8; Sgs 1:3; 4:10; Isa 57:9; Amo 6:6; Mic 6:15

Anointing: Of Guests

2Ch 28:15; Luk 7:46

Anointing: Of the Sick

Isa 1:6; Mar 6:13; Luk 10:34; Jam 5:14; Rev 3:18

Anointing: Of the Dead

Mat 26:12; Mar 14:8; 16:1; Luk 23:56

Anointing: Of Jesus, as a Token of Love

Luk 7:37, 38, 46; Jhn 11:2; 12:3

Anointing: Omitted in Mourning

2Sa 12:20; 14:2; Isa 61:3; Dan 10:3

Anointing: God Preserves Those Who Receive

Psa 18:50; 20:6; 89:20-23

Anointing: Saints Receive

Isa 61:3; 1Jo 2:20

Anointing: In Consecration

OF HIGH PRIESTS:

Exd 29:7, 29; 40:13; Lev 6:20; 8:12; 16:32; Num 35:25; Psa 133:2.

OF PRIESTS:

Exd 28:41; 30:30; 40:15; Lev 4:3; 8:30; Num 3:3.

OF KINGS:

Jdg 9:8, 15;

Saul,

1Sa 9:16; 10:1; 15:1;

David,

1Sa 16:3, 12, 13; 2Sa 2:4; 5:3; 12:7; 19:21; 1Ch 11:3;

Solomon,

1Ki 1:39; 1Ch 29:22;

Jehu,

1Ki 19:16; 2Ki 9:1-3, 6, 12;

Hazael,

1Ki 19:15;

Joash,

2Ki 11:12; 2Ch 23:11;

Jehoahaz,

2Ki 23:30;

Cyrus,

Isa 45:1.

OF PROPHETS:

1Ki 19:16.

OF THE TABERNACLE:

Exd 30:26; 40:9; Lev 8:10; Num 7:1;

altars of,

Exd 30:26-28; 40:10; Lev 8:11; Num 7:1;

vessels of,

Exd 30:27, 28; 40:9, 10; Lev 8:10, 11; Num 7:1.

JACOB'S PILLAR:

at Beth-el,

Gen 28:18; 31:13; 35:14.

See DEDICATION.

Anointing: Figurative

Of Christ's kingly and priestly office,

Psa 45:7; 89:20; Isa 61:1; Dan 9:24; Luk 4:18; Act 4:27; 10:38; Hbr 1:9.

Of spiritual gifts,

2Cr 1:21; 1Jo 2:20, 27.

Anointing: Typified

Exd 40:13-15; Lev 8:12; 1Sa 16:13; 1Ki 19:16

Anointing: Symbolical

Of Jesus,

Mat 26:7-12; Jhn 12:3-7.

Anointing: With Oil

Psa 92:10

Anointing: With Ointment

Jhn 11:2

Anointing: Was Used For

Decorating the person

Rth 3:3

Refreshing the body

2Ch 28:15

Purifying the body

Est 2:12; Isa 57:9

Curing the sick

Mar 6:13; Jam 5:14

Healing wounds

Isa 1:6; Luk 10:34

Preparing weapons for war

Isa 21:5

Preparing the dead for burial

Mat 26:12; Mar 16:1; Luk 23:56

The Jews were very fond of

Pro 27:9; Amo 6:6

Anointing: Was Applied To

The head

Psa 23:5; Ecc 9:8

The face

Psa 104:15

The feet

Luk 7:38,39; Jhn 12:3

The eyes

Rev 3:18

Anointing: Ointment For

Richly perfumed

Sgs 4:10; Jhn 12:3

Most expensive

2Ki 20:13; Amo 6:6; Jhn 12:3,5

Prepared by the apothecary

Ecc 10:1

An article of commerce

Eze 27:17; Rev 18:13

Neglected in times of affliction

2Sa 12:20; 14:2; Dan 10:3

Anointing: Neglect Of, to Guests, a Mark of Disrespect

Luk 7:46

Anointing: A Token of Joy

Ecc 9:7,8

Anointing: Deprivation Of, Threatened as a Punishment

Deu 28:40; Mic 6:15

Anointing: Why Recommended by Christ in Times of Fasting

Mat 6:17,18

Anointing:

in Holy Scripture, is either,

I. Material- with oil- or

II. Spiritual- with the Holy Ghost.

I. MATERIAL.-

(1.) Ordinary. Anointing the body or head with oil was a common practice with the Jews, as with other Oriental nations (Deuteronomy 28:40; Ruth 3:3; Micah 6:15). Anointing the head with oil or ointment seems also to have been a mark of respect sometimes paid by a host to his guests (Luke 7:46 and Psalm 23:5).

(2.) Official. It was a rite of inauguration into each of the three typical offices of the Jewish commonwealth.

a. Prophets were occasionally anointed to their office (1 Kings 19:16) and were called messiahs, or anointed (1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15).

b. Priests, at the first institution of the Levitical priesthood, were all anointed to their offices (Exodus 40:15; Numbers 3:3) but afterwards anointing seems to have been specially reserved for the high priest (Exodus 29:29; Leviticus 16:32) so that "the priest that is anointed" (Leviticus 4:3) is generally thought to mean the high priest.

c. Kings. Anointing was the principal and divinely‐appointed ceremony in the inauguration of the Jewish Kings (1 Samuel 9:16; 10:1; 1 Kings 1:34; 1:39). The rite was sometimes performed more than once. David was thrice anointed.

d. Inanimate objects also were anointed with oil, in token of their being set apart for religious service. Thus Jacob anointed a pillar at Bethel (Genesis 31:13; Exodus 30:26; 30:28).

(3.) Ecclesiastical. Anointing with oil is prescribed by St. James to be used for the recovery of the sick (James 5:14). Analogous to this is the anointing with oil practiced by the twelve (Mark 6:13).

II. SPIRITUAL.-

(4.) In the Old Testament a Deliverer is promised under the title of Messiah, or Anointed (Psalm 2:2; Daniel 9:25-26) and the nature of his anointing is described to be spiritual, with the Holy Ghost (Isaiah 61:1). See Luke 4:18. In the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth is shown to be the Messiah, or Christ or Anointed, of the Old Testament (John 1:41; Acts 9:22; 17:2-3; 18:4; 18:28) and the historical fact of his being anointed with the Holy Ghost is asserted and recorded (John 1:32-33; Acts 4:27; 10:38). Christ was anointed as prophet, priest. and king.

(5.) Spiritual anointing with the Holy Ghost is conferred also upon Christians by God (2 Corinthians 1:21). "Anointing" expresses the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit upon Christians who are priests and kings unto God.