ANOINTED WITH SPECIAL OILS
By Hugh Fogelman
Do not confuse the following Hebrew terms:
·
Goel — Redeemer
·
Moshia — Savior
·
Moshiach — Messiah
We are concerned only with the title “Messiah.” In the Hebrew Bible, the SOURCE of all
information from God, “moshiach” always
means “anointed”―anointed with “special” oils.
“Messiah” and “anointed” are synonymous because the Messiah will
be an anointed king. In fact, in the Biblical period anointing was used to
consecrate all sacred officials:
High priests: “And the priest that is highest among his
brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who has been
consecrated to put on the garments…” (Leviticus 21:10)
Prophets:
“And the Lord said
to [Elijah], “...Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel--meholah, you shall anoint
as prophet in your place.”
(I Kings
Kings: “And [the prophet] arose and went into the house; and he
poured the oil on [Jehu's] head and said to him: “Thus says the Lord, the God
of
God gave Moses specified instructions on how to make these special
holy oils (Exodus 30 22-26 KJV):
“Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels,
and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of
sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,
And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of
oil olive an hin:
And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the
art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.
And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark
of the testimony,”
Moses
was again commanded when setting up the Tabernacle:
And
thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is
therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be
holy. (Exodus 40:9 KJV)
Moses
was commanded to compound a mixture of oil and spices that would be used to
anoint and consecrate all the vessels of the Tabernacle, and also Aaron (the
First Priest – HaMoshiach) and his sons, for their tasks. In the future, this
same oil would be used to anoint the kings of the Davidic dynasty, and the
Kohanim Gedolim (High Priests).
Let the reader understand that "Christ"
is a Greek variation. At the time the Rabbis translated the Hebrew word
moshiach, there was no Greek equivalent for the word for moshiach
"anointed”. The
Greeks knowing little Hebrew combined the Hebrew words Moshiach (anointed) and
Moshee’a’ah (savior/deliverer) into one word, “Christ” in the Greek Septuagint.
And the early Church Fathers made “Christ” to mean Messiah.
Missionaries misuse the verses in the Jewish Bible, the Tanakh, to
try to “prove” that the Messiah is God Himself in the person of Jesus.
Christians search the Tanakh to support their concept of The Messiah, and in so
doing, they had to use the Hebrew word “moshiach,” not realizing that
“moshiach” only means “anointed.” Christians shoot themselves
in the foot by calling Jesus the Messiah and God in the same breath because
since when would God have to be “anointed?”
When reading the New Testament, it is important to remember that Jesus
was never anointed, as he himself admitted:
“You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed
my feet with ointment.” (Luke
Strong’s
concordance only shows 12 places in the New Testament of the word “anointed.” Nowhere does it mention that
Jesus was anointed with oil on his head as outlined in Chapter 8 of Leviticus
for the various messiahs, or the method of making this oil.
And the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the
anointing oil, and a bullock (bull in the Source book) for the sin offering, and two rams, and a
basket of unleavened bread; (Leviticus
8:1-2)
This chapter of Leviticus
describes the consecration of Aaron and his sons as Kohanim. The “bull”
offerings of this verse are the offerings mentioned in Exodus 29:14. The bull
was a sin-offering; one ram was an elevation-offering (Exodus 29:18); the
second ram was referred to there as the ram of inauguration (Exodus 29:22)
which is a synonym for peace-offering.
Many
Christians will claim that in the gospel of John, God anointed Jesus when John
the Baptist was baptizing Jesus. However, it does not say that at all. John the
Baptist said; “I saw the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him…Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit
descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy
Ghost” (John 1:32-33).
Since when is baptizing
the same as being anointed with God’s “holy” oils?
Copyright © 2003, Hugh Fogelman. All
rights reserved.