The Anointing Oil
22 Moreover, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Take also for yourself the finest of spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane two hundred and fifty, 24 and of cassia five hundred, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. 25 You shall make [a]of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense,28 and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand. 29 You shall also consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy. 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister as priests to Me.31 You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on anyone’s body, nor shall you make any like it in [c]the same proportions; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever shall mix any like it or whoever puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people.’”
Exodus 30:22-33
In this passage God tells Moses of a special blend of spices along with a small amount of olive oil is to be the sacred anointing oil for the Tent of Meeting, including the Tent itself. It was put on the alter, utensils, the Ark, tables and so on. This was to consecrate them as most holy. Then God says something interesting, he says whatever touches these items will be holy as well. God also says that this oil can only be used for consecration of these items and not put on men’s bodies for it is sacred.
Here we have a dilemma. The bodies of men are not holy and the oil cannot be poured on them. Yet, it’s man who must touch and use the items and God says whoever touches them will be holy. How can the unclean (man) touch what is clean (holy things of God)? How can we, as sinful humans, approach God and enter his holy presence? How can sinful man be united with a Holy God? In this paradox, in verse 39 God says “… anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests.”
God tells Moses to use the same holy sacred oil that is not to touch a human body and anoint Aaron and his sons. But are they not in human bodies (verse 32)? No! They are priest! As God says to anoint them as priests for they are no longer regarded as men’s bodies but holy vessels of God. For when they put on the priestly garments that were consecrated and sprinkled with blood, they became covered with holiness. Then they washed and purified their hands and feet before entering the Holy Place. As they entered, they smelled the sweet fragrance of the anointing of everything in God’s house.
They still remained in men’s bodies but now they were covered in righteousness and deemed sanctified. They were holy before the Lord. They are not just sanctified and forgiven, but were placed in a great place of honor, to do the important work of God he had predestined for them. They were set apart from the people. In verse 33 it says anyone who puts it on anyone ‘other than priests’ must be cut off from the people. God had just deemed the priests holy.
Now here is the application for you and me. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we were dead in our transgressions and yet saved by grace through our faith. Just as the priests had faith to enter the Tent of Meeting following God’s commands, we have faith and our saved. We have become clothed in a sense like the priests and now God sees us as righteous. In fact, Paul says in Ephesians 2:6 that God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms. How could we, mere humans, be seated with Christ in heavenly realms? Realms that are only for the holy, those set apart and sanctified before God? Only through the power of Jesus and his saving mercy at the cross.
In Romans chapter 4, Paul says Abraham had faith and it was credited to him as righteousness. In versus 10-12 in the same chapter he asks when was it credit to him? Was it after or before circumcision? (At the time circumcision was the legalistic affirmation of faith). Paul says it was not after but before! God also credit righteousness to the priests before they were anointed because of their action and faith to serve as priests.
How could this be attained with out atonement? For the blood of animals was never sufficient. The answer is because none of this truly created holiness. it was only a symbol, a law put in place for the Israelites to follow in faith. The true priesthood came through Abraham in the order o Melchizedek. Who like Jesus, has no beginning or end. “you are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek”. Hebrews 10:4 says “For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin” interestingly enough it was a bull and a goat in Exodus 30 that was used to consecrate the priests. We apply the symbol to our lives in that we battle with both the flesh and the spirit in our lives. Yet we hold these truths self evident, that the hope within us is greater than that which we see in the world. Hebrews 11 states that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. You may not always see God working in your life but he is there, pulling you along, carrying you when needed, and disciplining in love.
We are earthly bodies who have become priests through Christ who are worthy to receive his anointing oil and blessings and all the fruits of the Spirit as mentioned on Galatians 5. We can now boldly enter the throne of grace with confidence as Hebrews 4:16 tells us we can just as the Priests boldly entered God’s sanctuary because they were deemed holy even though they were flesh and bone.
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