“oil from the flinty rock” (Deut. 32:13, NKJV)
We are currently exploring the symbolic meaning of oil and anointing, and in the previous teaching gained a thorough understanding of how the concept anointing does not spring forth from the Holy Spirit, but from Jesus Christ, the Anointed.
For this reason we then find the following in Deut 32:13, in the song of Moses: “He made him ride in the heights of the earth, that he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock …” That Rock, explains 1 Cor. 10:4, is Christ, from whom water (= the Holy Spirit) came, but later also oil (= the anointing)!
A beautiful example to illustrate this is the figure of Saul. In 1 Sam. 10:1 it is explained how Samuel took the vessel of oil and poured it over Saul’s head, kissed him, and said: “Is it not because the Lord has anointed you commander over His inheritance?” The word that is specifically used here, commander (“nâgı̂yd/nâgid”), is far removed from the word in Hebrew that is used to denote king (“melek”). The root word of commander is very interesting: “nâgad”, which means, among other things, “to manifest; declare; speak” (Strong). We know the Christ is manifested when He is “unveiled”. This anointing that is thus received from Saul is clearly part of the anointing of the Anointed, in other words part of the anointing of Christ.
In 1 Sam. 10:11 it is reported how Saul started prophesying when in in the midst of the prophets. This points to corporate functioning of the Spirit, but in 1 Sam. 11:6 we read of how “the Spirit of God came upon Saul”. There is thus clearly a difference between anointing on the one side, and the working of the Spirit within a person on the other.
About David it is reported that Samuel had received an order to anoint him (1 Sam. 16:12). The following verse then says: “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” There is thus clearly two actions to distinguish between here, although differing from Saul’s case, where it occurred during the same anointing event, it still needs to be distinguished.
That this is certainly the case is again clear from what happens to Saul after this incident. 1 Sam. 16:14 reveals that after Saul’s disobedience “the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul”, but when David got the opportunity to avenge himself, he made specific reference to Saul’s status as anointed: “And he said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.’” (1 Sam. 24:6). The repetition we find here underscores the focus on anointing.
Because Jesus was not yet physically incarnated in the Old Testament times, all anointing pointed to the coming Messiah/Anointed. We thus find that Dan. 9:25 prophesies that the entire history of Israel (thus including all anointing), prepares for the Anointed.
- Selah: Have you been baptised with the Spirit, and have you received anointing? Can you distinguish between the two?
- Read: 3:37-5:22.
- Memorise: 5:21.
