BIBLICAL BRIEFS 123
Oil, mainly the fruit of the olive tree in Biblical times, was used for many purposes. It is especially used for preparing meals and cooking (Eze. 16:13); to apply as an ointment (Deut. 28:40); for medicinal purposes (Isa. 1:6); and as oil for lamps (Ex. 25: 6). It was a trade or bartering product with commodity value (1 Kin. 5:11; Eze. 27:17) and was also used as part of certain sacrifices (Lev. 7:10). It was also used in anointment procedures, e.g. for priests (Ex 29: 7) and kings (2Sam. 2:4). The holy anointing oil was an ointment mixture which specifically had oil as the base ingredient and with added fragrant spices prepared on the specifications of the Lord (Ex. 30: 22-25). The oil’s greasiness (Acts 9: 9) was an indication of God’s kindness (Ps. 65:11) in regards to the land and its people (Gen. 45:18), and with which the soul of man was saturated (Ps. 63:5). In Isa. 10:27 it is used symbolically to indicate that it breaks “yokes”: “So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness.” This practise is also transposed symbolically to the New Testament (Rom. 11:17). The distinguishing feature of the Messiah in the Old Testament is that the He will take up his authority by means of the anointing. Isa. 61: 1 is the first prophetic proclamation concerning the Messiah: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me …” Please note – the anointing was there before the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him, not the other way around as we are often taught. The anointing IS NOT the Holy Spirit.. The anointing is very specifically linked to Jesus as the Anointed (the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word for Messiah), the Christ. It, therefore, has nothing to do with physical oil except that it is a symbol of the Anointed whose the fattiness, the nature of His Being, smears on you. Of course, it is because of the Spirit that is within you, because: “the Lord is the Spirit…” (2 Cor. 3:17). The Holy Spirit is typologically compared to wind (John 3: 8), or water (John 7:37-39), but not with oil! The anointing is specifically the anointing of the Christ, the Anointed! The problem, therefore, of the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25:1-12) was not that they did not have the Holy Spirit, but they did not have the anointing.
Dr Tom Gouws
