Keluaran 29:7

29:7 You are to take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. ¹ 

Keluaran 29:1

The Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

29:1 ² “Now this is what ³  you are to do for them to consecrate them so that they may minister as my priests. Take a young ⁴  bull and two rams without blemish; ⁵ 

1 Samuel 10:1-2

Samuel Anoints Saul

10:1 Then Samuel took a small container of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s ⁶  head. Samuel ⁷  kissed him and said, “The Lord has chosen you ⁸  to lead his people Israel! You will rule over the Lord’s people and you will deliver them from the power of the enemies who surround them. This will be your sign that the Lord has chosen ⁹  you as leader over his inheritance. ¹⁰  10:2 When you leave me today, you will find two men near Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah on Benjamin’s border. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you have gone looking for have been found. Your father is no longer concerned about the donkeys but has become anxious about you two! ¹¹  He is asking, “What should I do about my son?”’

1 Raja-raja 11:12

11:12 However, for your father David’s sake I will not do this while you are alive. I will tear it away from your son’s hand instead.

Mazmur 89:21

89:21 My hand will support him, ¹² 

and my arm will strengthen him.

[29:7]  ¹ sn The act of anointing was meant to set him apart for this holy service within the house of Yahweh. The psalms indicate that no oil was spared in this ritual, for it ran down his beard and to the hem of his garment. Oil of anointing was used for all major offices (giving the label with the passive adjective “mashiah” (or “messiah”) to anyone anointed. In the further revelation of Scripture, the oil came to signify the enablement as well as the setting apart, and often the Holy Spirit came on the person at the anointing with oil. The olive oil was a symbol of the Spirit in the OT as well (Zech 4:4-6). And in the NT “anointing” signifies empowerment by the Holy Spirit for service.

[29:1]  ² sn Chap. 29 is a rather long, involved discussion of the consecration of Aaron the priest. It is similar to the ordination service in Lev 8. In fact, the execution of what is instructed here is narrated there. But these instructions must have been formulated after or in conjunction with Lev 1-7, for they presuppose a knowledge of the sacrifices. The bulk of the chapter is the consecration of the priests: 1-35. It has the preparation (1-3), washing (4), investiture and anointing (5-9), sin offering (10-14), burnt offering (15-18), installation peace offering (19-26, 31-34), other offerings’ rulings (27-30), and the duration of the ritual (35). Then there is the consecration of the altar (36-37), and the oblations (38-46). There are many possibilities for the study and exposition of this material. The whole chapter is the consecration of tabernacle, altar, people, and most of all the priests. God was beginning the holy operations with sacral ritual. So the overall message would be: Everyone who ministers, everyone who worships, and everything they use in the presence of Yahweh, must be set apart to God by the cleansing, enabling, and sanctifying work of God.

[29:1]  ³ tn Heb “the thing.”

[29:1]  ⁴ tn Literally: “take one bull, a ‘son’ of the herd.”

[29:1]  ⁵ tn The word תָּמִים (tamim) means “perfect.” The animals could not have diseases or be crippled or blind (see Mal 1). The requirement was designed to ensure that the people would give the best they had to Yahweh. The typology pointed to the sinless Messiah who would fulfill all these sacrifices in his one sacrifice on the cross.

[10:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you?” The question draws attention to the fact and is a rhetorical way of affirming the Lord’s choice of Saul. The translation reflects the rhetorical force of the question.

[10:1]  ⁹ tn That is, “anointed.”

[10:1]  ¹⁰ tc The MT reads simply “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you over his inheritance for a leader?” The translation follows the LXX. The MT apparently suffers from parablepsis, whereby a scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the expression “the Lord has anointed you” to the second occurrence of this expression at the end of v. 1. This mistake caused the accidental omission of the intervening material in the LXX, which appears to preserve the original Hebrew text here.

[10:2]  ¹¹ sn In the Hebrew text the pronoun you is plural, suggesting that Saul’s father was concerned about his son and the servant who accompanied him.

[89:21]  ¹² tn Heb “with whom my hand will be firm.”