And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Exodus 30 has already described the tabernacle down to its last vessel. Now the LORD speaks to Moses again, about something no one has made yet — a perfumed oil. Two questions follow. What do these spices picture, and why does God guard the recipe so closely?
This word adds no new piece of furniture. It supplies what the finished tabernacle still lacks.
The tabernacle, with its sacred symbols, has now been completely detailed. Two things only are missing — the anointing oil and the sweet spices.
The oil is not plain olive oil. Four spices go into it, and commentators read the mixture as two things joined in one.
The spices, then, speak of the graces of Christ. His very garments smell of these sweet perfumes. But they were mixed with oil, and oil, as we have often noted, is a figure of the Holy Spirit. Put the two together, and we learn this. The graces of Christ — the moral fragrance of His excellencies — came out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The picture reaches past the tabernacle.
The oil symbolizes the Spirit of God. He anointed the Lord Jesus at the River Jordan, and He anoints all believers of this present age.
The first spice comes from a wounded tree. Its two opposite qualities carry the meaning.
Myrrh, the first ingredient, comes from a cut made in the tree. It runs out in drops, like drops of blood or teardrops. It smells sweet, but tastes bitter. So it symbolizes the sufferings of Christ. He endured the bitterness of the cross, and we reap the sweetness of its results.
The oil went on the tabernacle and on everything used in it. Commentators draw a rule for God's house from that.
Everything connected with the house of God must be ordered in the power of the Holy Spirit — how it is run, its service, all the priestly work carried on in it. Ordered that way, it will express the sweet fragrance of Christ to God... Suppose everything in the house of God followed His own word exactly, and yet the holy anointing oil — the power of the Holy Spirit — were missing. It could not be acceptable to Him. Notice the effect too: through the anointing everything becomes "most holy," so that whatever touches it counts as holy as well. Whatever His power rests on is set apart for God.
This perfume was not for common use. The reason lies in what it pictured.
God reserved it for Himself and His own pleasure. He surrounded Himself with its fragrance in His own dwelling. He did so because it pictured how precious Christ was to God, as He lived His life of holy devotion to Him on earth. From the start of His life to its close, it was all beautiful and fragrant. Every moment of it, on every occasion, in public and in private, was wholly and altogether perfect.
Two bans follow the recipe. No one may pour this oil on an ordinary person, and no one may copy it.
The graces of the Spirit can never be connected with man's flesh, for the Holy Spirit cannot own nature... Take the finest fruits that ever grew in nature's fields, at their very best. Take the most attractive traits nature can show. God's sanctuary must disown them completely... There must be no counterfeit of the Spirit's work; all must be of the Spirit — wholly, really of the Spirit.
(The older translation quoted here reads "upon man's flesh shall it not be poured." The ESV reads "on the body of an ordinary person.")
Aaron had this oil poured on his head. Commentators read the scene as a picture of Christ and of how the Spirit reaches His people.
Here he stands as a picture of our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, who needed no application of the blood but was anointed with the Spirit in His solitary perfection. Psalm 133:2 hints at this. There the unity of brothers, so good and pleasant, is like the oil poured so freely on Aaron's head that it ran down his beard and his robe, right to the hem. The outpouring of the Spirit upon the church today, and the outpouring that is to mark the world to come, are both in the nature of an overflow from our High Priest on high.
- Compounded — four spices blended into olive oil: the graces of Christ carried in the power of the Spirit.
- Wounded — myrrh comes from a cut in the tree, sweet to smell and bitter to taste: His sufferings, our sweetness.
- Applied — every part of God's house was anointed. Order it by God's word, yet leave out the Spirit's power, and it cannot be acceptable to Him.
- Guarded — never poured on mere human nature, never copied. Polished natural character is not the fruit of the Spirit.
- Overflowing — poured on the Head, it ran to the hem: what rested on Christ in full reaches down to all who are His.
And thou, take best spices -- of liquid myrrh five hundred [shekels], and of sweet cinnamon the half -- two hundred and fifty, and of sweet myrtle two hundred and fifty,
God gives Moses a recipe for holy anointing oil. He names each spice and fixes its weight by the sanctuary shekel: myrrh, then half as much cinnamon, then aromatic cane. Commentators do not read this list as ancient perfumery. They read it as a portrait of Christ, and of the Spirit who showed His graces.
The recipe has two parts: spices and oil. Both stand for something, and they belong together.
The oil of holy ointment is given first. God gave the directions for making it. It held myrrh, cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia, each in its own amount, mixed with a hin of olive oil (vv. 23, 24). The Psalmist, speaking of the Messiah, says, "your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia." In the verse before, he says, "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." This helps us see what the holy anointing oil pictures. So the spices speak of the graces of Christ. His very garments smell of these sweet perfumes. But they were mixed with oil, and oil is a well-known figure of the Holy Spirit. Put the two together, and we learn this: the graces of Christ — the moral fragrance of His excellencies — came out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Myrrh comes first, and the verse calls for twice as much of it as of the cinnamon. The way people harvest it shapes what writers see in it.
Myrrh, the first ingredient, comes from a cut made in the tree. It seeps out in drops, like drops of blood or tears. It smells sweet, but tastes bitter. So it stands for the sufferings of Christ. He endured the bitterness of the cross, and we reap the sweetness of its results.
Myrrh seeps out of a cut on its own. The other spices reach the mixture another way. (Older translations call the aromatic cane "sweet calamus" — the name used in these quotes.)
The cinnamon, calamus and cassia all come from the bark of a tree or from a plant. Each one was ground into a very fine powder. This painful process produces rich fragrances. They all speak of the sufferings of our Lord, and, to a lesser degree, of our own deep experiences with Him along life's path.
Writers differ on how far the individual spices can be pressed. Some identify each one closely; others hold back. One notes that the sweet cane grew in wet, muddy ground:
Personal, absolute righteousness, growing in the mire of the earth, He shed nothing but fragrance around — a fragrance which, blending with all His moral characteristics, made the Beloved One a "precious ointment" — His Father's complete delight.
The amounts are exact. God weighs each spice by a standard of His own.
God is a God of knowledge, and He weighs all actions (1 Samuel 2:3). He weighed the proud king of Babylon and found him wanting (Daniel 5:27). And "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The Old Testament word for "glory" is "weight," from a word meaning "to be heavy." So by God's standard, all fall short of the full weight that alone can glorify Him. There is therefore only One who, when tested, was found at full and true weight. He could say, "I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do" (John 17:4). And not only was the full weight of that which glorified God found in Him, but all was in true and proper proportion.
The four spices do not stay separate. They form one ointment, and that unity carries its own meaning.
And so all was blended in Him in perfect harmony. The result was unique. Each trait was so filled with the others that the fragrance of each was found in all. Nor was it that He acted according to one character at one time and another at another. His love burned just as hot when He rebuked sin as His uprightness held firm when He comforted the broken-hearted. He did not put on or lay off these characters.
The oil was not for general use. No Israelite could copy it or keep it at home.
This precious ointment, the holy anointing oil, is described for us in Exodus 30... And we learn that it was to be for God's sanctuary alone. It had not to be imitated, nor had any of the Israelites to have it in their houses. God reserved it for Himself and His own pleasure. He surrounded Himself with its fragrance in His own dwelling. The reason was this: as a picture, it told out how precious Christ was to God while He lived His life of holy devotion to Him on earth.
One writer draws a warning from the recipe for anyone who studies these things.
Handle these holy themes apart from the Spirit, and it is only a mental exercise. It would be barren or worse, as dry as handling the spices without the oil. To become an ointment, the Spirit must form them into a holy compound, "after the art of the apothecary" — the perfume maker. And this means more than the Spirit guiding us into the truth. He also ministers that truth to the soul in communion.
- Fragrance named. The four spices stand for the graces of Christ. The olive oil stands for the Holy Spirit. Together they show those graces coming out in the Spirit's power.
- Fragrance released. Myrrh comes out through a cut in the tree; the other three are ground to powder. The scent is real, but it costs the crushing.
- Fragrance weighed. The sanctuary shekel sets each amount. It is God's own standard. By it all fall short of His glory, and only One weighs full and true.
- Fragrance blended. The four never act in turn but form one ointment: each quality is found within all the others, never put on or laid aside.
- Fragrance reserved. No one could copy the oil or keep it at home. God kept this fragrance for His own dwelling and His own pleasure.
and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and make of it an oil of holy ointment, a perfume of perfumery after the work of the perfumer it shall be the holy anointing oil.
The instructions now become a recipe: fragrant spices measured out and worked into olive oil. The mixture is holy, and that raises three questions. What does the oil picture? Who could it touch? Why does a stern warning follow?
The word behind "blended as by the perfumer" names a trade. Which one?
In Scripture this term does not mean someone who mixes drugs for medicine. It means someone who blends ointments — what we would now call a "perfumer." That is how the margin renders it at Exodus 30:25, where the holy anointing oil is an ointment compounded "after the art of the apothecary." The same is said of the holy incense.
Nothing was left to the maker's own taste.
The five ingredients were of the best quality. Preparing them took a great deal of time and money. The formula was exact, and no one was to change it. It named exact weights and volumes.
The mixture has two parts, spices and oil. Each carries its own meaning.
The spices, then, speak of the graces of Christ. His very garments smell of these sweet perfumes. But they were mixed with oil, and oil, as many have often said, is a figure of the Holy Spirit. Put the two together, and we learn this: the graces of Christ — the moral fragrance of His excellencies — came out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Myrrh heads the list of spices. How it leaves the tree matters.
Myrrh, the first ingredient, comes from a cut made in the tree. It seeps out in drops, like drops of blood or tears. It smells sweet, but tastes bitter. So it stands for the sufferings of Christ: He endured the bitterness of the cross, and we reap the sweetness of its results.
Spices and oil kept apart are not an ointment. The same is true of the truths they stand for.
Handle these holy themes apart from the Spirit, and the result is only a mental exercise. It would be barren or worse, as dry as handling the spices without the oil. The spices become an ointment only when the Spirit forms them into a holy compound, "after the art of the Apothecary." And that means more than the Spirit guiding us in the truth. He also ministers it to the soul in communion.
This oil had one use: pouring. It went on the tent, its furniture, and the priests.
Everything connected with the house of God must be ordered in the power of the Holy Spirit — how it is run, its service, and all the priestly work carried on in it. Ordered that way, it will express the sweet fragrance of Christ to God... So suppose everything connected with the house of God were arranged even according to His own word, and yet the holy anointing oil — the power of the Holy Spirit — were missing. Then it could not be acceptable to Him.
It touched people too, and the rule about who could receive it was strict.
This oil anointed the whole tabernacle with all its vessels. Aaron and his sons were also anointed and set apart for the priest's office. No one was allowed to make or use such an ointment. The command was that it should not be poured on man as man, only on Aaron and his sons as priests... It is a picture of the Holy Spirit, with whom only the Lord Jesus and believers are anointed.
Anyone holding the recipe could copy the mixture. A solemn command forbade it.
The making of this, and also of the ointment, was a sacred commission, invested with a charge of unusual solemnity; and the reason is evident... The command is given: whoever makes any imitation of the incense shall be cut off from his people. Experience has seen it, and prophecy has foreseen it — nothing attracts a certain kind of mind like this very work of composing counterfeit Christs.
The danger is not only public teaching but self-deception:
Our hearts are so subtle that we often deceive ourselves, and others too. We accept the sweetness of nature, its charm and good nature, as the work of the Holy Spirit, as a likeness to Christ. There can be no likeness to Christ except as the result of the work of the Holy Spirit.
- Compounded — the word points to a perfumer's craft. The weights were fixed, the ingredients the best, and no one could adjust the formula.
- Carried — the spices speak of the graces of Christ. The oil that holds them is a figure of the Holy Spirit, so His power carries those graces out.
- Blended — spices without oil stay dry. Truth handled apart from the Spirit is only a mental exercise; the Spirit ministers it to the soul.
- Poured — tent, furniture and priests all received it. A house of God arranged by His own word still needs the Spirit's power to please Him.
- Guarded — God allowed no copy. A counterfeit likeness to Christ, taught to others or believed about ourselves, is never the Spirit's work.
And thou shalt anoint the tent of meeting with it, and the ark of the testimony,
God has just told Moses how to make the holy oil. Now He says where it goes first. Not on a person, but on the tent where God met His people, and on the chest that held the tablets of the covenant. Why anoint furniture at all, and why before the priests?
The oil was not plain olive oil. Measured spices went into it, and commentators read the two parts together.
The spices, then, speak of the graces of Christ. His very garments smell of these sweet perfumes. But they were mixed with oil, and oil, as has often been said, is a figure of the Holy Spirit. Put the two together, then. We learn that the graces of Christ — the moral fragrance of His excellencies — were expressed in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Moses anoints the building and its contents first, and Aaron and his sons only afterwards. One writer draws a lesson from that order.
The tabernacle is the house of God, the place where He shows Himself, and the place of priestly service and worship. Everything in it was anointed with the holy oil. This teaches that everything connected with the house of God — its order, its service, all the priestly work carried on in it — must be ordered in the power of the Holy Spirit... So suppose everything connected with the house of God were arranged exactly according to His own word, and yet the holy anointing oil — the power of the Holy Spirit — were missing. It could not be acceptable to Him.
The ark named here is a picture of Christ. One writer turns that against any group that claims the name for itself.
The Ark of the Testimony typifies Christ, and no body of believers can appropriate Him as their exclusive possession, any more than any country can claim the sun as their exclusive possession, as it marches across the sky.
One writer notes the order when Moses later carried this out.
Notice that this anointing was without blood: a most striking fact... The oil went on the tabernacle and all that was in it, on the altar and all its vessels, and on the laver and its base, before any sprinkling of blood. The force of this is plain and weighty. It bears on the power of the Spirit in which Christ claims the heavenly things, and indeed the universe.
Another writer sees in the anointed tent a picture of something far larger. Blood comes in later, where the creature has spoiled things.
When Aaron alone is anointed without blood, the tabernacle is also. The fulness of the divine power, spiritual grace and glory that is in Christ fills the whole created scene that bears witness to the glory of God. That is, the energy of the Holy Spirit fills it with the claim and witnesses of the excellency of Christ. Once the creature has had to do with it, then, as on the great day of atonement, it must all be purified and reconciled with blood. But this does not undo the direct title in grace and divine excellency in Jesus.
Commentators differ on how far that reading can be pressed. One writer objects that the order of the anointing does not fit it, and offers another sense.
Some have taken the anointing of the tabernacle together with Aaron as showing Christ's personal claim to the universe. But for that the order would have to be reversed, and it leaves the anointing of the altar and laver unexplained... The tabernacle expresses God's delights with the sons of men, fallen though they are, as the altar and laver show. May this anointing not rather show that these delights find their justification in this wonderful Person who has become Man, and upon whom for the first time the Spirit of God can rest?
The same oil that touched the tent later touched the priests.
So everything connected with the things of God was consecrated and set apart for the one purpose of glorifying the God of glory. Today too, the Church, together with all it bears witness to, is consecrated to God. Also, the priests were anointed, as is every believer today — anointed by the Spirit of God, to be God's sole possession.
- Fragrance — spices crushed into olive oil: the graces of Christ carried in the power of the Spirit.
- Fragrance on the house — the tent and the ark get the oil first. Even an arrangement made by God's word is not acceptable without the Spirit.
- Fragrance without blood — the oil comes before any sacrifice. Christ's title rests on His own excellence.
- Fragrance outward — the anointed tent is a small model of a wider claim, though writers differ on how far to push it.
- Fragrance on you — the oil that set apart the furniture later fell on the priests. Every believer is anointed by the Spirit as God's own possession.
and the table and all its utensils, and the lamp-stand and its utensils, and the altar of incense,
Exodus 30:27 sits inside God's recipe for the holy anointing oil, and it names the furniture of the room where the priests served each day. Why did objects already made of pure gold need to be anointed at all, and what does that oil stand for?
The verse names three items that stood in one room. One writer sets them side by side to show what Christ shares with His people:
A short comparison of the three items placed in the outer room may help to make this clear. In them we learn how He joins His people to Himself in keeping up what is fitting for God: (1) worship, (2) true witness, and (3) administration — seen in the golden altar, the lampstand, and the table.
The oil was not plain olive oil. Sweet spices went into the mixture, and both parts carry meaning:
The Psalmist, speaking of the Messiah, says, "your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia." In the verse before, he says, "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." (Ps. 45:7-8.) This helps us understand what the holy anointing oil pictures. The spices speak of the graces of Christ. His very garments smell of these sweet perfumes. But they were mingled with oil, and oil, as has often been said, is a figure of the Holy Spirit. Putting these two things together, we learn that the graces of Christ — the moral fragrance of His excellencies — were expressed in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The table, lampstand and altar were already built exactly as God commanded. Yet the pattern alone was not enough:
The tabernacle is the house of God. It is where He shows Himself, and where the priests serve and worship. Everything in it was anointed with the holy oil. That anointing teaches us this: everything connected with the house of God — its order, its service, all the priestly work carried on in it (see 1 Peter 2:5) — must be ordered in the power of the Holy Spirit. When it is, it will express the sweet fragrance of Christ to God. God reveals Himself in the power of the Spirit, and worship and service can be offered in the power of the Holy Spirit alone. So if everything connected with the house of God were arranged even according to His own word, and yet the holy anointing oil — the power of the Holy Spirit — were lacking, it could not be acceptable to Him.
The oil left more than a scent. It changed the standing of what it touched, and then of whatever touched that:
Notice also the effect — everything is sanctified. Through the anointing it becomes "most holy," so that whatever touches something the oil has been put on is also counted holy. This is the effect of the action of the Spirit of God. Whatever His power rests upon is set apart for God, and everything that comes under His action, even by contact, is also claimed as holy. The whole sphere of His action is sanctified.
The oil touched the tent and its contents before it touched Aaron. That order points beyond the tent itself:
Before the holy anointing oil was poured on Aaron's head, it was first put on the tabernacle, and all that was in it, to sanctify them. The tabernacle was God's dwelling place, and it stood for the whole universe. That universe will come under the fragrance of the Spirit of Christ, which this holy ointment pictures. This is what God had in mind, in His purposes of love: to have a whole universe filled with the sweet scent of what Christ is to Him.
The same oil went on the vessels and on the priests. What was true of the gold furniture became true of people:
The materials spoke of Him; even their structure spoke of Him; the golden lamps lit Him up; and now the anointing oil again points to Him. The high priest too was a picture of our High Priest. The sons of Aaron pictured the true people of God, and the holy anointing oil was sprinkled on them — Christ's fragrance is upon them.
- Fragrance — spices blended into oil picture the graces of Christ expressed in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Furniture — the altar, lampstand and table stood for worship, true witness and administration. Christ joins His people to Himself in each.
- Fitness — a house built by God's own word is still not acceptable without the oil. Worship and service need the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Contact — what the oil touched became most holy, and that holiness passed on to whatever touched it.
- Reach — the same oil went from the vessels to Aaron's sons. Christ's fragrance rests on His people, and God aims to fill a universe with it.
and the altar of burnt-offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand.
Here the holy anointing oil moves outdoors, from the golden furniture inside the tent to the open courtyard. Why pour it on the altar of sacrifice and the priests' washing basin, and what made these working vessels holy?
The oil was made of two things: sweet spices and olive oil. Commentators read each ingredient as a picture of its own.
The spices speak of the graces of Christ. His very garments smell of these sweet perfumes. But they were mixed with oil, and oil, as has often been stated, is a figure of the Holy Spirit. Putting these two things together, we learn that the graces of Christ — the moral fragrance of His excellencies — were expressed in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Older translations call the basin the laver. It and the altar stood in the open court, and each met God's demands in its own way.
The laver was to stand between the bronze altar and the door of the tabernacle. It too was to be made of bronze — a picture of the demands that flow from the holiness and righteousness of God. The blood on the altar met those demands first. Then, for the priests who would enter the sanctuary, the water that filled the laver met them. There they had to wash both hands and feet every time they entered. They were never to carry anything of the dust or defilement that was outside into the presence of God.
The basin is never mentioned without its stand, and this verse is one of the places that proves it.
From verses 17-21 we are shown "the bronze laver and its foot" — the vessel of washing and the base it stood on. These two are always presented together. (See Ex. 30:28; Ex. 38:8; Ex. 40:11.) In this laver the priests washed their hands and feet. That kept them pure, as their priestly duties required. It was not at all a question of a fresh presentation of blood, but simply the action that kept them fit for priestly service and worship.
One writer ties this verse to God's wider purpose.
The tabernacle was God's dwelling place, and it stood for the whole universe, which will come under the fragrance of the Spirit of Christ. The altar of burnt offering, where the sacrifices were offered to God, was anointed too. So were the laver and its foot, where the priests washed their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle to serve the Lord. This is because everything relating to the service of God in His universe must carry the sweet fragrance of Christ to God.
Dennett draws out what happened to everything the oil touched.
Notice also the effect — everything is sanctified. Through the anointing it becomes "most holy," so that whatever touches anything the oil has been put on should likewise be counted holy. (v. 29.) This is the effect of the action of the Spirit of God. Whatever His power rests upon is set apart for God, and everything that comes under His action, even by contact, is also claimed as holy. The whole sphere of His action is sanctified.
The order in which the oil and the blood were used also carries weight.
It is worth noticing that the tabernacle was anointed and everything in it, the altar and all its vessels, with the laver and its base, before the sprinkling with blood. The force of this is plain and important. It applies to the power of the Spirit in which Christ claims the heavenly things and indeed the universe. This stands out even more when we notice that the altar is purified by blood but no anointing follows.
The same oil was put on the priests themselves.
Everything connected with the things of God was consecrated and set apart for the one purpose of glorifying the God of glory... the priests were anointed, as is every believer today — anointed by the Spirit of God, to be God's sole possession. This anointing first took place at Pentecost (Acts 2), but it remains true for every child of God today.
- Oil. The spices stand for the graces of Christ; the olive oil stands for the Holy Spirit. The anointing spreads the fragrance of Christ in the Spirit's power.
- Reach. The fragrance does not stay inside the tent. It reaches the altar and the washing basin, the working tools of the courtyard.
- Meaning. The altar met God's righteous demands by blood; the basin met them by water, so nothing defiled was carried in.
- Effect. Whatever the oil touched became most holy. Holiness then passed on by contact, so the whole sphere of the Spirit's action is set apart.
- Scope. The oil came before the blood. Commentators read this as Christ's claim, in the Spirit's power, on heavenly things and the whole universe. The same anointing now marks every believer as God's own.
And thou shalt hallow them, that they may be most holy whatever toucheth them shall be holy.
God has just given the recipe for the holy anointing oil, and listed what it must be poured on: the tent, the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the basin. So what does it mean to call a wooden or metal object "most holy," and how far does that holiness spread?
A basin has no character to improve.
In what sense can an object constructed of wood or metal be said to be sanctified? It cannot be made holy in the ordinary sense of that word. Inanimate objects have no qualities of mind or character. They can, however, be solemnly set apart for divine use. Moses did so set altar and laver apart, and they were thereby sanctified or made holy in the Scripture use of the term.
That setting apart is a real transaction, not a formality. From this verse writers take the whole pattern of sacred use:
As to the place and vessels of divine service: The tabernacle and temple, and all the vessels used in them, were devoted to sacred use in the worship of God. Ex. 30:29. We have here what was suitable in view of God: there was also what was obligatory on the part of those who approached.
Nothing was holy because of its metal or its craftsmanship. The oil made the difference. And the oil points to a Person, and to what flows from Him:
In this we see a type of the varied graces of the Holy Spirit, which were found, in all their divine fullness, in Christ. "your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad." (Ps. 45:8) "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power." (Acts 10:38) All the graces of the Spirit, in their perfect fragrance, centred in Christ; and it is from Him alone they can flow. As to His humanity, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Before He began His public ministry, He was anointed with the Holy Spirit. And when He had taken His seat on high, as the sign of a finished redemption, He poured out on His body, the Church, the precious gift of the Holy Spirit… Believers share in these gifts and graces as those joined to this ever blessed and highly exalted Christ; and it is as they walk in habitual nearness to Him that they enjoy or give off their fragrance.
Note the order in the chapter. The tent and its furniture come first, the priests afterwards. Writers read that as a warning about service that is correct in form but empty of power.
The tabernacle is the house of God, the place where He shows Himself, and the place of priestly service and worship. Everything in it was anointed with the holy oil. This teaches us something. Everything connected with the house of God — how it is run, its service, all the priestly work carried on in it (see 1 Peter 2:5) — must be ordered in the power of the Holy Spirit… So suppose everything connected with the house of God were arranged exactly according to His own word, and yet the holy anointing oil — the power of the Holy Spirit — were missing. It could not be acceptable to Him.
On the closing clause, Dennett reads the spread of holiness as the reach of the Spirit's work:
Notice also the effect. Everything is sanctified. Through the anointing it becomes "most holy," so that whatever touches anything the oil has been put on should likewise be counted holy. (v. 29.) This is the effect of the action of the Spirit of God. Whatever His power rests upon is set apart for God. Everything that comes under His action, even by contact, is claimed as holy too. The whole sphere of His action is sanctified. (See 1 Cor. 7:14.)
Commentators differ on how far contact works this way. God later had Haggai put the reverse question to the priests: if holy meat is carried in a fold of a garment, does the bread it touches become holy? They said no. Kelly draws the lesson:
Someone who is holy gives no holiness to anything else… Someone who is defiled spreads his defilement… A person must be clean himself before he can act or offer rightly.
Centuries later a Babylonian king dragged those same vessels out for a drinking party. The oil's claim on them had not lapsed:
The holy vessels were still holy in God's eyes, however much the sins of His kings and priests had polluted them. They had been used in the house where He had put His name for ever… True, in judgment He had let them share in the captivity of His people. But He could not let the Gentile king and his immoral companions defile them. That would go against all that He was and all that He purposed.
- Set apart. To sanctify an object is not to improve it. It is to hand it over — "solemnly set apart for divine use," and holy from that moment.
- By oil, not by gold. No object was holy because of its gold or its craftsmanship. The oil made it holy. That oil pictures the graces of the Spirit, which "centred in Christ" and flow from Him alone.
- House before priests. Moses anointed the building and its furniture first. Everything in God's house "must be ordered in the power of the Holy Spirit." Without the oil, right arrangement "could not be acceptable to Him."
- Reach. Dennett reads "whatever touches them" as the Spirit claiming His whole sphere. Kelly, on Haggai's question, says holiness does not pass on by contact, though defilement does. Commentators differ.
- Permanent claim. Once anointed, the vessels stayed God's through exile and misuse. They were "still holy in God's eyes," and He judged the king who treated them as common.
And Aaron and his sons thou shalt anoint, and shalt hallow them, that they may serve me as priests.
This command puts the specially made oil on Aaron and his sons for one stated reason: they are to serve God as priests. Their anointing follows straight after the anointing of the tent and its furniture — the same oil for men and for objects.
The oil was not plain oil. Sweet spices went into it, and one writer reads them as a picture of Christ:
The spices, then, speak of the graces of Christ. His very garments smell of these sweet perfumes. But they were mingled with oil, and oil, as has often been stated, is a figure of the Holy Spirit. Put these two things together. The graces of Christ — the moral fragrance of His excellencies — were expressed in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The oil that touched the ark, the table, the lampstand and the altars is the oil that touched the men. That single detail ties the priests to the sanctuary and marks both as God's own property:
The anointing oil was to be used to anoint the tabernacle itself, the ark, the table, and the lampstand with its utensils. It also anointed the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with its utensils, and the laver with its base (vv. 26-28). The same oil was also used to anoint Aaron and his sons (v. 30). So everything connected with the things of God was consecrated and set apart for the one purpose of glorifying the God of glory.
Aaron's sons were already washed, clothed, and brought under the blood. The oil is placed here, at the end of the tabernacle instructions, to make one point unmissable:
Aaron and his sons were also anointed... there is a special reason for its being introduced here in connection with the tabernacle. It is to point out — to emphasise — that the essential qualification for priestly service is the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit. A person may have every other qualification — born again, robed, and under the value of the blood. But without the anointing of the Holy Spirit as well, he cannot truly take up the priestly place.
In the ceremony, Aaron was anointed on his own, with no blood. His sons were anointed later, and only after blood had been applied. One writer sees two different persons in those two moments:
Aaron was anointed without blood (v. 7), but when his sons are brought into the picture (v. 21) we read that blood and oil were sprinkled on Aaron and his sons. The Lord Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit before the work of redemption was finished. Believers today can only be anointed with the Spirit on the basis of what the blood of the Lord Jesus has accomplished.
Another writer sums up the whole ceremony in three steps:
The order was: first, the water; second, the blood; and third, the oil.
The verse's second verb carries a meaning that is easy to miss in translation, and it cuts against the usual idea of what dedication to God involves:
The word translated "consecrate" in this chapter means, as the margin shows, "to fill the hand." This gives us the scriptural meaning of consecration. The general thought is that consecration lies in our giving something up to God. So the soul is thrown back on itself, looking for strength to devote itself and all its energies to God's service... Scripture reveals a better way. It lies, as seen in this chapter, in being filled with Christ.
The Lord Jesus Himself was anointed with the Spirit, and one writer presses the same need on all who belong to Him:
Scripture says that even our blessed Lord Himself was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power (Acts 10:38), and all who are His must be anointed too, if they are to enjoy the privileges into which they have been brought... Though we are children of God, we can neither worship nor serve apart from the present power and action of the Holy Spirit (see John 4:24; Philippians 3:3).
Another writer applies the same anointing to believers now:
Like the leper who was cleansed, we are anointed to take our place among the saints of God. Like the priests of old, we have been anointed by the Spirit to serve God as holy priests and royal priests (1 Peter 1:2; 2:5, 9).
- The oil — sweet spices mixed with oil: the fragrance of Christ's excellencies, expressed in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- The claim — one oil went on the furniture and on the men. Everything connected with God's house was set apart for His glory alone.
- The order — water, then blood, then oil. Aaron was anointed without blood, a figure of Christ; his sons only after blood was applied.
- The qualification — washed, robed and under the blood is still not enough. Without the anointing, no one can take up the priestly place.
- The filling — "consecrate" means "to fill the hand". Not self-surrender squeezed out of us, but hands filled with Christ, and so fit to serve.
And thou shalt speak to the children of Israel, saying, A holy anointing oil shall this be unto me throughout your generations.
God tells Moses to speak to the whole nation about the perfumed oil just described. It is God's, it is holy, and it belongs to every generation to come. Two questions follow. What does this oil stand for, and why does God guard it so closely?
God calls it "my holy anointing oil." One writer shows how far God kept it from ordinary Israelite life:
We learn that it was to be for God's sanctuary alone. No one was to copy it, and no Israelite was to keep it at home. God reserved it for Himself and His own pleasure. He surrounded Himself with its fragrance in His own dwelling. He did this because, as a picture, the oil showed how precious Christ was to God as He lived His life of holy devotion to Him on earth.
The mixture itself carries the meaning: spices blended into olive oil. One writer takes the two parts one at a time, then together:
The Psalmist, speaking of the Messiah, says, "All Your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia," and in the verse before, "God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions." This helps us understand what the holy anointing oil pictures. The spices speak of the graces of Christ... But they were mixed with oil, and oil, as has often been said, is a picture of the Holy Spirit. Put the two together, and we learn this: the graces of Christ — the moral fragrance of all that is excellent in Him — came out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The same oil went on the furniture and on the priests. So God's delight in His Son reaches the people who serve Him too:
This ointment went on the tabernacle and on each article to sanctify them to God, and on Aaron and his sons... Here again the sweet fragrance of Christ went on all that spoke of Him, His Son, in whom God ever finds "unchanging fresh delight."... The high priest too was a picture of our High Priest. The sons of Aaron pictured the true people of God, sprinkled with the holy anointing oil — Christ's fragrance is upon them.
Aaron and his sons already had their robes and the blood. The oil came on top of all that. One writer gives the reason:
It is to point out — to emphasize — that the essential qualification for priestly service is the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit. A man may have every other qualification — born again, robed, and under the value of the blood. But without the anointing of the Holy Spirit as well, he cannot truly hold the priestly place. Scripture says that even our blessed Lord Himself was anointed with the Holy Spirit, and with power (Acts 10:38)... The lesson is needed in a day of unceasing activity, and of legal service on every hand... Remember that, though we are children of God, we can neither worship nor serve apart from the present power and action of the Holy Spirit.
The words "throughout your generations" make this a lasting arrangement, not a one-time act. One writer traces the anointing forward, past Israel:
Also, the priests were anointed, as is every believer today — anointed by the Spirit of God, to be God's sole possession. This anointing first took place at Pentecost (Acts 2), but it remains true for every child of God at present.
The next two verses add two bans. The oil must not touch ordinary human flesh, and no one may copy it. One writer ties both to a single truth:
Then, as regards the anointing oil, it was not to be poured on man's flesh; a man must be a priest to have it. You cannot give a nature; and the anointing can only be of a nature that is of God... And no one was to copy the anointing oil either. You cannot put anointing on mere human nature. You cannot anoint man as man, or put the Holy Spirit on him.
The ban on copying carries its own warning. People can fake what only God can do:
So it is a terrible sin to imitate the action of the Spirit. Ananias and Sapphira did this when they claimed to devote the whole proceeds of the property they had sold to the Lord's service. (Acts 5) The same penalty, notice, fell on anyone who put it on a stranger, on someone with no title to it. God is holy, and He jealously guards His sovereign rights.
- Holy to Him. The oil was God's own, kept for His sanctuary. No Israelite home could hold it. It spoke of how precious Christ's life on earth was to God.
- Holy in content. Spices for the graces of Christ, olive oil for the Holy Spirit. Together they show Christ's moral fragrance in the Spirit's power.
- Holy for service. Birth, robes and blood were not enough. Without the anointing, no one could truly hold the priestly place. The same holds for service today.
- Holy in every generation. What began at the tabernacle runs on. The Spirit anoints believers today, and they are God's own possession.
- Holy, therefore guarded. Never on mere human nature. Never copied. Never given to those with no title to it. God protects His rights, and faking the Spirit's work is no small sin.
Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make [any] like it, after the preparation of it it is holy -- holy shall it be unto you.
God's rules for the anointing oil end with two bans. It must not touch ordinary human flesh, and no one may copy its recipe. Why would God guard a perfume this closely? And who may receive what the oil stands for?
The oil was no ordinary perfume. Its spices and its use point to the Spirit of God, seen in full in Christ.
From verses 22–23 we have the "holy anointing oil," with which the priests, together with all the furniture of the tabernacle, were anointed. In this we see a picture of the varied graces of the Holy Spirit, which were found, in all their divine fullness, in Christ. "Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia" (Psalm 45:8). "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10:38). All the graces of the Spirit, in their perfect fragrance, centred in Christ; and it is from Him alone they can flow.
Older translations read "upon man's flesh" where the ESV has "on the body of an ordinary person." The ban has a reason: it separates two things that can never mix.
The oil was not to be poured on man's flesh (v. 32). The reason is that "the flesh" and "the Spirit" stand in total contrast. The Spirit of God is not given to improve the flesh. In fact, it is by the Spirit that the believer can fully judge the flesh.
The contrast rules out even the best human character.
The unrenewed man knows nothing of this. "Upon man's flesh it shall not be poured." The graces of the Spirit and man's flesh can never go together, because the Holy Spirit cannot own nature. Not one of the fruits of the Spirit was ever yet produced "in nature's barren soil." "You must be born again." … Take the fairest fruits that ever grew in nature's fields, grown with the greatest care. Take the most likeable traits nature can show. God's sanctuary disowns them all.
If the oil may not touch flesh, who can receive it? Only a priest — and only on the ground of a nature God gives.
As regards the anointing oil, it was not to be poured on man's flesh; a man must be a priest to have it. You cannot give a nature; and the anointing can only be of a nature that is of God. "And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put His seal on us" (2 Corinthians 1:21–22). No human flesh could have that. And no one was to imitate the anointing oil either. On mere human nature you cannot put anointing.
There is an order here. The blood comes first, and then the oil.
The oil was not to be poured on man's flesh, because it pointed forward to the anointing of the Spirit, which marks our own day. Man's flesh is sinful flesh. The anointing of the Spirit comes only where the blood has been applied.
The second ban forbids copying the recipe. The warning still bites, because religious ceremony can claim to hand over what God alone gives.
There are two warnings. First, "Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured" (v. 32). This teaches that the Spirit of God cannot rest upon or dwell in the natural man. Church ordination breaks this truth directly, when it claims to give unconverted men the gift of the Holy Spirit. The anointing is never received until after the new birth and known forgiveness of sins. … Secondly, no imitation of this anointing oil was to be made, on pain of death (v. 33). It is therefore a serious sin to imitate the action of the Spirit.
Why forbid copies at all? Because nothing can stand in for the Spirit Himself.
Nothing was to be made even similar to this anointing oil. Men may come up with imitations of the work of the Spirit of God that seem plausible, but there is no substitute for Him.
Both bans flow from one word in the verse: holy. The perfume belonged to God, and belonged nowhere else.
We learn that this oil was for God's sanctuary alone. It was not to be imitated, nor was any Israelite to have it in his house. God reserved it for Himself and His own pleasure. He surrounded Himself with its fragrance in His own dwelling. Why? Because it was a picture of how precious Christ was to God, as He lived His life of holy devotion to Him on earth.
- Holy — the oil belonged to God's sanctuary alone. He kept it for His own pleasure, never for private use.
- Not flesh — flesh and Spirit stand in total contrast. The Spirit does not come to improve nature; He judges it.
- But blood — the anointing comes only where the blood has been applied. A man had to be a priest to receive it.
- No copies — no one could copy the recipe. Imitating the Spirit's work, or handing Him out by ceremony, is a serious sin.
- All Christ — every spice in the oil points to Christ. The graces of the Spirit flow from Him alone.
Whoever compoundeth [any] like it, or whoever putteth [any] of it upon any strange thing, shall be cut off from his peoples.
The rules for the holy anointing oil end with a warning. Copy the recipe, or put the oil on the wrong man, and you are cut off from your people. Why so heavy a penalty for a perfume? What does the oil stand for?
Commentators read the oil as a picture of the Holy Spirit. One writer sets that picture beside a danger we still face:
The holy anointing oil is the type of the Holy Spirit. Worship in the Spirit needs Him. Notice that no one was to pour this oil on man's flesh, and no one was to make any other like it (verses 32-33). "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." The flesh is so corrupt that the Holy Spirit can have nothing to do with it. And how many counterfeits of the Spirit and His real work there are today!
A man could copy the smell. He could not copy what the oil stood for:
No one was to make anything even similar to this anointing oil. Men may think up imitations of the work of the Spirit of God that seem plausible. But there is no substitute for Him. Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 2 are very clear in this matter.
One commentator covers both halves of the verse and points to a couple in the early church who lied about a gift:
No one was to make an imitation of this anointing oil, on penalty of death. (v. 33.) So it is a terrible sin to imitate the action of the Spirit. Ananias and Sapphira did this. They claimed to give the Lord the whole price of the property they had sold. (Acts 5) Notice that the same penalty fell on anyone who put the oil on an outsider, on those who had no title to it. God is holy. He is jealous for His sovereign rights, and He must punish every violation of them. If He seems to pass such sins by unnoticed now, that is because the present age is one of grace; but the sins themselves are no less in His sight.
The outsider here is not a foreigner but any man as man. Aaron and his sons could be anointed; nobody else could:
The ointment was a mixture of pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, cassia and olive oil. No one else could make it or use it. After speaking of Aaron and his sons comes this striking instruction: no one was to pour the oil on the body of an ordinary person. That is, not on man as man, but only on Aaron and his sons as priests. It is a picture of the Holy Spirit, with whom only the Lord Jesus and believers are anointed.
So what made a priest different? Not rank. Something had already been done to him:
The oil could be poured on a priest, that is, on one taken out of the standing of man in the flesh. Aaron and his sons were washed from their old associations. That washing finds its fulfilment now in the cleansing of believers by the death of Christ. Blood was put on them too.
Behind the ban lies something no ritual can supply:
As for the anointing oil, no one was to pour it on man's flesh; a man had to be a priest to have it. You cannot give a nature; and the anointing can only be of a nature that is of God. "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put His seal on us," 2 Cor. 1:21-22. No human flesh could have that. And no one was to imitate the anointing oil either.
One commentator gives the order, and names a common breach of it:
The Spirit of God cannot rest on the natural man or live in him. Ordination services violate this truth directly when they claim to give unconverted men the gift of the Holy Spirit. No one receives the anointing until after the new birth and known forgiveness of sins.
"Cut off from his people" is a standing formula in the law:
The word "excommunication" is not found in the Bible, but the duty of putting wicked persons out of Israel, and out of the church as the house of God, is plainly taught. Again and again we read in the Old Testament that for particular sins "that soul shall be cut off from Israel" or "cut off from his people." Ex. 12:15; Ex. 30:33; Lev. 7:20-21; Num. 9:13; Ezra 10:8.
Commentators differ here. Some read the sentence as death. Others read it as being put out from the people of God.
- Holy. The oil pictures the Holy Spirit, and God kept it for Himself alone.
- Given, not made. No one can replace the Spirit. A copied recipe gives only a plausible imitation.
- Given, not spread. The oil went on priests, never on man as man — anointing rests on those already washed and under the blood.
- Imitation is sin. Ananias and Sapphira faked the Spirit's action, and God counts that a terrible sin.
- Cut off. Copying the oil and giving it to the wrong man carried the same sentence. God guards His own rights.