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.