And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is in it, and shalt hallow it, and all its utensils; and it shall be holy.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And thou shalt anoint the altar of burnt-offering, and all its utensils; and thou shalt hallow the altar, and the altar shall be most holy.
On the day Moses set up the tabernacle, God told him to anoint the altar in the open courtyard — the place of blood and fire. Why anoint that altar at all, and how can something outside the curtained sanctuary count as most holy?
Position mattered.
The altar as a whole, then, is God manifested in righteousness. So it formed the meeting-place between God and the sinner. As long as the sinner is in his sins, God can meet him only on that ground, where he stands under responsibility. So the altar was the first thing that met the sinner's eyes. He saw it as he came up out of the world into the court of the tabernacle. But then it was an altar — and as such it was a symbol of the cross of Christ. So the sinner came to the altar believing in the value of the sacrifice. The altar tested him in responsibility, yet he found that all his sins were gone.
The metal on this altar carries meaning. Commentators read copper as a fixed statement about God's character.
This brings us back to the altar of burnt-offering, which was covered with copper. It is in perfect agreement with the whole truth set forth in the altar: God's unchanging judgment of sin, which must bring wrath on the ungodly. But in the cross of Christ that judgment finds expression not in the punishment of the sinner, but in the pouring out of judgment on the sinless Substitute. Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of God's throne. He must judge sin.
The verse calls it the altar of burnt offering, and that name matters.
It was the burnt offering, and not the sin offering, that was placed on the copper altar. The sin offering was burned outside the camp. The copper altar teaches instead what God found — His part — in the death of Christ. Only when we have learnt this truth can we draw near with holy boldness into His presence.
Oil pictures the Holy Spirit. On this altar it points past the furniture to a Person.
Again, the altar of burnt offering was anointed with oil (Ex. 40:10). Here we see Jesus as the Son of God set apart for the work of redemption, and "who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God" (Heb. 9:14).
Anointing is never only ceremony. Where the oil goes, God stakes a claim.
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. This is the effect of the action of the Spirit of God. Whatever His power rests on is set apart for God, and everything that comes under His action, even by contact, is also claimed as holy.
The altar did not become "most holy" by anointing alone. Blood had a part too, and the pairing is deliberate.
Atonement was necessary because Israel was a sinful people. Sprinkling blood on the altar made that atonement — this was in view of the people; the anointing set it apart to the Lord. The worship of the people could then begin on these two grounds... By atonement and anointing it was made most holy — "holy of holies," though it stood in the court of the tabernacle. There is nothing like the cross, the place where the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up, whether for earth or for heaven — nothing so holy.
The oil did not stop at this altar. One writer reads its wider sweep as God's claim on far more than a tent.
It is remarkable that on this occasion the tabernacle and everything in it were anointed with oil. So, whatever our sin may call for, we have here the whole scene of creation — all things in heaven and all things on earth. It is claimed in the power of the Spirit by virtue of Christ's person and title. Christ Himself was anointed in just the same way, with the Holy Spirit and with power, apart from any shedding of blood.
- Judgment. The copper altar stands for God's unchanging judgment of sin. That judgment fell on the sinless Substitute, not on the sinner.
- Meeting. It was the first thing a person saw on entering the court. There God could meet someone still in his sins.
- Anointing. The oil pictures the Spirit. Here it points to the Son of God, set apart for the work of redemption, who offered Himself through the eternal Spirit.
- Holiness. Blood and oil together — atonement and anointing — made the altar "most holy." Yet it stood in the open court, not behind the curtain.
- Reach. Holiness spreads. God claims whatever the Spirit's power rests on, and the anointing of the whole tabernacle pictures His claim on heaven and earth through Christ.