Ingredients of Anointing…..
“Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. Do not pour it on men’s bodies and do not make any oil with the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from his people.’”
The anointing oil was holy (sanctified – set apart by God and for God) and was not to be copied or produced for any other reason. God was very specific about what went into it –look at the ingredients that made up the anointing oil and their significance. They were not just a bunch of spices thrown together.
* Myrrh was one of the ingredients. Myrrh had medicinal properties and was a narcotic which was used as a painkiller. At Jesus’ birth the wise men presented Him with myrrh illustrating that Jesus came to bear our pain and to carry our sorrow (Isa 53). In Mark chapter 15 you can see the various things done to Him on that day of His crucifixion–They smote him, they mocked Him, they spat on Him, they beat Him, they whipped Him and they tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh but He would not take it. (The common practice was for the prisoner to take the Myrrh to deaden the pain but Jesus would not partake of it. He was to be fully aware of what was going on and He endured the totality of the pain and sorrow of Calvary.) Myrrh is the first principal ingredient and the anointing breaks the bondage of the pain and sorrow of sin.
* Cinnamon oil was another ingredient. Not cinnamon powder but cinnamon oil. It was very flammable. It speaks of the Holy Ghost fire that comes in the anointing. “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:” “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?” The anointing makes the preacher a flaming evangel of the gospel! The fire of God is what turned a bunch of timid, shy disciples hiding in an upper room into the greatest preachers the world has even known — it was the Holy Ghost that fell on them with tongues of fire.
* Calamus was another ingredient. A scented plant that when crushed and bruised gave forth a pleasing scent. The anointing must have a fragrance (that can be detected by all) that is made possible only by crushing and bruising. The anointing of the preacher “smells” as a sweet savor to those that hear him.
* Cassia was yet another ingredient. Cassia means to split, to slice off, to purge and it was from the bark of a tree. Cassia was a purgative and it was used to cleanse the body from within–a purifying effect of the anointing. “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:”
All these spices were mixed together and God called it Holy. “Holy Anointing” Oil. The anointing of God is an antidote for sin — it is the fire of unction — the crushed will of man — and the purger of uncleanness………
Also it is interesting to note that it says in Exo 30:31-32, “And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations. Upon man’s flesh shall it not be poured. . .”
No priest was to apply it to himself. It was always an anointing that was bestowed by another (no man takes this unto himself). Also the only way the priest could end up with the smell of the incense (which was also holy) was by being in the Holy Place where the incense was burned on the Golden Altar. He (the priest) became saturated with the smell of the incense when the room filled with smoke and deluged his person and his clothing. When he emerged from the Holy Place all that came near him could smell the aroma of the incense — it could only be gained from the fire of the golden altar – a type of prayer and praise. The anointing oil could not be applied by the priest himself – it was a result of his actions in the Holy Place.
—jlg—