God’s Anointed – Pekudei

The English word “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew word משיח – Mashiach which means “anointed” or “anointed one.” We see examples of both people and objects which are anointed in the Scriptures. Jacob anointed a stone with oil at Bethel, marking the place where the LORD appeared to him in a dream (Gen. 28:18). Priests (Lev. 4:3) and Kings (1 Samuel 10:1) were anointed to fulfill their specific roles on behalf of the nation of Israel. The Scriptures even speak of a foreign king, Cyrus, who is called “His anointed” (the anointed one of the LORD), to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem on behalf of the nation of Israel (Isaiah 45:1). 

The act and the status of being anointed was used in the Bible to set someone or something apart as holy and separate to the LORD for a specific purpose. The act of anointing is emphasized in this week’s Torah Portion and we also discover how anointing with oil is connected to Yeshua the Messiah. 

The Anointing of the Tabernacle

Bezalel finished the work of the Tabernacle according to the plan of the LORD. When all of the parts of the Tabernacle were completed, God commanded Moses to assemble the Tabernacle and to put all of the Tabernacle furnishings in their proper place (Ex. 40:1-8). Then God commanded Moses to consecrate the Tabernacle:

Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and shall consecrate it and all its furnishings; and it shall be holy. – Ex. 40:9

The Tabernacle and everything in it were set apart as holy unto God to be used in worship of Him. The act of sanctifying the Tabernacle was accomplished by anointing all of the parts and vessels of the Tabernacle with anointing oil.

The Anointing of the Priests

Just at the Tabernacle and all of its furnishing were anointed and set apart as holy, God also commanded Moses to consecrate the priests:

Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. You shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister as a priest to Me. You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them; and you shall anoint them even as you have anointed their father, that they may minister as priests to Me; and their anointing will qualify them for a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.” Thus Moses did; according to all that the LORD had commanded him, so he did. – Ex. 40:12-16

The consecration of Aaron and his sons began with the ritual of washing with water before they put on their holy garments. This washing seems to be limited to the washing of the hands and feet (Ex. 40:31-32).   

After the ceremonial washing, Aaron and his sons were dressed in their priestly garments and Moses anointed them with anointing oil. Just as the Tabernacle and all that was in it was set apart as holy to the LORD, so too the priests were set apart as holy for their priestly service to the LORD. Aaron and his sons were appointed as priests forever, “throughout their generations.”

After the Tabernacle and the priests were anointed with oil, Moses offered the burnt offering and the meal offering as a sacrifice to the LORD on the altar which was before the door of the Tabernacle (Ex. 40:29). The response of the LORD was awesome:

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. – Ex 40:34-35

The powerful presence of Almighty God filled the Tabernacle to such an extent that not even Moses was able to enter that place. 

God’s Holy Standard

The Tabernacle was the place where God’s glory dwelled in the midst of the camp of Israel. It was for this reason that the Tabernacle and the priests had to be anointed with oil and set apart as holy unto God. 

The Tabernacle was a place of continual sacrifice and atonement and based on this holy atonement God met and had communion with His people. In the context of the continual burnt offering, the morning and evening sacrifice, we read the following promise in the book of Exodus:

It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. They shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God. – Ex. 29:42-46

God met with the people of Israel at the Tabernacle, the place of sacrifice. It was only according to God’s holy standard that He was able to meet and dwell with the children of Israel.

Yeshua the Messiah became the final atoning sacrifice for sin, making the sin offerings at the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, obsolete. Through His death and resurrection, Yeshua now serves as our eternal high priest:

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. – Hebrews 5:8-10

Since God commanded that the Tabernacle and the priests were to be anointed with oil, it only seems logical that Yeshua Himself would also have been anointed with oil. Was Yeshua anointed with oil while He was on earth? If so, when was He anointed? 

The Anointing of Yeshua

According to the writings of the New Testament, Yeshua was actually anointed with oil on three separate occasions: 

1. 1. At the home of a Pharisee where Yeshua was invited to have a meal. During the meal, an unnamed woman came behind Yeshua, wept over His feet, dried them with her hair, kissed His feet, and then anointed His feet with a costly perfume. This woman was known as a sinner, a woman of the city known for her immorality. (Luke 7:36-48)
   2. At the home of Lazarus and his sisters. Yeshua came to visit them in Bethany and they made a meal for Him. Mary anointed Yeshua’s feet with costly perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. This event took place six days before the Passover on which Yeshua was crucified. (John 12:1-8)
   3. In the home of Simon the leper. A woman anointed Yeshua by pouring an expensive vial of perfume on His head. This event took place two days before the Passover on which Yeshua was crucified. (Mark 14:1-9. Matt. 26:6-13)

On one occasion Yeshua’s feet were washed with the tears of a woman and dried with her hair. On two occasions Yeshua’s feet are anointed with costly perfume. On a third occasion, Yeshua’s head was anointed with an expensive perfume. The perfume which is mentioned in each of these occasions was a type of olive-based anointing oil mixed with spices which in Greek is called “muron:”  

The Consecration of Yeshua

Just as the priests needed to be washed with water before they entered their priestly service, so too Yeshua was washed with the tears of a woman as He prepared for His priestly role. Just as the priests were anointed with oil in order to be set apart as holy to the LORD (Ex. 40:13-15), so too Yeshua was anointed with oil three times to set Him apart as holy to the LORD for His priestly task at hand. 

Unlike Aaron and his sons, Yeshua was not anointed for His priestly service by some great prophet like Moses, but rather by the hands of simple women; one of whom appears to have been a prostitute. Yeshua’s anointing did not come with fancy priestly garments to be recognized by men, but everyday clothes that were stained with the blood of His sacrifice:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Yeshua the Messiah, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. – Philippians 2:5-8 

Yeshua was twice anointed with oil in the week before His death. God’s glory was then manifested in Yeshua’s death by raising Him to life.

The Manifestation of God’s Glory

In the pattern of the Tabernacle we see a perfect fulfillment of the holiness of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Yeshua with God’s glory being manifested in His life:

John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Yeshua the Messiah. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

Whereas the Tabernacle was a temporary place which was filled with the glory of God, Yeshua the Messiah embodies the glory of the Father in all of His fulness without end.  

The Fourth Anointing of Yeshua

Yeshua was anointed on one other occasion in His life. This fourth anointing took place at the beginning of His ministry years:

After being baptized, Yeshua came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” – Matt. 3:16-17

This spiritual anointing by the Holy Spirit in Yeshua’s life was used to display the glory of God to those whom Yeshua taught and ministered:

You know of Yeshua of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. – Acts 10:38

Before Yeshua was fully glorified in His resurrected body, the Holy Spirit displayed God’s glory in Yeshua’s life by means of the power that worked through Him while He was on earth.

Fifty days after Yeshua’s resurrection, God’s glory was manifested in the followers of Yeshua through the out pouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks (Acts 2:1-4). The promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit is for all who believe in Yeshua today:

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. – John 14:16-18

The glory of God fills His people today through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God’s glory is not limited to a location, but rather it is found in a relationship with Him through His Son.

Living as Anointed Ones

The Holy Spirit of truth is God’s very glory dwelling in us. The Holy Spirit is also spoken of as the anointing who abides in us:

But you have received an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. – 1 John 2:20-21

As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. – 1 John 2:27

As we walk in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, God promises that He will lead us into all truth. The Holy Spirit is God’s manifest presence in our lives. As each one of us is filled with the Holy Spirit, we are set apart as God’s holy people on this earth. We are not holy in ourselves but we are made holy in Yeshua and we are called to abide in this holy calling in relationship with His Holy Spirit.

The holy anointing of God is still as relevant today as it was in the days of Moses when he anointed the Tabernacle and the priests for holy service unto the LORD.  On the basis of the Messiah and through His indwelling Holy Spirit, we are anointed today to serve the LORD in holiness and to be vessels of His glory on this earth:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. – 1 Peter 2:9

We have received an anointing from God by His Holy Spirit and we are all called to shine His light in this world so that all may come to know the living God through His Messiah. 

Shabbat Shalom!

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Torah Portion: Ex. 38:21 – Ex. 40:38

Haftara: 1 Kings 7:51- 1 Kings 8:21

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