Exodus 30:22-33 Moreover the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,… I. The use of oil IN DAILY LIFE may be described as threefold. 1. In the first place, it was used for the anointing of the body, by which the skin was rendered soft and smooth; refreshed and invigorated. Orientals ascribed a virtue to it which penetrated even to the bones. Coincident with this was the use of oil in sickness, as a means of lulling pain and restoring health. 2. The second use of oil in the preparation of food is to be looked at from the same point of view. Here also the object was, so to speak, to anoint the food, so as to make it soft and palatable. 3. And thirdly, not less frequent and important was the use of oil for burning and giving light, surely also an anointing for the purpose of enlivening and invigorating. The thing to be anointed was the wick of the lamp. The wick would burn without oil, but only with a weak and miserable light, and very speedily it would become extinguished. II. All these modes of using oil are transferred to the SYMBOLISM OF WORSHIP. 1. The first we see at once is the anointing of the Tabernacle, its vessels, and the priests themselves. 2. The second is seen in the minchah, or meat-offering, not "meat" at all in our modern acceptation, but composed of wheat, commingled with oil (Leviticus 2:1-8). 3. The third in correspondence is obviously the ever-burning sacred lamp of the holy place. (J. H. Kurtz, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, |
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