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612 — Anonymous Works

It is applied to sacred of anointing a shield. Dan. ix. 24). lilie the altar (Ex. xxix. 36. " and to the sacred pillar (Gen. xxxi. 13): where thou anointcdst the pillar." ,, The most important use of mashah is in connecThe principal and tion with certain sacred persons. from oldest of these is the king, who was anointed the earliest times (.ludiTcs. ix. 8. M; 5)

furniture,

.

I

Sam.

I

Anointing of King.

Kings,

xi.Vi).

ix. 16. x. 1:

II

.

Sam.

xix. 10;

Kings, ix. 3. 6. So exclusively was Anointing i.

39.

4.");

II

reserved for the king in this i)eriod"that

"

Lords

the

anointed" became a' svnonvm for king (I Sam. xii. 3,5 xxvi. 11; II Sam. i.l4;Ps. XX.7). This custcmi was older than the Hebrews. El-Amarna Tablet No. 37 tells of the anointing of a king. In that section of the Pentateuch known as the xxix. Priestly Code the high priest is auointcd (Ex.

7- Lev" vi. 13.viii.l2). and, in pa.ssages which critics regard as additions to the Priestly Code, other iiricsts the as°well (Ex. xxx. 30, xl. 13-1.5). It appears from priest use of "anointed priest," in the sense of high high (Lev. iv. 5-7, 16; Num. xxx v. 25. etc.), that the that the priest was at first the only one anointed, and develpractise of anointing all the priests was a later

opment (compare

Num.

iii.

3:

Dillman on Lev.

viii.

13-14; Nowack, " Lchrbuch der HebiiUsclien ArcliiiIn the earliest times the priests ologie," ii. 124). were iiot anointed, but "their hands were tilled,"

which probably means that they were hired (compare Judges, xvii. 5, 12; I Kings, xiii. 33; Wellhausen, "Prolegomena," .5th ed., ].p. 155f?sc?. Beuzinger "Lchrbuch der Hebrilischen Arcliiiologie, W) ct p 407). Weinel (Stade's "Zeitschrift." xviu. The earliest menti.in of an seq.) contests this view.

anointed priest is in Zech. iv. 14; and as E/.ek. xliii. " (that " 26 still uses " fill the hand " for consecrated Ezekiel uses it here figuratively for the altar does not materially affect the argument), we may infer that priests were not anointed before the middle Elijah is directed to anoint of the sixth centurv B.C. Elisha as a prophet (I Kings, xix. 16); but this seems never to have been carried out, and from Isa. intended to Ixi. 1 we may infer that the direction was be figunitive. So far as is known, prophets were

not anointed.

W. R. Smith found the origin of tins sacred Anointing in the custom of smearing the sacred fat on the rmszebah. or altjw (" Religion of the Semites." 2d ed., pp'233, 383 et seg.): so also Wellhausen ("Rcste des Anibischen Heidentliuras," 2d ed., pp. 125 et seg.). Wcinel maintains (St'ade's "Zeitschrift." xviii. 50 ct custom borseq.) that the use of oil is an agricultural rowed from the Canaanites that the offering of oil poured on an altar is parallel to the offering of firstfruits; thus the anointing of a king with sacred oil is an outgrowth from its regular use by all persons for toilet purposes. From this latter view It seems difficult to account for the great sjmctitv of " the Lord's anointed. " The different terms usecl would lead us to accept Robertson Smith's views of the origin of mashah (namely, that it is nomadic and sacrificial) and to believe that theswA;. or use of oil for toilet purposes, was of agricultural and secular origin; hence the distinct and consistent use of the two terms. G. A. B.

In Rabbinical Literature



The

first

Biblical

instance of Anointing as a sign of consecration— the pouring of oil bv Jacob upon the stone of Beth-el —offered a problem to later speculative rabbis as to the source whence Jacob obtained the oil in that lonely spot. The reply was made by them that it

must have

612

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Anointing:

xxi



" streamed

down from heaven

in

quan-

tity just sufficient for the purpose" (Gen. R. l.xix., PirHe R. El. xxxv.). The oil of holy ointment prepared bv Moses in the wilderness (Ex. xxx. 23 et iieq.) had many miraculous qualities;

was never absorbed by the many spices mixed therewith its twelve logs (1.68 gallons) were sufficient for the anointment of all the kings and high priests of Israelitish history, and will be in use in the Messianic time to come. 'During the reign of Josiah this oil was hidden awav simultaneously with the holy ark, to reappear in" the Messianic "time (Hor. Hi et seg.;

For Conse-

it

oration.



Sifra. Jlillium, 1). As to the mode of anointment, an old rabbinical tradition relates (Hor. i<i. Ker. 5*) that "the kings.

wen- anointed in w form of a crown; that is. all around the head; and the high priests in tli<' form of In other words, in anointing the a Greek Chi (t). priests the oil was poured first upon the head and then upon the eyebrows (see Rashi, and " Aruk," n. r. '3; and. as ag"ainst Kohut's dissertation, compare Plato, "Tima-us," chap, xxxvi., referred to by Jus"He impressed tin Martyr, "First Apology," Ix. the soul "as an unction in the form of the letter AT '



upon owing to

(chiasma)

the universe."

It

is

not unlikely

thiir opposition to the Christian cross, the Jewish interpreters adopted the hiph {orm instead of the ;r— H'c original the of Ezek. ix. 4. that,

The rule is stated that every priest, whether the son of a high priest or not, had to be anointed. The son of a king was. however, exempt, except for special rea.sons. as in the Kules Governing case of Joash, because of Athaliah (II Kings, xi. 12); Solomon, because of AnointAdonijah (I Kings, i, 39); and .lehu. ment. because of Joram's claims (II Kings, was ix. 1 et seq.); or of Jehoahaz, because Jehoiakim two years his senior (II Kings, xxiii. 30). This rule state^yas, "however, modified, as indicated by the ment that David and Solomon were anointed from the horn (I Sam. xvi. 13; I Kings, i. 3(1) and Saul and Jehu from the crus( p'lk (I Sam. x. 1 II Kings, these reix. 3: the A. V. has "vial" and "box" in spective passages). Another rule is mentioned, according to which the kings of the house of Israel were not anointed with the sacred oil at all. In their could the cases pure balsam was used instead; nor anointed with last reisning kings of Judali have been .said to the sacred oil of consecration, since Josiah is have hidden it awav (see Hor. IIA; Ycr. Sotah, viii. Rabbinical tradition distin22c; Yer. Hor. iii. 4r). guishes also between the regular high priest and the in priest anointed for the siiecial purpose of leading

viii. 1; Yoma, 72A, (see Josippon, xx.

Kar—nMsfiiiiih milhuiiiHli (Sotah. 73<7).

According to tradition

Chronicle of Jerahmecl, xci. 3; compare I Mace. in. anointed as jiriest for .55), Judas Maccabeus was the war before he proclaimed the words prescribed in Dent. xx. 1-9. Anointing stands for greatness (Sifre, >ura. 11"; Yer Bik ii. 64//): consequently. "Touch not niuie vessels anointed " signifies " my great ones." All the with the of the tabernacle, also, were consecrated sacred oil for all time to come (Num. R. xii.).

As a rule. Anointing with oils and perfumes folhead lowed the bath (see Shab. 41«; Sotah, lU). the bcin'i- anointe<l

first

(Shab. 61^).

On

the Sabbath.

Anointing whether for pleasure or tor ii. For Health health, is allowed (Yer. Ma'as. Sh. 53/Yer. Shab. ix. 12rt, based on Jlishand nah Shab. ix. 4 compare Tosef Shab. Comfort..





iii.

[iv.] 6).

.

,

instances on It is forbidden, however, in both vni. 1, the Day of Atonement (compare Yoma,