Using oil to make someone Holy or bless them?

[mystic]

And you shall sanctify them so that they become a holy of holies; whatever touches them shall become holy. 
30And with it you shall anoint Aaron and his sons and sanctify them to serve Me [as kohanim]. 
31And to the children of Israel you shall speak, saying: 'This shall be oil of holy anointment to Me for your generations. 
32It shall not be poured upon human flesh, and according to its formula you shall not make anything like it. It is holy; it shall be holy to you.
33Any person who compounds anything like it or puts any of it on an alien shall be cut off from his people.' "

I am not understanding the above. Is God telling people to use oil to bless people or not? Samuel poured oil over King David so that suggests to me that a person can use oil to bless someone?

[alon]

Nov 6, 2020 4:16:25 GMT -8 mystic said:

And you shall sanctify them so that they become a holy of holies; whatever touches them shall become holy. 
30And with it you shall anoint Aaron and his sons and sanctify them to serve Me [as kohanim]. 
31And to the children of Israel you shall speak, saying: 'This shall be oil of holy anointment to Me for your generations. 
32It shall not be poured upon human flesh, and according to its formula you shall not make anything like it. It is holy; it shall be holy to you.
33Any person who compounds anything like it or puts any of it on an alien shall be cut off from his people.' "

I am not understanding the above. Is God telling people to use oil to bless people or not? Samuel poured oil over King David so that suggests to me that a person can use oil to bless someone?

Exodus 30:22-33 (NASB) 22 Moreover, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Take also for yourself the finest of spices: of liquid myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, 250, and of fragrant cane 250, 24 and of cassia 500, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. 25 You shall make from these a holy anointing oil, a fragrant mixture of ointments, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 And you shall anoint the tent of meeting with it, and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand. 29 You shall also consecrate them, so that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy. 30 And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, so that they may serve as priests to Me. 31 Furthermore, you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on anyone’s body [the flesh of mankind], nor shall you make any like it in the same proportions; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever mixes any like it or whoever puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people.’”

First we need to understand some of the terms, both the Hebrew of the original text and then the English of our translations:

sanctify- H6942 קָדַשׁ qâdash; to be (causatively make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): - appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy (-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify (-ied one, self), X wholly.
Same as holy 1 plc in in vs. 29

holy- H6944 קֹדֶשׁ qôdesh; a sacred place or thing; rarely abstractly sanctity: - consecrated (thing), dedicated (thing), hallowed (thing), holiness, (X most) holy (X day, portion, thing), saint, sanctuary.
vss. 25,29,31,32

So we have two very similar terms, קָדַשׁ qâdash and קֹדֶשׁ qôdesh; very similar to קָדוֹשׁ qadosh, meaning simply sacred, holy, set apart. So קָדַשׁ qâdash is to consecrate someone or thing as holy, קֹדֶשׁ qôdesh is the holy person or thing his/its self, and קָדוֹשׁ qadosh is the act or status of being holy, set apart.

Now let’s look at how these terms were translated into English:

sanctify- 1. To set apart for sacred use; consecrate:
2. To make holy; purify:
3. To give religious sanction to, as with an oath or vow:

consecrate- 1. To declare or set apart as sacred
2. To dedicate solemnly to a service or goal.
3. To make venerable; hallow: a tradition consecrated by time.
4. Consecration- The devoting or setting apart of anything to the worship or service of God.

We lose a bit in the translation there. While technically ok, these terms are too synonymous to really give the nuance of the Hebrew terms; one meaning to declare something holy and the other the holy thing itself. Another thing we miss in English is that looking at my interlinear, last line says קֹדֶשׁ קֹדֶשׁם qodesh qodeshim. So vs. 29 reads something like:

29 You shall also consecrate them, so that they may be declared a most holy thing; these things you declared holy whatever touches them shall be a holy thing.

This gives a little better sense of what is going on. The entire ceremony, the specialty of the oil and the solemness of the occasion would be telling all who see it that these people and these items are set apart to the service of the Lord, and should be treated with awe and respect. To become holy by touching these items- to make yourself set apart if not actually qualified can be a dangerous thing:

Numbers 4:15a (NASB) When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them by the poles, so that they will not touch the holy objects and die.

Oil is understood by most as a symbol of the Ruach HaQodesh, especially in the New Testament; except it doesn’t actually say that anywhere in the Bible. Vs. 24 specifies the base for this mixture, the oil itself is to be olive oil. So understanding what the olive oil meant to the Hebrews is a good place to start in understanding what is happening, what is being represented here.

Richard E. Averbeck, PhD Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages says “Olive trees took a long time to grow and mature, but they also lasted for hundreds of years. Therefore, a good oil supply was a sign of stability and prosperity (e.g., Deut 8:8 ; 33:24 ; 2 Kings 20:13 ; Psalm 92:10 ; Prov 21:20 ; Isa 39:2 ; Joel 2:19 Joel 2:24). The lack of oil was a sign of the curse of God and agricultural disaster (e.g., Deut 28:40 ; Joel 1:10). As a sign of judgment Micah predicted that the nation of Israel "will press olives" but not have the opportunity to "use the oil" (6:15).”

So I don’t think it represents the Ruach HaQodesh at all. Water is the common representation for this manifestation of the Most High God in the Bible. But I think when any one or any thing was anointed with this oil, the declaration of their set apart status was representative of a promise. The same promise made to the patriarchs, to Melech Dovid, and even to Adam after his expulsion from the Garden. It is a promise of blessing as long as we follow His Torah; and the ultimate promise of the ultimate blessing, His Moshiach, Yeshua. This is why He takes this set apart status so seriously.

Again, this is just my opinion.

Dan C

[mystic]

I'm confused, should an everage person use oil to bless someone or is this only for as you say "qualified" people like Ordained Priests/Rabbis?

[alon]

Nov 7, 2020 5:18:27 GMT -8 mystic said:

I'm confused, should an everage person use oil to bless someone or is this only for as you say "qualified" people like Ordained Priests/Rabbis?

As I read it no, an average/common person should neither posses nor use this oil or anything approximating it:

31 Furthermore, you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on anyone’s body [the flesh of mankind], nor shall you make any like it in the same proportions; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever mixes any like it or whoever puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people.

From our list of actual commands in Torah:

Exodus 29:7 (ESV) You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. Officers in the synagogue should be anointed with oil at their semicha, however we do not try to replicate the Temple oil.

We should use olive oil though, as this represents the promise and the covenant. This should be done by a qualified rabbi who has received his semicha (ordination). Christianity does use oil to ordain pastors and priests, however they commonly use almost any oil and they dab some on a finger and place a bit on the forehead, more like a Hindu marking their caste than the anointing spoken of in Torah.

But as far as you and I are concerned, this oil is proscribed, forbidden. The penalty for us using it is to be cut off from God and from the assembly. Furthermore, while we may be a blessing through our actions, and we may pray for a blessing for others, we should not go around performing any rituals to bless someone, including anointing them with oils. Rituals are hollow when done to "bless" someone in need. They need us to step up and help, not get them all oily and subject them to what we have to say, or to some chant or mantra:

Matthew 6:7b (KJV) do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Dan C