Yesterday I was reminded of the indelible stains that oil leaves behind on fabric. Aaron’s Temple garments, the resplendent robes describe in Exodus, would have been costly beyond description for the materials and labor needed to create them. The purple dye alone would have required painstaking labor to apply. A vesicle in the body of a certain sea snail would be squeezed on to the fabric, one small drop of dye at a time. Thousands of snails would be sacrificed just to dye a few inches of fabric. Gold, gemstones, even a golden diadem were part of the outfit. But it was incomplete in the Lord’s eyes until after Moses had covered this precious, labor-intensive garment with pure olive oil. “And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water. And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office” (Ex. 40:12-13).
Aaron, his priestly robes, and everything else were God’s, so Moses obliged and poured oil on Aaron. But the stains left on my cheap clothing last night were distressingly permanent. I would not want them on my Sunday best.
The names Christ and Messiah mean “The Anointed One.” What is anointing for? What does it symbolize? I will attempt to scratch the surface and give bare-bones answers from the scriptures here. From what I could find after a brief survey of the scriptures, these are the purpose of anointing.
Just as God required Aaron to be anointed to his calling as High Priest of the Tabernacle, so God requires that others be anointed to perform other callings. They are anointed to callings; as if the act itself turned them into the office itself. How does oil figure into receiving a calling?
Those who are called to do works by God receive certificates of authenticity to prove their divine appointments. Moses was told God’s name, and given power to work miracles, all to convince the Israelites that he was indeed called as a prophet to lead them from bondage. Prophets, priests, and kings all want divine sponsorship, and all receive anointing as part of their initiation into their offices (whether they are supported by God or not). When kings and prophets are called, anointing precedes appointment to specific callings. How is oil a stamp of divine sanction?
Oil has calories—9 per gram—and these can be released by human metabolic processes to sustain life. They can also be released by a flame, and instead of sustaining life, they produce light. Both of these were uses of oil anciently. Oil anticipates, prefigures, spiritual equivalents of these functions in God’s messengers.
Oil remains dormant until a flame touches it; then it sparks to life, releasing light and energy. Moses’ face shone with such luster that the terrified Israelites asked him to cover his face with a veil as he acted as a go-between for God and them. They knew he was conversing with God because of the brilliant light emanating from his face. Abinadi also exhibited this light, as did Joseph Smith on many occasions when he taught the saints. These manifestations make the authenticity of their divine callings undeniable. The disciples spent time in Jerusalem, “continually in the temple,” before their missions after Jesus ascended (Luke24:53). All missionaries today first go to the Temple before they serve their missions. “Cloven tongues like as of fire” rested upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, and they were able to speak in tongues, and their ethnically diverse audience was amazed. “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” (Acts 2:8). Signs follow true disciples, and light in our countenances is one of them, one that cannot be faked.
Moses was able to detect Satan: “...where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?...I could not look upon God, except his glory should come upon me...But I can look upon thee in the natural man...where is thy glory, for it is darkness unto me?” Moses saw God’s glory, and could discern counterfeits; the Israelites could see that same stamp of glory on Moses.
Anointing not only assigns to specific purposes; it also precludes others. Before a Temple is dedicated, anyone can go inside to tour it; after it is dedicated, only specific people go inside for specific purposes. Likewise, before Aaron was made a High Priest, he could go anywhere, do anything, or say anything. But after he was anointed, he could only do certain things. He was involved in the same dedication as the entire Tabernacle; he was as much a part of the Temple setup as the Laver or the Altar. I used to think HOLINESS TO THE LORD meant “praise God,” or something like that. It means, “This belongs to the Lord,” or, “Consecrated to the Lord.” This phrase was written on the front of the golden crown worn by the High Priest; he was God’s property, and could not participate in the ordinances of the Tabernacle otherwise. Being covered in oil indicated that for the furniture and the High Priest—all things associated with the Tabernacle had to be removed from worldly circulation.
Anointing is also performed for the sick. It is also unto a calling—life or death, but ultimately to resurrection. When Jesus is anointed by Mary Magdalene, the disciples chide her. It was a waste of expensive oil in their eyes, robbing the poor. It may have been ritual misuse of sacred oil meant only for the Temple in their eyes (see Ex. 30:21-33, esp. 33). It may have been a severe breech of mores for a woman to unbind her hair in public (as it still is in most of the Middle East today), tactless of her to wipe a man’s feet with it. It may have seemed politically dangerous, a sign of treason and sedition, to poor oil on a man in public, since that is the main feature of coronation ceremonies (the people ran to meet Jesus upon his entry to Jerusalem, hailing Him as a conquering King). The gospels indicate that this act was the last straw, the thing that tipped Judas over the edge and sent him to the Pharisees to betray Jesus.
Regardless of the motive behind the flurry of consternation stirred up by Mary’s brazen act, Jesus told the distraught witnesses not to panic: “...Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me...For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial” (Matt. 26:10-12). (There may have been a twinge of ironic humor in this statement if the act were perceived as an attempt to replace the Caesar.) In any case, He indicated that this anointing was an appointment to fulfill His mission to die, and to be resurrected, as well as indicating Mary’s roll in preparing Him for burial. Death is inevitable for the sick, whether they are healed first, or succumb to the disease. Resurrection is also a certainty; anointing indicates this for them. Oil is a source of life.
Just as oil creates and fuels physical light and life, so Jesus calls Himself the Light and the Life of the world. Just as oil is the physical intersection for light and life, so the priesthood and the Holy Ghost are the spiritual intersection of light and life. (The sun is also a light source that generates new life.) Jesus is the source of them all, the Creator. Those whom He sends forth are endowed with special gifts, and manifestations flow from them. This manifestations constitute certification of a minister's divine calling. Baptism represents being born into the Church, a new birth; anointing with oil anticipates the moment when we will be baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, the moment when the flame will kindle the fuel already in us. This is not for our benefit or to convince an audience only; this endowment of power allows us to perform our assigned tasks.
