Exodus 30:30

And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) Thou shalt anoint Aaron.—Comp. Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 8:12.

And his sons.—See Exodus 29:21.

That they may minister unto me.—As Aaron and his sons were unfit to minister until the holy oil had been poured on them, so Christian priests can be no otherwise fitted to discharge their office than by their receiving that effluence of the Holy Spirit which the holy oil typified.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:22-38 Directions are here given for making the holy anointing oil, and the incense to be used in the service of the tabernacle. To show the excellency of holiness, there was this spiced oil in the tabernacle, which was grateful to the sight and to the smell. Christ's name is as ointment poured forth, So 1:3, and the good name of Christians is like precious ointment, Ec 7:1. The incense burned upon the golden altar was prepared of sweet spices. When it was used, it was to be beaten very small; thus it pleased the Lord to bruise the Redeemer, when he offered himself for a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour. The like should not be made for any common use. Thus God would keep in the people's minds reverence for his own services, and teach us not to profane or abuse any thing whereby God makes himself known. It is a great affront to God to jest with sacred things, and to make sport with his word and ordinances. It is most dangerous and fatal to use professions of the gospel of Christ to forward wordly interests.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An oil of holy ointment - Rather, a holy anointing oil.

After the art of the apothecary - According to Jewish tradition, the essences of the spices were first extracted, and then mixed with the oil. The preparation of the anointing oil, as well as of the incense, was entrusted to Bezaleel Exodus 37:29, and the care of preserving it to Eleazar, the son of Aaron Numbers 4:16. In a later age, it was prepared by the sons of the priests 1 Chronicles 9:30.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. cassia—from the same species of tree as the cinnamon—some think the outer bark of that tree. All these together would amount to one hundred twenty pounds, troy weight.

hin—a word of Egyptian origin, equal to ten pints. Being mixed with the olive oil—no doubt of the purest kind—this composition probably remained always in a liquid state, and the strictest prohibition issued against using it for any other purpose than anointing the tabernacle and its furniture.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Not all of them, but only those who succeed him in the high priest’s office, as appears from Exodus 40:15 Leviticus 4:3,5,16; Exodus 16:32 21:10. This anointing of them signified both God’s election or calling them to this office, and the inward qualifications requisite for it, to wit, the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, which are oft designed by this word of anointing, as Isaiah 61:1 Daniel 9:24 1Jo 2:27, and the solemn setting apart of Christ, the true High Priest, for the mediatorial office.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And thou shall anoint Aaron and his sons,.... Them alone, and not others, as Aben Ezra, who were typical of Christ anointed with the Spirit of God without measure, to his various offices of prophet, priest and King; and also of all the saints, who are anointed priests to God, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ:

and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office; by anointing them, and by other rites mentioned in the preceding chapter; whereby they were set apart for that office, and were qualified for it, and had authority to exercise it.

Geneva Study Bible

And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. Aaron and his sons] In Exodus 29:7 (cf. Leviticus 8:12), 29 anointing is prescribed only for Aaron (the high priest), and his successors in the same office: and that originally it was only the high priest who was anointed seems to follow from the fact that he is called distinctively ‘the anointed priest,’ Leviticus 4:3; Leviticus 4:5; Leviticus 4:16; Leviticus 6:22 (cf. Exodus 16:32, Exodus 21:10; Exodus 21:12, Numbers 35:25). The extension of the ceremony to his ‘sons’ (the ordinary priests) must represent a later usage: it is found here, Exodus 28:41, Exodus 40:15, Leviticus 7:36; Leviticus 10:7, Numbers 3:3. It is difficult to resist the inference that these passages belong to a later stratum of P. The reference can hardly be to the sprinkling with oil and blood noticed in Exodus 29:21, Leviticus 8:30; for this is not termed ‘anointing,’ and is subsequent to the anointing proper (Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 8:12).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30 - And thou shalt anoint Aaron, etc. Not till all his surroundings had received sanctification was Aaron to be consecrated. The tent, the ark, the table, the candlestick, the altar of incense, the brazen altar, the laver, and its base, each and all were to be touched with the holy oil, and thereby formally dedicated to God's service (Leviticus 8:10, 11), and then at last was Moses to "pour of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anoint him, to sanctify him" (ib, 12). So God constantly prepares men's spheres for them before he inducts them into their spheres. Even in the next world our Blessed Lord "prepares places for us." Exodus 30:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(see at Leviticus 8:10.). This anointing oil was holy, either because it was made from the four fragrant substances according to the proportions commanded by Jehovah, or because God declared this kind of mixture and preparation holy (cf. Exodus 30:32), and forbade for all time, on pain of death (Exodus 30:31), not only the use of ointment so prepared for any ordinary anointings, but even an imitation of it. "Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured," i.e., it is not to be used for the ordinary practice of anointing the human body (Exodus 30:32). "Man," i.e., the ordinary man in distinction from the priests. בּמתכּנתּו according to its measure, i.e., according to the proportions prescribed for its manufacture. זר (Exodus 30:33) a stranger, is not only the non-Israelite, but laymen or non-priests in general. On the expression, "cut off from his people," see at Genesis 17:14.