◄ Exodus 30:32 ►
It must not be used to anoint an ordinary man, and you must not make anything like it with the same formula. It is holy, and it must be holy to you.
Study Bible
It must not be used to anoint an ordinary man
This phrase emphasizes the sacredness of the anointing oil described in Exodus 30. The oil was reserved for consecrating the tabernacle, its furnishings, and the priests. The prohibition against using it on an "ordinary man" underscores the distinction between the holy and the common, a recurring theme in Levitical law (Leviticus 10:10). This separation highlights the holiness required for those serving in God's presence, prefiguring the ultimate High Priest, Jesus Christ, who was anointed by God (Hebrews 1:9).

and you must not make anything like it with the same formula
The specific formula for the anointing oil, detailed earlier in Exodus 30, was unique and not to be replicated for personal use. This exclusivity signifies the uniqueness of God's covenant with Israel. The prohibition against imitation reflects the idea that divine instructions are not to be altered or commercialized, maintaining the sanctity of worship practices. This mirrors the New Testament teaching that believers are to worship "in spirit and truth" (John 4:24), without deviation from God's prescribed ways.

It is holy
The declaration of the oil as "holy" signifies its set-apart status for divine purposes. In biblical terms, holiness involves being dedicated to God and separated from sin. The anointing oil's holiness points to the need for purity and dedication in worship and service to God. This concept is echoed in the New Testament, where believers are called to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:16), indicating a life set apart for God's purposes.

and it must be holy to you
This phrase personalizes the command, requiring the Israelites to regard the oil with reverence and respect. It implies an internalization of God's holiness, urging the people to maintain a heart attitude that honors what God has declared sacred. This personal responsibility to uphold holiness is reflected in the New Testament call for believers to be living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1), emphasizing a life of worship and obedience.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The leader of the Israelites who received the instructions for the anointing oil from God.

2. Israelites
The chosen people of God, to whom the laws and instructions, including those about the anointing oil, were given.

3. Tabernacle
The portable dwelling place for the divine presence, where the anointing oil was used to consecrate the priests and sacred items.

4. Priests
The descendants of Aaron, who were anointed with this oil to serve in the Tabernacle.

5. Holy Anointing Oil
A sacred mixture used for consecrating the priests and the Tabernacle, symbolizing holiness and separation unto God.
Teaching Points
Holiness and Separation
The anointing oil was not to be used for common purposes, symbolizing the need for believers to live lives set apart for God.

Respect for God's Commands
The specific instructions about the oil remind us of the importance of obedience to God's commands and reverence for what He declares holy.

Symbolism of Anointing
Anointing in the Bible often signifies being chosen and empowered by God for a specific purpose, encouraging believers to seek God's purpose in their lives.

Guarding Sacred Things
Just as the Israelites were to guard the sacredness of the anointing oil, believers are called to guard the sacredness of their relationship with God and the gifts He has given them.

Spiritual Anointing
In the New Testament, believers are anointed by the Holy Spirit, which calls for a life of holiness and dedication to God's service.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does the prohibition against using the anointing oil for common purposes teach us about the nature of holiness?

2. How can we apply the principle of being set apart for God in our daily lives?

3. In what ways does the anointing of priests in the Old Testament foreshadow the spiritual anointing of believers in the New Testament?

4. How can we ensure that we are respecting and honoring the things God has declared holy in our lives today?

5. What are some practical ways we can seek to understand and fulfill God's purpose for our lives, as symbolized by the anointing?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Leviticus 8
Describes the consecration of Aaron and his sons, where the anointing oil is used, emphasizing its role in setting apart the priests for holy service.

1 Samuel 10
The anointing of Saul as king, illustrating the use of anointing oil in setting apart leaders for God's purposes.

Psalm 133
Highlights the preciousness of unity among God's people, likening it to the anointing oil on Aaron's head, symbolizing blessing and consecration.

1 John 2
Discusses the anointing believers receive from the Holy One, connecting the Old Testament practice to the New Testament understanding of spiritual anointing.
Sermons
The Golden Altar and the PerfumeJ. Orr Exodus 30:1-11, 34-38
The Laver and the Anointing OilJ. Orr Exodus 30:17-34
The Anointing OilC. Simeon, M. A.Exodus 30:22-33
The Holy Anointing OilJ. Spencer.Exodus 30:22-33
The Holy Anointing OilJ. G. Murphy, LL. D.Exodus 30:22-33
The Use of Oil in Daily Life and in the Symbolism of WorshipJ. H. Kurtz, D. D.Exodus 30:22-33
People
Aaron, Israelites, Moses
Places
Mount Sinai
Topics
Anyone's, Bodies, Body, Composition, Consider, Flesh, Formula, Holy, Man's, Men's, None, Oil, Ordinary, Poured, Preparation, Proper, Proportion, Proportions, Sacred, Thereof
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 30:22-33

     4492   olive
     7304   anointing

Exodus 30:23-33

     4488   oil

Exodus 30:30-32

     7767   priests, OT institution

Exodus 30:32-33

     4490   ointment

Library
The Altar of Incense
'Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon.' --EXODUS xxx. 1. Ceremonies are embodied thoughts. Religious ceremonies are moulded by, and seek to express, the worshipper's conception of his God, and his own relation to Him; his aspirations and his need. Of late years scholars have been busy studying the religions of the more backward races, and explaining rude and repulsive rites by pointing to the often profound and sometimes beautiful ideas underlying them. When that process is applied to Australian …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Ransom for Souls --I.
Then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul.' --EXODUS xxx. 12. This remarkable provision had a religious intention. Connect it with the tax-money which Peter found in the fish's mouth. I. Its meaning. Try to realise an Israelite's thoughts at the census. 'I am enrolled among the people and army of God: am I worthy? What am I, to serve so holy a God?' The payment was meant-- (a) To excite the sense of sin. This should be present in all approach to God, in all service; accompanying the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Ransom for Souls --ii.
'The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel....'--EXODUS xxx. 15. This tax was exacted on numbering the people. It was a very small amount, about fifteen pence, so it was clearly symbolical in its significance. Notice-- I. The broad principle of equality of all souls in the sight of God. Contrast the reign of caste and class in heathendom with the democracy of Judaism and of Christianity. II. The universal sinfulness. Payment of the tax was a confession that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"Whereby we Cry, Abba, Father. "
Rom. viii. 15.--"Whereby we cry, Abba, Father." As there is a light of grace in bestowing such incomparably high dignities and excellent gifts on poor sinners, such as, to make them the sons of God who were the children of the devil, and heirs of a kingdom who were heirs of wrath; so there is a depth of wisdom in the Lord's allowance and manner of dispensing his love and grace in this life. For though the love be wonderful, that we should be called the sons of God; yet, as that apostle speaks, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Jesus Pays the Tribute Money.
(Capernaum, Autumn, a.d. 29) ^A Matt. XVII. 24-27. ^a 24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received the half-shekel came to Peter, and said, Doth not your teacher pay the half-shekel? [The law of Moses required from every male of twenty years and upward the payment of a tax of half a shekel for the support of the temple (Ex. xxx. 12-16; II. Chron. xxiv. 5, 6). This tax was collected annually. We are told that a dispute existed between the Pharisees and Sadducees as to whether the payment …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

How a Private Man must Begin the Morning with Piety.
As soon as ever thou awakest in the morning, keep the door of thy heart fast shut, that no earthly thought may enter, before that God come in first; and let him, before all others, have the first place there. So all evil thoughts either will not dare to come in, or shall the easier be kept out; and the heart will more savour of piety and godliness all the day after; but if thy heart be not, at thy first waking, filled with some meditations of God and his word, and dressed, like the lamp in the tabernacle …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Copies of Things in the Heavens
'And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2. On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. 3. And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail. 4. And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. 5. And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Jesus Attends the First Passover of his Ministry.
(Jerusalem, April 9, a.d. 27.) Subdivision A. Jesus Cleanses the Temple. ^D John II. 13-25. ^d 13 And the passover of the Jews was at hand [We get our information as to the length of our Lord's ministry from John's Gospel. He groups his narrative around six Jewish festivals: 1, He here mentions the first passover; 2, another feast, which we take to have been also a passover (v. 1); 3, another passover (vi. 4); 4, the feast of tabernacles (vii. 2); 5, dedication (x. 22); 6, passover (xi. 55). This …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Annunciation to Zacharias of the Birth of John the Baptist.
(at Jerusalem. Probably b.c. 6.) ^C Luke I. 5-25. ^c 5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa [a Jewish proselyte, an Idumæan or Edomite by birth, founder of the Herodian family, king of Judæa from b.c. 40 to a.d. 4, made such by the Roman Senate on the recommendation of Mark Antony and Octavius Cæsar], a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course [David divided the priests into twenty-four bodies or courses, each course serving in rotation one week in the temple …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Last Events in Galilee - the Tribute-Money, the Dispute by the Way, the Forbidding of Him who could not Follow with the Disciples, and The
Now that the Lord's retreat in the utmost borders of the land, at Cæsarea Philippi, was known to the Scribes, and that He was again surrounded and followed by the multitude, there could be no further object in His retirement. Indeed, the time was coming that He should meet that for which He had been, and was still, preparing the minds of His disciples - His Decease at Jerusalem. Accordingly, we find Him once more with His disciples in Galilee - not to abide there, [3743] nor to traverse it …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Epistle xxviii. To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli .
To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli [136] . Gregory to Augustine, &c. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke ii. 14); because a grain of wheat, falling into the earth, has died, that it might not reign in heaven alone; even He by whose death we live, by whose weakness we are made strong, by whose suffering we are rescued from suffering, through whose love we seek in Britain for brethren whom we knew not, by whose gift we find those whom without knowing them we sought. …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Prayer
But I give myself unto prayer.' Psa 109: 4. I shall not here expatiate upon prayer, as it will be considered more fully in the Lord's prayer. It is one thing to pray, and another thing to be given to prayer: he who prays frequently, is said to be given to prayer; as he who often distributes alms, is said to be given to charity. Prayer is a glorious ordinance, it is the soul's trading with heaven. God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer. What is prayer? It is an offering …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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