Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 37:25-29

25 And he made the incense altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same.

26 And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: also he made unto it a crown of gold round about.

27 And he made two rings of gold for it under the crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal.

28 And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold.

29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.

We hear of the construction of the incense altar, which completes all of the furniture of the tabernacle, and then we move on to the formulating of the anointing oil and the spices, which would be used for certain rituals within the tabernacle. Thus, we finish the chapter by concluding the house of the Lord, and next chapter we will go into the elements that were in the courtyard.

Reading these verses, it occurred to me that the holy anointing oil and the sweet spices were two things that the priests would run out of and have to have replaced. I wonder if there was any specific instruction as to how and where new batches could be created and who could do it. If so, we do not have those records.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 30:22-25

22 Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

23 Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,

24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin:

25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

We already heard that the priests and their clothing would be anointed with a special anointing oil. Today we learn exactly what the recipe for that oil would be.

Olive oil would be the base, and mixed into it would be myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. Myrrh had the dual properties of creating a pleasant scent and having medicinal properties. Cinnamon and cassia (which is another type of cinnamon), are also known for their pleasant scent as well as their flavor. Calamus was historically used as a medicine in some cultures, though modern research has not found any legitimate use for it as such, but it also has a pleasant aroma.

Thus, it was an anointing oil with culinary, medicinal, and aromatic properties. Good for the body, good for the senses, and now good for the soul!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:20-21

20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

21 In the tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

We already heard about the seven lamps upon the menorah within the tabernacle, but today we learn about the oil that they would use. A wick would be placed into the oil that would absorb the oil up into its body. When lit, the wick would continually absorb up more oil as the previous oil was consumed in the flame. Being saturated by the oil, the wick would be able to tolerate the flame and not immediately turn to ash as it would if it were dry.

There is clear symbolism here, wherein the wick is our soul, the oil is the spirit of Christ, and the flame is the glory of God. Surrendering our lives to God’s glory is like being subjected to a fire, glorious and scorching at the same time, but we are able to tolerate its heat by the constant refreshing of His spirit. If the spirit in us is not refreshed, we will eventually run out and be left vulnerable to the flame. So, just as the priests were required to replace the oil “to cause the lamp to burn always,” we must continually seek spiritual refreshment to keep our spiritual flame forever alive. This brings to mind Jesus’s promise to be a fountain constantly springing up into everlasting life within us.

Another point that must be made is the requirement that the oil to be used was “pure oil olive beaten.” There were two ways of extracting the oil from olives. The first was to put them into a mill and grind them. This would extract a lot of oil quickly, but it would be filled with the sediment of the broken olives and particles from the stones used in the mill. The other method was to beat and bruise them in a pestle, after which the oil would flow out freely, extremely clear and pure.

Crushed olives, mixed with the sediment of the world, produces a cloudy oil. So, too, fragmented gospel, mixed with the trends of the world, produces an unclear vision. Pure truth takes precision and effort to extract. It includes beating out our misconceptions and bruising our ego, often flowing from our wounds. Of course, there is also symbolism of Christ as the olive that was beaten and bruised, and His spirit flowing out of his wounds for all of us.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Worthy Vessels- 2 Kings 4:2-7

And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.
And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

COMMENTARY

Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil
She shut the door upon her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out
The handmaid had nothing but a single pot of oil in her house. It was all that she gave God to work with, but it was more than enough. For it wasn’t the pot that mattered, just so long as it was a container from which blessings could flow. Once blessed by the hand of God that pot was able to not only fill itself, but also every other vessel it came in contact with.
When God asks to work through us we might feel that we are little more than a simple pot as well. It is easy for us to say that we don’t contain enough goodness or capability to fill the soul of another, but frankly we don’t have to. In and of itself, the pot didn’t have enough either, but somehow it found its extra oil in the giving of what it had. So long as another vessel was present and the oil pot tried to share with it, God made up the difference.

Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live
The oil pays our debts and lets us live. The grace of God that flows through us and into others also purifies our own hearts and absolves us of our sins. It is an astounding charity of God, for He performs the miracle, but then rewards us as if it had been our own merit.
We do not have to create the oil, we just have to be willing to pour.