Anointing (with Olive Oil)

Anciently, anointing with oil was a profoundly powerful, sacred gesture conducted in various settings to spiritually elevate the person or the thing that was anointed; both people and things were anointed. The anointing was so significant that it was forbidden for souls to speak out against the anointed of the Lord (see 1 Sam. 24:6, 10; 26:9, 11, 23; 2 Sam. 19:21). Repeatedly the oil is called holy. It shall be a “holy anointing oil. . . . It is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. . . . It shall be unto you most holy. . . . it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord” (Ex. 30:31–32, 36–37). Anointings also belong to modern temples, where both females and males are anointed. President Packer wrote, “Associated with the endowment are washings and anointings—mostly symbolic in nature, but promising definite, immediate blessings as well as future blessings.”16 Sacred anointings are mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants: “Let the anointing of thy ministers be sealed upon them with power from on high” (D&C 109:35; see also 124:39).

Who and what was anointed? The Lord commanded Moses to anoint priests and high priests of the tabernacle: “Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him” (Ex. 29:7; see also 28:41; 40:13; Lev. 8:12; 21:10). The Lord also commanded Moses to anoint vessels, appurtenances, and items that belonged to the tabernacle (see Ex. 30:26–33; 40:9–10; Num. 7:1), including the altar (see Ex. 29:36; 40:10). Although a mortal may conduct the anointing, it is as if God Himself has performed it: “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God” (2 Cor. 1:21; see also Ps. 23:5; 1 John 2:20).

Anointing of priest (model) with olive oil.

What did the anointings symbolize? The anointing had powerful symbols attached to it. Referring to ancient temple anointings and the anointing of the king, Elder Oaks explained, “The Old Testament frequently mentions anointing with oil as part of a blessing conferred by priesthood authority. Anointings were declared to be for sanctification and perhaps can also be seen as symbolic of the blessings to be poured out from heaven as a result of this sacred act.”17

The scriptures testify that the anointing rite served to sanctify an object or person for divine service: Moses “anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them” (Lev. 8:11; see also Ex. 29:36; 40:10–11); Moses “poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him” (Lev. 8:12; see also Ex. 28:40–41).

Significantly, anointed priests were types and shadows of Jesus Christ, who is the Anointed One. Their anointing echoed the anointing of the Messiah. Certainly, the anointing ritual was Christ-centered. Metaphorically, Jesus is the “Horn of Salvation” (Luke 1:69), a reference to the horn of oil that is poured upon recipients of the anointing (see 1 Sam. 16:1; 1 Kgs. 1:39, 45). The anointing was part of a “gesture of approach” rite that qualified the anointed person to approach sacred space.

Associated with this, olive oil, the material utilized in the anointing ritual, could be interpreted to express the Holy Ghost (see Acts 10:38; D&C 45:56–57; see “Olive Oil”). Those who received the anointing were sanctified through the agency of the Holy Ghost, enabling them to enter the presence of God.

Jesus Christ received the sacred anointing, thus becoming the Messiah (Hebrew: “anointed one”) and the Christ (Greek: “anointed one).” Both terms were employed by John when he wrote, “the Messias [Messiah], which is, being interpreted, the Christ” (John 1:41; see also 4:25). In Psalm 45, the Lord is represented as being anointed with oil by God: “Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Ps. 45:7; see also Heb. 1:9). Two citations in the Acts of the Apostles indicate a divine anointing of Christ by God (see Acts 4:27; 10:38).