4150 - The Oil Used

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 12, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 31.

4150 — The Oil Used

In James 5:14 we are told, "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." When we follow the directions given by the apostle, should not a holy oil be used, made according to directions given in Ex. 30:23, 24, 31? Read Ps. 89:20. Those ingredients are all in common use to-day. A shekel is 252 grains, and the hin is 1.6 gallons. B. C. C.

It would seem not. The anointing oil for which the Lord there gives direction seems to have been for that one purpose alone, having to do with the sanctuary and its service. We are told in verses 32, 33: "Upon the flesh of man shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any like it, according to the composition thereof: it is holy, and shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people." The text in Ps. 89:20 need not have particular reference to the holy oil designed for the sanctuary; in fact, from the instruction given in Exodus it would hardly be that. What is meant in Psalms, evidently, is an oil that was simply used for that one purpose. A common oil in use in Palestine was olive-oil, that is sometimes termed sweet-oil.