Exodus 40:9, commentary and pictures

Moses was commanded to anoint the wilderness tabernacle and all that was in it and all its vessels with anointing oil, thereby setting them apart as holy for sacred use and priestly service. They became holy only because God declared it shall be holy, for nothing becomes sacred except by His direct word. This was the once-for-all dedication of the sanctuary, performed preparatory to the commencement of ministration in its first apartment. This typical anointing supplies the expression used for the anointing of the heavenly sanctuary, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man; Daniel 9:24, to anoint the Most Holy, means not an earthly sanctuary made with hands but the Holy of Holies itself in heaven. Its anointing took place just before Christ's ministry began, at the close of the seventy weeks when Jesus ascended in A.D. 33 and entered to begin ministry in the first apartment, the holy place; therefore as the whole earthly sanctuary was anointed before ministry began in the holy place, the anointing of the Most Holy does not prove ministry began there.

Historical Setting and Erection

Exodus 40:9 belongs to the account of the wilderness tabernacle built by Moses, whose construction and furnishings are detailed in Exodus 25-40 and summarized in Hebrews 9:1-5, with its vessels made exactly according to the pattern shown to Moses in the mount. It is part of God's command to Moses to set up the sanctuary and put everything in order, belonging to the complete description of the first, worldly sanctuary pitched in the wilderness. That sanctuary was reared up in the second year after Israel departed from Egypt, on the first day of the first month, in the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt.

Moses arranged its furnishings and offerings as commanded, spreading the tent over the tabernacle, putting the testimony of the ten commandments into the ark with the mercy-seat upon it behind the veil, placing the table of showbread and the golden candlestick with lighted lamps before the Lord in the first apartment, putting the golden altar before the veil and burning sweet incense thereon, and offering the burnt offering and meat offering on the altar before the door of the tabernacle. The sanctuary had two apartments separated by a veil, the holy place and the most holy place. Its worship and service revolved around the most holy place, where God's law rested beneath the mercy-seat, where His glory was to remain, and where Israel's worship was to center as a sacred place made according to God's directions.

When the work was finished and the last curtain hung and its furnishings and offerings arranged, the cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the Lord's glory filled the tabernacle so that Moses could not enter, showing that God had taken possession of it as His dwelling among His people and the center of Israel's religious worship, with His blessing coming upon the congregation and building. After leading Israel out of Egyptian bondage across the Red Sea to Sinai, God had asked them to build the sanctuary from free-will offerings so He might dwell among them and reveal His love more fully, as a marvelously beautiful structure and great multiple object-lesson. The verse stands in the worship division of Exodus, chapters 25 to 50, providing part of the established form of worship given to Israel after deliverance from bitter bondage as they became a nation with thorough organization, efficient leadership under Moses, and a complete code of laws.

Moses set up the tabernacle and placed the showbread there on the first day of the first month, before the later command to place showbread each Sabbath was given, so that event does not prove the day was a weekly Sabbath.

Meaning of the Hallowing

Moses was commanded to take anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that was therein and all its vessels, thereby hallowing them and setting them apart as holy for sacred use and priestly service. Both holy places with all their sacred vessels were thus anointed with oil and made holy before the priestly ministration began, as preparation for service and preparatory to the commencement of ministry in the sanctuary. This typical anointing supplies the expression used for the anointing of the heavenly sanctuary, the true tabernacle where Christ ministers, and the tabernacle and its services taught spiritual truths while pointing to God's desire to dwell in the hearts of His people.

The tabernacle with all that was in it and all its vessels became holy only because God declared it shall be holy. The act of anointing with oil did not make them holy in itself, so that even a lifetime of pouring oil upon them would never have made them holy without the Lord's declaration to that effect. Nothing becomes sacred except by the direct word of God. This anointing was the once-for-all dedication or consecration of the sanctuary for priestly service. It was not done with blood upon the vessels of the holy or the most holy, for at that consecration blood mixed with oil was sprinkled upon Aaron and his sons and blood was applied to the altar of burnt offering, while the altar of burnt offering was made most holy and the laver and his foot sanctified.

When the sanctuary was sanctified it was set apart as holy for God's worship, so the priests could not use it as they would their own houses. After the tabernacle was finished and erected it was anointed with oil to prepare it for the priestly service God had appointed, hallowing the tabernacle and its furnishings for sacred use in the sacred work of putting away sin. The sanctification of the wilderness tabernacle was performed entirely by Moses in the presence of Aaron and his sons, giving the due order for Solomon taking the leading part in everything at the temple dedication, even in things supposed to belong exclusively to the priests, while the high priest is not noticed. The anointing belongs to the sanctuary's building and inauguration, after the court was set up round about the tabernacle, when the sanctuary and its vessels were made holy and God's glory at the inauguration showed His acceptance of the people's repentance.

Type of Heavenly Anointing

The anointing of both holy places and all the sacred vessels was performed preparatory to the commencement of ministration in the sanctuary, before the Levitical ministration commenced in it. The tabernacle and everything in it, including its sacred vessels, had to be anointed with oil and thereby hallowed and made holy before priestly service began. This typical anointing supplies the expression used for the anointing of the heavenly sanctuary, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man where Christ ministers. Its anointing marked the opening of ministration there, just as the earthly ministry began with this anointing.

Daniel 9:24, to anoint the Most Holy, is this same preparatory anointing applied to the new covenant. It means not an earthly sanctuary made with hands but the true tabernacle in heaven, the Holy of Holies itself. The anointing of the sanctuary is thus connected to Daniel's reference to anointing the Most Holy and marks the preparation for the heavenly sanctuary's ministration. Its anointing took place just before Christ's ministry began, at the close of the seventy weeks cut off from the 2300 days. When Jesus ascended on high in A.D. 33 after His resurrection and exaltation He entered the heavenly sanctuary to begin His ministry there, when the true tabernacle took the place of the pattern. This anointing is the pattern for the first act of Christ's ministry as High Priest in the true heavenly sanctuary, introduced near the close of the seventy weeks, whose first act is the anointing of the true tabernacle in heaven, the most holy.

The heavenly anointing was identified as the final event of the seventy weeks and the beginning of service in its first apartment. That first apartment is the holy place where are the seven lamps and the altar of incense. The same dedication took place for the heavenly sanctuary and priesthood when Christ began His ministry in the heavenly places after His resurrection and exaltation, consecrating sanctuary and priesthood for the good of His creatures for the work of putting away sin. The consecration of the first tabernacle and all its vessels with anointing oil had made them holy for that same work of putting away sin. After the whole earthly sanctuary had been anointed, the Most Holy Place as well as the Holy Place and all the sacred vessels, ministry began in the first apartment, the holy place.

Therefore the anointing of the Most Holy does not prove ministry began there and does not prove Christ ministers only in the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. The fact that Daniel 9:24 mentions the anointing of the most holy does not mean that Christ began His ministry there, since ministry began in the holy place immediately after the anointing. The order of the earthly service was an example and shadow of heavenly things, doing in the pattern what Christ does in the true. Christ first ministered in the holy place where are the seven lamps and the altar of incense, ministering there in view of the final work of judgment when He will enter the most holy place before the ark. The anointing of the Most Holy to take place within the seventy weeks stands as one fulfillment either apart from or together with Christ's anointing as He entered upon His everlasting priesthood. Christ could not minister in the heavenly sanctuary before it was anointed, just as the sanctuary's anointing therefore preceded its service.

Scripture Connections and Application

The anointing of the tabernacle belongs to the instructions for setting it apart with its furnishings as holy, and the tabernacle with its services taught spiritual truths and comprehended the plan of salvation. It was a marvelously beautiful structure built after deliverance from Egyptian bondage as a great multiple object-lesson, erected from free-will offerings so that God might dwell among His people. Its dimensions, material, furnishings and all were made exactly according to the directions given to Moses in the mount, and when the work was finished and the last curtain hung the cloud covered the tent and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle so that Moses could not enter. That first worldly sanctuary pitched in the wilderness after God brought Israel out from under Pharaoh across the Red Sea to Mount Sinai was typical and foreshadowed the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, being a type of the heavenly sanctuary where Christ ministers. All its rites pointed to the coming Messiah and His power to forgive sin, and its worship centered there until the death of Christ.

Its purpose also pointed to God's desire to dwell in the hearts of His people. The two tables spoken by God at Sinai were placed in the ark made to receive them and set in the second apartment of the earthly sanctuary, the most holy place. The top of the ark is the mercy-seat, where the breaker of the law contained beneath it finds pardon by the sprinkling of the blood of atonement upon it. The whole system of ceremonial law was ordained to enable man to approach again to that broken law, to teach how atonement could be made, and to typify the restitution of the pardoned to their inheritance and the destruction of the impenitent. This carried forward through the entire Old Testament period the ministration begun when Moses brought the law down to the people, providing the place before which the Levitical order of priesthood he set apart was to minister while the typical sanctuary continued.

The sanctuary service continued for many generations, with priests offering sacrifices and the high priest entering the Most Holy Place once a year to sprinkle blood on the mercy-seat above the law. This service was a pattern of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, until the earthly tabernacle where the ark was kept and the Levitical priesthood ministered before it later gave way to the true one in heaven. The anointing command is part of the law of Moses commanded in Horeb with the statutes and judgments, which includes civil regulations, laws of sacrifices and offerings, conduct between man and man, health laws, ceremonial laws, and moral laws. It belongs among the laws in which offerings, sacrifices, and types were revealed, whose shadows trace to the substance of the new dispensation. With Exodus 20 to 40 and Leviticus, it is part of God's law to be remembered, especially in the last days, not the Ten Commandments alone but the Ten Commandments with all the other precepts as the rule of conduct.

It belongs to a separate set of laws God gave to regulate the worship of Israel, distinct from the set of laws He gave in Exodus 21 to 23 for civil government. The division shows that civil government and religion have plainly designated natures, purposes, and executors, with civil government ordained only to control men and regulate their relations toward each other in this life, while worship belongs to a different system that persuades men to be reconciled to God, and the two must operate on entirely separate lines without commingling. The direction in Exodus 40:1-16 is cited among instructions for observances that were to be kept forever or as a perpetual covenant, including the tabernacle rites. The citation serves as an example of terms whose duration is limited by the nature and purpose of the things they describe.