ANOINTING (a-noint'ing), (Heb. usually maw-shakh' ; Gr. xplcu, khree'o, to rub).
The practice of anointing with perfumed oils or ointments appears to have been very common among the Hebrews as it was among the ancient Egyptians. The practice, as to its essential mean ing, still remains in the East, but perfumed waters are now far more commonly employed than oils or ointments.
In the Scriptures three kinds of anointing are distinguishable :—I. For consecration and inau guration; 2. For guests and strangers; 3. For health and cleanliness. Of these in order.
(1) Consecration and Inauguration. The act of anointing appears to have been viewed as emblematical of a particular sanctification ; of a designation to the service of God ; or to a holy and sacred use. Hence the anointing of the high-priests (Exod. xxix :29 ; Lev. iv:3), and even of the sacred vessels of the tabernacle (Exod. xxx :26, etc.) ; and hence also, probably, the anointing of the king, who, as 'the Lord's anointed,' and, under the Hebrew constitution, the viceroy of Jehovah, was undoubtedly invested with a sacred character.
The first instance of anointing which the Scrip tures record is that of Aaron, when he was sol emnly set apart to the high-priesthood. Being first invested with the rich robes of his high office, the sacred oil was poured in much pro fusion upon his head. It is from this that the high-priest, as well as the king, is called 'the Anointed' (Lev. iv :3; v :i6 ; vi :15, 2o; Ps. cxxxiii :2). In fact, anointing being the princi pal ceremony of regal inauguration among the Jews, as crowning is with us, 'anointed,' as ap plied to a king, has much the same significance as 'crowned.' It does not, however, appear that this anointing was repeated at every succession, the anointing of the founder of the dynasty be ing considered efficient for its purpose as long as the regular line of descent was undisturbed ; hence we find no instance of unction as a sign of investiture in the royal authority, except in the case of Saul, the first king of the Jews, and of David, the first of his line; and, subsequently, in those of Solomon and Joash, who both as cended the throne under circumstances in which there was danger that their right might be forci bly disputed (1 Sam. xix :24 ; 2 Sam. 1/ :4 ; v :1-3 ; Chron. xi :1, 2; 2 Kings xi :12-20; 2 Chron. xxiii :1-21). Those who were inducted into the royal office in the kingdom of Israel appear to have been inaugurated with some peculiar cere monies (2 Kings ix :13). But it is not clear that they were anointed at all ; and the omission (if real) is ascribed by the Jewish writers to the want of the holy anointing oil which could alone be used on such occasions, and which was in the keeping of the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem. The private anointing which was performed by the prophets (2 Kings ix:3; Comp.
Sam. x :I) was not understood to convey any abstract right to the crown; but was merely a symbolical Intimation that the person thus anointed should eventually ascend the throne.
As the custom of inaugural anointing first oc curs among the Israelites immediately after they left Egypt, and no example of the same kind is met with previously, it is fair to conclude that the practice and the notions connected with it were acquired in that country. With the Egyp tians, as with the Jews, the investiture to any sacred office, as that of king or priest, was con firmed by this external sign ; and as the Jewish lawgiver mentions the ceremony of pouring oil upon the head of the high-priest after he had put on his entire dress, with the mitre and crown, the Egyptians represent the anointing of their priests and kings after they were attired in their full robes, with the cap and crown upon their heads.
(2) For Guests and Strangers. The anoint ing of our Saviour's feet by 'the woman who was a sinner' (Luke vii :38) led to the remark that the host himself had neglected to anoint his head (v :46) ; whence we learn that this was a mark of attention which those who gave enter tainments paid to their guests. As this is the only direct mention of the custom, the Jews are supposed by some to have borrowed it from the Romans at a !ate period, and Wetstein and others have brought a large quantity of Latin erudition to bear on the subject. But the careful reader of the Old Testament knows that the custom was an old one, to which there are various in direct allusions. The circumstances connected with feasts and entertainments are indeed rarely intimated ; nor would the present direct reference to this custom have transpired but for the re marks which the act of a woman in anointing the feet of Jesus called forth. Such passages, however, as Ps. xxiii :5 ; Prov. xxi :7 ; xxvii :9; Wisd. ii :7, as well as others in which the enjoy ments of oil and wine are coupled together, may be regarded as containing a similar allusion. It is, therefore, safer to refer the origin of this custom among the Hebrews to their nearer and more ancient neighbors the Egyptians, than to the Romans or the Greeks, who themselves had probably derived it from the same people. Among the Egyptians the antiquity of the custom is evinced by their monuments, which offer in this respect analogies more exact than classical an tiquity, or modern usage, can produce. With them the custom of anointing was not confined to the appointment of kings and priests to the sacred offices they held. It was the ordinary token of welcome to guests in every party at the house of a friend; and in Egypt, no less than in Judma, the metaphorical expression "anointed with the oil of gladness" was fully understood, and applied to the ordinary occurrences of life.