ANOINTING. 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 meaning, still remains in the East ; but perfumed waters are now far more commonly em ployed than oils or ointments.
In the Scriptures three kinds of anointing are distinguishable For consecration and inaugu ration; 2. For guests and strangers; 3. For health and cleanliness. Of these in order.
I. Consecration and Inauguration.—The act of anointing appears to have been viewed as emble matical of a particular sanctification ; of a desig nation 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. This was the case also among the Egyptians, among whom the king was, ex officio, the high priest, and as such, doubtless, rather than in his secular capacity, was solemnly anointed at his inauguration.
The first instance of anointing which the Scrip tures record is that of Aaron, when he was solemnly set apart to the high-priesthood. Being first in vested with the rich robes of his high office, the sacred oil was poured in much profusion upon his head. It is from this that the high-priest, as well as the king, is called ' the Anointed' Lev. iv. 3, 5, 16; vi. 20 ; Ps. cxxxiii. 2). In fact, anointing being the principal ceremony of regal inauguration among the Jews, as crowning is with us, 'anointed,' as applied to a king, has much the same significa tion as `crowned.' It does not, however, appear that this anointing was repeated at every succes sion, the anointing of the founder of the dynasty being 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 investi ture 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 ascended the throne under circumstances in which there was danger that their right might be forcibly disputed (I Sam.
x. I ; 2 Sam. ii. 4 ; v. 1-3 ; I Chron. xi. 1-3 ; 2 Kings xi. 12 ; 2 Chron. xxiii. II). Those who were inducted into the royal office in the kingdom of Israel appear to have been inaugurated with some peculiar ceremonies (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 Jeru salem. The private anointing which was per formed by the prophets (2 Kings ix. 3 ; comp.
Sam. x. 1) was not understood to convey any abstract right to the crown ; hut was merely a symbolical intimation that the person thus anointed should eventually ascend the throne.
As the custom of inaugural anointing first occurs 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 prac tice and the notions connected with it were acquired in that country. ' With the Egyptians, as with the Jews,' the investiture to any sacred office, as that of king or priest, was confirmed 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 repre sent the anointing of their priests and kings after they were attired in their full robes, with the cap and crown upon their heads (cut 56). Some of the sculptures introduce a priest pouring oil over the monarch.' (Wilkinson's Ant. Egyptians, iv. 280).