OIL, OINTMENT one), from Inv), to become fat ; 111r, from iriV, to shine ; ript nrip,n, from np-I, to season, to perfume; • ririvn, from nun, to anoint, properly unction or anointing [Exod. xxx. 25, `make oil of holy anointing'= holy anointing oil] ; Sept. eXcuov, gOpou, xpio-,ua, xpirns was far more extensively used among the ancient Hebrews than in our northern climate. The use of oil is equally general throughout Western Asia at the present time, as it was in primitive ages. Oil was much used instead of butter and animal fat, at meals and in various preparations of food (see FOOD, and comp. Ezek. xvi. 13). In such uses oil, when fresh and sweet, is more agreeable than animal fat. The Orientals think so ; and Europeans soon acquire the same preference. Oil was also in many cases taken as a meat-offering (Lev. v. It ; Num. v. 15) ; and it was then mixed with the meal of oblation (Exod. xxix. 40 ; Lev.
ii. 4 ; vi. 21 ; Vii. 12 ; Nuns. Vi. I 5) [OFFERING]. The rite of sprinkling with oil, as a libation, does not occur in the law, but seems to be alluded to in Micah vi. 7.
The application of oil to the person has been described in the article ANOINTING. Whether for luxury or ceremony, the head and beard were the parts usually anointed (Deut. xxviii. 4o ; 2 SaM, xiv. 2 ; Ps. xxiii. 5 ; xcii. 11 ; civ. 15 ; Luke vii. 46) ; and this use of oil became at length proverbially common among the Israelites (Prov. xxi. 17).
The employment of oil for burning has been illustrated in the article LAMPS. It is only neces sary to add, that for this, and indeed for most other purposes, olive-oil was considered the best, and was therefore used in the lamps of the taber nacle. The custom of anointing the diseased and the dead has been noticed in the article A NOINT ING ; and for the use and compostion of fragrant oils and ointments, see PERFUMES.
The numerous olive-plantations in Palestine made olive-oil one of the chief and one of the most lucrative products of the country : it sup plied an article of extensive and profitable traffic with the Tyrians (Ezek. xxvii. 17 ; comp. I Kings v. ; and presents of the finer sorts of olive-oil were deemed suitable for kings. There is in fact no other kind of oil distinctly mentioned in Scrip ture ; and the best, middling, and inferior oils appear to have been merely different qualities of olive-oil. The berries of the olive-tree were some times plucked, or carefully shaken off by the hand, before they were ripe (Dent. xxiv. 20 ; Is. xvii. 6 ; xxiv. 13). If while they were yet green, instead of being thrown into the press, they were only beaten or squeezed, they yielded the best kind of oil. It was called Ophacinum, or the oil of unripe olives, and also beaten' or i fresh oil' (Exod. xxvii. 20). There were presses of a peculiar kind for preparing oil called ;nu; ro, gath-shemen (whence the name Gethsemane, or oil-press,' Matt. xxvi. 36 ; John xviii. I), in which the oil was trodden out by the feet (Micah vi. 15). The first expression of the oil was better than the second, and the second than the third. Ripe olives yielded the least valuable kind of oil, but the quantity was more abundant. The best sort of oil was prepared with fragrant spices, and was used in anointing ; the inferior sorts were used with food and for lamps.