TABERNACLE Quick Facts no.4
Anointing Oil
The priests who were consecrated for service in the tabernacle were anointed with a special oil that ran off their forehead into their beard and onto their garments – Psalm 133:2. Although prophets and kings were also anointed, the oil used in Exodus 30 was made from a recipe given to Moses by God and was reserved solely for use of consecrating the tabernacle, it’s furnishing and it’s priests. It is called a holy anointing and a precious ointment - Exodus 30:22-31.
The specific formula from which the anointing oil was made consisted of 500 shekels of pure myrrh (a gum resin extracted from the Arabian Balsamodendron Myrrha plant used in embalming), 250 shekels of sweet cinnamon, 250 shekels of sweet calamus (the aromatic bark of a shrub growing in Arabia), 500 shekels of cassia (a plant having the flavor and aroma of cinnamon), and a hin (one gallon) of olive oil (Ex. 30:22-25). Rabbinical sources state that Moses, having reduced the solid ingredients to powder, steeped 
them in water until all the aromatic qualities were drawn out. The olive oil was then poured into the ingredients and the water boiled out. The residue thus obtained was preserved in a vessel for use (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, p. 806).
There were three prohibitions concerning the use of the anointing oil. Exodus 30:32-33
First, it was to be poured only on the head and not “Upon man’s flesh”(Ex. 30:32). Second, the anointing oil was not to be produced for the priests’ own use or for secular purposes. (Ex. 30:32). Third, the anointing oil was not to be put “upon a stranger”(i.e., one not of the priesthood, Ex. 30:33).
This precious anointing oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit of God. New Testament believers are anointed by God’s Spirit at the moment of salvation. Paul stated, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”(Rom. 8:9). The believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion, and from then on we are commanded to be filled with (under the control of) the Spirit – Ephesians 5:18.
How sad when this precious doctrine is corrupted by some who teach that conversion and receiving the Holy Spirit are separate experiences. How sad also when the anointing of the Spirit is cheapened by those who make sensational claims to the Spirit’s power and deceive people into believing they can have the same power through gimmickry and cheap trinkets.
Believer, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise – Ephesians 4:32. You have an anointing that can be fresh every morning as you walk with God, yield yourself to His Spirit, and have fellowship in His Word!
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