Ki Tisa - The Oil & Messiah

The anointing oil described in this Torah portion, the Torah portion of Ki Tisa, is used to anoint not only the tabernacle and everything inside it, and the cohanim, but it was also used to anoint kings over Israel. This anointing oil has a significance to king messiah, who will be anointed with this oil.

In Exodus 20:35 it says, “And thou shalt make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil.” God commanded the people of Israel to make a sacred oil for anointing the priests and the tabernacle. The ceremony that occurred for the tabernacle and the cohanim consecrated and set apart the work of the tabernacle and the cohanim for God.

The oil is called shemen mishchat-kodesh (שמן משחת־קדש). This means, “Oil of sacred anointing.”

According to the Talmud, the original batch of sacred anointing oil that Moshe made lasted long enough that it would still be here in the final generation, as it says in Exodus 30:31, “This shall be a holy anointing oil unto Me throughout your generations.” It says in the Talmud:

The talmud goes on to explain that, before the Babylonian exile, King Josiah hid away the anointing oil, along with the ark, the jar of manna, Aaron’s staff, and the other things inside of the ark. When messiah comes, these hidden things will be revealed, and the Messiah will be anointed with the sacred anointing oil that Moshe made.

Psalms 45:7 talks about the anointing of King Messiah, and refers to the anointing oil as “the oil of gladness.” Hebrews 1:8-9 quotes it, referring to God’s son, “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”

God told Moshe not to allow the Holy anointing oil to be poured out on anyone’s body or used to anoint anyone other than the priests. Up until the days of King Josiah, who hid the oil, every high priest received the anointing before they entered into their office. During the second temple period, no one was anointed, as the oil was lost. They did not make new oil to replace it.

The sages explain that the prophets used the same oil to anoint the kings over Israel, but not all the kings, only the kings who were part of a new dynasty, or the kings whose rights to the throne were questioned.

The mystical commentary Yismach Mosheh gives a reason that the anointing of Messiah will be necessary. It isn’t because Yeshua is going to be a part of a new dynasty, as Yismach Mosheh says:

The anointing of Messiah will be necessary because his right to the throne will be questioned. Why will it be questioned? A midrash on Psalms 2:7 explains this. Psalms 2:7 says, “Thou art My son, This day have I begotten thee,” and the Midrash interprets this to mean, “At that hour that you created me [Messiah], the Holy One, blessed be He, made a new creation.” This means that God will create the Messiah as a new thing, that has never been made before. The Yismach Mosheh states:

The conclusion of this discussion applies to the return of Yeshua. The Jewish people don’t recognize him as the son of David, so when he comes back, he will have to be anointed as King Messiah.

The coronation of a king over Israel includes a fanfare of shofar blasts. This is why Jewish tradition associates Rosh Hashanah (The festival of trumpets) with God’s kingdom. Synagogue liturgy for Rosh Hashanah incorporates various prayers and traditions relating to the coronation rites. The Shofar blast is also associated with the coming of Messiah. When He comes to take his place on the throne of Yerushalayim, he will be heralded by a trumpet blast, as it says in 1 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians and Matthew: “The last trumpet.” “The trumpet of God.” “A great trumpet.”

Those present at the coronation express their loyalty to the newly crowned king with a shout of acclamation. In 1 Kings 1:25, Adonijah’s supporters shouted, “Long live King Adonijah!” In 1 Kings 1:40, after Solomon’s coronation, the crowd shouted, “May Solomon the king live!” and then there was “playing on flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth shook at their noise.”

Paul wrote about the coming acclamation the the entire world would shout at Messiah’s coronation, in Philippians 2:10-11, “That at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

In Ki Tisa, we learn about the anointing oil. According to the legends, the very same batch of anointing oil Moshe created so long ago will be used to coronate the Messiah. On that day, men and women, children and elders, everyone on the face of the earth will bow down and say, “May Yeshua the king live!”