Exodus 30:25
Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Exodus 30:22-33 and Matthew 26:6-13
God instructs Moses to make a sacred anointing oil. The following spices are the ingredients:
- liquid myrrh – 500 shekels
- fragrant cinnamon – 250 shekels
- fragrant calamus – 250 shekels
- cassia – 500 shekels
A perfumer would make these spices into an oil and the priests would pour it over the tabernacle and all the objects inside it. They would then pour them on Aaron and his sons. This would consecrate the tabernacle and Aaron and make them holy. Let’s examine each spice and see if they point us to Jesus. I’m guessing that they will!
Myrrh, comes from the word mārar which means bitter. We have covered bitters extensively in our study of the Passover and it being symbolic of the bitter sweet cross of Christ. The myrrh here is described as mōr dᵉrôr, or the myrrh of liberty. Jesus would endure the bitterness of the cross to bring liberty to us. Look at the passage Jesus read from Isaiah in the synagogue when he began his ministry in Nazareth:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19 NKJV).
The word for cinnamon comes from a root meaning “to erect,” as in God is building something. Jesus many times is called the chief cornerstone. Jesus came to build his church. Recall his exchange with Peter:
“He [Jesus] said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it’” (Matt 16:15-18 NKJV).
The third spice is qāneh bōśem, or “sweet-smelling cane.” Qāneh comes from the verb qānâ which means to create or bring forth as in the heaven and earth. It also means to purchase or redeem. The best sense of this word is to possess. Jesus came to earth to purchase our freedom and redeem us. We would then become God’s possession:
“When you believed, you were marked in him [Jesus] with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:13-14).
Lastly, the fourth spice is cassia or qiddâ. In both Hebrew and Arabic, it signifies a strip, and seems to refer to the strips of the bark. The root is the verb qadah which means “to bow the head.” Jesus came to earth in obedience to God to do His will.
“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
Then I said, “Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God”’” (Heb 10:5-7).
In the anointing oil we see Jesus, the myrrh of liberty giving His life for our freedom, the builder of His church, who purchased and redeemed His people by fulfilling the law, who came to earth to do His Father’s will. And just maybe the perfume that the woman poured from her alabaster jar onto Jesus’ head was the very same anointing oil that he represented.
Christ in the Old Testament 
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