Annointed to Serve
September 13, 2022
The Hebrew verb MASHACH (מָשַׁח) means “to smear” and occurs 69 times in the Hebrew Bible. You will find it in Exodus 29:2 when the Text tells us: “and from the finest wheat flour make round loaves without yeast, thick loaves without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves without yeast and BRUSHED with olive oil.” The Holman Christian Standard and English Standard versions have the loaves SMEARED with oil. The NASB renders the verb as “SPREAD”. You must go all the way back to the earliest English Bibles to get the sense for how we most often see this verb rendered into English. The Geneva translation (older than King James) says the bread is ANNOINTED, as does King James’s translation.
MASHACH is most often translated as “to annoint”. In fact, of the 69 occurrences in the Text, it is taken to mean annoint 93% of the time. MASHACH the verb gives us MASHIACH (מָשִׁיחַ) the noun, which we have as “messiah” or “annointed one”. In the Hebrew Bible, this noun is obviously applied to the promised Messiah, Yeshua. But it is also used for priests (Leviticus 4:3), kings (1 Samuel 16:6), and servants of the LORD (Isaiah 45:1). Which brings us to the passing of HRH Elizabeth II and this article by the eminent Rowan Williams.
“It singles out someone to occupy a position whose point is to manifest something about the whole community’s life—and to do so first by just being there, holding the ideals and aspirations of the community (and also carrying its projections). It is the rationale of the theological tradition that tells us that priesthood is not about an individual’s successful or meritorious performance but about fidelity to a position, for the sake of the community’s peace and well-being…. And this is what the royal anointing means at its most important level—a gift of the Holy Spirit to hold a fragile human person in faithfulness to this place where community can gather for restoration and renewal.”
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