God's Chosen or good perfume?
What does it mean to be anointed? When someone or something is anointed it means they are smeared with perfumed oil. Theologically, in simple terms, to be anointed means to be made holy. More specifically, it is an object or person that has been set aside for divine use. To be anointed meant that you had been empowered to accomplish his task and that no one was allowed to harm you. People of authority, both of the temple and state, were also anointed to signify their responsibility to God and the people. As Deborah Green points out, those that were anointed would have been segregated from the general population. Those who had been anointed, priest and rulers, would have been identifiable by their smell if not by their appearance (71). It seems to me that this would create a kind of religious hierarchy. It seems to stress that some are more important to God than others and that they should be favored and distinguished. I think it is amazing that classes can be created just by a s...