Anointing for the Sick

February 23rd, 2019

It just so happens that I listened to the Torah Pearls show for the portion of Ki Tisa (Exodus 30:11-34:55) on the same day that I did the daily reading for Leviticus 14.

Keith, on the Ki Tisa Torah Pearls show you guys were talking about the anointing oil being used for other purposes and you referenced James 5:14, “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.” (NIV) You asked Nehemiah if there was any precedence for this either in tradition or elsewhere in the Tanak. Nehemiah said there was not but maybe that is just in the context of the priestly anointing oil.

Does Leviticus 14 now answer the question you asked? In verses 18 and 29 after a part of the oil offering is sprinkled on the alter and placed on the sick person’s right ear, thumb, and big toe, the rest of it is RUBBED ON HIS HEAD. I don’t see where this is actually called an anointing but is it not the pretty much the same thing? or at least close enough to be called an anointing in James 5?

I went ahead and listened to the Torah Pearls show for Metzora (Leviticus 14:1-15:33) and this question didn’t come back up but maybe another interesting parallel with the passage in James did. Nehemiah said that the issue of cleansing the leper and understanding the disease was too much for the common Israelite which is why it had to be handled by the priest. In James he also says to “call the elders of the church (assembly).” Again reading from the front of the book to the back and not vice versa could we understand James to be upholding the instructions given in Leviticus? This also reminds me of Jesus himself telling the healed leper to “… go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” (Mark 1:44 NIV)

If this is a valid connection between the three passages (The anointing oil in Exodus vs the offering oil of Leviticus and James 5) we once again see the New Testament authors upholding the Torah and not going against it (or making up their own instructions). This of course is made even stronger by Jesus telling the leper to follow the Torah of being cleansed of leprosy.