Prayer: Father, reveal more of Your plans for the Tent of Meetings. Reveal more of Yourself to us this morning. Amen.
Reading: Exodus 27 Key: vs. 20-21
20 “Also you are to command Bnei-Yisrael, that they are to bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. 21 In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons will set it in order, to burn from evening to morning before Adonai. It will be a statute forever throughout their generations, on behalf of Bnei-Yisrael.
Attention: Have you ever thought about the vast array of things olive oil was used for in the time of Moses? It was used for hydrating and protecting their skin from the elements of a desert environment. Olive oil was used in the preparation of meals and mixed with grain used for bread. It was used in medicines, fuel for lamps, and on a body in preparation for burial.
For the Tent of Meeting, olive oil was used for lamps which were to burn “continually,” “from evening to morning before Adonai.”
I have not been around olive trees much. I have used pure or virgin olive oil in cooking. However, I was first introduced to olive trees when I attended a private Christian College in Southern California. They had olive trees on the campus. I remember the mess which they made on the sidewalks as they fell off the trees. Olives straight off the tree are not edible. Olives must be processed in a salt brine to make them edible.
In Adonai’s communication with Moses, He specified “beaten” olives. Beating or mashing olives, extracts the oil contained within each olive. This oil was used for keeping the lamps of the Tent of Meeting burning throughout the night, till morning.
In reading this passage, did you ask yourself, “where did they get the olives?” I’m wondering if they were provided supernaturally, the same way Adonai provided water, manna, and quail. Oil was used in the religious ceremony of the Hebrews for anointing. We will study the elements commanded by Adonai for creating a holy anointing oil a couple of chapters from now.
We see the use of anointing oil for purpose of consecration like the woman who anointed Jesus. Jesus too, was beaten for our transgressions. Jacob (James, Jesus’ half-brother) also tells us, if anyone is sick, to “call for Messiah’s community, and pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord (Jacob 5:13-14).”
Do you prescribe and engage in the consecrating power of anointing others for healing, prayer, and forgiveness of sins?
Action: According to God’s Word, I will begin to anoint the sick, in the name of Yeshua.
Yield: I give my ways over to God’s ways.
Engage: I am engaged with Adonai, when I live daily with His Holy Spirit.
Relationship: I live a daily lifestyle with the Holy Spirit as my guide and mentor.
Prayer: Father, may I embrace what You embrace. May I declare what You declare. I desire to be pleasing to You. Amen.
Memory Verse: Jacob (James) 5:13-14
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of Messiah’s community, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Music Video: Nathan Jess—Give Me Oil In My Lamp https://youtu.be/Txh1-93YNUE
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”