מָשַׁח

From the study of Isaiah 61:1

Range of meaning

To smear or pour oil on something or someone, especially to consecrate them for an office. Kings were anointed (Saul, David, Solomon, Jehu), so were priests (Exod 28:41; Lev 8:12), and once a prophet (Elisha, 1 Kgs 19:16). The passive noun mashiaḥ means 'anointed one'. It is used of the reigning king ('YHWH's anointed', 1 Sam 24:6), of the high priest (Lev 4:3), and even of the Persian king Cyrus (Isa 45:1).

Against the English

English 'anoint' is accurate. The risk is that readers hear only a later, fully developed idea of 'the Messiah', or a devotional sense of 'anointing' as spiritual power for ministry. In Hebrew the word is first of all about installation: a public act that makes someone an official agent of God.

How it drifted

The verb itself has not drifted. What changes the reading is the later technical sense of 'Messiah' as one end-time figure, which developed mainly in the Second Temple period (roughly 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE).

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Hebrew Bible anointing is almost always with literal oil. Here, as in 1 Sam 16:13, the Spirit comes with the anointing. The Dead Sea Scrolls call prophets 'anointed ones' (CD 2:12; 6:1; 1QM 11:7). 11QMelchizedek (2nd–1st century BCE) quotes Isa 52:7 and 61:1–2 and identifies the herald as 'the one anointed of the Spirit' (mashiaḥ ha-ruaḥ). The Septuagint translates with echrisen, from the same root as christos.

From the study of 2 Samuel 5:3

Range of meaning

To smear or pour oil (or paint) on something. Ritually it means to anoint a person or object and so set it apart for an office or a sacred use: kings (Saul, David, Solomon, Jehu, Joash), the high priest (Exod 29:7; Lev 8:12), the tabernacle and its furnishings (Exod 40:9–11), and once a prophet (1 Kgs 19:16). The noun māšîaḥ, 'anointed one', comes from this root and is the origin of the word 'Messiah'.

Against the English

English 'anointed' is accurate. The trouble is what modern readers hear in it (see drift).

How it drifted

In modern church language 'anointing' often means a spiritual empowerment or a felt special presence. In this verse the word names a public installation rite, a legal and sacred act that made a man king, carried out by the people's representatives.

Used elsewhere in the period

Anointing kings is attested outside Israel. In the Amarna letter EA 51, a Syrian ruler recalls that the Egyptian king had made his grandfather king 'and put oil on his head'. In Israel, ordinary people or their leaders could anoint the king: Judah's men anoint David (2 Sam 2:4), Israel 'anointed' Absalom (2 Sam 19:10), and the people of the land anoint Jehoahaz (2 Kgs 23:30). Prophets and priests anoint as well (1 Sam 10:1; 16:13; 1 Kgs 1:39).

From the study of Leviticus 2:4

Range of meaning

To smear, spread or daub a liquid (usually oil) on something. It is used for painting a house (Jer 22:14, 'painting it with vermilion'), oiling a shield (Isa 21:5), smearing wafers (here; Exod 29:2; Num 6:15), and, in its most famous use, anointing priests, kings, and sacred objects with oil to set them apart. The noun māshîaḥ, 'anointed one' (English 'messiah'), comes from it.

Against the English

KJV and WEB 'anointed' is etymologically correct but makes a modern reader hear a sacred ceremony. BSB 'coated', ESV 'smeared', NASB 'spread', NIV 'brushed' all give the plain physical action, which is what is going on here.

How it drifted

In English 'anoint' survives almost only in religious use, so it carries ceremonial weight that the Hebrew verb did not always have.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it kechrismena ('smeared/anointed'), from chriō, the verb behind christos. The Babylonian Talmud (Menaḥot 75a) records a tradition that the wafers were brushed with oil in the shape of the Greek letter chi (X), the same tradition it gives for anointing priests. That is a later rabbinic detail, not something the verse says.