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Amos 6

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1 Sorrow to those who are resting in comfort in Zion, and to those who have no fear of danger in the mountain of Samaria, the noted men of the chief of the nations, to whom the people of Israel come!

2 Go on to Calneh and see; and from there Go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are you better than these kingdoms? or is your land wider than theirs?

3 You who put far away the evil day, causing the rule of the violent to come near;

4 Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house;

5 Making foolish songs to the sound of corded instruments, and designing for themselves instruments of music, like David;

6 Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.

7 So now they will go away prisoners with the first of those who are made prisoners, and the loud cry of those who were stretched out will come to an end.

8 The Lord God has taken an oath by himself, says The Lord, the God of armies: the pride of Jacob is disgusting to me, and I have hate for his great houses: so I will give up the town with everything in it.

9 Then it will come about that if there are still ten men in a house, death will overtake them.

10 And when a man's relation, even the one who is responsible for burning his body, lifting him up to take his bones out of the house, says to him who is in the inmost part of the house, Is there still anyone with you? and he says, No; then he will say, Keep quiet, for the name of the Lord may not be named.

11 For see, at the order of the Lord the great house will be full of cracks and the little house will be broken.

12 Is it possible for horses to go running on the rock? may the sea be ploughed with oxen? for the right to be turned by you into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into a bitter plant?

13 You whose joy is in a thing of no value, who say, Have we not taken for ourselves horns by the strength which is ours?

14 For see, I will send against you a nation, O Israel, says the Lord, the God of armies, ruling you cruelly from the way into Hamath as far as the stream of the Arabah.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 779

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779. Since oil is mentioned here among sacred ingredients of worship, and symbolizes celestial good, we must say something now about the oil used in anointing, oil which was used by ancient peoples and afterward commanded to the children of Israel.

In ancient times people anointed stones set up as pillars, as is apparent from Genesis 28:18-19, 22. They also anointed weapons of war, shields and bucklers (2 Samuel 1:21, Isaiah 21:5). The Israelites were commanded to prepare holy oil with which to anoint all the sacred ecclesiastical vessels; and they used it to anoint the altar and all its vessels, as well as the Tabernacle and all its vessels (Exodus 30:22-33, 40:9-11; Leviticus 8:10-12; Numbers 7:1). They used it to anoint the men who exercised the functions of the priesthood and their garments (Exodus 29:7, 29, 30:30, 40:13-15; Leviticus 8:12; Psalm 133:1-3). They used it to anoint prophets (1 Kings 19:15, 16). They used it to anoint kings, and kings were called therefore Jehovah's anointed (1 Samuel 10:1, 15:1, 16:3, 6, 12, 24:6, 10, 26:9, 11, 16, 23; 2 Samuel 1:16, 2:4, 7, 5:3, 17, 19:21; 1 Kings 1:34, 35, 19:15, 16; 2 Kings 9:3; 11:12; 23:30; Lamentations 4:20; Habakkuk 3:13; Psalms 2:2, 6; 20:6; 28:8; 45:7; 84:9; 89:20, 38, 51; 132:17).

[2] Anointing with holy oil was commanded because oil symbolized the goodness of love and represented the Lord, who in His humanity is Himself Jehovah's anointed and His only anointed, being anointed not with oil, but with the Divine goodness itself of Divine love. Consequently He is also called the Messiah in the Old Testament and Christ in the New Testament (John 1:41; 4:25), Messiah and Christ meaning "the Anointed."

That is why priests, kings, and all ecclesiastical vessels were anointed, and having been anointed were called holy - not that they were holy in themselves, but because by virtue of the anointing they represented the Lord in His Divine humanity. Consequently it was a sacrilege to harm a king, because he was Jehovah's anointed (1 Samuel 24:6, 10; 26:9).

[3] Furthermore, it was an accepted practice to anoint themselves and others to attest to their gladness of heart and goodwill, but with ordinary oil or some other fine oil, and not with holy oil (Matthew 6:17; Mark 6:13; Luke 7:46; Isaiah 61:3; Amos 6:6; Micah 6:15; Psalms 92:10; 104:15; Daniel 10:3; Deuteronomy 28:40). They were not permitted to anoint themselves or others with holy oil (Exodus 30:31-33).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.