The Shepherd's Psalm (Pt. 6)

 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:5-6 ESV).

 

Continuing with the last two verses of the Shepherd’s Psalm, David says, “…you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” (v. 5). The Scripture is full of references to “oil.” In fact, there are nearly two hundred references that speak of oil to light lamps, oil to soothe dry skin, oil to honor guests, oil to mark a sacred place, oil to solemnize a commitment, oil to entice, oil to comfort, oil to consecrate, oil to heal, oil to anoint priests, prophets, and kings, oil to prepare a body for burial. To the ancient Israelites, prayer smelled like frankincense, balsamic, resinous, and piney, which was said to be especially sweet to God’s senses and thus continuously burned in the temple. Royalty smelled like myrrh, warm, pungent, and woody. There was also an oil used in burial and to celebrate weddings. Wealth smelled like thick, aromatic spikenard, temple sacrifice like hyssop and cedar. For anointing, the prophets employed olive oil, perhaps with a touch of sweet cassia. To be anointed with oil was to be chosen, consecrated, and commissioned for a holy task. Messiah, or Christ, means “Anointed One.”

 

The Israelites also knew the healing properties of oils, which were applied to wounds and ingested as medicine. When James instructs the early church to anoint the sick with oil and to lay their hands on the sick and pray, the prescription is both practical and spiritually significant. Our journey is filled with trial and suffering. It is a path Jesus knew intimately. He also knows our healing may come through medicine, through prayer, through presence and scent and calming touch, or through the consecrating of the journey as holy, dignified, and not without purpose or grace. There is nothing “magic” about oil. However, it is a reminder that our Heavenly Father has purpose for everything we experience. We are “anointed” to it and protected in it, being delivered to our eternal joy.

 

Notice the last of this promise as well: “… our cup overflows.” Our Shepherd is not stingy with His healing. It is overflowing, more than enough, and, ever available. Now that makes me sing even in the darkest of nights!