Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always.

• 1 Samuel 2:34-35

Lord God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David your servant.”

• 2 Chronicles 6:42

“Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”

• Psalm 105:15

“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.

• Daniel 9:25-26

The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.’

• Acts 4:26

I wrote in the most recent quiz that “Anointed One” is mentioned fourteen times in the Bible.  It is capitalized twice, two consecutive verses in Daniel 9.  It is plural twice, as in anointed ones, but in both cases, 1 Chronicles 16 and Psalm 105, it is a line in a psalm.

The first reference (1 Samuel 2) was a prophecy to Eli that his sons would die.  Note that Eli did not fall over and die when he heard his sons had died.  He already knew they would.  Eli fell over and hit his head when he heard that the Ark of the Covenant had been captured in battle.  But the prophecy talks about how God will firmly establish His priestly house and they shall serve the anointed one always.  This is a reference to Jesus, but not as king.  This is a prophecy of Jesus as high priest, after the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus is our prophet, priest, and king.  Jesus is the Anointed One in 1 Samuel 2 as high priest.  Jesus is the Anointed One, or part of the group, in 1 Chronicles 16 and Psalm 105, as prophet.  In each case, anointed ones is followed by not harming the prophets.

But in many of the other references, the author is talking about a king, not necessarily The King of kings.

But what of the two references to the Anointed One, that is when the text capitalizes the two words?  This is in a prophecy of Daniel sometimes called the seventy sevens.  The early sevens are consecutive.  They note when the ministry of Jesus will be and how long that ministry will be.  There will be a temple.  It was built by Herod the Great for his own glory, but there was a temple and the priests tried to follow the rules set by Moses, to some extent.  So, the Anointed One is Jesus, the Messiah.  The people that ruled over the land destroyed the temple after the Anointed One was killed.  All that meshes with history, but then there is a gap.  The remaining seven refers to the End of Days which has yet to occur.  So, as you read the two verses, it might be a bit confusing.

So, even when Solomon prayed to God in 2 Chronicles 6, he is referring to himself, while loosely quoting the Psalms, asking God not to reject the anointed one, but in essence, Solomon’s supplication inadvertently refers to Jesus as a descendant of David’s line.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.