Leviticus 8:12

Lev 8:12. He poured the oil upon Aaron’s head — In a plentiful manner, as appears from Psa 133:2, whereas other persons and things were only sprinkled with it; because his unction was to typify the anointing of Christ with the Spirit, which was not given by measure to him. A measure of the same anointing is given to all believers, to all the members of Christ’s mystical body, who, by virtue of their union with their living head, partake of those gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit which were in him. Reader, hast thou received a measure of them? Remember, If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(12) And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head.—In the anointing of Aaron, the oil was poured upon his head. (See also Lev_21:10-12; Exo_29:7; Psa_133:2.) This profuse pouring of oil was repeated at the consecration of every successor to the high-priesthood, whilst the common priests were simply anointed, or were simply marked with the finger on the forehead on their first installation, and this anointing descended with them for all futurity. (See Lev_6:3.) Tradition informs us that during the second Temple, the person who anointed the high priest first threw the oil upon his head, and then drew with his finger the sign of the letter Caph, being the initial of Cohen, i.e., priest, between the eyebrows of the newly-consecrated pontiff.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head,.... Which ran down to his beard, and to the collar of his coat, the robe of the ephod, but not to the skirts of his garments, as we wrongly render it, Psa 133:2. Jarchi says it was first poured on his head, and after that he put it between his eyebrows, and drew it with his finger here and there, or from one eyebrow to another: Maimonides (w) gives a like account, with some addition; he says, the oil was poured on his head, and he was anointed between the eyebrows, in the form of the Greek letter "chi": a greater profusion of oil was used in the anointing of Aaron than of the tabernacle, altar, and laver, and their vessels, he being so eminent a type of Christ, our high priest, anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows:

and anointed him to sanctify him; to signify that he was set apart and devoted to the sacred office of the priesthood. The Targum of Jonathan observes, that this anointing was after he had clothed him; though some have thought it was done before the mitre and holy crown were put on: but if they were put on to complete the investiture, they might be taken off while the ceremony of anointing was performed.

(w) In Misn. Ceritot, c. 1. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

As investing the priest with official garments was a recognition before men of the official position of the person (see Exo 28:3 note), so the anointing him with oil was an acknowledgment that all fitness for his office, all the powers with which he would rightly fulfill its duties, must come from the Lord.

So, again, with the sanctification of the holy things. Each of them was intended by divine wisdom to convey a spiritual meaning to the mind of man. They were means of grace to the devout worshipper. The oil poured upon them was a recognition of this fact, and at the same time it made them holy and set them apart from all profane and ordinary uses. On kindred grounds, though to express another idea, the altar was to be sanctified also by blood. See Lev 8:15 note.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Head. To shew that he was the fountain of the priesthood, and that power was derived from him.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He poured of the anointing oil in a plentiful manner, as appears from Psa 133:2, whereas other persons and things were only anointed or sprinkled with it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. He poured… the… oil — This expresses a copious unction. See Psa_133:2. The same Hebrew word is used in Isa_44:3, to indicate the copious effusion of the Spirit in the latter days. Aaron’s sons were only sprinkled with oil and blood, (Lev_8:30,) but in Lev_7:35, they are spoken of as anointed. The fact that Aaron alone was arrayed in his robes of office, and anointed before the blood was shed, beautifully typifies Christ in his peerless excellency and dignity anointed by the Holy Spirit before he accomplished his atoning work. Before the anointing of the sons of Aaron (Lev_8:30) all the acts recorded in Lev_8:13-29 were performed — the blood is shed, the breast waved before Jehovah, and the fat is consumed on the altar, its sweet odour ascending as a type of the ascension of Jesus, who was slain as a victim, and who ascended as a priest to appear in the holy place for us.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron"s head. The change of the verb poured for sprinkled, indicates that the amount of "the precious ointment" poured "upon the head, that ran down unto the beard, and went down to the skirts of his garments", (Psa_133:2) was far greater than that with which the furniture of the tabernacle had been anointed. The oil sprinkled on the holy things sanctified them as means of grace. The oil poured upon Aaron represents the grace of the Holy Spirit, coming from without, but diffusing itself over and throughout the whole consecrated man.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He poured - In a plentiful manner, as appears from Psalm 1xxxiii, 2, whereas other persons and things were only sprinkled with it: because his unction was to typify the anointing of Christ with the Spirit, which was not given by measure to him. A measure of the same anointing is given to all believers.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

poured of the anointing oil

Two important distinctions are made in the case of the high priest, thus confirming his typical relation to Christ the anti-type:

(1) Aaron is anointed before the sacrifices are slain, while in the case of the priests the application of blood precedes the anointing. Christ the sinless One required no preparation for receiving the anointing oil, symbol of the Holy Spirit;

(2) upon the high priest only was the anointing oil poured. "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him" Joh 3:34. "Thy God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." Heb 1:9.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He poured

"Moses poured"

sashes

This is the plural form of "sash." See how you translated this in Leviticus 8:7.

translationWords

anoint

oil

Aaron

set apart

Yahweh

Moses

son

tunic

command

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

וימשח … ‎‏ ויצק‎ AND HE POURED [THE ANOINTING OIL UPON AARON'S HEAD] AND ANOINTED |HIM| — First he poured some oil upon his head and afterwards he put a drop between his eyebrows, and he drew the oil with his finger from this place to that (this drawing the oil from one place to the other was the anointing here spoken of) (Keritot 5b; Horayot 12a; cf. also Rashi on Exodus 29:7).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.