While I do appreciate this view, I was not specifically referring to “Jesus”, but rather the tradition of the counterpart to Mashiach ben David. The “man of peace” who would precede the “man of war”. I know Christians understand this to be “Jesus”. I was more interested in the Jewish understanding of their own Messianic traditions, not those of Christianity.
It is worth noting that the two meanings of “anointed one” continue right down to the present day - as a self-conscious imitation of the Biblical ritual.
Here’s a video of Queen Elizabeth II of England being “anointed” in 1953:
The ritual:
[Emphasis added]
Thus, Queen Elizabeth II is, in that very ancient sense, a “messiah” in that she’s been “anointed” … though no one, I think, considers her a “savior”!
The most famous of those claimed to be the Messiah (other than Jesus) during that Roman period was Simon Bar Kokhba. The Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132 to 136 CE had Bar Kokhba leading many who believed him to be the Messiah. 580,000 Jews died as a result and many more were dispersed as slaves and refugees. The conceptualization of the Messiah changed a bit after that.
Regarding anointment, was the idea that oil was such a precious commodity (see, for example, the Hanukah miracle) that someone would have to be really special to waste a flask of oil by pouring it on his head?
Oddly enough, the Bible gives the exact recipe for making the stuff (allegedly handed down by God himself!). See Exodus 30:22-25:
It’s described as “perfume”. So it is oily in consistency, but not like petroleum or a lamp-oil - it’s basically a perfume with an olive oil base.
(We don’t know how much was used in an “anointing” in ancient times, but presumably it was used more like a modern cosmetic use of perfume, and not poured over the head in a bucket … )
The recipe provided in Exodus does however contain ingredients that were pricey in the ancient world - such as Myrrh. Which also figures in the New Testament as one of the gifts of the Magi.
Way we get “shekel” to mean “price” is this: the Bible was composed of stories that predate standardized coinage. Originally, a “shekel” was a particular weight of silver, not a milled coin.
Apparently, standardized units of value based on particular standard weights of precious metals was the stage right before the creation of government-issued coinage.
As you can imagine, the temptation to cheat must have been great … coins are useful at least in part because they are harder to cheat with than (say) a weighed bag of irregular bits of (alleged) silver.
In the OT, the writers sometimes specify prices as “shekels of silver”, and sometimes just “shekels”.
Thanks everyone for an interesting discussion. I only have one thing to add. My old Rabbi used used to say, “When we beat our swords into pruning hooks…and lions lay with lambs…THEN, the Messiah will have come. THEN it will be a Messianic Age”.