The Special Offices in the Old Testament
We know of only one office among the people of Israel before they came to Mt. Sinai. That was the office of elder (Exodus 3:16,18, 4:29 and 12:21). This office continued throughout all of Israel’s history as recorded in the Scriptures, so that we even read of elders of the people in the gospels and Acts (Matthew 15:2, 16:21, 21:23, 26:3,47,57,59, 27:1,3,12,20,41, 28:12, and others in Mark, Luke and Acts). These were, doubtless, called elders because of their age and wisdom. They were leaders among the people of Israel even in their bondage in Egypt. They represented them in various matters, made decisions for them, judged disputes, advised them on questions of the law and took charge in some matters of worship.
At Sinai and in the wilderness, however, other offices came into being. The people chose leaders of the tribes to represent them in the numbering of the people, as reported in Numbers 1:4-16. Later rulers of 10s, 50s, 100s and 1000s were chosen (Exodus 18:17-26) to help Moses with the work of judging the cases the people were bringing to him. There were officers of the army, officers of the people (Exodus 5:4,15,19), and rulers of the congregation (Exodus 16:19). There are a number of different Hebrew words used, but whether each of the words represents a different office is another, probably unanswerable, question. Still later, during the life of the people in the land, other offices, such as governors of cities, superintendents of the king’s herdsmen, scribes, and others, were created to manage all kinds of different matters.
Two things should be noted about all these different positions. The first is that there is no indication anywhere in the Old Testament that any other than men held them. The second is that there is no talk in connection with any of them of an anointing. Therefore, we leave them out of our consideration here.
There were only five offices of which it is indicated that there was an anointing of the Spirit. One was the office of the Seventy elders who were appointed to be helpers to Moses. The record of their appointment is found in Numbers 11. The Lord took of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on them. These 70 elders then prophesied, including two who had not come to the tabernacle with the others. They were chosen from among the broader body of elders in Israel, and apparently held a special position as leaders in the nation, while other elders served only their local tribes, clans or cities. The Seventy had their continuation in the Sanhedrin of Jesus’ day.
This was apparently different from the appointment of the rulers of 10s, 50s etc. in Exodus 18. The Scriptures mention no anointing of these rulers. Exodus 18:25 tells us that Moses chose them, but Deuteronomy 1:13f tells us that the congregation chose them. Apparently, Exodus 18 means that Moses ratified the choice that the people had made.
The terminology of the Old Testament seems to be “elders of Israel” for the Seventy (Deuteronomy 27:1, Joshua 7:6, 8:10,33, 24:31, Judges 21:16, and others), “elders of the city,” “of the priests” (Jeremiah 19:1, 2 Kings 19:2), or whatever for those who served at a more local level.
There were elders with Moses when he struck the rock (Exodus 17:5,6) and when he went up the mountain the first time (Exodus 24:1,9), but they remained in the camp with Aaron the second time (Exodus 24:14). These references may be to a precursor of the body of Seventy officially appointed somewhat later. The official Seventy acted in representing the people in the sin offering (Leviticus 4:15), in inaugurating Aaron and his sons (Leviticus 9:1), in speaking to Dathan and Abiram (Numbers 16:25), in commanding the people (Deuteronomy 27:1), in receiving the law from Moses (Deuteronomy 31:9), in mourning with Joshua over the defeat at Ai (Joshua 7:6), in being with the people at Mts. Ebal and Gerizim (Joshua 8:33), and in coming to Joshua shortly before he died (Joshua 23:2, 24:1). The people were obedient to the Lord while Joshua and they lived (Joshua 24:31). They made decisions in such matters as wives for the Benjamites (Judges 21:16), bringing the ark into battle with the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:3), and asking for a king (1 Samuel 8:4). Ezekiel 8:11,12 seems to be a specific reference to them acting in an idolatrous ceremony. These elders also served the king (2 Samuel 12:17, 1 Kings 12:6,8,13).
The second office was the office of judge in the book of Judges. These were military leaders, but also judges in the sense that they exercised authority to pass judgment in matters of the law. This is clearly indicated in the case of Deborah (Judges 4:4) and seems to be indicated in some other cases as well. It’s said of Samson, after his victories over the Philistines, that he judged Israel for 20 years. Samuel acted in the same capacity.
The Scriptures do not specifically mention anointing for any of them, though they say that the Spirit came on them, clothed them, or (in the case of Samson) rushed upon them. Clearly these judges had the Spirit, but a ceremony of anointing or appointment seems to be lacking except in the case of Jephthah. Furthermore, the means of choosing them varied. Gideon received his calling directly from God. God called Barak through Deborah. The men of Gilead chose Jephthah (Judges 11), and covenants were made and sworn to. Samson was directly appointed by God but went unrecognized by the people until after his killing of one thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.
The other three offices which required anointing were the offices of prophet, priest and king. Each, however, received his office differently.
The priests were priests by hereditary right as descendants of Aaron, though there were some limitations regarding physical defects, etc. The ceremony for anointing them is described in detail in Exodus 29. Their work was the offering of sacrifices and performance of other ceremonies of the law, like the rites of cleansing.
The kings were descendants of David, but within the legitimate descendants of David were chosen at times, at least, by the people. God chose Saul, then sent Samuel to anoint him (1 Samuel 9:16, 10:1). He confirmed his choice to the people by the casting of lots (1 Samuel 10:20,21). The Lord also chose David and sent Samuel to anoint him. The men of Judah recognized him as the Lord’s choice and anointed him (2 Samuel 2:4f), and later the elders of all the tribes of Israel accepted him too (2 Samuel 5:1-3). The Lord chose Solomon (1 Chronicles 22:9). Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him (1 Kings 1:34,39), and the people recognized him (1 Kings 1:39). He received a second anointing before all the people (1 Chronicles 29:10,22). We don’t know how Rehoboam was chosen, but he expected to be made king by all Israel (2 Chronicles 10:1). The inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah king (2 Chronicles 22:1). Jehoiada the priest anointed and crowned Joash and the people subsequently recognized him (2 Chronicles 23:11). The people of Judah made Uzziah king (2 Chronicles 26:1). The people of the land made Josiah king (2 Chronicles 33:25) and also Jehoahaz (2 Chronicles 36:1).
The prophets usually received their calling directly from God, and there was no anointing. The one exception to this was Elisha whose calling came to him through Elijah (1 Kings 19:16,17, 19-21).
Some of the Levitical singers were prophets (2 Chronicles 25:1). The sons of Korah, Ethan, Asaph and others mentioned in the headings of the Psalms received the gift of the Spirit for their work, but these are not necessarily outside normal boundaries. They were prophets who received their calling directly from God and the calling was a special calling only in that they were to prophesy on the harp.
The office of prophet was unique in several respects. 1) The prophets, with the one exception of Elisha, received their calling directly from God, and their recognition as true prophets depended on their word coming to pass. 2) The office overlapped with other offices, so that many anointed kings prophesied. We read this of Saul. It was certainly true of David and Solomon. In fact, prophecy was sometimes a proof of a man’s calling, as with the seventy elders and Saul. 3) It was the only office held by women, with the exception of Deborah, who was both a prophetess and a judge (Barak was not the judge; the military and judging functions were separate in his case). The appointment of women to office is clearly a right that God reserved to himself, and we have a number of examples of it: Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Anna (Luke 2:36) and the daughters of Philip (Acts 21:9).
There were a few other anointings that fell outside normal boundaries: Jehu (1 Kings 19:16,17, 2 Kings 9:1-13), Hazael of Syria (1 Kings 19:15, 2 Kings 8:8-15), and Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1). God anointed them to their positions in order to fulfill specific tasks. In fact, 1 Kings 19:17 assigns the task to Jehu and Hazael. It was a task of judgment on the northern kingdom. As far as we know Cyrus received no physical anointing. God appointed him to free the captive Jews in his kingdom to return to their own land and rebuild the temple and city of Jerusalem.
The five special offices within Israel all illustrate the main ideas associated with office in the previous article: that God appoints to office and holds all officers accountable to himself, that God gives his Spirit to those whom he calls to enable them for their work, that they hold authority over his people, and that these positions of authority are for service. God gave the offices for the well-being of his people in every aspect of life, and he himself ruled his people through them.