OIL
322
OIL
8; Pliny, xiv, 22; Aristoph. Wasps, 608; Clouds, 816;' Roberts, pi. 164. Butter, as is noticed by Pliny, is used by the negroes and the lower class of Arabs for the like purposes (Pliny, xi, 41 ; Burckhardt, Trav. i, 53 ; Xtibin, p. 215; Lightfoot, Ilor. flebr. ii, 375; see Deut. xxxiii, 24; Job xxix, 6; Psa. cix, 18). See Oin'tmknt.
The use of oil preparatory to athletic exercises cus- tomary among the Greeks and Koraans can scarcely have had place to any extent among the Jews, who in their earlier times had no such contests, though some are mentioned by Josephus with censure as taking place at Jerusalem and Cajsarea under Herod (Horace, 1 Od. viii, 8 ; Pliny, xv, 4; Athenreus, xv, 34, p. 686 ; Homer, Od. vi, 79. 2*15; Joseph. Ant. xv, 8, 1 ; xvi, 5, 1; see Smith, Diet. ofAnliq. s. v. Aliptae). See Game,
3. Funereal.— Tha bodies of the dead were anointed with oil by the Greeks and Romans, probably as a par- tial antiseptic, and a similar custom appears to have prevailed among the Jews (Homer, //. xxiv, 587 ; Vir- gil, ^'£'h. vi, 219J. See BriUAL.
4. Medicinal. — As oU is in use in many cases in mod- ern medicine, so it is not surprising that it should have been much used among the Jews and other nations of antiquity for medicinal purposes. Celsus repeatedly speaks of the use of oil, especially old oil, applied exter- nally with friction in fevers, and in many other cases. Plinj- says that olive-oil is good to warm the body and fortify it against cold, and also to cool heat in the head, and for various other purposes. It was thus used pre- viously to taking cold baths, and also mixed with water for bathing the body. Josephus mentions that among the remedies employed in the case of Herod, he was put into a sort of oil-bath. Oil mixed with wine is also mentioned as a remedy used both inwardly and out- wardly in the disease with which the soldiers of the army of ^Elius Gallus were affected, a circumstance which recalls the use of a similar remedy in the parable of the good Samaritan. The proijhct Isaiah alludes to the use of oil as ointment in medical treatment; and it thus furnished a fitting symljol, perhaps also an efficient remedy, when used by our Lord's disciples in the mirac- ulous cures which they were enabled to perform. "With a similar intention, no doubt, its use was enjoined by St. James, and, as it appears, practiced by the early Chris- tian Church in general. Nothing is said in the Bible of the internal use of oil mingled with wine (comp. e. g. Dio Cass, liii, 29). An instance of cure through the medium of oil is mentioned by Tertullian. The medic- inal use of oil is also mentioned in the JNIishna, which thus exhibits the Jewish practice of that day. See, for the various instances above named, Isa. i, 6 ; Mark vi, 13; Luke x, 34; James v, 14; Josephus, Ahf. xvii, 6, 5; War, i, 33, 5 ; Talm. Shahb. xiii, 4 ; Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 11, 526; Mosheim, Eccl. Hist, iv, 9; Corn, li Lap. on James v; Tertull. Ad Scap. c. iv; Celsus, Be Med. ii, 14, 17 ; iii, 6, 9, 19, 22 : iv, 2 ; Horace, 2 Sat. i, 7 ; Pliny, XV, 4, 7 ; xxiii, 3, 4 ; Dio Cass, liii, 29 ; Lightfoot, //. //. ii, 304, 444 ; Jerome, /. c. See Unction.
5. For liffkt.— The oil for " the light" was expressly ordered to be olive-oil, beaten, i. e. made from olives bruised in a mortar (Exod. xxv, G ; xxvii, 20, 21 ; xxxv, 8; Lev. xxiv, 2; 2 Chron. xiii, 11 ; 1 Sam. iii, 3; Zech. iv, 3, 12; JNIishna, Dnnai, i, 3; Menach. viii, 4). The quantity retpiired for the longest night is said to have been \ log (13.79 cubic in.= .4166 of a pint [Menach. ix, 3;' Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 159]). See Candlestick. In the same manner the great lamps used at the Feast of Tabernacles were fed (Succafi, v, 2). Oil was used in general for lamps; it is used in Egypt with cotton wicks twisted round a jjiecc of straw ; the receptacle being a glass vessel, into which water is tirst poured (Matt, xxv, 1-8; Luke xii, 35; comp. Lane, Modern Fijyptiaus, i, 201).
6. Ritual. — a. Oil was poured on or mixed with the flour or meal used in offerings.
i. The consecration offering of priests (Exod. xxix, 2, 23; Lev. vi, 15, 21).
ii. The offering of " beaten oil" with flour, which ac- companied the daily sacrifice (Exod. xxix, 40).
iii. The leper's purification offering (Lev. xiv, 10-18, 21, 24, 28), where it is to be observed that the quantity of oil (1 log =.833 of a pint) was invariable, while the other objects varied in quantity according to the means of tlie person offering. 'J'he cleansed leper was also to be touched with oil on various parts of his body (Lev. xiv, 15-18).
iv. The Nazarite, on completion of his vow, was to offer unleavened bread anointed with oil. and cakes of fine bread mingled with oil (Numb, vi, 15).