Oil was far more extensively used among the ancient Hebrews than in our northern climate. The use of oil is equally general throughout Western Asia at the present time, as it was in primitive ages. Oil was much used instead of butter and animal fat, at meals and in various preparations of food (see Food, and comp. ). In such uses oil, when fresh and sweet, is more agreeable than animal fat. The Orientals think so; and Europeans soon acquire the same preference. Oil was also in many cases taken as a meat-offering; and it was then mixed with the meal of oblation [OFFERING]. The rite of sprinkling with oil, as a libation, does not occur in the law, but seems to be alluded to in .
The application of oil to the person has been described in the article Anointing. Whether for luxury or ceremony, the head and beard were the parts usually anointed, and this use of oil became at length proverbially common among the Israelites ().
The employment of oil for burning has been illustrated in the article Lamps. It is only necessary to add, that for this, and indeed for most other purposes, olive-oil was considered the best, and was therefore used in the lamps of the tabernacle.
This Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature is a 6 volume set in 1 book. It has over 2Read More
John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
Wikipedia