triple anointing or double portion?

When reading bible verses about King David, I quickly realized that he had experienced three separate and literal anointings with holy oil. I also recognized that of all the preaching and teaching I had heard over many years, nobody had ever pointed that out. I had never heard it mentioned among teachings or articles by Rabbis or scholars in the Jewish community either.

I knew it must have significance, since I was also unable to find any other human in the biblical text, who had experienced three literal kingly anointings. My interest in the matter caused me to look for possible reasons why the biblical text had given us this detail. In the searching process, I learned some tremendous things about King David.

Psalm 89:20 wrote: “ I have found David My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him:” Those comments are based in the narrative of 1Samuel 16:1, where the Lord tells the prophet Samuel, “I have provided Me a king among his sons” (son’s of Jesse the Bethlehemite).

Samuel, in spite of his concern that Saul is presently the anointed king over Israel, obeys the Lord, finds David keeping sheep, and has him brought to him for the anointing that the Lord ordained for this son of Jesse. This is the first anointing as detailed in 1Samuel 16:13.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon David at that moment, and the author of Hebrews in the Christian Bible, borrows a portion of that phrase, and applies it to Jesus (Yeshua), saying in Hebrews 1:9; thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

In a secondary sense it is applied to Jesus, but in its first and literal application it applied to David, of whom it was written; “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.”

Thus, king David becomes the pattern for outstanding anointing, that lifts one above the ordinary and usual brotherhood. This also is confirmed by the Lord’s own statement in Psalm 89:23, “ Also I will make him My firstborn, higher than the kings of earth.” David is outstanding in the sense that he is named by God as “My firstborn,” a shepherd exalted above his own brothers, and higher than Israel’s first king who was rejected because he disobeyed God, and higher than any earthly king because he led God’s nation, Israel. The Hebrew terms אֶתְּנֵהוּ עֶלְיוֹן לְמַלְכֵי־אָרֶץ,
are rendered;

“I will appoint him firstborn highest of the kings of the earth,” by the Jewish Publication Society version. That is accurate, since the Hebrew phrase is reference to “give him” [firstborn status].

A very similar verse is made about Israel in Exodus 4:22, where the Lord
tells Egypt and Pharaoh; “Israel is My son, even My first-born. ...Let My son go, that he may serve Me.” The theme of Israel, as a suffering servant in Egypt, is portrayed in the Exodus, and God is asking that the children of Jacob be freed from bondage to serve Him. Truly, Israel was God’s suffering servant in the Exodus and the prophets.

Regarding David then, as God’s designated leader of a holy people, he was anointed to lead, first as a shepherd and musician over a flock, to become a king and captain over the people. The first anointing was made by the prophet, and was a prophetic anointing; a shepherd’s anointing at Bethlehem.

The second anointing for David was made at Hebron by the men of Judah, as written in 2Samuel 2:4. The people of Judah decided that David should become king over the House of Judah, since the first king Saul was dead. An anointing made by the people of God over a nation that had been separated from its own people, Israel.

They needed a king, who knew how to serve and obey God, a king that could lead them spiritually, as well as into battle. This anointing may be called a kings anointing. The second anointing- a king’s anointing.

The third anointing was made also at Hebron, but was made by the elders of Israel to convey kingship over all Israel to David. We read about it in 2Samuel 5:3. This anointing was sealed with a covenant, because the elders of Israel recalled what the prophet Samuel has said to David when God chose him to lead: “ thou shall feed My people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.” This third and final anointing is the anointing that unites the people of God; again, one nation.

Now, Israel and Judah are solidified into one group under God. They are into covenant and unity. They can accomplish a greater future for a great nation under God’s anointed king. The three anointings of this one person did not instantly happen. It took time and circumstances to bring about God’s desired result, but in king David, God had found a man after his own heart. No wonder He appointed him “My firstborn,” just as He had done for Israel in its earliest stages of becoming a nation. According to 2Samuel 5:5, David reigned over Israel and Judah 33 years.

As firstborn, and king thrice anointed; David becomes the most exalted human ruler in the sight of God, except as found in Daniel 7:13-14. We are not amazed that David becomes a pattern for those who come after him in the royal lineage. As the most literally anointed king in all history, we have example of a “seed line,” that was promised to have a throne to set upon for ever, if they follow the teaching and way of the Lord.

It is interesting that the Lord told Samuel when he saw David: “rise and anoint him, for this is he” (1Samuel 16:12). The Hebrew terms for rise and anoint him are (קוּם מְשָׁחֵהוּ ), with the root consonants for anoint being mashach (משׁח ), three of the same consonants for mashiach (messiah).

The text wrote that the spirit of Yehovah (רוּחַ יְהוָֹה) passed over David from that day onward. Thus, the shepherd’s prophetic anointing with literal holy oil, is equated in this case with the Spirit of Yehovah, coming to and remaining with a chosen person for a specific purpose. Rashi commented that the Spirit of Yehovah is a spirit of strength, and the Targum renders it a spirit of prophecy.

David never lost respect for the anointings which the Lord gave unto him, and in 2Samuel 22:51, it is mentioned; “He sheweth mercy to His anointed, unto David, and to his seed evermore.” Also in 2Samuel 23:1, a statement is made regarding David’s last words: “the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet Psalmist of Israel.” Likewise, the closing verses of Psalm 18 wrote: and [He] shows kindness to His anointed, to David and his seed forever.”

Tremendous respect for the “anointing” extended beyond his personal life. It was shown even to his enemy, a king who chose a path of evil that caused him to seek to destroy David. But, because Samuel the prophet had anointed Saul once with holy oil, David refused to retaliate in kind, when he could have killed king Saul
(see 1Samuel 26:10-11). Even when David learned from a young man that king Saul was wounded and near death, and claimed to have finished Saul off, fulfilling his death wish, David posed a question to the warrior. “why were you not afraid to stretch forth your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed ? ”

Such reverence for God’s anointing, and his anointed, reaches beyond the realm of logic, and indicates a profound respect for the sacred and holy. Perhaps the triple anointing with holy oil, extends far beyond, the famed double portion of prophetic utterance.