ANOINTED — one smeared with oil at his installation, so that the office belongs to God and not to the man holding it. It is the settled principle of David's exile: twice he had Saul at his mercy and refused, 'Jehovah forbid that I should stretch out my hand against JEHOVAH'S ANOINTED' (1 Samuel 24:6; 26:9), and he executes a man for claiming to have done it (2 Samuel 1:14-16). ⚠️ Kings, priests and occasionally prophets are anointed; strikingly, so is the Persian CYRUS, called 'his MASHIACH' (Isaiah 45:1) — a foreign emperor. Through Greek the word becomes MESSIAH and, translated rather than transliterated, CHRIST. The larger sense grows out of this smaller one; do not read the later meaning back into every occurrence. ⚠️ Note the bitter pun in the lament: Saul is Jehovah's MASHIACH, and his shield lies on Gilboa 'not MASHIACH with oil' (1:21) — a shield was oiled to keep the leather supple. → first discussed at 2 Samuel 1:14