1. 1 Samuel 2:10 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is the meaning of "anointed"?

1 Samuel 2:10 (ESV)

10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

This is the first time that the Bible explicitly refers to God’s anointed.1 Numerous objects and persons were subject to anointing in ancient Israel (Exodus 30:22–33) but it was ultimately the king who came to be known as the anointed. The Hebrew word used here is mashiach (often translated as messiah). In the Greek the word is translated as Christ.2