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(4.) The bodies of the dead were sometimes anointed (Mark 14:8; Luke 23:56).
(5.) The promised Deliverer is twice called the “Anointed” or Messiah (Psalm 2:2; Daniel 9:25, 26), because he was anointed with the Holy Ghost (Isaiah 61:1), figuratively styled the “oil of gladness” (Psalm 45:7; Hebrews 1:9). Jesus of Nazareth is this anointed One (John 1:41; Acts 9:22; 17:2, 3; 18:5, 28), the Messiah of the Old Testament.
•ANT (Hebrews nemalah, from a word meaning to creep, cut off, destroy), referred to in Proverbs 6:6; 30:25, as distinguished for its prudent habits. Many ants in Palestine feed on animal substances, but others draw their nourishment partly or exclusively from vegetables. To the latter class belongs the ant to which Solomon refers. This ant gathers the seeds in the season of ripening, and stores them for future use; a habit that has been observed in ants in Texas, India, and Italy.
•ANTICHRIST against Christ, or an opposition Christ, a rival Christ. The word is used only by the apostle John. Referring to false teachers, he says (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7), “Even now are there many antichrists.”
(1.) This name has been applied to the “little horn” of the “king of fierce countenance” (Daniel 7:24, 25; 8:23-25).
(2.) It has been applied also to the “false Christs” spoken of by our Lord (Matthew 24:5, 23, 24).
(3.) To the “man of sin” described by Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 8-10). (4.) And to the “beast from the sea” (Revelation 13:1; 17:1-18).