Mark 16:1 - Exposition

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices ἠγόρασαν ἀρώματα ) that they might come and anoint him . A hasty but lavish embalming of our Lord's sacred body had been begun on Friday evening by Joseph and Nicodemus. They had "brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight" ( John 19:39 ). This would be a compound—the gum of the myrrh tree, and a powder of the fragrant aloe wood mixed together, with which they would completely cover the body, which was then swathed with linen cloths ( ὀθόνια ), also steeped in the aromatic preparation. Then the sindon would he placed over all. Compare the ἐνετύλιξεν , of St. Luke ( Luke 23:53 ), as applying to the sindon , with the ἔδησαν of St. John ( John 21:1-25 :40) as applying to the ὀθόνια . This verse records a further stage in the embalming. What had been done on the Friday evening had been done in haste, and yet sufficiently for the preservation of the sacred body, if that had been needful, from decay. The remaining work could be done more carefully and tenderly at the tomb. Observe the aorist in this verse (hJgo>rasan) "they bought;" not "they had bought."