Verse 7
7. Came… a woman John informs us that she was Mary the sister of Lazarus. The other evangelists are less explicit, as they say but little about the family of Lazarus. It seems as if Mary was not at the feast, but entered unexpectedly.
Alabaster box Alabaster is a sort of white marble of much beauty and polish. It was a costly article, and was supposed to possess a special virtue for preserving ointment. Of this, ointment-boxes were first made. Afterward they retained the same name, even when the material was different, as glass or metal. The box was rather a vial with a long neck, and hence Mark says she poured the ointment, or rather oil, by breaking, namely, the neck of the vial; John says she anointed, additionally, his feet. This she could easily do, for it must be remembered that our Saviour did not sit in a modern chair, but reclined on a couch at meat.
Ointment This was the nardine unguent, made from the spikenard; and was of costly value, being customarily used for a perfuming application to give softness and agreeable odour to the skin.
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