Mark 14:3

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

3 While Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, ^[a] a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured it on Jesus’ head. ¹

Mark 14:3 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 14:3

And being in Bethany
A place about two miles from Jerusalem, whither he retired after he had took his leave of the temple, and had predicted its destruction; a place he often went to, and from, the last week of his life; having some dear friends, and familiar acquaintance there, as Lazarus, and his two sisters, Martha and Mary, and the person next mentioned:

in the house of Simon the leper;
so called because he had been one, and to distinguish him from Simon the Pharisee, and Simon Peter the apostle, and others; (See Gill on Matthew 26:6);

as he sat at meat there came a woman;
generally thought to be Mary Magdalene, or Mary the sister of Lazarus:

having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard;
or "pure nard", unmixed and genuine; or liquid nard, which was drinkable, and so easy to be poured out; or Pistic nard, called so, either from "Pista", the name of a place from whence it was brought, or from "Pistaca", which, with the Rabbins, signifies "maste"; of which, among other things, this ointment was made. Moreover, ointment of nard was made both of the leaves of nard, and called foliate nard, and of the spikes of it, and called, as here, spikenard. Now ointment made of nard was, as Pliny says ^F23, the principal among ointments. The Syriac is, by him, said to be the best; this here is said to be

very precious,
costly, and valuable:

and she brake the box.
The Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it, "she opened it"; and the Persic version, "she opened the head", or "top of the bottle", or "vial":

and poured it on his head;
on the head of Christ, as the same version presses it; (See Gill on Matthew 26:7).

---

FOOTNOTES:

F23 Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 12.

Mark 14:3 In-Context

1 Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were two days away, and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a covert way to arrest Jesus and kill Him.

2 “But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

3 While Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured it on Jesus’ head.

4 Some of those present, however, expressed their indignation to one another: “Why this waste of perfume?

5 It could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

Cross References

• 1. (Matthew 26:6–13; Luke 7:36–50; John 12:1–8)

Footnotes

• [a]. Aramaic Simon the Potter or Simon the Jar Maker