There were also women looking on afar off
At some distance from the cross, observing what was said and
done;
among whom was Mary Magdalene;
who had received great favours from Christ:
and Mary the mother of James the less;
or "little", so called to distinguish him from James the son of
Zebedee, and because he might be little of stature: nor was it
unusual with the Jews to distinguish persons after this manner:
so we read F26 of R. Jesa, (aryez) , "the little", and of Samuel,
(Nwjqh) , "the little"
F1, which some have thought to be the
Apostle Paul, so called from the littleness of his stature:
and of Joses;
or "Joseph", as the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read;
and Salome;
the mother of Zebedee's children, James and John; (See Gill on
Matthew
27:56). This was a common name among the Jews; Herod had
a sister and a daughter of this name; and the daughter of
Herodias, who demanded the head of John, the Baptist, was of this
name; and it is the same with Shalom: we read F2 of one
Imme Shalom, or mother Shalom, wife of R. Eliezer, and sister to
Rabban Gamaliel. Salome, with the Ethiopians F3, is
said to be Mary's midwife, and to accompany Christ, with Mary,
and Joseph, when they fled into Egypt.