John 12:3

John 12:3. Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very precious. By ointment we are to understand rather a liquid perfume than what we commonly know as ointment. The precise description of ointment or perfume that is here indicated is a question that has been much controverted. The words, which literally mean ointment of nard ‘pistic,' are the same as those employed by Mark (chap. Mark 14:3): in each place our English Version has ‘spikenard,' a word suggested by the rendering of the Vulgate in Mark (nardus spicatus), and used by our translators in three passages of the Old Testament (Song of Solomon 1:12-14). In the passages last named the word that stands in the Hebrew text is nerd, evidently identical with the nardos used here by John: the word is said to be really of Persian origin, denoting a perfume brought from India by Persian traders. It will be seen that our translation has practically passed over the epithet ‘pistic,' as to the meaning of which there exists the greatest uncertainty. By some it is explained as potable (the fine nard-oil being sometimes drunk); others refer the word to a root meaning to press or pound (the oil being obtained by pressure); whilst others maintain that the word is not descriptive of any species of nard, but denotes its genuineness. The most probable opinion is that pistic is a geographical term which was at the time familiarly associated with the name of the perfume as an article of commerce, though now the exact significance is lost. From the parallel narratives (Matthew 26:7; Mark 14:3) we learn that, as a fluid, it was kept in a flask (for this is the truer rendering of the Greek word translated alabaster box) hermetically sealed; and the contents would be extracted by breaking off the neck. As the ointment was a fluid, and the neck of the flask was broken off, we seem entitled to infer that the whole was used. The quantity which Mary had bought was very large, for the ‘pound' here spoken of was equivalent to about 12 ounces avoirdupois. Its preciousness is best illustrated by a later verse (John 12:5), where we find 300 denarii (in Mark 14:5, more than 300 denarii) mentioned as its probable value. If we take the denarius at 8 1 / 2 d., the value ordinarily assigned, this sum amounts to £10, 12 s. 6 d. The truer principle of calculation, however, is that the sum be estimated according to the power of purchase which it represents; and it would be easy to show that 300 denarii would ordinarily purchase a larger quantity of wheat (for example) than could now be obtained for £20 of our money.

And anointed the feet of Jesus, and she wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. With this precious perfume, then, Mary anointed the feet of her Lord. The other Evangelists speak of ‘the head' not ‘the feet,' and of the ointment as poured down over the head. There is of course no discrepancy between the accounts. Both feet and head were anointed: John speaks of the former because the words which he is about to add refer to the feet alone; and though the other narratives mention no more than the anointing of the head, yet the words of Jesus related by both Evangelists speak of the ointment as poured upon His ‘body,' and as designed to prepare Him for His burial. Perhaps, in a writer like John, who seizes so powerfully the symbolism (the real symbolism, not a possible subjective application) of the various events in his Master's life, we ought also to connect this anointing of the feet of Jesus (twice mentioned, here and in chap. John 11:2) with His washing of the disciples' feet to be related in the chapter which follows. Over against cleansing of their feet soiled by the day's travel is set the honour due to the very feet of Him to whom contact with earthly life brought not even a transient stain. Be this as it may, Mary's action as here described, her use of the most precious ointment, whose odour filled the whole house (a fact which is far more than a mere historical reminiscence), and the devotion of that which is a woman's chief ornament to the purpose of wiping the feet which she had anointed, picture to us most impressively her gratitude and humble reverence.