A COMPARISON of the various accounts renders it highly probable that the Evangelist is here following the strict chronological order. (Some think the words of Luke 7:34 may have suggested the insertion of the event at this point.) The only intervening event on record seems to have been the discourse in Matthew 11:20-30. Luke does not give here another version of the anointing at Bethany. The two occurrences have little in common, but the name of the host (Simon) and the anointing. In this case the woman was ‘a sinner,' showing her penitence, in the other a pious loving disciple, preparing Him for burial; here the feet are anointed, there the head; here the objection arose from the woman's character, there from the waste; here the host objects, there Judas, while the lessons our Lord deduces are altogether different.

Tradition has identified this woman with Mary Magdalene; but of this there is no proof whatever. The mention of her name in chap. Luke 8:2, as an entirely new person, is against the tradition. Yet art and the usage of most modem languages (Magdalene = abandoned woman) have supported tradition in fixing this stigma upon an afflicted woman, out of whom our Lord cast seven demons, and who was one of the most affectionate and favored of the early disciples. On the further difficulties of this view, see Luke 7:37; chap. Luke 8:2.

Continues after advertising
Continues after advertising

Old Testament