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Mark 14:3
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The Plot to Kill Jesus

1 After atwo days it was the Passover and bthe Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by1 trickery and put Him to death.  
2 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.”

The Anointing at Bethany

3 aAnd being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly1 oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.  
4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted?
5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred adenarii and given to the poor.” And they bcriticized her sharply.  
6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me.
7 aFor you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; bbut Me you do not have always.  
8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.
9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is apreached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”  

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

10 aThen Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them.  
11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

Jesus Celebrates the Passover with His Disciples

12 aNow on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they1 killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”  
13 And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.
14 Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’
Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
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Mark 14:3

Alabaster box - Among critics and learned men there are various conjectures concerning the alabaster mentioned by the evangelists: some think it means a glass phial; others, that it signifies a small vessel without a handle, from negative and , a handle; and others imagine that it merely signifies a perfume or essence bottle. There are several species of the soft calcareous stone called alabaster, which are enumerated and described in different chemical works.

Spikenard - Or nard. An Indian plant, whose root is very small and slender. It puts forth a long and small stalk, and has several ears or spikes even with the ground, which has given it the name of spikenard: the taste is bitter, acrid, and aromatic, and the smell agreeable. Calmet.

Very precious - Or rather, unadulterated: this I think is the proper meaning of . Theophylact gives this interpretation of the passage: "Unadulterated hard, and prepared with fidelity." Some think that is a contraction of the Latin spicatae , and that it signifies the spicated nard, or what we commonly call the spikenard. But Dr. Lightfoot gives a different interpretation. he supposes to come from the Syriac pistike , which signifies the acorn: he would therefore have it to signify an aromatic confection of nard, maste, or myrobalane. See his Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations; and see Scheuchzer' s Physica Sacra.

She brake the box - Rather, she broke the seal. This is the best translation I can give of the place; and I give it for these reasons:

1.That it is not likely that a box exceedingly precious in itself should be broken to get out its contents.

2.That the broken pieces would be very inconvenient if not injurious to the head of our Lord, and to the hands of the woman.

3.That it would not be easy effectually to separate the oil from the broken pieces. And,

4.That it was a custom in the eastern countries to seal the bottles with wax that held the perfumes; so that to come at their contents no more was necessary than to break the seal, which this woman appears to have done; and when the seal was thus broken, she had no more to do than to pour out the liquid ointment, which she could not have done had she broken the bottle.

The bottles which contain the gul i attyr , or attyr of roses, which come from the east, are sealed in this manner. See a number of proofs relative to this point in Harmer' s Observations, vol. iv. 469. Pouring sweet-scented oil on the head is common in Bengal. At the close of the festival of the goddess Doorga, the Hindoos worship the unmarried daughters of Brahmins: and, among other ceremonies, pour sweet-scented oil on their heads. Ward' s Customs.




Other Adam Clarke entries containing Mark 14:3:

Matthew 26:7
Luke 7:36
Luke 7:37
John 12:3

 

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