John 12:3 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard. — Here, again, St. John alone gives the name of her whom St. Matthew and St. Mark call “a woman,” and here, too, she is true to the earlier character as we have it drawn in St. Luke (Luke 10:40; Luke 10:42). From this passage also we know that it was a “pound” of ointment which she took. The other accounts tell us that it was an “alabaster box.” This pound was the Greek litra, the Latin “libra,” the pound of twelve ounces.

For the “ointment of spikenard,” see Mark 14:3. It may perhaps mean “Nard Pistik,” or Pistik ointment, the word Pistik being a local name. The fact that this peculiar word occurs only in these two passages points to this as the probable explanation.

And anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. — St. Matthew and St. Mark both state that she anointed His head. This was the usual custom (comp. Note on Luke 7:46, and Psalms 23:5); but St. John remembers that the act of love went beyond that of common esteem, in the depth of its gratitude and reverence, and anointed the feet, and wiped them with her own hair.

And the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. — The ointment was imported from the East in sealed flasks, which were broken when it was used. The strong perfume then escaped, and spread through the house (Mark 14:3).

John 12:3

3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.