Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, In Bethany - For a solution of the difficulties in this verse, about the time of the anointing, see the observations at the end of this chapter.
Simon the Leper - This was probably no more than a surname, as Simon the Canaanite, Matthew 10:4, and Barsabas Justus, Acts 1:23, and several others. Yet it might have been some person that Christ had healed of this disease. See Matthew 11:5.