1. Which had been dead. (Omit.) He raised. For He, read Jesus.
3. A pound (Aitpav). Only here and xix. 39. Matthew and Mark, addBaotpop, a flask.
Of spikenard (vdpSou mictuxfs). So Mark. See on Mark xiv. 3.
Very precious (oAvriuov). Lit., of much value. Matthew has Bapuripov, of weighty value.
Anointed. See on xi. 2.
Feet. The Synoptists mention only the pouring on the head.
4. Simon’sson. Omit.
5. Three hundred pence (rtpiaxociwy Snvapiwv). Or three hundred denartz. On the denarius, see on Matt. xx. 2. Mark says more than three hundred pence. Three hundred denarii would be about fifty dollars, or twice that amount if we reckon according to the purchasing power.
The poor (rrwyois). See on Matt. v. 38. No article: to poor people.
6. And had the bag, and bare what was put therein (kal TO yAwoooKopon eixe, Kal TA Baddopeva éBdotafev). The best texts read éywv, having, and omit the second kal, and. The rendering would then be, and having the bag bare, etc.
The bag (yAwoooxopov). Only here and xiii. 29. Origi- nally a box for keeping the mouth-pieces of wind instruments.
From ydécoa, tongue, and xouéw, to tend. The word was also used for a coffin. Josephus applies it to the coffer in which the golden mice and emerods were preserved (1 Sam. vi. 11). In the Septuagint, of the chest which Joash had provided for re- ceiving contributions for the repairing of the Lord’s house (2 Chron. xxiv. 8). Rev. gives box, in margin.
Bare (é8dotatev). Carried away or purloined. This mean- ing is rather imparted by the context than residing in the verb itself, z.e., according to New Testament usage (see on x. 21). Unquestionably it has this meaning in later Greek, frequently in Josephus.* Render, therefore, as Rev., took away. The rendering of the A. V. is tautological.
7. Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this (aes airy: eis THY Hyépay Tod évradiacpuod jou TeTnpynxev auto). This passage presents great difficulty. Ac- cording to the reading just given, the meaning is that Mary had kept the ointment, perhaps out of the store provided for Lazarus’ burial, against the day of Christ’s preparation for the tomb. The word évradiacpod is wrongly rendered burial. It
* The meaning to take or bear away is claimed by some for Matt. viii. 17 and John xx. 25 (so Thayer, N. T. Lexicon). The former I think more than doubtful. Meyer declares it ‘‘ contrary to the sense ;”” De Wette and Lange both render bere. Canon Cook says : ‘‘ The words chosen by St. Matthew pre- clude the supposition that he refers the prophet’s words, contrary to the sense of the original, to the mere removal of diseases by healing them.” The words in Matthew are a citation from Isa. liii. 4, which Cheyne (‘‘ Prophecies of Isaiah ’’) renders, ‘‘surely our sicknesses he bore, and our pains he carried them.” Septuagint: ‘‘ This man carries our sins and is pained for us,” Sym- machus: ‘‘Surely he took up our sins and endured our labors.” Edersheim remarks that ‘‘ the words as given by St. Matthew are most truly a New Testa- ment targum of the original.” Delitzsch, who thinks that the meaning took away is included in the sense of the Hebrew ndsd, admits that its primary meaning is, He took up, bore. The meaning in John xx. 25 may be explained as in John xii. 6, as determined by the context, though it may be rendered if thou hast taken him up. Field (‘‘ Otium Norvicense ”) cites a passage from Diogenes Lertius, iv., 59, where it is said that Lacydes, whenever he took anything out of his store-room, was accustomed, after sealing it up, to throw the seal or ring through the hole, so that it might never be taken from his fin- ger, and any of the stores be stolen (Baoraxeln).