The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 127

of the PTigl!'('•tion, "Judl\8 ll!Mrlot, Simon's here covertly refers to Simon 1\lngue or l!On." Tlw word "2lµawo,, oontained in T.R., Acts viii. 18, et;o. The question le ofton i~ "mit.ted here in the beet texts. The feot asked-Why Wf\11 Judns entrusted with the thel he we.e the trnitor, being one or the common purse 7 Wae it not likely to nggra- well-Jrnown and awfnl events of the gospel v&te & dispositio l to which he wne prone 7 hieton- "·lwn John wrote some half a cen- Did not Jesus know what was in mnn 7 and tlny later, might well be introdnoed by the had he not discerned the propensity of Jude.a <'"l"angeliel, with no other than a purely hil!- (see eh. vi. 71) 7 In reply: (1) Tho np- lorioa.l motive. pointment may have been mado by the Vers. 5, 6.-Wby wu not thie ointment apostles themsolves. (2) Our Lord may 1old for three hundred pence, and given to not have interfered with it, deeming confi- the poor 1 Sinful motive often hides itself dence more likely to help him than distrust. under the m118k of reverenoe for another (8) It may also show how, if mon will yield virtue. In Mark's Gospel the se.me price themselves to sin, God will not and docs not WM put upon the pound of pnre ne.rd e.& promise them immunity from tcmptntion, that which iB mentioned here-&.bout £10 of but sometimes even brings them into it. (4) our money. Christ he.d given emphatic ad- The purse might have been a preservative ,·ice about generosity to the poor, and even against the vile tempt.ation to sell his during this very week ( eh. xiii. 29) it is Master, and a test 11,nd motive for self-con- clenr tlmt his words were not forgotten, and quest. in his gyeat dieconree,probablyalso deli\"ered Ver. 7.-The two re&dings of the text during this ea.me week, be identified him- must here be compared with one another relf with the poor (Mott. xxv. 35, etc.), and and with the synoptic na.rrative. The T.R. called for unreserved consideration of them; reads, Let her alone : 1 unto the day of the so that this language ,ras not unnatural. preparation for my burial she has oaretnlly The value of this ointment is another mi- guarded thill preeiolLB perfume. This is, in nute indication that there is no oonnection one sense, that very day, and she has found hetwean the Lamrns of John and the Laze.me out the solemn fa.et in 11, way in which the of the pnre.ble. But John adds that the dil!ciplee he.d as yet failed to do. With thil! utter lack of perception on J udas's part of agrees the language of the synoptists, " Why Mary's self-devotion wes prompted by the trouble ye the woman? she bath wrought most unworthy motive. The suggestion of e. good work on me; .. , she he.th done ,Judas is put down by the eve.ngelist to the that which was possible to her (& /,,-x•v sheerest covetouenese. During the interval brol11t1•")" of Mark xiv. 8. In fact, Mark that elapsed, Judas hnd revealed his cha- expressly conveys this thought-" she has an- racter. and John did not hesitate to refer ticipated the anointing of my body for the the su'ggeetion to the traitor. Now thill he burial." li we have the direct testimony of l8id., not bes11118 he oared for the poor. He Mark (i.e. Peter), Christ must have ex- really oared nothing for the poor. He was pressed himself thns. Matthew also in ambiiions, ee..,aer for the display of the different words records the same pathetio :Master's power, anxious for the rewards and subtle thought : "For in that she poured which might follow the Master's aseum~ [cast] this ointment upon my body, she did tion of supreme authority, turning to his own it to prepare me for burial" (eh. xxvi. 12). account all that might lieppen. But because Hengstenberg, Godet, nnd Stier abide by the he wu a thief, e.nd having I po8881111ion of the reading of the T.R.; but the prinoipe.l manu- common purae (the word .,,._,.,,,.,,.l,,co11-o•, which scripts, in most powerful combination, have occurs in the sense of a chest (2 Chron. :uiv. led Lachme.nn, Alford, Tischendorf, aud E!), has a cnrious etymology, which had passed Westcott and Hort to resd here, db" •ls .-,Iv out of reaogn.ition ; from -,Nf,,,-,,-a. and ,coµ.,,, .;,,,,p..,, TOU ,,,....,,,ltl.tTµ.DV Tf/P'tfa'f/ ab-ro," In orde, comee -yJv»t1t1otcaµ,;,,,,, that in which mouth- that she may keep or guard this for the de.y pieces of flutes might be kept in se.fety, and of my burial." Weetcott se.ys that the sy- snbseqnently a chest or bo:z: for the safe noptiete imply rather, by the word tc<ZTlx ..v, guardianahip of other valuables), he ,na the that she had not already consumed the bearer-perhAps, bore away (see eh. ][][. 15, whole of the ointment. Meyer, with this and Josephus, • A.nl,' vii. 15. 3, for thiB use text, translates, " Let her alone, that she of fJrurrd,(.,,), e.t ell events had at his dis- may preserve it (this ointment, of which she poml-of the things whioh were cast, in 1 T.R. reads,~A4'u a.b-r¾r,, "Let her alone,'' generons profusion, into it. 'fhoma makes the astounding suggestion that " John " omitting fvcz, with the later uncials; and, iu place of Tf/1"1"!1, reads .-... ~P'I'""; but N, D, 1 "EX"'"• on the authority of t(, B, D, L, D, K, L, 33, d, 14-5, numerous versions, fol- •~-, ui preferred by Westcott and Hort, and lowed by Tischendorf (8th edit.), Tregelles, 'B.r., 1.'regelles, Tischendorf (8th edit.), to and R.T., omit the period, and read 7,,.. wit!i •fx• ul of T.B. Tf/p/,"fl, • on, xu. 1-50,] THE GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO BT. JOHN. 133