Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Nard is the head or spike of an East Indian plant and is very fragrant. The word translated as “pure” (NIV) has an unknown meaning but it is thought to mean genuine, unadulterated, unmixed with other, less expensive balsams.
The amount of nard used was about a “pint” (NIV) = “pound” (KJV) = litra = which is about 12 ounces (340 gm). It was in an ‘alabaster’, which was a flask which took its name from the stone from which it was made and was said by Pliny to be like a closed rosebud. The material was a carbonate that had the appearance of onyx. It was very delicate and was the favorite material of the ancients for little flasks and vases for perfume and ointment. Alabasters are found in abundance in Egyptian tombs. The flasks themselves were usually sealed so tightly with wax that it was necessary to break them to get at their contents.
We see from the accounts in Matthew and Mark that Mary poured the Nard on the head of Jesus, which would have been the usual manner of using it (Psalms 23:5), as a mark of festivity or setting apart to office. John points out that she didn’t stop there, however, and also poured it upon the feet of Jesus. This was probably done out of great devotion and humility, with Mary taking the place of the lowest slave by attending to the feet of Jesus (see John 13:2-17).
Psalms 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Her action is greatly emphasized by the use her hair to wipe off the perfume. A Jewish woman would never let her hair down in public since it was a sign of loose morals, but Mary never stopped to calculate or even care what anyone else thought of her actions; she was only concerned in expressing her love and devotion for the Lord. (In Num 5:18 the priest loosed the hair of the woman suspected of adultery. There is also a Rabbinic passage quoted by Lightfoot in Morris that reads, “Kamitha had seven sons, who all performed the office of high-priests: they ask of her, how she came to this honour? she answered, The rafters of my house never saw the hairs of my head” because a respectable woman always kept her hair covered.)
Numbers 5:18 After the priest has made the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse.
“the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” sounds like the remembrance of one who was there that night. (Song 1:3,12) There is a rabbinic saying that “(the scent of) good oil is difused from the bed-chamber to the dining-hall while a good name is difused from one end of the world to the other.” (qt’d in Morris) The house of Simon the Leper was filled that night with the scent of the perfume and the House of the Lord, the church, is filled for all time with its scent (Mark 14:9). “A lovely deed becomes the possession of the whole world and adds to the beauty of life in general, something which time cannot ever take away.” (Barclay)
Song of Solomon 1:3 Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you!
Song of Solomon 1:12 While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
Mark 14:9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”