John 12:3

Ἡ οὖν Μσρία … The third member of the Bethany family appears also in character, λαβοῦσα λίτραν μύρου νάρδου πιστικῆς πολυτίμου. λίτρα (Lat. libra), the unit of weight in the Roman empire, slightly over eleven ounces avoirdupois. μύρον (from μύρω, to trickle, or from μύρρα, myrrh, the juice of the Arabian myrtle) is any unguent, more costly and luxurious than the ordinary ἔλαιον. Cf. Luke 7:46, and Trench, Synonyms. νάρδος, “the head or spike of a fragrant East Indian plant belonging to the genus Valeriana, which yields a juice of delicious odour which the ancients used in the preparation of a most precious ointment”. Thayer, πιστικῆς is sometimes derived from πίστις, and rendered “genuine,” γνήσιος, δόκιμος. Thus Euthymius, ἀκράτου καὶ καταπεπιστευμένης εἰς καθαρότητα, unadulterated and guaranteed pure. But πιστός is the common form; cf. Θηρικλέους πιστὸν τέκνον, Theopomp. in Com. Frag. Some suppose it indicates the name of the place where the nard was obtained. Thus Augustine: “Quod ait ‘pistici,' locum aliquem credere debemus, unde hoc erat unguentum pretiosum”. Similarly some modern scholars derive it from Opis (sc. Opistike), a Babylonian town. In the Classical Review (July, 1890) Mr. Bennett suggests that it should be written πιστακῆς, and that it refers to the Pistacia Terebinthus, which grows in Cyprus, Chios, and Palestine, and yields a turpentine in such inconsiderable quantities as to be very costly. The word is most fully discussed by Fritzsche on Mark 14:3, who argues at great length and with much learning for the meaning “drinkable”. He quotes Athenaeus in proof that some ointments were drunk, mixed with wine. πιστός is the word commonly used for “potable,” as in Aesch., Prom. Vinct., 480, where Prometheus says man had no defence against disease οὔτε βρώσιμον, οὐ χριστὸν, οὔτε πιστόν. And Fritzsche holds that while πιστός means “qui bibi potest,” πιστικός means “qui facile bibi potest”. The weight and nature of the ointment are specified to give force to the added πολυτίμου; see John 12:5. ἤλειψε τοὺς πόδας τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, Mt. and Mk. say “the head,” which was the more natural but less significant, and in the circumstances less convenient, mode of disposing of the ointment. κα ἐξέμαξε … αὐτοῦ, “and wiped High feet with her hair”. Holtzmann thinks this an infelicitous combination of Mark 14:3 and Luke 7:38; infelicitous because the anointing of the feet which was appropriate in the humbled penitent was not so in Mary's case; and the drying with her hair which was suitable where tears had fallen was unsuitable where anointing had taken place, for the unguent should have been allowed to remain. This, however, is infelicitous criticism. In Aristoph., Wasps, 607, the daughter anoints her father's feet: ἡ θυγάτηρ … τὼ πόδʼ ἀλείφῃ; and if, as Fritzsche supposes, the ointment was liquid, there is nothing inappropriate but the reverse in the wiping with the hair. ἡ δὲ οἰκία ἐπληρώθη ἐκ τῆς ὀσμῆς τοῦ μυροῦ, at once attracting attention and betraying the costliness of the offering.