John 11:2

(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) It was that Mary which anointed the Lord.—Comp. Notes on Matthew 26:6 et seq., and Mark 14:3 et seq. John himself relates the anointing in John 12:3 et seq. Here he simply mentions it as distinguishing Mary from others of the same name. and assumes it as a well-known incident which had been, as Christ declared it should be, “told for a memorial of her wheresoever the gospel had been preached” (Matthew 26:13). Still, the other Evangelists had not told the name, and St. John, when the name first occurs in his narrative, connects it with the person whose deed of love was known to all.

There is no sufficient reason for identifying Mary of Bethany with the “woman which was a sinner” (see Notes on Luke 7:37 et seq.), or for identifying either with Mary Magdalene.

This verse should not be placed in parenthesis, as in our version. It is immediately connected with the verse which precedes, as well as with that which follows.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-6 It is no new thing for those whom Christ loves, to be sick; bodily distempers correct the corruption, and try the graces of God's people. He came not to preserve his people from these afflictions, but to save them from their sins, and from the wrath to come; however, it behoves us to apply to Him in behalf of our friends and relatives when sick and afflicted. Let this reconcile us to the darkest dealings of Providence, that they are all for the glory of God: sickness, loss, disappointment, are so; and if God be glorified, we ought to be satisfied. Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. The families are greatly favoured in which love and peace abound; but those are most happy whom Jesus loves, and by whom he is beloved. Alas, that this should seldom be the case with every person, even in small families. God has gracious intentions, even when he seems to delay. When the work of deliverance, temporal or spiritual, public or personal, is delayed, it does but stay for the right time.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

It was that Mary ... - See the Matthew 26:6 note; Luke 7:36-50 notes.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, &c.—This, though not recorded by our Evangelist till Joh 12:3, was so well known in the teaching of all the churches, according to our Lord's prediction (Mt 26:13), that it is here alluded to by anticipation, as the most natural way of identifying her; and she is first named, though the younger, as the more distinguished of the two. She "anointed THE Lord," says the Evangelist—led doubtless to the use of this term here, as he was about to exhibit Him illustriously as the Lord of Life.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

We read of a woman, Luke 7:37,38, that came behind our Saviour while he was at dinner, in the house of Simon the Pharisee, brought an alabaster box of ointment, stood at his feet behind him weeping, washing his feet with her tears, and wiping them with her hair; but it appears by the story, she had been before a notorious sinner. We read of another woman, Matthew 26:6,7 Mr 14:3, that poured a box of ointment on our Saviour’s head as he was at dinner in the house of Simon the leper: but we, in those two evangelists, read nothing of her washing his feet with her tears, or wiping them with her hair; but in the next chapter of this Gospel, John 12:3, we have a story which (whether it be the same with the other or no, I cannot tell) is that doubtless to which this verse refers: the names and circumstances much agree. There were other Mary’s, (for Mary was a very ordinary name among them), but this was that Mary which is mentioned John 12:3, that anointed the Lord with ointment, &c. It was her brother was sick.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment,.... Not the woman in Luke 7:37, as some have thought, whose name is not mentioned, and which history is not related by John at all: but Mary in John 12:3, who is both mentioned by name, and along with Lazarus her brother, and with whom all the circumstances of the affair suit; and though the fact was not yet done, yet John writing many years after it was done, and when it was well known, proleptically, and in a parenthesis, takes notice of it here:

and wiped his feet with her hair; instead of a napkin, after she had anointed them with oil; See Gill on Luke 7:37, See Gill on John 12:3.

Whose brother Lazarus was sick; this is observed, to show how well they were all acquainted with Christ, and affected to him.

Geneva Study Bible

(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 11:2. In order further to identify Lazarus it is added: “Now it was (that) Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill”. This act of Mary’s has not yet been narrated by John (see John 12:3), but it was this which distinguished her at the time John was writing; cf. Matthew 26:13.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. It was that Mary which anointed] This of course does not necessarily imply that the anointing had already taken place, as those who identify Mary with the ‘sinner’ of Luke 7:37 would insist: it merely implies that when S. John wrote, this fact was well known about her, as Christ had promised should be the case (Matthew 26:13). S. John tells two facts omitted in the earlier Gospels; (1) that the village of Martha and Mary was Bethany, (2) that the anointing at Bethany was Mary’s act. The identification of Mary of Bethany with the prostitute of Luke 7 is altogether at variance with what S. Luke and S. John tell us of her character. Nor is there any sufficient reason for identifying either of them with Mary Magdalene. Mary of Bethany, Mary of Magdala, and the ‘sinner’ of Luke 7 are three distinct persons.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 11:2. Ἦν δὲ Μαρία, moreover it was the Mary) John proves Mary’s pious affection towards Jesus at the present time (as he elsewhere in a similar way proves the absence of pious affection on the part of the traitor) by a subsequent act, ch. John 12:3 [Mary’s anointing Jesus’ feet with costly ointment of spikenard, and wiping His feet with her hair]. [By one remarkable act, either good or bad, any one may be rendered notable to all eternity.—V. g.] It was not merely by the raising up of her brother to life, that she was first stirred up to such a work.—τὸν Κύριον, the Lord) An appropriate appellation here.—ἧς, whose) for of her. The language here is very plain.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Now it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with perfume, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. The word μύρον is used of any aromatic balsam which is distilled from trees and herbs by itself. In classical Greek μύρον was used of costly ointments used by women. Ἐλαίον was the common oil used by men for purposes of health, which might be perfumed. Our Lord clearly draws a distinction between the ἐλαίον and μύρον in Luke 7:46. Ἀλείφω has been said to be used for the more superfluous anointings and χρίω for the sanitary anointing with oil. No trace of such distinction is found in the New Testament (cf. Mark 6:13 with James 5:14). One great distinction in biblical Greek is that χρίειν is used of religious anointings, from its association with Ξριστός, but ἀλείφειν in the LXX. is only twice used in this sense, while χρίειν is used times without number (Archbishop Trench, 'New Test. Syn.,' § 38.). The use of the term Κύριον, "Lord," shows that the story was widely known, and that when the Gospel was written it had passed into a commonplace of Christian experience and illustration. The anointing has not yet been referred to by John, but he is looking back upon the events and anticipates his own subsequent record. John 11:2

Vincent's Word Studies

Anointed (ἀλείψασα)

Three words for anointing are found in the New Testament: ἀλείφω, χρίω, and its compounds, and μυρίζω. The last is used but once, Mark 14:8, of anointing the Lord's body for burying. Between the two others the distinction is strictly maintained. Χρίω, which occurs five times, is used in every case but one of the anointing of the Son by the Father With the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; Acts 10:38; Hebrews 1:9). In the remaining instance (2 Corinthians 1:21) of enduing Christians with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thus the word is confined to sacred anointing. Ἁλείφω is used of all actual anointings. See Matthew 6:17; Mark 6:13; Luke 7:38; James 5:14. The same distinction is generally maintained in the Septuagint, though with a few exceptions, as Numbers 3:3.