Mark 14:8

She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:1-11 Did Christ pour out his soul unto death for us, and shall we think any thing too precious for him? Do we give him the precious ointment of our best affections? Let us love him with all the heart, though it is common for zeal and affection to be misunderstood and blamed; and remember that charity to the poor will not excuse any from particular acts of piety to the Lord Jesus. Christ commended this woman's pious attention to the notice of believers in all ages. Those who honour Christ he will honour. Covetousness was Judas' master lust, and that betrayed him to the sin of betraying his Master; the devil suited his temptation to that, and so conquered him. And see what wicked contrivances many have in their sinful pursuits; but what appears to forward their plans, will prove curses in the end.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

She hath done what she could - She has showed the highest attachment in her power; and it was, as it is now, a sufficient argument against there being any "real" waste, that it was done for the honor of Christ. See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 26:1-16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. She hath done what she could—a noble testimony, embodying a principle of immense importance.

she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying—or, as in John (Joh 12:7), "Against the day of my burying hath she kept this." Not that she, dear heart, thought of His burial, much less reserved any of her nard to anoint her dead Lord. But as the time was so near at hand when that office would have to be performed, and she was not to have that privilege even after the spices were brought for the purpose (Mr 16:1), He lovingly regards it as done now. "In the act of love done to Him," says Olshausen beautifully, "she has erected to herself an eternal monument, as lasting as the Gospel, the eternal Word of God. From generation to generation this remarkable prophecy of the Lord has been fulfilled; and even we, in explaining this saying of the Redeemer, of necessity contribute to its accomplishment." "Who but Himself," asks Stier, "had the power to ensure to any work of man, even if resounding in His own time through the whole earth, an imperishable remembrance in the stream of history? Behold once more here the majesty of His royal judicial supremacy in the government of the world, in this, 'Verily I say unto you.'"

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 14:4"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

She hath done what she could,.... What she had in her heart, and in the power of her hands to do; she hath done according to her ability, and her good will; and if she had not done it now, she could not have done it at all.

She is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying; or, "as if it was to bury me", as the Syriac version renders it. Christ signifies by this, that he should shortly die, and that this woman came before hand to anoint him, and, as it were, to perform the funeral rites before he was dead; it being revealed to her by the Spirit, that Jesus would quickly die, and she should not be able to perform this good work when dead, and therefore came to do it before; or, at least, she was directed by the Spirit of God, because she would be prevented doing it afterwards; See Gill on Matthew 26:12.

Geneva Study Bible

{4} She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

(4) This woman, by the secret influence of the Spirit, anoints Christ, and thus sets before men's eyes his death and burial which were at hand.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 14:8. ὃ ἔσχεν (suppl. ποιεῖν), what she had to do she did; the reference being not to the measure of her power (wealth) but to her opportunity: she did what lay to her hand, and could only be done then.—προέλαβε μυρίσαι, she anticipated the anointing; the latter verb here only, the former in 1 Corinthians 11:21, Galatians 6:1.—ἐνταφιασμόν: the noun answering to the verb in Mt., here and in John and in one place in the classics.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. she is come aforehand] The word thus rendered only occurs three times in the New Testament. (1) Here; (2) 1 Corinthians 11:21, “for in eating every one taketh before other his own supper;” (3) Galatians 6:1, “if a man be overtaken in a fault,” = “be surprised or detected in the act of committing any sin.” It denotes (1) to take beforehand; (2) to take before another; (3) to outstrip, get the start of, anticipate.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 14:8. Ὅ, What) An abbreviated mode of expression; i.e. What she had, she has freely bestowed; and what she could, she hath done; or else, what she had [it in her power] to do, she hath done.—αὕτη, she, emphatically coheres with ἔσχεν, she had. Hardly any one else of those, who were in attendance on Jesus, had so costly ointment. It was divinely designed and appointed for the purpose of this being done.—προέλαβε, she has anticipated [she is come aforehand] to) It would not have been becoming for the body of Christ, which knew not corruption, to have been anointed after death; on this account it was anointed beforehand.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - She hath done what she could. She seized the opportunity, which might not occur again, of doing honor to her Lord by anointing him with her very best. Our Lord might have excused this action, and have praised it as a practical evidence of her gratitude, her humility, and her love for him. But instead of dwelling on these things, he said, She hath anointed my body aforehand for the burying. Our Lord here, of course, alludes to the spices and ointments with which the Jews wrapped up the bodies of their dead before their burial. Not that this was what Mary intended. She could hardly have dreamed of his death and burial so near at hand. But she was moved by the Holy Spirit to do this, at this particular time, as though in anticipation of his death and burial. Mark 14:8

Vincent's Word Studies

She hath done what she could (ὅ ἔσχεν ἐποίησεν)

Lit., what she had she did. Peculiar to Mark.

She is come aforehand to anoint (προέλαβεν μυρίσαι)

Lit., she anticipated to anoint. Rev., hath anointed beforehand. The verb μυρίζω is found only here.