Monthly Archives: April 2010

Perfume of pure nard

Posted on April 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

Shortly before His death, Jesus went to Bethany. The event we are considering today took place at the home of Simon the Leper, but Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, His friends, were present.  On this occasion Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with perfume of pure nard.

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:3 ESV)

The Greek word for perfume is muron, and the word for nard is nardos. Our word myrrh comes from muron. While it might be used of a specific type of fragrance, in this place it is probably used in the general sense of perfume. Nard (or spikenard) is “a fragant oil derived from the root and spike (hair stem) of the nard plant which grows in the mountains of northern India” (Brown, Anchor Bible, I:448). Mary anointed His feet. The parallel accounts are Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9. This act is to be told wherever the gospel is preached. This took place in the house of Simon the leper. The account in Luke 7:36-50 took place in Galilee and is different.

The Eretz Israel Museum at Tel Aviv University has one entire building devoted to glassware. I was especially interested in a large collection of perfume bottles from the first century A.D.

Perfume Bottles at Eretz Israel Museum at Tel Aviv University

First Century A.D. Perfume Bottles at Eretz Israel Museum. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The museum sign associated with this collection identifies these bottles as “Free-blown vessels of colored opaque and translucent glass, probably produced in the same centers.”

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“He is not here, for He has risen”

Posted on April 4, 2010 | 1 comment

The women who came to the tomb of Jesus on the first day of the week found the stone rolled away from the tomb. When they entered the tomb the body was not there (Luke 24:1-3).

The angel said to the women,

He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.  (Matthew 28:6a ESV)

Several tombs of the type in which Jesus was buried have survived the centuries. This one was discovered during road construction a few years ago near Mount Carmel.

A Roman Period tomb with a rolling stone. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

A Roman Period tomb with a rolling stone. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Paul says that Jesus was “delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:25 ESV).

Last year I wrote about “The empty tomb” here, and “The Tomb of Jesus” here. Use the search box to locate other posts about tomb.

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Posted in Bible Places, Bible Study, Israel, New Testament

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The observance of Easter

Posted on April 3, 2010 | 3 comments

Have you ever thought about it? Was Easter celebrated in the churches of New Testament times? For a brief discussion of the historical information, read an article that I have posted here at the Biblical Studies Info Page.

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Posted in Bible Study, Church History, New Testament

The Via Dolorosa – the Way of the Cross

Posted on April 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

An incredible day in history. Early in the morning Jesus was transferred from Caiaphas, the Jewish High Priest, to Pontius Pilate, the Roman military governor. When Pilate learned that Jesus was from Galilee, he sent Him to Herod Antipas. Herod quickly sent Him back to Pilate. Under pressure from the religious leaders, Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified. The numerous events from the last day prior to the crucifixion of Jesus are recorded in the New Testament (Matthew 26-27; Mark 14-15; Luke 22-23; John 18-19).

As early as Byzantine times Christians began to follow the final steps of Jesus on specified days. Over the centuries many changes were made in the route and the stops. The traditional Via Dolorosa, as known today, was fixed in the 18th century.

Jerome Murphy-O’Connor says,

The Via Dolorosa is defined by faith, not by history. (The Holy Land, 5th edition, 37)

He continues,

The present Way of the Cross has little chance of corresponding to historical reality… (38)

According to tradition, the third station of the cross is where Jesus falls the first time under His cross. It sounds reasonable, but the Gospels make no specific mention of this.

Roman period street near 3rd station of the cross. Photo by F. Jenkins.

Roman period street near 3rd station of the cross. Photo by F. Jenkins.

This photo shows the street in front of the third station. The plaque in Hebrew, Arabic and English provides the following information about the street.

Paving stones, apparently from the Second Temple Period (ca. 100 B.C.E. – 100 C.E.). The street was found in its entirety 3 meters below the existing level and was partially restored by the Municipality of Jerusalem … 1980-1981.

This means that the street Jesus might have walked is at least 10 feet below the present street level.

[A portion of this post is repeated from April 8, 2009.]

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BiblioBlogger rankings for March

Posted on April 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

The Top 50 BiblioBlogger rankings for March are posted here. Thanks to our readers for moving us into 10th place. This list is based on the Alexa traffic rank.

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Peter’s denial of Jesus

Posted on April 1, 2010 | 1 comment

Thursday was another activity-filled day for Jesus, but we pick up on the activity late in the day. The Gospel of John fills in a lot of information not contained in the other accounts of His life. Here is what John records:

  • The passover meal (John 13:1-38). John includes no account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper which took place at the time of this meal (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20). Only John records the washing of the disciples’ feet.
  • His farewell discourses (John 14-16).
  • His priestly prayer for His disciples and those who believe on Him through their word (John 17).
  • His betrayal and arrest (John 18). Note that it would have been fairly late in the evening before He was arrested.
  • He is taken to the house of Annas (John 18:12-14), where he was delivered over to Caiaphas (John 18:24-28). I think the text indicates that Jesus remained there throughout the night.
  • The denial by Peter (John 18:15-18).

The traditional location for the house of Caiaphas is known as St. Peter in Gallicantu (St. Peter of the Cock Crowing). We have written about the site here, and I will not discuss the authenticity of the place now. The site has a nice statue of Peter saying, “mulier non novi illum.”

Peter denies knowing Jesus. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins at St. Peter in Galicantu.

Peter denies knowing Jesus. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance. After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them. And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” (Luke 22:54-57 NAU)

This must have been one of the most hurtful things to Jesus. It is one thing to have acknowledged enemies mistreat you, but when it is done by a supposed friend it is doubly hurtful.

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