A Woman with an Alabaster Box - Matthew 26:7

Matthew the apostle wrote, “and it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples. You know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper”, and in chapter twenty-six and verse seven of his book, Matthew writes how, “there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box” where we read:

There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment,

and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.

The verse reads, “There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, ...” Matthew began with Jesus' words, “there came unto him” which means “there approached, arose and came for the to Jesus” “a woman” or “a female human being” “having an alabaster box” which means “holding, owning and possessing a box made of alabaster stone in which unguents are preserved” “of very precious ointment” or “of weighty, great, very precious and costly perfume or myrrh” . Matthew shared how a “woman” approached Jesus carrying a “stone box made of alabaster” which contained extremely valuable perfume.

The verse goes on to say, “... and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.” Matthew continued with the words, “and poured it” which means “and poured the expensive perfume” “on his head” or “upon Jesus' head”, “as he sat” which means “as Jesus was seated, fixed and established” “at meat” or “at the table to dine or eat together”. Matthew shared how the woman with the “alabaster box” poured out the expensive “perfume” within it upon Jesus' head while He was eating.

When we meditate upon Matthew's words in this verse, we can imagine this scene within “Simon's house” in Bethany. Jesus was reclining at a meal when this woman came in to pour out her “expensive perfume” upon His head. More than likely this was her “dowry” which was saved for marriage, and she poured it all out on Jesus. This was her form of worship, and Jesus was the object of her adoration. God loves people to be in a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus, and those who are wise shall consider this worshipful act as this woman poured out her “expensive and valuable” perfume upon Him.

Next time Matthew shares what happened when, “the disciples saw it”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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