alabaster Summary and Overview

occurs only in the New Testament in connection with the box of "ointment of spikenard very precious," with the contents of which a woman anointed the head of Jesus as he sat at supper in the house of Simon the leper (Matt. 26:7; Mark 14:3; Luke 7:37). These boxes were made from a stone found near Alabastron in Egypt, and from this circumstance the Greeks gave them the name of the city where they were made. The name was then given to the stone of which they were made; and finally to all perfume vessels, of whatever material they were formed. The woman "broke" the vessel; i.e., she broke off, as was usually done, the long and narrow neck so as to reach the contents. This stone resembles marble, but is softer in its texture, and hence very easily wrought into boxes. Mark says (14:5) that this box of ointment was worth more than 300 pence, i.e., denarii, each of the value of sevenpence halfpenny of our money, and therefore worth about 10 pounds. But if we take the denarius as the day's wage of a labourer (Matt. 20:2), say two shillings of our money, then the whole would be worth about 30 pounds, so costly was Mary's offering.

from the Arabic al bastraton, a whitish stone or from Alabastron, the place in Egypt where it is found. It occurs only in #Mt 26:7; Mr 14:3; Lu 7:37| The ancients considered alabaster to be the best material in which to preserve their ointments. The Oriental alabaster (referred to in the Bible) is a translucent carbonate of lime, formed on the floors of limestone caves by the percolation of water. It is of the same material as our marbles, but differently formed. It is usually clouded or banded like agate, hence sometimes called onyx marble. Our common alabaster is different from this, being a variety of gypsum or sulphate of lime, used In its finer forms for vases, etc.; in the coarser it is ground up for plaster of Paris. The noted sculptured slabs from Nineveh are made of this material.

AL'ABASTER . Matt 26:7. A white mineral, easily carved and susceptible of a fine polish. It was of two distinct kinds. One was a pure variety of gypsum or sulphate of lime, the rock which is often ground into plaster of Paris; the other kind was carbonate of lime, a mineral of the same chemical composition as most of the marbles. It was highly valued for its translucency and for its variety of reddish or grayish streakings. The name "alabaster" is from Alabastrou, in Egypt, where this material was found, and where vessels were manufactured from it for holding perfumes. Vases of the same mineral for containing ointments or cosmetics were found at Nineveh by Mr. Layard. The well known sculptured slabs from that city are of alabaster of the gypsum kind. The druggists in Egypt at the present day Alabaster Vases. (From the British Museum.) The inscription on the centre vessel denotes the quantity it holds. use vessels of this substance for the purpose of keeping medicines and perfumes. Theocritus, an ancient profane historian, speaks of gilded alabasters of Syrian ointment. The phrase "she brake the box", used in Mark 14:3, is supposed to mean that she broke the slender neck of the sealed bottle or pitcher. Thus the offering was very costly and appropriate. Box was formerly used in a more general sense than now. The word is said to come from the wood of the same name, and at first was used for any vessel formed from that material.

Not our gypsum, but the oriental alabaster, translucent, with red, yellow, and gray streaks clue to admixture of oxides of iron with a fibrouscarbonate of lime. A calcareous marble like spar, wrought into boxes or vessels, to keep precious ointments from spoiling (Pliny H. N., 13:8). Mark 14:3; "broke the box," i.e., broke the seal on the mouth of it, put there to prevent, evaporation of the odor (Luke 7:37).