Footsteps to the Coffin:
Why Nard?
In last week’s installment of Footsteps to the Coffin, the woman who brought the alabaster vial of nard poured out everything she had on Yeshua’s feet. She trusted him. She used hair, "like a flock of goats" to seek his forgiveness by washing her tears of repentance with her unbound hair.
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For troubles surround me—too many to count! My sins pile up so high I can’t see my way out. They outnumber the hairs on my head. I have lost all courage. (Ps 40:12)
According to Luke Seven, after he resurrects the widow’s son in Nain [Navi], Yeshua is in the lower Galilee, perhaps still in Nain. Nain is a small village on the northwestern slope of the Hill of Moreh or the Hill of the Teacher, also a mound called Navi, or “Prophet.”
Why did Yeshua have so much compassion for the widow, her “young, only begotten”? After all, Yeshua didn’t resurrect everyone in a coffin or the cemeteries.
The prophet Elisha was a frequent visitor to the home of a prosperous couple in Shunem. Their home was on the lower slopes of Mount Moreh, and modern Nain is the location of ancient Shunem. Elisha spent a lot of time at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:19, 2 Kings 2:25, 4:25), about 20 miles to the northwest of Shunem. When Elisha’s ministry took him from there to Galilee or other areas to the northeast of Judah, he’d travel along that highway where Shunem would be about a day’s journey from Carmel. It was a great place for Elisha to stop and rest at the end of a long day of travel.
The Shunnamite couple built a guest room for Elisha on the roof of their home (2 Kings 4:9-10). In response to their kindness, Elisha prophesied that Adonai would grant a son to them, as they were childless. And the following spring, their son was born. The hospitality followed by a son-promise is very like the story of the angels’ visit to Abraham and Sarah to promise that at that same time the following year, Isaac would be born. As one offered by the father, Isaac is the type of Messiah. In a proto-prophecy of Yeshua, after he grew to a young man, the only son of the Shunnamite died, and Elisha prayed for his resurrection from the dead.
Although Elisha tries various tactics to resurrect the Shunnamites’ son, Yeshua immediately touches the widow’s son’s coffin and speaks directly to him. The townspeople are amazed. They can easily connect the resurrection miracle to their location, even the names chosen for the town and its hill, Prophet and Teacher.
The next section of Luke Seven is likely a continuation of the resurrection account from Nain.
- Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head and began kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner!” (Lk 7:36-39)
The scribes and Pharisees were the most expert of scholars in the Tanakh. If the Pharisee were a sincere Pharisee, he would know that Yeshua was MORE than a prophet from the miracle of the young man of Nain's resurrection from the coffin!
How does the alabaster woman know the King is reclining at the table, and it is time to break open her soul in repentance, to release the aroma of repentance?
This is why we need to ensure that our children and grandchildren grow up hearing the Word read. Not just little two-minute posts or entertaining cartoons, but the actual Word, which is prescriptive for their future sins. It is salvation itself when that child later “comes to himself” and knows where to find the Father. In this case, somewhere, sometime, from someone, the alabaster woman had heard the reading of the Song of Songs, which is a song the Bride's return and resurrection.
There are a few hints in the passage that link the interaction with the Song of Songs:
- THE BRIDE “While the king was at his table, my perfume gave forth its fragrance.” (So 1:12)
And why does the writer include the fact that the sin-laden woman is motivated by Yeshua reclining at the table?
It is traditional to read the Song of Songs at Pesach!
At Pesach, every Jew/Israelite reclines at the table to eat the seder as a nation of royal priests. The reclining posture for drinking the cups signaled the freedom from Egypt and a new, elevated position in the Kingdom. The second alabaster woman, Miriam (Mary) will bookend this first anointing of nard and tears washed by hair in the days leading up to Passover. She will anoint Yeshua’s body for burial…and resurrection.
Other Themes of Passover:
- Deliverance from Egypt (death) and the lowest level of sin
- The blood of the lamb, which is likened to nard by the rabbis; it removes the stench of death from Egypt when mingled with the Lamb’s blood
- Resurrection from the dead
The smell of nard is an earthy smell. Imagine the smell of the earth from a burial cave or earthen grave. The dead body rots into the earth, yet when the blood of the resurrected Lamb mingles with the body, it becomes a pleasing aroma, a sacrifice pleasing to the Father.
From death to life. From stench of sin to incense of repentance and prayer.
Accepted.
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Shabbat Shalom!
