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Bible Dictionaries
Alabaster
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
or A sort of stone, of fine texture, either the white gypsum, a sulphate of lime, or the onyx-alabaster, a hard carbonate of lime, having the color of the human nail, and nearly allied to marble. This material being very generally used to fabricate vessels for holding unguents and perfumed liquids, many vessels were called alabaster though made of a different substance, as gold, silver, glass, etc. In Matthew 26:6,7 , we read that Mary, sister of Lazarus, John 12:3 , poured as alabaster box of precious ointment on Christ's head. Mark says "she brake the box," signifying probably, that the seal upon the box, or upon the neck of the vase of bottle, which kept the perfume from evaporating, had never been removed; it was on this occasion first opened. See SPIKENARD .
These files are public domain and are a derivative of the topics are from American Tract Society Bible Dictionary published in 1859.
Rand, W. W. Entry for 'Alabaster'. American Tract Society Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ats/a/alabaster.html. 1859.
