Spikenard

Spikenard appears in the UPDV as both a fragrant plant and a costly perfume prepared from it. Its small footprint in scripture is concentrated in two settings: the love poetry of the Song of Solomon, where it figures as one of the orchard's precious aromatics, and the gospel accounts of an anointing at Bethany, where pure nard is poured out on Jesus.

An Aromatic in the Orchard

In the Song of Solomon the beloved's garden is catalogued as an orchard of named plants and spices. Spikenard belongs to that catalogue twice. It is grouped with henna among the orchard's "precious fruits": "Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants" (Song 4:13). The list then widens into the chief spices: "Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices" (Song 4:14). The setting is botanical and olfactory — spikenard sits alongside saffron, calamus, cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh, and aloes as one of the recognized aromatic plants.

A Perfume That Carries Across a Room

Earlier in the same poem, spikenard is named as a prepared scent rather than a plant in the ground. The beloved speaks of her own perfume releasing its fragrance at a banquet: "While the king sat at his table, My spikenard sent forth its fragrance" (Song 1:12). The substance is portable, applied, and able to travel through the air of a room while the king is reclining at table.

The Anointing at Bethany

In the gospels spikenard reappears as a costly ointment used in a single anointing at Bethany. Mark describes the ointment as held in an alabaster cruse, characterized as pure and very costly, and used in one decisive act: "And while he was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat to eat, there came a woman having an alabaster cruse of ointment of pure nard very costly; [and] she broke the cruse, and poured it over his head" (Mark 14:3). The cruse is broken; the ointment is poured over Jesus' head while he is at table.

John describes the same kind of ointment, again pure nard, but specifies its quantity and a different application. "Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment" (John 12:3). A full pound is used, the feet are anointed and wiped with hair, and — as in the Song of Solomon's banquet scene — the fragrance fills the whole house.

The Substance Named

Across these passages a consistent profile emerges. Spikenard is a plant grown among prized aromatics (Song 4:13, Song 4:14). The perfume prepared from it carries a fragrance strong enough to fill the space where it is used (Song 1:12, John 12:3). In the gospel anointing it is qualified as "pure" and as "very costly" or "very precious" (Mark 14:3, John 12:3), held in an alabaster cruse, and used in a single unrepeated act poured over Jesus.