Jewish Women.
We do not read that a Jewess was to be seen among the crowds of priests and the rabble who insulted the Son of man, scourged him, crowned him with thorns, and subjected him to ignominy and the agony of the cross. The women of Judea believed in the Savior; they loved, they followed him; they assisted him with their substance, and soothed him under afflictions. A woman of Bethany poured on his head the precious ointment which she kept in a vase of alabaster; the sinner anointed his feet with a perfumed oil, and wiped them with her hair. Christ, on his part, extended his grace and mercy to the Jewesses; he raised from the dead the son of the widow of Nain, and Martha’s brother Lazarus; he cured Simon’s mother-in-law, and the woman who touched the hem of his garment. To the Samaritan woman he was a spring of living water. The daughters of Jerusalem wept over him; the holy women accompanied him to Calvary—brought balm and spices, and, weeping,
sought him at the sepulchre. His first appearance, after his resurrection, was to Mary. He said unto her, “Mary!” At the sound of that voice, Mary Magdalene’s eyes were opened, and she answered, “Master!” The reflection of some very beautiful ray must have rested on the brow of the Jewesses.