Box

For holding oil or perfumery (Mark 14:3). It was of the form of a flask or bottle. The Hebrew word (pak) used for it is more appropriately rendered “vial” in 1 Sam. 10:1, and should also be so rendered in 2 Kings 9:1, where alone else it occurs.

The passages in which this word occurs are 2Ki 9:1,3 (Hebrew pakh, "cruet," "flask," the Revised Version (British and American) vial) and the synoptic passages Mt 26:7 the King James Version; Mr 14:3 the King James Version; Lu 7:37 the King James Version (Greek alabastron). "Perfume-boxes" are mentioned in Isa 3:20; in the New Testament passages the Revised Version (British and American) renders "alabaster cruse." "Alabaster" was a white stone much used in ornamentation; and out of it small vessels we re made for holding precious ointment. "She brake the cruse" (Mr 14:3), i.e. the seal, not the vessel.

In Isa 41:19 and Isa 60:13, "box" is found in connection with "tree," as "box-tree" (which see).