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Believest thou this? 27 She saith unto him,

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ch. iv. 42: vi. 14, 69.

8 never die. Yea, Lord I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of Matt. xvi. 16. God, which should come into the world. 28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth [for] thee. 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. 30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. 31 p The Jews then which were with her in the house, and p ver. 19. comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. 32 m Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, [she] fell down at his feet, saying unto him, a Lord, if thou hadst been here, a ver. 21.

gor, not die for evermore.

h render, is to come.

krender, were comforting.

1

i omit.

Many of our ancient authorities read, thinking. m render, Mary therefore, when she came.

died, shall live" in the second, that he living and believing, shall never die." Olshausen's remark, that living and dying, in the second clause, must both be physical, if one is, is wrong; the antithesis consisting, in both clauses, in the reciprocation of the two senses, physical and spiritual; and serving in the latter clause, as a key hereafter to the condition of Lazarus, when raised from the dead.

There

can hardly be any reference in ver. 26 to the state of the living faithful at the Lord's coming (1 Cor. xv. 51),-for although the Apostle there, speaking of believers primarily and especially, uses the first person,-the saying would be equally true of unbelievers, on whose bodies the change from the corruptible to the incorruptible will equally pass, and of whom the "shall never die" here would be equally true, whereas the saying is one setting forth an exclusive privilege of the man that liveth and believeth on me. Besides, such an interpretation would set aside all reference to Lazarus, or to present cir27.] Her confession, though embracing the great central point of the truth in the last verse, does not enter fully into it. Nor does she (ver. 40) seem to have adequately apprehended its meaning. "That He spoke great things about Himself, she knew: but in what sense He spoke them, she did not know: and therefore when asked one thing, she

cumstances.

replies another." Euthymius.

I-em

phatic: I for my part: and the word
believe is in the original in the perfect
tense, "have believed and continue to
believe" i. e. have convinced myself,
and firmly believe.' 28.] Her calling
her sister is characteristic of one who (as in
Luke x. 40) had not been much habituated
herself to listen to his instructions, but
knew this to be the delight of Mary.
Besides this, she evidently has hopes
raised, though of a very faint and indefi-
nite kind. secretly] "Lest the Jews
who were present should know it, and
should perhaps give information against
Him to those who were conspiring against
His life." Euthymius. This fear was
realized (ver. 46).
calleth thee]
This is not recorded. Stier thinks that
the Lord had not actually asked for her,
but that Martha sees such an especial fit-
ness for her hearing in the words of vv.
25, 26, that she uses this expression. But
is it not somewhat too plainly asserted, to
mean only calling by inference? Surely,
we must regard Martha's words as proving
it to have been a fact. 31.] to weep

there-
e-as is the custom even now in the
East: see an affecting account in Lamar-
tine's Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Eng-
lish translation, vol. ii.
pp. 76-78.

32.] The words of Mary are fewer, and her
action more impassioned, than those of her
sister she was perhaps interrupted by the

my brother had not died. 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord,· r Luke xix. 41. Come and see. 35 Jesus wept. 36 p Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! 37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? 38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the • render, was greatly moved in spirit, and troubled himself. Prender, The Jews therefore said. rrender, the blind man.

sch. ix. 6.

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trender, greatly moved within himself.

arrival of the Jews: cf. ver. 33.

33.] In explaining this difficult verse, two
things must be borne in mind: (1) that
the word rendered by the A. V. "groaned"
can bear but one meaning,-the expres
sion of indignation and rebuke, not of sor-
row. This has been here acknowledged
by all the expositors who have paid any
attention to the usage of the word. (2)
That both from the words, "When Jesus
saw her weeping," &c.,-from the expres-
sion "he troubled himself," and from ver.
35,-the feeling in the Lord was clearly
one of rising sympathy, which vented itself
at last in tears. These two things being
premised, I think the meaning to be, that
Jesus, with the tears of sympathy already
rising and overcoming His speech, checked
them, so as to be able to speak the words
following. I would understand the words
as expressing the temporary check given
to the flow of His tears,-the effort used to
utter the following question. And I would
thus divest the self-restraint of all stoical
and unworthy character, and consider it as
merely physical, requiring indeed an act
of the will, and a self-troubling,-a com-
plication of feeling,-but implying no de-
liberate disapproval of the rising emotion,
which indeed immediately after is suffered
to prevail. What minister has not, when
burying the dead in the midst of a weep-
ing family, felt the emotion and made the
effort here described? And surely this was
one of the things in which He was made
like unto His brethren. Thus Bengel
"Jesus for the present austerely repressed
his tears, and presently, ver. 38, they
broke forth. So much the greater was
their power, when they were shed."
Meyer's explanation deserves mention;
that our Lord was indignant at seeing the
Jews, His bitter enemies, mingling their

I render, But.

8 render, also that.

hypocritical tears with the true ones of the
bereaved sister. But, not to say how
unworthy this seems of the Person and
occasion, the explanation will find no
place in ver. 38: for surely the question
of the Jews in ver. 37 is not enough to
justify it. Still perhaps, any contribution
to the solution of this difficult word is not
to be summarily rejected.
in spirit,
here, corresponds to "within himself," ver.
38. Indignation over unbelief, and
sin, and death the fruit of sin, doubtless
lay in the background; but to see it in
the words (with Olsh., Stier, and Trench)
seems unnatural.

troubled himself is understood by Meyer, and perhaps rightly, as describing an outward motion of the body,-He shuddered: and so Euthymius, "He trembled, as is usual with those who are thus affected." Cyril's comment is to the same effect: that it was His divinity, rebuking, and in conflict with, His human feelings, which caused His frame to shudder. 35-38.] It is

probable that the second set of Jews (ver. 37) spoke with a scoffing and hostile purport for St. John seldom uses but as a mere copula, but generally as expressing a contrast: see vv. 46, 49, 51.

It is (as Trench remarks) a point of accuracy in the narrative, that these dwellers in Jerusalem should refer to a miracle so well known among themselves, rather than to the former raisings of the dead in Galilee, of which they probably may have heard, but naturally would not thoroughly believe on rumour only. Again, of raising Lazarus none of them seem to have thought, only of preventing his death. This

second being greatly moved of our Lord I would refer to the same reason as the first. "He wept, as allowing nature to manifest herself: .... there again he re

u

39 Jesus

grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh for he hath been [ dead] four days. 40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41 z Then they took away the stone [a from the place where the dead was laid]. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42 b And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people tch. xii. 30.

■ render, against.

I not expressed in the original.

a omit.

I render, saith.
z render, So.
brender, Yet.

C render, for the sake of the multitude.

bukes the affections." Euthymius. Only he assigns a didactic purpose, to teach us moderation in our tears; I should rather believe the self-restraint to have been exercised as a preparation for what followed.

The caves were generally horizontal, natural or artificial, with recesses in the sides, where the bodies were laid. There is no necessity here for supposing the entrance to have been otherwise than horizontal, as the word cave would lead us to believe. Graves were of both kinds: we have the vertically sunk mentioned Luke xi. 44. Compare Isa. xxii. 16; 2 Chron. xvi. 14; 2 Kings xxiii. 16. Probably, from this circumstance, as from 'the Jews' coming to condole,—and the costly ointment (ch. xii. 3),-the family was wealthy. 39.] The corpse had not been embalmed, but merely wrapped in linen clothes with spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury,'- -see ch. xix. 40, and ver. 44 below. The expression, the sister of him that was dead, as Meyer remarks, notes the natural horror of the sister's heart at what was about to be done.

There is no reason to avoid the assumption of the plain fact (see below) stated in by this time he stinketh. I cannot see that any monstrous character (as asserted by Olshausen and Trench) is given to the miracle by it; any more than such a character can be predicated of restoring the withered hand. In fact, the very act of death is the beginning of decomposition. I have no hesitation, with almost all the ancient, and many of the best modern Commentators, in assuming her words as expressing a fact, and indeed with Stier, believing them to be spoken not as a supposition, but as a (sensible) fact. The VOL. I.

entrances to these vaults were not built
up,-merely defended, by a stone being
rolled to them, from the jackals and beasts
of prey.
40.] I can hardly think she
supposed merely that Jesus desired to
look on the face of the dead;-she ex-
pected something was about to be done,
but in her anxiety for decorum (Luke x.
40) she was willing to avoid the conse-
quence of opening the cave. This feeling
Jesus here rebukes, by referring her to the
plain duty of simple faith, insisted on by
Him before (in verses 25, 26? or in some
other teaching?) as the condition of be-
holding the glory of God (not merely in
the event about to follow,-for that was
seen by many who did not believe,-but
in a deeper sense, that of the unfolding
of the Resurrection and the Life in the
personal being). 41, 42.] In the filial
relation of the Lord Jesus to the Father,
all power is given to Him: the Son can
do nothing of Himself:-and during His
humiliation on earth, these acts of power
were done by Him, not by that glory of
His own which He had laid aside, but by
the mighty working of the Father in Him,
and in answer to His prayer: the dif
ference between Him and us in this respect
being, that His prayer was always heard,
-even (Heb. v. 7) that in Gethsemane.
And this, Thou hast heard me, He states
here for the benefit of the standers-by,
that they might know the truth of His
repeated assertions of His mission from
the Father. At the same time He guards
this, ver. 42, from future misconstruction,
as though He had no more power than
men who pray, by I knew that Thou
hearest me always;-because Thou and I
are One.'
When He prayed, does not
P P

u ch. xx. 7.

x ch. ii. 23: x. 42: xii. 11, 18.

:

d

X

which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that 44 f was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. 45 g Then many of the Jews, which came to Mary, and had seen the things which i Jesus did, believed on him. 46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, 47 y k Then and told them what things Jesus had done. iv. Luke gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. 48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both

y Ps ii. 2. Matt. xxvi.

3.

xxii. 2.

z ch. xii. 19.

Acts iv. 16.

d render, might.

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appear. Probably in Peræa, before the
declaration in ver. 4.
43.] Some sup-
pose that the revivification had taken place
before the previous thanksgiving of our
Lord, and that these words were merely
a summoning forth. But this is highly
improbable. The comparison of ch. v. 25,
28, which are analogically applicable,
makes it clear that they who have heard,
shall live, is the physical, as well as the
spiritual order of things. To cry out,
shout aloud, was not His wont; see Matt.
xii. 19. This cry signified that greater
one, which all shall hear, ch. v. 28.
44.] The word rendered grave-clothes is
explained to mean a sort of band, of rush
or tow, used to swathe infants, and to bind
up the dead. It does not appear whether
the bands were wound about each limb, as
in the Egyptian mummies, so as merely to
impede motion-or were loosely wrapped
round both feet and both hands, so as to
hinder any free movement altogether. The
latter seems most probable, and has been
supposed by many. Basil speaks of the
bound man coming forth from the sepul-
chre, as a miracle in a miracle and
ancient pictures represent Lazarus gliding
forth from the tomb, not stepping; which
apparently is right.
The napkin, or
handkerchief, appears to have tied up his
let him go, probably, to his

chin.

home.

45-57.] THE DEATH OF JESUS THE LIFE OF THE WORLD. Consequences of

e better, cried out.

render, Many therefore.

read, he.

are we doing, seeing that.

...

the miracle. Meeting of the Sanhedrim;
and final determination, on the prophetic
intimation of the High Priest, to put Jesus
to death. He retires to Ephraim.
46.] We must take care rightly to under-
stand this. In the last verse, it is not
many of the Jews which had come, but
many of the Jews, viz. those which had
come, "many. to wit, those that came."
All these believed on Him (see a similar
case in ch. viii. 30 ff.). Then, some of
them, viz. of those which had come, and
believed, went, &c. The but (see on ver.
37) certainly shews that this was done with
a hostile intent: not in doubt as to the
miracle, any more than in the case of the
blind man, ch. ix., but with a view to stir
up the rulers yet more against Him. This
Evangelist is very simple, and at the same
time very consistent, in his use of par-
ticles almost throughout his Gospel the
great subject, the manifestation of the
Glory of Christ, is carried onward by then,
or therefore, whereas but as generally pre-
faces the development of the antagonist
manifestation of hatred and rejection of
Him. If it seem strange that this hostile
step should be taken by persons who be-
lieved on Jesus, we at least find a parallel
in the passage above cited, ch. viii. 30 ff.

48.] They evidently regarded the result of all believing on Him,' as likely to be, that He would be set up as king: which would soon bring about the ruin here mentioned. Augustine understands

our place and nation. 49 And one of them, [m named]

a

a Luke iii. 2. ch. xviii. 14. Acts iv. 6.

Caiaphas, being [the] high priest that [same] year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, 50 b nor con- b ch. xviii. 14. sider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for P that nation; 52 and not for P that nation only, e but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. 53 8 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to

m not expressed in the original.
nomit: not in the original, which is the same as in ver. 51.
• render, was about to die.
A render, might.

rrender, are.

it differently: that, all men being per-
suaded by Him to peaceful lives, they
would have no one to join them in revolt
against the Romans; but this seems forced :
for no coming of the Romans would in that
case be provoked. our place] not, the
temple (the holy place, Acts vi. 13), but
our place, as in reff.: i. e. our local habi-
tation, and our national existence. Both
these literally came to pass. Whether
this fear was earnestly expressed, or only
as a covert for their enmity, does not
appear. The word our is emphatic, de-
tecting the real cause of their anxiety.
Respecting this man's pretensions, they
do not pretend to decide: all they know is
that if he is to go on thus, THEIR standing
is gone.
49-52.] The counsel is
given in subtilty, and was intended by
Caiaphas in the sense of political expe-
diency only. But it pleased God to make
him, as High Priest, the special though
involuntary organ of the Holy Spirit,
and thus to utter by him a prophecy of
the death of Christ and its effects. That
this is the only sense to be given, appears
from the consideration that the whole of
verses 51, 52 cannot for a moment be
supposed to have been in the mind of
Caiaphas; and to divide it, and suppose
the latter part to be the addition of the
Evangelist, is quite unjustifiable.
high priest that year] repeated again, ch.
xviii. 13. He was High Priest during
the whole Procuratorship of Pontius Pilate,
eleven years.
In the words that year,
there is no intimation conveyed that the
High Priesthood was changed every year,
which it was not: but we must un-
derstand the words as directing atten-

P render, the.

с

Isa. xlix. 6. deh. x. 10.

1 John ii. 2.

Eph. ii. 14,

15, 16, 17.

8 render, Therefore.

tion to that (remarkable) year,' without
any reference to time past or to come.
THAT YEAR of great events had Caiaphas
as its High Priest. See on ver. 57.
Ye know nothing at all] Probably various
methods of action had been suggested.

Observe people here, the usual term for the chosen people, and then nation, when it is regarded as a nation among the nations: compare also ver. 52.

not of himself] i.e. not merely of himself, but under the influence of the Spirit, who caused him to utter words, of the full meaning of which he had no conception.

being high priest . . . he prophesied] There certainly was a belief, probably arising originally from the use of the Urim and Thummim, that the High Priest, and indeed every priest, had some knowledge of dreams and utterance of prophecy. Philo the Jew says, "A true priest is ipso facto a prophet." That this belief existed, may account for the expression here; which however does not confirm it in all cases, but asserts the fact that the Spirit in this case made use of him as High Priest, for this purpose. This confirms the above view of the words that year, here again repeated. See on ver. 49.

that Jesus was about to die...] the
purport (unknown to himself) of his pro-
phecy. And the term the nation, is
guarded from misunderstanding_by_what
follows. the children of God] are
those who are called by the same name in
ch. i. 12, the "ordained to eternal life"
of Acts xiii. 48 (where see note), among
all nations; compare ch. x. 16.
53.] The decision, to put Him to death,
is understood and from that day they

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