The Raising of Lazarus and the Plotting of the Foes (John 11)
The Raising of Lazarus and the Plotting of the Foes (John 11)
Vs. 1 Λάζαρος, a contraction of Ελεάζαρος. This contraction is found frequently in the Talmud, see Smith’s Dictionary III, p. 78. The article by E.H.P is full of the wildest suggestions. He was less well known than Mary and Martha. Perhaps a younger brother.
ἀπὸ Βηθανίας etc. Bethany i.e. ‘house of dates’ like Bethphage, ‘olives.’ On the palm branches, [see] 12:13. It is now called El Azariyeh. The words ἐκ τῆς κώμης Μαρίας etc. are added to distinguish this village from the one in 1:29.
ἀπό, ἐκ perhaps the simple desire to distinguish the place he came from accounts for the change of prepositions.
It would appear that Martha was the elder sister, but Mary the more famous in the Church. 1) Of Martha, see vs. 5, τὴν Μάρθαν καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτῆς; vs. 19; 12:2; Luke 10:38.; 2) Mary’s greater fame may explain the prominence of Mary’s name here, comp. Matt 26:13; Mark 14:9. On the character of the two sisters see the discussion in the Introduction above on the ‘Internal Evidence.’
Vs. 2 ἦν δὲ Μαριὰμ ἡ ἀλείψασα τὸν Κύριον μύρῳ St. John himself afterwards relates the incident, see 12:2. But here he assumes his readers know it already. This accords with the language of the other Evangelists—Matt 26:13; Mark 14:9. The forms Μαριάμ and Μαρία seem to be used indifferently by St. John. Hence the reading is doubtful.
Vs. 4 οὐκ ἔστιν πρὸς θάνατον Not to be taken in its prima facie meaning. For a parallel see above on 78.
τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ For the glory of the Son is the glory of the Father, see 13:3sq.; 14:13; 17:1sq.
Vs. 5 ἠγάπα The notice seems to be interjected here quite as much to correct any misunderstanding (as though his remaining case of indifference), as to explain vs. 11. On ἀγαπᾶν and φίλειν, see Trench New Testament Synonyms, p. 45. D substitutes ἐφίλει here, doubtless for uniformity. This shows that the change of word is not without a meaning.
Vs. 6 τότε μέν In the time indeed. The μέν is added to keep the attention on the alert for some account which showed that Jesus ἠγάπα them.
Vs. 7 εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν πάλιν He was in Peraea.
Vs. 8 νῦν Here it means ‘just now, only the other day.’
Vs. 9 ‘There is a proper time for working. He that avails himself of this time performs his task faithfully, successfully. The daylight is for work, and he avails Himself of this work.’ Comp. ix.4.
Οὐχὶ δώδεκα ὧραί εἰσιν τῆς ἡμέρας i.e. twelve hours of daylight. A rough reckoning, though at this time of the year (the vernal equinox) it would be very nearly true. Alford’s note is quite beside the point. See 19:14.
τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου τούτου βλέπει i.e. the sunlight, light in its primary physical sense. The words τοῦ κόσμου τούτου are added to show that our Lord is here using a figure, and to suggest the spiritual and moral application. As in the natural world, so in the spiritual world. The word τούτου suggests the analogy.
Vs. 10 But if instead of following God’s Spirit, instead of choosing God’s times, man will choose his own. Instead of walking in the daylight, he will walk at night, then his work must be a failure, he must be brought to ruin.
ὅτι τὸ φῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ If the figure had still been preserved, the words should here run τὸ φῶς and βλέπει or words to the same effect. But the type, the figure, has gradually dissolved into the thing typified. For the physical light, the moral light has been substituted. And this spiritual light is an internal light. ‘The light of the gods is the eye’ (quoted by Alford). See Matt 6:22.
Vs. 11 ἐξυπνίσω On this word see Lobeck, Phrygn. p. 224.
Vs. 12 σωθήσεται Aramaic.
Vs. 13 εἰρήκει ‘had spoken’ not as A.V.
Vs. 16 Θωμᾶς On his character, see in the Introduction above on ‘The Internal Evidence.’ On his name, see my Galatians, p. 257 (2nd ed., 251 1rst). See also Clement, Hom. ii.1. The writer did not seem to know that Thomas = Didymus.
Vs. 17 τέσσαρας . . . ἡμέρας Supposing that Jesus were at the place suggested above (see 10:40) i.e. in the neighborhood of the Jordan, where the river is the least distance from Jerusalem, one day’s journey would be sufficient to bring him to Bethany. Lazarus therefore must have died (see vs. 6) on the same day when the message was dispatched, and been buried the same evening.
Vs. 18 ἀπὸ σταδίων δεκαπέντε See my notes on Acts 1:12.
ἦν δὲ Βηθανία Comp. 3:23; 4:6; 18:1; 19:41, 42. See Kinglaki’s(?) Crume. III, pp. 38, 117, 118, 122, 286. This is the narrative of a person who was an eyewitness of the events he relates, and who writes not half a century later, but within a very few years of the occurrence. No inference therefore can be safely drawn. On the other hand, the present is used in 4:11 and 5:2 and the present and past are used together in 4:6, 11. Comp. Luke 4:29 ᾠκοδόμητο. Therefore, it is not strictly true that St. John alone uses this mode of speaking (as Alford states).
Vs. 19 πρὸς τὰς περί (T.R. and B.M.T., A) This reading, it seems, must be adopted, as it’s not likely to have been substituted for the simpler one. On the other hand πρὸς τὴν Μάρθαν καὶ Μαριάμ is better supported by א, B, C, L, X, Peshit., Memph, Theb., Goth., Arm. The πρὸς τὰς περί reading refers to Mary, Martha, and the mourners with them. These are the friends of the family, though sometimes hired mourners were employed (Jer 9:7; Amos v.16). On the rationale for seven days of mourning see Smith’s Dictionary s.v. on ‘Mourning’ and John Lightfoot here.
Vs. 20 On the contrast of the demeanor of the two sisters see Luke 10:39; John 12:2, 3.
Vs. 22 αἰτήσῃ The feebleness and inadequacy of the confession is shown not only in the whole tenor of the sentence but in this individual word. See Trench, New Testament Synon. sec. xl, p. 161.
Vs. 23 Ἀναστήσεται ὁ ἀδελφός σου A reproof is implied in our Lord’s answer. He does not say αἰτήσω (or for that matter even ερωτήσω) τόν Θεόν etc. but ἀναστήσεται . . .
Vs. 25 ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή both the quickening power and the sustaining power. ‘I bring to life and I preserve in life.’ The two words correspond to the two claims that follow. The words of our Lord imply physical death and physical life (in the first instance) i.e. they refer to the case of Lazarus, but they refer secondarily and chiefly to the moral life and death.
Vs. 27 πεπίστευκα ‘have accepted the belief once for all.’ See Acts 11:17; 14:23; 1 Cor 15:2; (Rom 13:11) etc.
ὁ εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐρχόμενος A title of Messiah like ὁ ἀπεστόμενος. E.g. Matt 11:13; and frequently especially in St. John.
Vs. 28 λάθρᾳ εἰποῦσα It might possibly have been ‘for fear of the Jews,’ and if so, as Alford says, ‘their fears were realized’ (vs. 46). But this mode of communication was natural under the circumstances without such a motive. He was a dear friend, a good master with two sisters, but he was not living, and all were present to see what happened.
Vs. 30 He would approach by the long and narrow ascent from Jericho, the same that we find in the parable of the Good Samaritan. See Stanley, S+P, p. 416. Perhaps he sat down to rest or he was unwilling that his presence should be widely known, before the miracle was wrought.
Vs. 31 ὑπάγει εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον With us, it might be the spontaneous outburst of a passionate affection for the lost one, but with the Jews and with Jewish women especially it was a common custom, almost a necessary ceremonial (as it is now in the East) to go from time to time and mourn at the grave. See Smith’s Dictionary II s.v. ‘Mourning,’ p. 437. See the references to the ‘Arabian night’; see also Steph. Thess.
Vs. 33 ἐνεβριμήσατο ‘To chide,’ properly of horses chomping at the bit. See Aeschylus, Sept. 461. Hence in the New Testament Matt 9:30; Mark 1:43; 14:6, always with the idea of suppression, prohibition.
τῷ πνεύματι in spirit, with the spirit, i.e. within himself as in vs. 38. Suppressing the inner conflict. See Gundert, Stud. und Krit. 1852, pp. 260-69. Comp. Mark 8:12; Luke 10:21; John 13:21.
ἐτάραξεν A gesture denoting the effort to suppress his feelings.
Vs. 37 Said in mockery? See vs. 46. But there is no idea of rebuke in ἐμβριμώμενος in vs. 38.
Vs. 38 ἦν δὲ σπήλαιον, καὶ λίθος ἐπέκειτο ἐπ’ αὐτῷ There were tombs of two kinds: 1) sunk in the ground, Luke 11:44; 2) caves, as here. Comp. Mark 15:46 (Matt. xxvii.60)—καὶ προσεκύλισεν λίθον ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν τοῦ μνημείου. See Mark 16:3, 4 (Luke 24:2). See Buxtorf s.v., Smith’s Dictionary s.v. ‘Burial.’
Vs. 39 τεταρταῖος γάρ ἐστιν ‘He is in his fourth day’ i.e. since his burial, i.e. four days dead. See Xenophon, Anab. vi.4.9. There may be a reference to the rabbinical belief (quoted by Meyer) that the soul hovered about the corpse for three days only, and then left when corruption began. See the passages in John Lightfoot, and Wettstein.
Vs. 41 ἤκουσάς μου ‘thou heedest me’ foreknowing and foretelling the result. Not ‘will hear’ or ‘thou hearest’ but ‘thou heedest.’
Vs. 44 κειρίαις Only here in the New Testament. In the LXX once only—Prov. 7:16, where it is used of a quilt on a couch, as generally in classical sources.
σουδαρίῳ περιεδέδετο a kerchief. Comp. 19:40 and 20:7. On σουδαρίῳ adopted as a rabbinical word see Buxtorf, p.1442; Lenz, II, p. 149. Is it the word used in Nicidian (?) Tulum. xvi.2?
Vs. 45 οἱ ἐλθόντες πρὸς τὴν Μαριάμ as she was the most afflicted mourner.
Vs. 47 οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι See on them in the Introduction above under the heading ‘Internal Evidence.’
Τί ποιοῦμεν What are we about? ὅτι to be connected with these two words as in 2:19; 9:17.
Vs. 48 οὕτως As he is, comp. John 4:6; 13:25 (v.l. probably correct).
καὶ ἐλεύσονται οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι i.e. they will seize the occasion of the tumult thus excited to destroy our national existence.
τὸν τόπον Perhaps the city generally, but with a special reference to the Temple.
τὸ ἔθνος our national existence.
Vs. 49 Καϊάφας on his relationship to Annas see Introduction, ‘Internal Evidence,’ above, and also on the phrase Ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε οὐδέν.
Vs. 50 λογίζεσθε א, A, B, D, Origen. Doubtless therefore the right reading.
τὸ ἔθνος the national and political term; λαός = theocratic term. On the latter see Acts 4:25; Rom 9:26. See also Acts 15:14. So vs. 52. St. John substitutes ἔθνος for λαός because ‘the people’ is no longer the Jewish nation. Comp. 1 Pet 2:10.
Vs. 52 τὰ τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ διεσκορπισμένα They also belong to the people, though not to the nation, and not to the people as Caiaphas used the term. Comp. 10:16. For the Old Testament analogy, see Ezek 34:11, 12, 13.
εἰς τὴν χώραν not the country as opposed to the city, the metropolis. See vs. 55. Rather a region ἐγγὺς τῆς ἐρήμου.
Ἐφραίμ See the Introduction above ‘Internal Evidence’ section.
Vs. 55 τὸ πάσχα τῶν Ἰουδαίων 2:13; 6:4; 11:55 i.e. in every place where it is not distinctly defined by the context. St. John must distinguish it from the Christian πάσχα which he and his Asiatic disciples kept.
ἵνα ἁγνίσωσιν ἑαυτούς See 2 Chron 30:17sq. Rosh Hashannah folio 16.2. R. Issac says, ‘Every man is bound to purify himself for the Feast.’ Part of the ceremonial was washing and scrubbing themselves (quoted by John Lightfoot). See Mold.(?). Katon. fol. 13.1. Among those who are required to purify themselves are enumerated such as ‘come from a heathen country.’ The near impossibility of avoiding contact with heathen in any other place than Jerusalem and its neighborhood would lead the more scrupulous to repair thither in time.