clear from Acts xvii. 13 ; Heb. xiii. 24. But why " out of the village, or town of Mary," is said, is not quite so clear. It is open to the conjecture that it means " Lazarus was now a man of Bethany, but "was originally out of the town of Mary and Martha ;" viz., some other place. But this seems unlikely. — Web- ster suggests that "out of" is added by way of emphasis, to show that Lazarus not only lived there, but that it was also the place of his nativity. Greswell says much the same. It is note- worthy that John i. 44 contains exactly the same form of expres- sion about Philip and Bethsaida.
It is noteworthy that Mary is named before Martha, though Martha was evidently the older sister, and head of the house. The reason, I suppose, is that Mary's name and character were better known of the two.
Chemnitius thinks it possible that all Bethany belonged to Martha and Mary, and that this accounts for the consideration in which they were held, and the number of mourners, etc. It is worth remembering that Bethany was a very small place. Yet Bethsaida was called the " town of Andrew and Peter," (John i. 44,) and clearly did not belong to two poor fishermen.
2. — [It was that Mary, etc.~] This verse is a parenthetical explana- tion inserted by St. John after his manner, to make it certain what Mary he refers to, as the sister of Lazarus. Christians knew there were in our Lord's time no less than four Maries : (1) The virgin mother of our Lord, (2) the wife of Cleophas, (3) Mary Magdalene, (4) Mary the sister of Martha. To prevent, therefore, any mistake, John says," It was that Mary who anoint- ed our Lord, whose brother Lazarus was dead."
Simple as these words seem, there is a singular diversity of opinion as to the question who Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus was, and how many times our Lord was anointed.
(a) Some, as Chrysostom, Origen, and Chemnitius, maiutain that the anointing took place three times : once, in Luke vii., at the house of Simon the Pharisee ; once in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper; and once in Bethany, at the house of Mar- tha and Mary. Others, as Ferus, while agreeing with Chrysos- tom that our Lord was anointed three times, think Mary was the woman who twice did it.
(6) Some maintain that our Lord was anointed twice : once at the Pharisee's house, (in Luke vii.,) and once at Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, where Martha and Mary and Lazarus lived, for some cause which we do not know.
(c) Some, as Augustine, Bede, Toletus, Right foot, Maldonatus, Cornelius a Lapide, and Hengsteuberg, maintain that our Lord was only once anointed, — that the narrative in Luke vii. was in- serted out of chronological order, — that Simon the Pharisee and Simon the leper were the same person, and that the one anoint- ing took place at Bethany. Hengsteuberg supports his theory