ture about raising him. In short, those who heard Him pub- licly ask this question would see that this was no prearranged and precontrived miracle.
Quesnel remarks : " Christ does n *t ask out of ignorance, any more than God did when he said, 'Adam, where art thou ? ' "
[They said.. .Lord, come and see.] Who they were that said this, we do not exactly know. It was probably the common saying of all the party of mourners who stood around while Jesus talked with Mary. They did not know why our Lord wished to see the grave. They may possibly have supposed that He wished to accompany Mary and Martha, and to weep at the grave. At any rate the question and answer secured a large attendance of companions, as the disciples and our Lord went to the place where Lazarus was buried.
3*. — [Jesus ioept.~\ This wonderful little verse has given rise to an enormous amount of comment. The difficulty is to select thoughts, and not to overload the subject.
The Greek word rendered " wept " is not the same as that used for " weeping" in the thirty-third verse, but totally differ- ent. There the weeping is a weeping accompanied by demon- strative lamentation. Here the word would be more literally and accurately rendered " shed tears." In fact it is the only place in the New Testament where this word for "weep" is used.
There are three occasions where our Lord is recorded to have wept, in the Gospels : once when he beheld the city, (Luke xix. 41,) once in the garden of Gethsemane, (Matt. xxvi. 39, and Heb. vi. 7,) and here. We never read of His laughing, and only once of His rejoicing. (Luke x. 21.)
The reasons assigned by commentators why our Lord wept here, before He raised Lazarus, are various and curious.
(a) Some think that he wept to see the ravages made by death and sin.
(b) Some, as Hilary, think that He wept to think of the unbelief of the Jews.
(c) Some think that He wept to see how weak and feeble was the faith of Mary and Martha.
(d) Some, as Jerome and Ferus, think that He wept at the thought of the sorrow Lazarus would go through by returning to a sinful world.
(e) Some think that He wept out of sympathy with the affliction of His friends at Bethany, in order to give an eternal proof to His Church that He can feel with us and for us.
I believe this last opinion is the true one.