the crowd of lookers-on, that Lazarus had been dead four days, and was fast going to corruption. This we may well believe in such a climate as that of Palestine.
(&) It proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, that there was no imposture, no collusion, no concerted deception, arranged be- tween the family of Bethany and our Lord. Here is the sister of Lazarus actually questioning the propriety of our Lord's order, and publicly saying in effect that it is no use to move the stone, that nothing can now be done to deliver her brother from the power of death. Like the eleven Apostles, after Jesus Himself rose, Martha was not a willing and prepared witness, but a resisting and unwilling one.
(c) It teaches, not least, how much unbelief there is in a believer's heart at the bottom. Here is holy Martha, with all her faith in our Lord's Messiahship, shrinking and breaking down at this most critical point. She cannot believe that there is any use in removing the stone. She suggests, impulsively and anxiously, her doubt whether our Lord remembers how long her brother has been dead.
It is not for nothing that we are specially told it was " Mar- tha, the sister of him that was dead," who said this. If even she could say this, and raise objections, the idea of imposture and deception becomes absurd.
Some writers object to putting the full literal meaning on the Greek word rendered " stinketh; " but I can see nothing in the objection. We need not suppose that the body of Lazarus was different toother bodies. Moreover, it was just as easy to our Lord to raise a corpse four days dead, as one only four hours dead. In either case, the grand difficulty to be overcome would be the same : viz., to change death into life. Indeed, it is worth considering, whether this fact about Lazarus is not specially mentioned in order to show our Lord's power to restore man's corrupt and decayed body at the last day, and to make it a glori- ous body.
Let us note here what a humbling lesson death teaches. So terrible and painful is the corruption of a body, when the breath leaves it, that even those who love us most are glad to bury us out of sight. (Gen. xxiii. 4.)
Musculus suggests that Martha had so little idea what our Lord was going to do, that she supposed He only wanted to see Lazarus' face once more. This is perhaps going too far.
The Greek for " dead four days," is a singular expression, and one that cannot be literally rendered in English. It would be "He is a person of four days," and it may possibly mean, " He has been buried four days." Raphelius gives examples from Herodotus and Xenophon, which make it possible that it means either dead or buried.
a very curious tradition of the Jewsi
284 EXPOSITORY THOUGH rs.
" They say after death the spirit hovers about the sepulchre, waiting to see if it may return to the body. But when it sees the look of the face of the corpse changed, then it hovers no more, but leaves the body to itself." He also adds, " They do not certify of the dead, except within three days after decease ; for after three days the countenance changes."
40. — [Jesus saith,said I not, etc.~\ This gentle but firm reproof is remarkable. It is not clear to what our Lord refers in the words, " Said I not."
(a) Some think, as Rupertus, that He refers to the message He sent at the beginning: ''This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God."
(b) Some think that He refers to the conversation He had with Martha when she first met Him outside Bethany.
(c) Some think that He refers to words He had often used in discoursing with Martha and Mary, on former occasions.
The point is one which must be left open, as we have no means of settling it. My own impression is that there is probably a reference to the message which our Lord sent back to the sis- ters at first, when Lazarus was sick. I fancy there must have been something more said at that time which is not recorded, and that our Lord reminded Martha of this. At the same time I cannot doubt that our Lord constantly taught the family of Bethany and all His disciples, that believing is the grand secret of seeing God's glorious works. — " If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." — " He did not many mighty works, because of their unbelief." (Mark ix. 23; Matt. xiii. 58.) Unbelief, in a certain sense, seems to tie the hands and limit the power of omnipotence.
Let us note that if we would see much we must first believe. Man's natural idea is just the reverse : he would first see, and then believe.
Let us note that even the best believers need reminding of Christ's sayings, and are apt to forget them. " Said I not unto thee." It is a little sentence we should often call to mind.
41. — [Then they took away... stone... laid. ~\ Martha's interruption seems to me to have caused a little pause in the proceedings. She being the nearest relative of Lazarus, and having probably arranged everything concerning his burial, and provided his tomb, we may well believe that her speech made the bystanders hesitate to move the stone. When, however, they heard our Lord's solemn reply, and observed that she was silenced, and made no further objection, " then" they proceeded to do what our Lord desired.
Hall remarks : " They <hat laid their hands to the stone doubt- less held still awhile, when Martha spoke, and looked one while on Christ, another while on Martha, to hear what issue of reso- lution would follow so important an objection."