The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 83

(Luko Ii. 4; Acts u.iii. 8-1; R.T. of Rev. ix. nothing but n solitary garment; and his 18). The oontontion of Greeswell that &1rll subsequent identifico.tion with tho y011ng referred to present residence, e.ncl /,c to man who fferl away nakccl on the night of nativity, and that the ,c,l,µ.71 was to be_found Christ's arrest, are specimens of ing-r-nuity, but in Galilee, is not sound (aee eh. xn. 2} ; Oflrry no conviction. The cnntrost hetwee~ xix. 38). Bcth11ny is meutioned to dis- tho ideas involver! in the parahlc of Lnke xvi. tinguish it from" Bethany beyond Jordan," and this narmtive is so profouml tlmt we rli,;. referred to in oh, i. 28 (see note). The town miss the hypotheRis of the identity of th"l is now known as El Azirieh, 11nd is about a two Lflzaruses. Stro.uss, Keim, nnd others milennd a half from J erusalem,on the e11etern deal with it as an expnnsion of the pamble slope of tho Mount of Olives. Simonis in- of the rich man and Lazarus, who is sup- terpreted the n11me to mean "house of depres- posed actually to have been sent unto the n: sion," " valley-town'' 1p,-n'.?, (Lightfoot); people from the dead, but, in agreement with our Lord's prediction, winning no obedience. Reland derives its name from •.i•;rn•~. "house of dates" (see Matt. xxi. 17). It seems that Vehement efforts are made in this and other palm branches could be then torn from the ways to undo the commanding significanco trees in the neighbourhood. Arnold (Her- of the miracle. Bishop Wordsworth and Archdeacon Watkins are disposed to identify zog., 'Eno.') derivos its name from 11:ip..-;-n•.?, the Lazarus of the parable and the Lazarm (Aramaic) "house of the afflicted." The of Bethany ; the latter supposes the para:ble village hn~ become well known in the circle to have been delivered at the very time of evangelic narrative from St. Luke's refer- mentioned in Peraia. Our Lord's statement, ence to Mary and Martha (x. 38, etc.). that the brothers of the rich man would not l\'fary's name is probably mentioned first believe thou"'h one rose from the dead, was from the further record of her ecstatic love, in some sens~ paralleled by the desire of the which the other Gospels were diffusing Jews to put Lazarus to death; but the through the world,and to which John makes reason given is that by reason of Lazan1s an anticipatory reference. Her name _had "many of the Jews went away from them, not been given before. In Matt. xxv1. 13 and believed on Jesns" (eh. xii.11; cf. also e.nd Mark :xiv. 3 she was" a certain woman." oh. xi. 45, "Many of the Jews, when they John throws light on the ground of her beheld what he did, believed on him"). gratitude. The efforts made by Bnnyan, in Ver. 2.-Now it was that Mary who his •Jerusalem Sinner Saved,'and byHeng- anointed the Lord with perfume, and wiped stenberg to defend the pre-Reformation his feet with her hair, whose brother identific~tion of "Mary" with the "Mag- Lazarus was sick. The word µ.6pov is usecl of dalene," and the Magdalene with.~he wo~an any aromatic balsam which is distilled from that was a sinner (of. Luke vu. 37 with trees and herbs by itself. In classical Greek Luke viii. 2), rest on insufficient g~o°;Ilds. µ6pov was used of costly ointments used by The identification of the two anomt1ngs women. 'EAcilov was the common oil used with each other is without justification. by men for purposes ofheo.lth, which might All the circumstances are different-the be perfumed. Our Lord clearly dra.ws a. time, the place, the obvious reason, the distinction between the o/1.cifov and µ.6pov in motive assigned by our Lord, the conversa- Luke vii. 46. 'AAefcpw has been said to be tions which followed. If a woman who was used for the more superfluous anointings, a sinner had taken such a step, and this e.nd xpi01 for the sanit:.i.ry anointing wi_th oil. expression of her gratitude had been ac- No trace of such distinction is found ID the cepted by Jesus, Marv of Bethany found New Testament (cf. Mark vi. 13 with Jas. v. more ample reason for following her example 14). One great distinction in ~i~licru. Gr_eek (see Dr. Schaff's admirable and extended is thn.t XPieiv is used of religious anomt- reply to Hengstenberg). B. Weiss aoutely ings, from its association with Xp1rr-r6s, b1;1t observes that this referenoe shows that in l.Ae(qmv in the LXX. is only twice used ID the circle for which the evangelist wrote this sense, while xp!aw is used times without Bethany was known as the home of the number (Archbishop Trench, 'New Test. Histers, 11nd Mary as the heroine of the Syn.,' § :xxx:viii.). The use of the term anointing incident. Numerous other identi- K6p,ov, "Lord,'' shows that the story was fications, i.e. of Simon the Leper with Simon widely known, and that when the Gospel the Pharisee, Martha with Simon's wiie, was written it had passed into a c?mmon- are preoorious. Dean Plumptre's identi:6- place of ChristillD experience and illustra- oation 1 of Lazarus with the "rioh young tion. The anointing has no, yet been man " who is supposed to have given his referred to by John, but he is looking back all away to the poor, o.nd who possessed upon the eve11ts and anticipates his own subsequent record. 1 See notes to his poem on 'Elcnzar;' Ver. 3.-Therefore the sisters sent unto tlso article in Smith's' Dictionary.' bim, saying, Lord, behold, he whom tho11  86 TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDlNG TO ST. JOUN. [en. xr. 1-li?.