The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 87

i. 13), nnd with Judns tho brothor of ,Jesue. been 1 in the grave; or literally, harl had fmtr He is rnputod to hnve pronched ultimntely days. These four dayR rue differently counter\. In Pa.rthlB o.nd lnrlio., there to ho.ve eulfered Alford, Luthflrdt, Ilengetenberg, Lo.nge, martyrdom. The various reforences lo him Godet, Westcott, and Moulton believe that In this Goepel give, by n. fow vivid touches, this mention proves that Laza.roe died a.nd a biography a.nd ohn.moterization of singular wite bnried on the day on which the message congruity. He &Bid to his fellow-disoiples we.a sent, which, if it took one dBy to de- (the word lfvµ.1,a871-r~• is only used in this liver, and if one day had been consumed in plnco, o.nd shows that the body of the dis- the return of Jesus, would leave the 0ther oiples worn being more nnd more blended two dBys as those of the defay in Periea. into I\ unity), Let us go, that we may die Meyer and Ewald, with Bengel and Wat- with him. Here he manifests n. fervent love kins, think that he died e.t the conclusion to his Master, tinged with o. sorrowful, melau- of the delay, that Jesus been.me awBre of it, choly temperament. Ho saw the danger and told his disciples of it, e.nd spent the to his Lord, but at once, with the spirit of two days, or parts of them, in the journey ; self-surrender, was reo.dy to she.re his fnte. that on the fourth day he reached Bethany. Moulton sa.ys these words reveo.l love, but The former and usual view is the more ob- they a.re " the language of despair and va- vious one, although it must turn ultimately nished hope. This is the end of all-death, on the position of Bethany beyond Jordan. not Messianio kingdom." Surely Thomas If the recent speculations of the Palestine may have pondered much the Lord'e words Exploration Society and Caspari be correct, about his approaching death, a.nd may have the distance between the two Bethanys may felt rea.dy, a.long the ea.me line, willingly to have required at lea.et two days for the yiel,l up his own life for his Master's or journey, and therefore favours the latter in- with his Master. Too much has been made terpretation. If Bethany (Bethnbara) be of Thomas's scepticism and criticism. He near Jericho, the distance between them was one who wanted visible, tangible evi- would be much less, a.ad the former and dence; but he was prepo.red to net impul- usual reckoning must prevail. sively, and to give powerful expression to Vera. 18, 19.-Now Bethany was nigh unto his faith, whenever the evidenoe was granted. 1e1'1111a.lem.. This geographical observation In eh. xiv. 5 he was still in the dark, but is introduced to explain the following verse. it was not a.n evil darkness. How could he Meyer and Alford think that the use of the know, with the clearness which his mind past tense, ~v, may be perfectly justified in naturally desiderated, whither our Lord was making reference to pan events; yet, since going? No brainless or heartless unbelief John is the only N cw Testament writer who led him to ask, "How can we know the uses it, the USBge may hBve been adopted .way?" At last (eh. xx. 24, etc.), when he by him because, at the time when he wrote wanted ocular, personal, tangible evidence his Gospel, Bethany had been for the time of the resurrection of Jesus, and absented destroyed with Jerusalem itself. The con- himself in deep melancholy from the com- struction is peculiar; .:., cl.1ro ( compare a. simi- pany of the eleven, it is clear thnt his soul lar use of 1rpo, eh. xii. 1; xxi. 8; Rev. xiv. was ready for the full manifestation. Before 20; see Winer, p. 697, Eng. trans.). Many he could have put his finger into the print think that it is to be understood-about of the nails, he exclaimed, with Bdoring fifteen stadia from it-a kind of trajection gratitude, "MY LORD, AND lllY GoD I" His of the preposition; but Winer thinks thBt hesitation and his conviction, with his su- it points to the spot where the fifteen stadia perlative ecstntio cry, form the culminating might be supposed to terminate, i.e. " lying point of the Gospel. off BI the end of the fifteen stadia.," and so Vera. 17-32.-(2) Human affection draw- giving an adverbial force ro the preposition; ing from Christ the assertion and pro- and he adds 11, long list of similar construc- mise, "I AM THE REBUUREOTION AND THE tions in later Greek wtiters. The stadium LIFE." was 606¾ feet-less than the eighth of an Ver. 17.-So; or, thereupon; for oiYv not English mile; the distance was therefore be. unfrequently indicates the relation between tweeu a mile Bnd B half Bnd B milo and two na.rrati ves, as well as between two state- three quarters. And many of the Jews had ments or arguments. When Jesus oame oome to Martha and Mary. "The Jews "is into the neighbourhood of the village (see B phrase generally, not uniformly, used by ver. 30), he found, on inquiry, that he John to denote those permanently hostile (Lazarus) already 1 during four days had to our Lord, and often of the u?per and ruling classes. These, therefore, bud one 1 The if671, absent from A and D, is re- jected by Tisohendorf (8th edit.), but is pre- 1 For this use of lxa1, see oh. v. 5, 6; viii 110rved in R.T., and by Westcott 11nd Hort 57 ; and the idiom of modem langnBges- and Tregellea. Fronch and German.  'i'HE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO S1'. JOHN. [ell, XL 1-o7,