deeert region norlh-enet or Jerull8lem to the effected will be a oomplelod not ; so thllt the comp,rny of the twelve. elBtement give, a reuon for the excitement Yer. 55.-Now the Paaovar of the lewa among the peo1ae. wu at hand: and many want up to leru- Ver. 67.-1 lfow the ohiet prieats and salem out of the oountry, before the Paa■over, Pharisees had ttiven commandment, that, l1 that they might purify th8Jllllelve1. 'E,c -rijs any one knew where he was, he should 'X"'f'<n meant "from the oountry" genemlly. indioate it, that they might take hi111, This Though the Law did not epeoifioally reoom- would not have been a difficult tllsk. Josue mend purifl1111otion "before the P888over," and twelve men oould hardly ho.ve been ~-et the geneml prinoiple of oeremonio.l hidden from their spies. The oountry people deansings hBd been applied to the Feaet of must have been faithful to him, nnd the the P1LS6over (see 2 Chron. x:u:. 16-20 ; edicta were iBSued rather to intimidllte the Acts xxi. 24). The time required vo.ried people than to secure the immediate end : from one to six days (Exod. xi.x. 10, 11 ; but they were quite sufficient to excite the Numb. ix. 10). inquiries of Galilmana and othel'II who had Ver. 56.-They ■ought therefore tor lelJ1lB, gone to Jeruslllem for the main purpose of and mid one with another, u they stood in seeing him. 'fhe interdict had been aimed the temple. Their exoit.ement augmented probably at the fe.mily of Bethany, whioh from day to day ; they dreaded and hoped was clearly one of some consequence, or for the final oonfliot. Not being aware of against any household in Jerusalem whioh his retreat, not caring, perhaps, to despatch should harbour him. It may have been the him by hired assassins, they determined in occasion which stirred the devilish spirit in the most public way, on a gree.t platform, to the mind of Judas. So long as Jesus was complet.e the deep damnation of his taking surrounded with an enthusiastic crowd, they off, little forecasting their eternal infamy. dared not seize his person. They resolved They were in continual search for Jesus, and on secrecy, but were bent on public humilin- epake in excited groups when they met, ask- tion. ing one another eager questions when they stood in the temple. The evangelist hae 1 There is a very great consensus of witnesaed the BOeile: these are two inqniries opinion e.s to the omission of the ,ccu of T.R. mentioned : Wh&t think ye, genemlly ? With ~. A, B, K, L, aud some forty-five Think ye that he will not come to the feut 1 other manuscripts, Tischendorf (8th edit.), The aoriet subjunctive is used here in the 'l'regelles, Westcott and Hort, and R.T. ll8D.ll8 of an event in the future which when omit it.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-16.-The roiling of La.zarv.a. This event, e. third good work, hastened the final crisis. L TliE BETHANY FAMILY. "Now e. certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha." 1. Their home, It was a small village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, two miles from Jerusalem. It is familiar to us in the earlier Gospels as the place to which our Lord resorted from time to time for happy retirement. It remains the sweetest spot in the memory of the Christian Church. 2. The members of tM home. (1) Lazarus. (a) It is a suggestive circum- stance that the parable of Dives and Lazarus was spoken about the time of the Bethany miracle. Yet there is no ground for believing that this Lazarus was the bteggar of the parable. (b) Be was stricken with a mortal disease, perhaps the fever so common iJl the country, Though specially dear to our Lord, as well as his sisters, he enjoyed no exemption from the ordinary afflictions of life, (2) Mary. "It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, e.ud wiped bis feet with her hair." Her name is mentioned before Martha's, on account of this touching incident. (a) The incident here recorded was "to be told for a memorial of her whercsoever this gospel had been preached" (Matt. xxvi. 13). The other evangelists do not give her name. Her act marked &t once her true faith and her abiding affection. (b) Mary was distin- guished from her sister by her con~mpl&tive religious spirit. She sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to his words, while Martha was busied with practical duties (Luke x. 40). (3) Martha. She was probably the eldest of the family. (a) She had evidently the chief care of the house. (b) She was of a practical turn, full of resource, and less given to emotirin than Macy. Oil. XI. 1-67.] THE GOSPEL A.CCORDINO 1'0 s·r. JOHN. 101