John 11:1

Now a certain man was sick,— About this time a friend of Christ, named Lazarus, was afflicted with a dangerous sickness, ηνασθενων,— at Bethany, a village about two miles from Jerusalem, but at a great distance from the place where our Lord now was. See the last chapter, John 11:40. Bethany is supposed to have taken its name from a tract of ground in which it stands; so called from a Greek word, Αθηνη, signifying the fruit of the palm-tree, which grew there in great abundance: though others, with greater propriety, derive it from two Hebrewwords signifying the house of obedience, or the house of grace: it was a considerable place in our Saviour's time, situated at the foot of the mount of Olives, near two miles eastward of Jerusalem; but at present it is a very mean village. Modern travellers inform us, that, at the entrance into it, there is an old ruin, called "The Castle of Lazarus," supposed to have been the mansion-house where he and his sisters lived. Near it, at the bottom of a small descent, is a sepulchre, said to be that of Lazarus, and held in great veneration by the Turks, who use it for an oratory, or place of prayer. It has been thought that Lazarus was younger than his sisters, and that this villa, or country-seat, was their property: that they were people of some opulence, is manifest as well from this history, as from other parts of the gospel. This remarkable miracle was omitted by the former evangelists, as is supposed, because Lazarus was living when they wrote, and their mentioning it might have endangered his life. Ecclesiastical history informs us, that Lazarus was now thirty years old, and that he lived after Christ's ascension.—But farther, while the fact was recent, it did not require so particular a notice, as there were persons enough then living to attest it; but when John wrote his gospel, Lazarus being dead, as well as most of the witnesses, it was proper to record so remarkable a fact, which might otherwise have been lost to theworld. This miracle is related more at large than any other of Christ's miracles, says Henry, not only because there are many circumstances of it so very instructive, and the miracle itself is so strong a proof of Christ's mission, but because it was an earnest of that which was to be the crowning proof of all—Christ's own resurrection.