After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. Having formerly asserted that the disease was not deadly, that his disciples may not be too much distressed at seeing what they did not expect, he now informs them also that Lazarus is dead, and excites a hope of his resurrection.
We have in these verses, I. A particular account of the parties principally concerned in this story, Joh 11:1, Joh 11:2. 1. They lived at Bethany, a village nor far from Jerusalem, where Christ usually lodged when he came up to the feasts.
Commenting on John 11:1-16
These things said he,.... In answer to his disciples, and made a pause. And after that he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth; meaning, that he was dead; in which sense the word is often used in the Old Testament, and in the common dialect of the Jews, and frequently in their writings; and especially it is so used of good men: and it...