--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 349 of 769 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/349/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 349. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/349/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 2 of 2. ## 349. John · 32 of 57 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/349/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/349/#p-N ### Verse 25 [¶1] I am the resurrection, and the life - Thou sayest that thy brother shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day; but by whom shall he arise if not by Me, who am the author of the resurrection, and the source of life? And is it not as easy for me to raise him now as to raise him then? Thus our blessed Lord raises her hope, animates her faith, and teaches her that he was not a mere man, but the essential principle and author of existence. [¶2] Though he were dead - Every man who has believed or shall believe in me, though his believing shall not prevent him from dying a natural death, yet his body shall be re-animated, and he shall live with me in an eternal glory. And every one who is now dead, dead to God, dead in trespasses and sins, if he believe in me, trust on me as his sole Savior, he shall live, shall be quickened by my Spirit, and live a life of faith, working by love. ### Verse 26 [¶4] Shall never die - Or, Shall not die for ever. Though he die a temporal death. he shall not continue under its power for ever; but shall have a resurrection to life eternal. [¶5] Believest thou this? - God has determined to work in the behalf of men only in proportion to their faith in him: it was necessary, therefore, that these persons should be well instructed concerning his nature, that they might find no obstacles to their faith. These sisters had considered him only as a prophet hitherto; and it was necessary that they should now be farther instructed, that, as God was to exert himself, they might believe that God was there. ### Verse 27 [¶7] Yea, Lord: I believe - ΠεπιϚευκα, I have believed. Either meaning that she had believed this for some time past, or that, since he began to teach her, her faith had been considerable increased; but verbs preter, in Greek, are often used to signify the present. Martha here acknowledges Christ for the Messiah promised to their fathers; but her faith goes no farther; and, having received some hope of her brother's present resurrection, she waited for no farther instruction, but ran to call her sister. ### Verse 28 [¶9] The Master is come - This was the appellation which he had in the family; and from these words it appears that Christ had inquired for Mary, desiring to have her present, that he might strengthen her faith, previously to his raising her brother. ### Verse 30 [¶11] Jesus was not yet come into the town - As the Jewish burying places were without their cities and villages, it appears that the place where our Savior was, when Martha met him, was not far from the place where Lazarus was buried. See the note on [Luk 7:12]. ### Verse 31 [¶13] She goeth unto the grave to weep there - It appears that it was the custom for the nearest relatives of the deceased to go at times, during the three days of weeping, accompanied by their friends and neighbors, to mourn near the graves of the deceased. They supposed that the spirit hovered about the place where the body was laid for three days, to see whether it might be again permitted to enter, but, when it saw the face change, it knew that all hope was now past. It was on this ground that the seven days of lamentation succeeded the three days of weeping, because all hope was now taken away. They had traditions that, in the course of three days, persons who had died were raised again to life. See Lightfoot. [¶14] Mr. Ward says: "I once saw some Mussulman women, near Calcutta, lying on the new-made grave of a relation, weeping bitterly. In this manner the Mussulman females weep and strew flowers over the graves of relations, at the expiration of four days, and forty days, after the interment." ### Verse 33 [¶16] He groaned in the spirit, etc. - Here the blessed Jesus shows himself to be truly man; and a man, too, who, notwithstanding his amazing dignity and excellence, did not feel it beneath him to sympathize with the distressed, and weep with those who wept. After this example of our Lord, shall we say that it is weakness, folly, and sin to weep for the loss of relatives? He who says so, and can act in a similar case to the above according to his own doctrine, is a reproach to the name of man. Such apathy never came from God: it is generally a bad scion, implanted in a nature miserably depraved, deriving its nourishment from a perverted spirit or a hardened heart; though in some cases it is the effect of an erroneous, ascetic mode of discipline. [¶17] It is abolishing one of the finest traits in our Lord's human character to say that he wept and mourned here because of sin and its consequences. No: Jesus had humanity in its perfection, and humanity unadulterated is generous and sympathetic. A particular friend of Jesus was dead; and, as his friend, the affectionate soul of Christ was troubled, and he mingled his sacred tears with those of the afflicted relatives. Behold the man, in his deep, heart-felt trouble, and in his flowing tears! But when he says, Lazarus, come forth! behold the God! and the God too of infinite clemency, love, and power. Can such a Jesus refuse to comfort the distressed, or save the lost? Can he restrain his mercies from the penitent soul, or refuse to hear the yearnings of his own bowels? Can such a character be inattentive to the welfare of his creatures? Here is God manifested in the flesh! living in human nature, feeling for the distressed, and suffering for the lost! Reader! ask thy soul, ask thy heart, ask the bowels of thy compassions, if thou hast any, could this Jesus unconditionally reprobate from eternity any soul of man? Thou answerest, No! God repeats, No! Universal nature re-echoes, No! and the tears and blood of Jesus eternally say, No! ### Verse 35 [¶19] Jesus wept - The least verse in the Bible, yet inferior to none. Some of the ruthless ancients, improperly styled fathers of the Church, thought that weeping was a degradation of the character of Christ; and therefore, according to the testimony of Epiphanius, Anchorat. c. 13, razed out of the Gospel of St. Luke the place ([Luk 19:41]) where Christ is said to have wept over Jerusalem. ### Verse 36 [¶21] Behold how he loved him! - And when we see him pouring out his blood and life upon the cross for mankind, we may with exultation and joy cry out, Behold how he hath loved Us! ### Verse 37 [¶23] Could not this man, which opened the eyes, etc. - Through the maliciousness of their hearts, these Jews considered the tears of Jesus as a proof of his weakness. We may suppose them to have spoken thus: "If he loved him so well, why did he not heal him? And if he could have healed him, why did he not do it, seeing he testifies so much sorrow at his death? Let none hereafter vaunt the miracle of the blind man's cure; if he had been capable of doing that, he would not have permitted his friend to die." Thus will men reason, or rather madden, concerning the works and providence of God; till, by his farther miracles of mercy or judgment, he converts or confounds them. ### Verse 38 [¶25] It was a cave, etc. - It is likely that several of the Jewish burying-places were made in the sides of rocks; some were probably dug down like a well from the upper surface, and then hollowed under into niches, and a flat stone, laid down upon the top, would serve for a door. Yet, from what the evangelist says, there seems to have been something peculiar in the formation of this tomb. It might have been a natural grotto, or dug in the side of a rock or hill, and the lower part of the door level with the ground, or how could Lazarus have come forth, as he is said to have done, [Joh 11:44]? ### Verse 39 [¶27] Take ye away the stone - He desired to convince all those who were at the place, and especially those who took away the stone, that Lazarus was not only dead, but that putrescency had already taken place, that it might not be afterwards said that Lazarus had only fallen into a lethargy; but that the greatness of the miracle might be fully evinced. [¶28] He stinketh - The body is in a state of putrefaction. The Greek word οζω signifies simply to smell, whether the scent be good or bad; but the circumstances of the case sufficiently show that the latter is its meaning here. Our translators might have omitted the uncouth term in the common text; but they chose literally to follow the Anglo-Saxon, and it would be now useless to attempt any change, as the common reading would perpetually recur, and cause all attempts at mending to sound even worse than that in the text. [¶29] For he hath been dead four days - Τεταρταιος γαρ εστι, This is the fourth day, i.e. since his interment. Christ himself was buried on the same day on which he was crucified, see [Joh 19:42], and it is likely that Lazarus was buried also on the same day on which he died. See on [Joh 11:17] (note). ### Verse 40 [¶31] If thou wouldest believe, etc. - So it appears that it is faith alone that interests the miraculous and saving power of God in behalf of men. Instead of δοξαν, the glory, one MS. reads δυναμιν, the miraculous power. ### Verse 41 [¶33] Where the dead was laid - These words are wanting in BC*DL, three others; Syriac, Persic, Arabic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, Saxon, and in all the Itala. Griesbach leaves them out of the text. [¶34] Father, I thank thee - As it was a common opinion that great miracles might be wrought by the power and in the name of the devil, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and invoked the supreme God before these unbelieving Jews, that they might see that it was by his power, and by his only, that this miracle was done; that every hinderance to this people's faith might be completely taken out of the way, and that their faith might stand, not in the wisdom of man, but in the power of the Most High. On this account our Lord says, he spoke because of the multitude, that they might see there was no diabolic influence here, and that God in his mercy had visited his people. ### Verse 43 [¶36] He cried with a loud voice - In [Joh 5:25], our Lord had said, that the time was coming, in which the dead should hear the voice of the Son of God, and live. He now fulfils that prediction, and cries aloud, that the people may take notice, and see that even death is subject to the sovereign command of Christ. [¶37] Jesus Christ, says Quesnel, omitted nothing to save this dead person: he underwent the fatigue of a journey, he wept, he prayed, he groaned, he cried with a loud voice, and commanded the dead to come forth. What ought not a minister to do in order to raise a soul, and especially a soul long dead in trespasses and sins! ### Verse 44 [¶39] Bound hand and foot with grave-clothes - Swathed about with rollers - κειριαις, from κειρω, I cut. These were long slips of linen a few inches in breadth, with which the body and limbs of the dead were swathed, and especially those who were embalmed, that the aromatics might be kept in contact with the flesh. But as it is evident that Lazarus had not been embalmed, it is probable that his limbs were not swathed together, as is the constant case with those who are embalmed, but separately, so that he could come out of the tomb at the command of Christ, though he could not walk freely till the rollers were taken away. But some will have it that he was swathed exactly like a mummy, and that his coming out in that state was another miracle. But there is no need of multiplying miracles in this case: there was one wrought which was a most sovereign proof of the unlimited power and goodness of God. Several of the primitive fathers have adduced this resurrection of Lazarus as the model, type, proof, and pledge of the general resurrection of the dead. [¶40] Loose him, and let him go - He would have the disciples and those who were at hand take part in this business, that the fullest conviction might rest on every person's mind concerning the reality of what was wrought. He whom the grace of Christ converts and restores to life comes forth, at his call, from the dark, dismal grave of sin, in which his soul has long been buried: he walks, according to the command of Christ, in newness of life; and gives, by the holiness of his conduct, the fullest proof to all his acquaintance that he is alive from the dead. ### Verse 45 [¶42] Many of the Jews - believed on him - They saw that the miracle was incontestable; and they were determined to resist the truth no longer. Their friendly visit to these distressed sisters became the means of their conversion. How true is the saying of the wise man, It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting! [Ecc 7:2]. God never permits men to do any thing, through a principle of kindness to others, without making it instrumental of good to themselves. He that watereth shall be watered also himself, [Pro 11:25]. Therefore, let no man withhold good, while it is in the power of his hand to do it. [Pro 3:27]. ### Verse 46 [¶44] But some of them went their ways - Astonishing! Some that had seen even this miracle steeled their hearts against it; and not only so, but conspired the destruction of this most humane, amiable, and glorious Savior! Those who obstinately resist the truth of God are capable of every thing that is base, perfidious, and cruel.