Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 11:11
These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
11. and after that ] and after this. These words indicate a pause in the narrative.
Our friend Lazarus sleepeth ] Better, Lazarus our friend is fallen asleep, or, is gone to rest. Sleep as an image of death is common from the dawn of literature; but the Gospel has raised the expression from a figure to a fact. Comp. Mat 27:52; Act 7:50; Act 13:36; 1Co 7:39; 1Co 11:30 ; 1Co 15:6; 1Co 15:18; 1Th 4:13 ; 2Pe 3:4. The thoroughly Christian term ‘cemetery’ (= sleeping-place) in the sense of a place of repose for the dead comes from the same Greek root. The exact time of Lazarus’ death cannot be determined, for we do not know how long Christ took in reaching Bethany. Christ calls him ‘ our friend,’ as claiming the sympathy of the disciples, who had shewn unwillingness to return to Juda.
that I may awake him ] This shews that no messenger has come to announce the death. Christ sees the death as He foresees the resurrection: comp. Joh 11:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lazarus sleepeth – Is dead. The word sleep is applied to death,
- Because of the resemblance between them, as sleep is the kinsman of death. In this sense it is often used by pagan writers.
- However, in the Scriptures it is used to intimate that death will not be final: that there will be an awaking out of this sleep, or a resurrection. It is a beautiful and tender expression, removing all that is dreadful in death, and filling the mind with the idea of calm repose after a life of toil, with a reference to a future resurrection in increased vigor and renovated powers. In this sense it is applied in the Scriptures usually to the saints, 1Co 11:30; 1Co 15:51; 1Th 4:14; 1Th 5:10; Mat 9:24.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 11:11-13
Our friend Lazarus sleepeth
Sweet sleep
I.
We have A SWEET RELATIONSHIP DECLARED.
1. Our friend. Behold here wondrous condescension. Our Lord does not turn to His disciples and say Your friend sleepeth, but places Himself side by side with them in their affection and says Our friend. It seems to me to teach so sweetly the blessed fact that Jesus is one with His people. It is equal to saying, Do you love Him? so do I. Let us meditate upon the friendship Christ has to His children, and in doing so I would notice
1. It is a real one. There is too much of superficial friendship abroad; plenty of the lip, but little of the heart. This is an age of shams; and among them, most hideous of the lot, is that of miscalled friendship. In the love of a saint to his Saviour there is a blessed reality. Whoever else he may not love with all his heart, his Saviour he must.
2. In this friendship there are no secrets kept on either side. The old saying runs whisperers separate chief friends, but in close friendships nothing is hidden, so whispers have nothing to reveal. When Jesus says to anyone, My friend, He declares a friendship that ignores all secret keeping, for the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. If there be a secret sin in the heart, if a fall in the life, O bear me witness, saints of God, that there is no peace for us until, like the woman of old, we have told Him all. Heavy burdens roll off the soul, and sweet ease flows into it by telling Jesus everything.
3. Jesus shows His friendship by helping in time of need.
4. Moreover, if a person says to me, my friend, I naturally expect he will show his friendship by calling in to see me; and sweet are the love visits that Jesus pays His friends. That disciple knows but little of the sweets of the religion of Jesus who knows but seldom what it is to hear his Lords knock, and who but seldom sups with his beloved in closest fellowship.
5. Jesus is never ashamed of His friends. When once He has said My friend, He never retracts the sentence. There are many butterfly friends fluttering round us all, to be seen in the summer of prosperity, but conspicuous by their absence in the winter of adversity.
6. That the friendship of Jesus lasts forever. The sweeter the friendship the more terrible the blow, that severs it. But severed it must be at last.
II. A SOLEMN FACT SUGGESTED. Christs friends die.
1. The friendship of Christ does not exempt from death. This dread reaper spares none. Death asks not whether the shock of corn is ripe for glory, or is as yet green, and unprepared for the sickle. He asks not whether his victim is a child of God or one of the worlds devotees.
2. Christ permits His friends to die in order to make manifest how completely He has conquered death. Suppose that, instead of tasting death, all Christs friends were, like Enoch, translated into glory; might not death boast and say, Aha! they dare not meet me in the field! Their Lord is afraid to put His conquest to the test.
3. Another reason why the friends of Jesus die is that they may be brought into conformity with their Lord. It may seem strange to some of your ears; but I believe there are many here who would rather prefer to die than otherwise, in order that in everything they might be conformed to their Master.
III. WE HAVE IN THIS TEXT A VERY CHEERING DESCRIPTION. Our friend sleepeth. Not our friend is dead.
1. In sleep there is a rest from pain. There is rest from pain in death.
2. In sleep there is a rest from care.
3. Sleeping implies waking. (A. G. Brown.)
The friendship of Christ
I. JESUS IS THE FRIEND OF HIS PEOPLE. Human friendship is the choicest of earthly privileges. How much more the friendship of Christ! (Joh 16:14-15). Note the qualities of a true friend.
1. Amiableness, or having those properties which are calculated to attract the heart. We may be grateful to those we cannot esteem, and admire those we cannot love; but to make a friend there must be something lovely. This exists in Christ in the highest degree.
2. Power of wisdom to guide, of strength to support and defend; of riches to help. These all exist in their fulness in Christ.
3. Faithfulness to keep our secrets and to fulfil His promises.
4. Tenderness. Friendship is like a foreign plant which requires delicate treatment. It shrinks from whatever is rough and unfeeling, and cannot confide in rudeness.
5. Unchangeableness. Christ is not a summer friend, who, like the butterfly, flutters round us while the sun is shining, but retires when the sun has gone. He is a friend horn for adversity. He is the same today, etc.
II. THE SERVICES WHICH CHRIST DISCHARGES FOR HIS FRIENDS.
1. He sympathizes with them, as one of them sharing their sorrows.
2. He is their abiding companion.
3. He has paid their debts, ransomed their persons, reconciled them to God at the expense of His own life.
4. He has purchased for them an inheritance incorruptible, etc.
5. He has fitted up mansions as the eternal residences of the bodies and souls of His people.
III. TO THE FRIENDS OF CHRIST DEATH HAS CHANGED ITS NATURE. They cannot die, they only sleep. The emblem expresses
1. The composure of soul which the Lord gives to His people in the hour of death, Mark the perfect man, etc.
2. The temporary cessation of the powers of the body to recruit it for fresh service on the resurrection morn (Isa 26:19). (J. H. Stewart, M. A.)
The awakening Christ
Jesus awakes men out of the sleep of IGNORANCE, to give them intellectual life. His teaching
1. Awakes the power to think.
2. Strengthens the thinking powers.
3. Affords food for thought.
II. MORAL INSENSIBILITY, to give them spiritual life.
1. Men are dead in sin.
2. Christs call awakes the soul, and Christs power gives it life.
3. Christ supports, develops, and perfects this new life.
III. INDIFFERENCE, to give them a life of usefulness. (Weekly Pulpit.)
The Christian in life and in death
I. IN LIFE.
1. The friend of Jesus. Expressing ideas of
(1) Acquaintance.
(2) Endearment.
2. The friend of Jesus friends. Adding thoughts of
(1) Social intercourse.
(2) Loving brotherhood.
II. IN DEATH. Asleep.
1. Withdrawn from the ordinary activities of life, as the mind is during the hours of slumber.
2. Possessed of a real, though different existence, as the mind never ceases to be active during the hours of repose.
3. Certain to awake refreshed after the period of rest has terminated, as mind and body do when night is passed. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Death as sleep
Estius well remarks, Sleeping, in the sense of dying, is only applied to men, because of the hope of the resurrection. We read no such thing of brutes. The use of the figure is so common in Scripture, that it is almost needless to give references (see Deu 31:16; Dan 12:2; Mat 27:52; Act 7:60; Act 13:36; 1Co 7:39; 1Co 11:30; 1Co 15:6-18; 1Th 4:13-14). But it is a striking fact that the figure is frequently used by great heathen writers, showing clearly that the traditions of a life after death existed even among the heathen. Homer, Sophocles, Virgil, Catullus, supply instances. However, the Christian believer is the only one who can truly regard death as sleep–that is, as a healthy, refreshing thing, which can do him no harm. Many among ourselves, perhaps, are not aware that the figure of speech exists among us in full force in the word cemetery, applied to burial ground. That word is drawn from the very Greek verb which our Lord uses here. It is literally a sleeping place. (Bishop Ryle.)
Death has the advantage of sleep
For sleep is only the parenthesis, while death is the period of our cares and trials. (M. Henry.)
A beautiful death
All Wales, when I was there, was filled with the story of the dying experiences of Frances Ridley Havergal. She got her feet wet standing on the ground preaching temperance and the gospel to a group of boys and men, went home with a chill, and congestion set in, and they told her she was very dangerously ill. I thought so, she said, but it is really too good to be true that I am going. Doctor, do you really think I am going? Yes. Today? Probably. She said: Beautiful, splendid to be so near the gate of heaven! Then, after a spasm of pain, she nestled down in the pillows and said, There, now; it is all over–blessed rest. Then she tried to sing, and she struck one glad note, high note of praise to Christ, but could sing only one word, He, and then all was still. She finished it in heaven. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Sleep and death
The angel of sleep and the angel of death reclined at eventide on a hill overlooking the abodes of men. As night came on, one rose from his mossy couch and scattered some seeds of slumber. The zephyrs bore them away to human dwellings, and presently the sick man forgot his pain, the mourner his sorrow, the poor his cares. Oh, what joy, exclaimed the angel of sleep, thus to do good unseen! The other looked at him in sadness, and a tear gathered in his dark eye as he said: Alas, that I can have no thanks! Earth calls me its enemy and destroyer. Nay, my brother, answered sleep, in the morning men praise me as their friend, and will not the good in the resurrection morn praise and bless thee also as a benefactor? Are we not brothers and messengers of one Father?
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. Lazarus sleepeth] It was very common among the Jews to express death by sleep; and the expression, falling asleep – sleeping with their fathers, &c., were in great use among them. The Hebrews probably used this form of speech to signify their belief in the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body.
It is certain that our Lord received no intimation of Lazarus’s death from any person, and that he knew it through that power by which he knows all things.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
There is such an analogy between death and sleep, that there is nothing more ordinary than to express death by sleep in Scripture, Deu 31:16; 2Sa 7:12; 1Ki 1:21; 2Ki 20:21; Job 7:21; 14:12; Dan 12:2, and in a multitude of other texts, both in the Old Testament and in the New; so as it was evident our Saviour meant he was dead, which he knew as he was God, though as yet he had received no relation of it from the friends of the deceased.
But I go (saith our Saviour) to raise him up again from the dead, which he calls awaking him; pursuing the former metaphor, where he had compared death to a sleep.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11-16. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth;but I go that I may wake him out of sleepIllustrious title!”Our friend Lazarus.” To Abraham only is itaccorded in the Old Testament, and not till after his death,(2Ch 20:7; Isa 41:8),to which our attention is called in the New Testament (Jas2:23). When Jesus came in the flesh, His forerunner applied thisname, in a certain sense, to himself (Joh3:29); and into the same fellowship the Lord’s chosen disciplesare declared to have come (Joh15:13-15). “The phrase here employed, “our friendLazarus,” means more than “he whom Thou lovest”in Joh 11:3, for it impliesthat Christ’s affection was reciprocated by Lazarus”[LAMPE]. Our Lord had beentold only that Lazarus was “sick.” But the change which histwo days’ delay had produced is here tenderly alluded to. Doubtless,His spirit was all the while with His dying, and now dead “friend.”The symbol of “sleep” for death is common to alllanguages, and familiar to us in the Old Testament. In the NewTestament, however, a higher meaning is put into it, in relation tobelievers in Jesus (see on 1Th 4:14),a sense hinted at, and clearly, in Ps17:15 [LUTHARDT]; andthe “awaking out of sleep” acquires a corresponding sensefar transcending bare resuscitation.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 is an observation of theirs b, that
“it is usual to say of the righteous, that there is no death in them, , “but sleep”;”
[See comments on Mt 9:24],
[See comments on 1Co 15:18],
[See comments on 1Co 15:20],
[See comments on 1Th 4:13],
[See comments on 1Th 4:14];
but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep; that is, to raise him from the dead, for, the resurrection of the dead is expressed by awaking; see Ps 17:15; which for Christ to do, was as easy as to awake a man out of natural sleep: these words respecting Lazarus’s sleeping and awaking, express both the omniscience and omnipotence of Christ; his omniscience, that he should know that Lazarus was dead; when at such a distance from him; and his omnipotence, that he could raise him from the dead; and yet his great modesty to signify it in, such covert language, though not difficult to be understood.
b Gloss in T. Hieros. Celaim in En Yaacob, fol. 4. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Is fallen asleep (). Perfect passive indicative of , old verb to put to sleep. Common as a metaphor for death like our cemetery.
I go (). Futuristic use of the present tense as in 14:2.
That I may awake him out of sleep ( ). Purpose clause with and the first aorist active subjunctive of , a late compound (, , sleep) for the older , here only in the N.T. See Job 14:12 where also it occurs along with .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Sleepeth [] . More correctly, as Rev., hath fallen asleep. See on Act 7:60; 2Pe 3:4.
Awake him out of sleep [ ] . Only here in the New Testament.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1 ) “These things said he: (tauta eipen) “He said these things,” about light and darkness, after His disciples had impulsively reminded Him of the hate of the Jews and their continual resolve to kill Him, Joh 11:8; Joh 5:16; Joh 5:18; Joh 8:37; Joh 8:40-59.
2) “And after that he saith unto them,” (kai meta touto legei autois) “And after this he says directly to them,” after He had led them to reflect that the times and opportunities of life’s services must be rendered while both life and opportunity confronts one, Joh 4:34; Joh 5:19; Joh 5:36; Joh 17:4; 1Co 15:58.
3) “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; (Lazaros ho philos hemon kekoimetai) ”Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep,” referring to the “sleep of death,” of the body, not of the soul, Mat 9:24; Mat 27:52; Act 7:60; 1Co 15:6; 1Co 15:51.
4) “But I go that I may awake him out of sleep.” (alla poreuomai hina eksupniso auton) “But I am going (to him) in order that I may awaken him, out of sleep.” The same power will one day awaken all death-sleepers to an hour of accountability before God, for every personal choice and accountable deed of life, Joh 5:28-29; 1Th 4:13,17; Php_3:21].
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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. It is a proof of amazing ignorance, that they believe that Christ spoke about sleep; for, though it is a metaphorical form of expression, still it is so frequent and common in Scripture, that it ought to have been familiarly known to all the Jews.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.Better, Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep. They had probably understood the words of Joh. 11:4 to express that the illness was not mortal, and that Lazarus would recover. They have seen, therefore, no reason for facing the danger of Juda (Joh. 11:7-8). He now supplies that reason, and for the first time speaks of going to the family at Bethany.
His words our friend gently remind them that Lazarus was their friend as well as His, for they as well as He had probably been welcome guests in the well-known house.
The fact of our Lords knowledge of the death of Lazarus is stated by St. John without any explanation. Prom his point of view it could need none. He who needed not that any should testify of man, because of His own self-knowledge of what was in man (Joh. 2:25), needed not that any should testify of what had passed in the chamber of His friend.
For the idea of sleep as the image of death, comp. Notes on Joh. 8:51, Mat. 9:24, and 1Th. 4:14. It is not unfrequent in other passages of both the Old and New Testaments, and, from the time of Homer downwards, poets have spoken of sleep and death as twin-sisters.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Our friend sleepeth Jesus now sees with the spirit-eye that Lazarus has expired, and knows the sorrows of the watching sisters. Pressed doubtless by sympathy, he announces the fact to his disciples, to whom, in common with himself, Lazarus was our friend. All nations and all men, impressed by the resemblance of a slumbering person to a corpse, think and speak of death as a sleep. Yet, in the Lord’s mouth, it is doubtless used to indicate the lesson that death, like sleep, awaits a waking. See note on Luk 8:52.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘These things he spoke, and after this he says to them, “Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep, but I am going so that I might awake him from sleep”.’
‘These things he spoke, and after this—’ is possibly intended to indicate that a period of some hours elapsed between the two statements. Alternately it may simply be a device to separate two profound sayings.
The New Testament constantly refers to death as ‘sleep’ in the context of resurrection (Mar 5:39; Luk 8:52; Act 7:60; 1Co 11:30; 1Co 15:6 ; 1Co 15:18; 1Co 15:51; 1Th 4:13-15; 2Pe 3:4). Jesus knew that those who were His might ‘sleep’, but that they merely awaited the ‘awakening’. Here He informed His disciples that Lazarus was ‘asleep’ and that He intended to ‘waken him from sleep’. He was fully aware of what the situation was.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The announcement of the death of Lazarus:
v. 11. These things said He; and after that He saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.
v. 12. Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
v. 13. Howbeit Jesus spoke of his death; but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
v. 14. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
v. 15. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.
v. 16. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow-disciples, Let us also go that we may die with Him. After quieting the fears of His disciples as to His own safety, Jesus thought the time fitting to make His important announcement. He told them that Lazarus, their friend, was lying asleep, was even now sound asleep. That is the Lord’s manner of speaking of death, as of a sleep. He knew of the death of Lazarus by His omniscience, and He wanted to impart this knowledge to the disciples in a form with which they should have been familiar from the Old Testament manner of speaking. It is a great comfort for the believers that the Lord Himself speaks of the death of His disciples as a falling asleep; it is a quiet and secure rest in the interval between this life and that of the Kingdom of Glory. Jesus also stated His intention of going to Bethany for the purpose of awaking Lazarus from his sleep, of bringing him back to this life for a season. But the disciples, with their usual denseness, did not understand the Lord’s speech, but thought only of physical sleep. Their immediate inference is that a quiet sleep in severe sickness usually points to a quick recovery, and that therefore they need not take the dangerous step of returning to Judea. Jesus therefore told them in plain, unmistakable words that Lazarus had died. He had permitted His friend to die. And Jesus was glad on their account that He had not been present in Bethany at the time of His friend’s dying. He had the purpose of strengthening their faith by a miracle which He intended to perform shortly, the greatest of all His miracles, in a manner of speaking. He wanted to start out for Bethany at once, in order to realize His object. It was at this point that Thomas, called Didymus (twin), showed His misunderstanding of the entire situation. He thought that Jesus was deliberately walking to His death, and he urged the other disciples to go along. He felt equal to the ordeal of going into death with his Master, for the love which he now felt for Him. The love of Christ puts divine courage into the heart of the most timid Christian.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 11:11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; Our Lord might choose the expression Lazarus sleepeth, partly out of tenderness, as being least shocking, when he spoke of so dear a friend; and it may also be considered as an instance of that modesty which characterizes all our Lord’s actions. He does not immediately say, “He is dead, and I go by my almighty power to burst the bonds of the sepulchre, and to command him back to life again;” but, avoiding all parade and ostentation, he chooses the simplest and humblest expression that can be thought of: it is likewise remarkable, that, after using the expression, Lazarus sleepeth, our Lord adds, I go, that I may awake him: but afterwards, when he says he is dead, Joh 11:14 he there stops, consistentlywith the same modesty, and mentions nothing of his restoring him to life; that he might not seem chargeable with the least shadow of ostentation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 11:11-13 . ] This representation separates the two discourses, between which a pause is to be conceived as intervening.
The death of Lazarus, which had just taken place, and became the occasion of the determination to leave at once (Joh 11:7 ; see on Joh 11:17 ), is described (comp. Mat 9:24 ), in view of his resurrection, by the word ., has fallen asleep , the event having become known to Him by immediate knowledge (spiritual far-seeing). Hence also the definiteness of His statement, to which the addition of the words . communicates a touch of painful sensibility. In saying also, He claims the loving sympathy of His disciples.
] awaken out of sleep; a late Greek word, rejected by the Atticists. Lobeck ad Phryn . p. 224. Comp. Act 16:27 .
The misunderstanding of His disciples, who thought of the sleep which follows after a crisis has been passed through (see examples of the same thing in Pricaeus; comp. also Sir 31:2 , and Fritzsche’s remarks thereon), loses its apparent improbability (against Strauss, De Wette, Reuss) when we refer back to Joh 11:4 , the words of which they had naturally understood, not in the sense intended by Jesus , which was that He would raise him up from the dead , but, after the analogy of Joh 9:3 , as signifying that He purposed to come and miraculously heal him. The journey thereby involved, however, they did not desire (Joh 11:8 ); the expression accordingly corresponded to their wishes; hence the conclusion at once drawn, that he must be on the way to recovery, and the effort, by calling attention to this fact, to make the journey appear unnecessary. The very earnestness of this their desire, caused them to overlook the significant nature of the words , and to fail to see that it would have been absurd thus to speak of one who was really asleep. Such a mistake on their part is psychologically intelligible enough. [77] The notion that Joh 11:4 had led them to believe that Jesus had already healed at a distance (Ebrard, Hengstenberg), and that, in consequence , they necessarily understood sleep to refer to recovery, is incompatible with the fact that the words of Joh 11:4 do not at all suggest such a healing (how different in Joh 4:50 !); and that if they had thought of such a healing having taken place, they would have grounded their on that fact, and not on the approach of sleep; they would consequently, too, have dissuaded from this journey as unnecessary in a very different way. According to Bengel (and Luthardt), the disciples believed, “somnum ab Jesu immissum esse Lazaro ut eveniret quod praedixerat ipse Joh 11:4 .” But there is no exegetical support for this view, not even in the use of the first person singular , which finds its very natural explanation in the connection with (the case is different with , Joh 11:7 ), without that supposition (against Luthardt).
[77] “Discipuli omni modo quaerunt Dominum ab isto itinere avocare,” Grotius; “ libenter hanc fugiendi periculi occasionem arripiunt ,” Calvin.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Ver. 11. Lazarus sleepeth ] The saints are said to die in Christ, to sleep in Jesus,Rev 14:13Rev 14:13 ; 1Th 4:14 . The Greeks call their churchyards dormitories, sleeping places ( ). The Germans call them God’s Acre, because their bodies are sown there to be raised again. The Hebrews Bethchajim, the house of the living.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11. ] The special reason for going, which the disciples appear not to have borne in mind, having probably supposed from Joh 11:4 that Lazarus would recover.
. . ] “Quanta humanitate Jesus amicitiam suam cum discipulis communicat!” Bengel. And the gives a reason why they should go too.
This . might have recalled to three at least of the disciples that other saying, Mat 9:24 . But the former . had not been understood, and that error ruled in their minds.
, . Phryn. ed. Lobeck, p. 224.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 11:11 . . “These things spake He, and after this,” how long after we do not know; but Joh 11:15 , “let us go to him,” indicates that the two days here intervened. There is, however, difficulty introduced by this supposition. He now makes the definite announcement: “Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep, but I go to awake him”. cf. Mat 9:24 ; Mat 27:52 , Act 7:60 , 1Th 4:13 , 1Co 15:6 . “Mortuos dormientes appellat Scripturae veracissima consuetudo, ut cum dormientes audimus, evigilaturos minime desperemus.” Augustine. The heathen idea of the sleep of death is very different, cf. Catullus, “Nox est perpetua una dormienda”. is later Greek: , , Phrynichus (Rutherford, p. 305). The disciples misunderstood Him, and said: . “Lord, if he sleep, he will recover,” implying that in this case they need not take the dangerous step of returning to Judaea [ cf. Achilles Tatius, iv., ]. How He knows that Lazarus sleeps they do not inquire, accustomed as they are to His exercise of gifts they do not understand. , cf. Mar 5:28 ; Mar 5:34 ; Mar 6:56 , etc. Their misunderstanding was favoured by His having said (Joh 11:4 ) that the illness was “not to death”; naturally when Jesus spoke of Lazarus sleeping they understood Him to speak (Joh 11:13 ) , “of the of sleep”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
friend. Greek. philos, noun of phileo, Joh 11:3.
sleepeth = has fallen asleep. Greek. koimaomai. App-171.
go. Greek. poreuomai, to go with a set purpose. Compare Joh 14:2, Joh 14:3, and Mat 2:8, Mat 2:9. Not the same word as Joh 11:8.
awake him out of sleep. Greek. exupnizo. Occurs only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] The special reason for going, which the disciples appear not to have borne in mind, having probably supposed from Joh 11:4 that Lazarus would recover.
. .] Quanta humanitate Jesus amicitiam suam cum discipulis communicat! Bengel. And the gives a reason why they should go too.
This . might have recalled to three at least of the disciples that other saying, Mat 9:24. But the former . had not been understood,-and that error ruled in their minds.
, . Phryn. ed. Lobeck, p. 224.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 11:11. -) These things said He, and after this saying forthwith He saith, etc. Comp. Joh 11:7, Then after this saith He.-, He saith) He said it at the very time in which Lazarus had died. Comp. ch. Joh 4:52, [The noblemans son recovered of the fever] at the same hour in the which Jesus said, Thy son liveth. The disciples also had heard of the illness of Lazarus, Joh 11:3-4. No one had announced his death; and yet Jesus knew it.-, our) With what an entirely human feeling [humanness] Jesus communicates [imparts] His friendship to His disciples!-, is fallen asleep) Death is the sleep of the pious in the language of heaven; but the disciples did not here understand His language. The liberal freedom of the Divine language is incomparable: but the dulness of men causes that Scripture often descends to our more sombre mode of speaking. Comp. Mat 16:11, etc., How is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees?
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 11:11
Joh 11:11
These things spake he: and after this he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.-He now directs their minds to Lazarus and his affliction as causing him to return to Judea. Sleep is often used to represent death. [The term sleep is used as a symbol of death in scripture. (See 2Ch 14:1; Psa 13:3; Jer 51:57; Job 14:12; Dan 12:2; Mat 27:52; Act 7:60; 1Co 7:39; 1Th 4:13).]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
he saith: Joh 3:29, Joh 15:13-15, Exo 33:11, 2Ch 20:7, Isa 41:8, Jam 2:23
sleepeth: Joh 11:13, Deu 31:16, Dan 12:2, Mat 9:24, Mar 5:39, Act 7:60, 1Co 15:18, 1Co 15:51, 1Th 4:14, 1Th 4:15, 1Th 5:10
awake: Joh 11:43, Joh 11:44, Joh 5:25-29, Dan 12:2, 1Co 15:34, Eph 5:14
Reciprocal: 2Ki 4:31 – not awaked Job 14:12 – awake Luk 8:52 – she Act 20:10 – Trouble 1Th 4:13 – which are
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP
After that He saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.
Joh 11:11
The death of true Christians is sleep, and not annihilation.
I. It is a solemn and miraculous change.The sharpest sting of death is the sense of unpardoned sin. Christians have nothing to fear for their bodies in the change: they will rise again by and by, refreshed and renewed after the image of the Lord.
II. The grave itself is a conquered enemy.It must render back its tenants safe and sound, the very moment that Christ calls for them at the last day.
III. Comfort one another with these words.Let us remember these things when those whom we love fall asleep in Christ, or when we ourselves receive our notice to quit this world. Let us call to mind in such an hour that our great Friend takes thought for our bodies as well as for our souls, and that He will not allow one hair of our heads to perish. The grave is the place where the Lord Himself lay, and that as He rose again triumphant from that cold bed, so also shall all His people. He that has Christian faith may boldly say as he lays down his life, I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest: for it is Thou, Lord, that makest me dwell in safety.
Illustration
Our friend Lazarus.The disciples had been entertained by the family of Bethany as well as He. This gentle and beautiful touch is to enlist their sympathy in His plans and movements for the sake of the family. How different from the selfishness of ordinary human grief, which prides itself on a monopoly of mourning, and in proportion to its fancied intimacy with the departed tries to exclude others from the right of expressing their sorrow! Sleepeth.This is one of those occasions when the human mind of Jesus exerted the Divine Omniscience to which it was indissolubly united, but which it did not always employ, just as it did not always employ the Divine Omnipotence.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1
Having given the disciples the preliminaries of the great subject, Jesus named that subject in a manner that will need further information.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
[Sleepeth.] The apostles having heard the report that Lazarus was sick, and that Christ told them now that he was fallen asleep; they apprehend that the edge of the disease which had hitherto taken away all rest from him was now taken off; so that they say, “If he sleep, he shall do well”: having not rightly understood the word our Saviour used. The fallacy of the word is not unpleasantly expressed in Bereshith Rabba; “Rachel said to Leah, ‘He shall sleep with thee tonight;’ Gen 30:19; He shall sleep with thee, he shall not sleep with me; i.e. Thou and he shall lie together in one sepulchre, so shall not he and I.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Joh 11:11. These things said he: and after that he saith unto them. Our friend Lazarus hath fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. No second message has been sent to Him; by His own Divine knowledge He speaks of the death of His friend.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. Our Saviour, coming near to Bethany, tells his disciples that Lazarus sleepeth; that is plainly, he was dead. This shews his omnisciency, and that he was truly God: for he had received no advice of his death from any person, but as God he knew that he was deceased.
Observe, 2. The sweet title given both to death and Lazarus; death is called a sleep, Lazarus is tiles a friend: yet Christ says, not my friend, but our friend Lazarus sleepeth; intimating that gracious familiarity and mutual friendship which was betwixt himself and all his members.
Learn hence, 1. That all true believers are Christ’s friends.
2. That the friends of Christ must die as well as others.
3. That their death is but a sleep, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. It followeth, but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Observe, Christ says not, We will go and awake him, but I will go, and I will awake him. The disciples who were companions in the way, must not be partners in the work; witnesses they may be, actors they cannot be; none can awake Lazarus, but the Maker of Lazarus. Who can command the soul to come down and meet the body; and who can command the body to rise up and meet the soul, but that God that created both soul and body?
Lord! it is our comfort against the dread and terror of death, that our resurrection depends upon thy almighty power. I will go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 11:11-13. These things said he To silence their objections, and prepare their minds for what he yet concealed; and after that, as he perfectly knew what had passed at Bethany, though so many miles distant from it, he saith, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth This, it is probable, he spoke just when he died. Sleepeth Thus our Lord speaks, partly out of tenderness to his apostles, as being least shocking when he spoke of so dear a friend; and partly because the death of good men is only sleep, in the language of heaven. But the disciples did not yet understand this language. And the slowness of our understanding in divine things causes the Scripture often to descend to our barbarous manner of speaking. But I go that I may awake him out of sleep Referring to that raising him from the dead, which he intended quickly to effect. Mr. Blackwall, in his Sacred Classics, (vol. 1. page 297,) mentions the manner of speaking used here by our Lord, as an instance of his great modesty, as he does not immediately say, He is dead, and I go by my almighty power to burst the bonds of the sepulchre, and to command him back to life again; but, avoiding all parade and ostentation, he chooses the most simple and humble expression that can be thought of. Then said his disciples Not apprehending his meaning; Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well Understanding his words in a literal sense, they replied that they took his sleeping as a symptom of his speedy recovery; and by so saying intimated that there was no need of their going into Judea on Lazaruss account. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death But the real meaning of what Jesus said was, that Lazarus was dead, though his words were such that the disciples understood him as speaking of natural sleep.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 11-13. He spoke thus, and after this he says to them, Lazarus, our friend, sleeps; but I go to awaken him. 12. Whereupon they said to him;Lord, if he sleeps, he will recover. 13. But Jesus had spoken of his death, and they thought that he was speaking of the rest of sleep.
The words , he spoke thus, and …, are not superfluous. They signify that this general maxim which He had just stated was applied by Him on the spot to the present case. Weiss wrongly asserts that this application is not found in what follows. It is in the words: I go to awaken him. The epithet: our friend, appeals to their affection for Lazarus, just as the expression: he whom thou lovest, in Joh 11:3, had made an appeal to His own friendship for him. Some interpreters have thought that it was at this moment that, either through a new message (Neander); or through His prophetic consciousness (Weiss), Jesus Himself learned of the death of Lazarus. But the promise of Joh 11:4 has proved to us that He had known this circumstance in a supernatural way, from the moment when the message of the two sisters had drawn his attention to the condition of His friend. Jesus likes to present death under the figure of sleep, a figure which makes it a phase of life.
Strauss found the misunderstanding of the disciples in Joh 11:12 inconceivable. Reuss calls it a misapprehension which has precisely the import of that of Nicodemus. He adds: Men do not ordinarily sleep several days in succession. But after having heard the words of Joh 11:4, it was natural that the disciples should not have believed in the possibility of the sick man’s death. They might therefore think that this sleep of which Jesus was speaking was the crisis of convalescence, and that He wished to bring the sick man out of it healed by awaking him. It is very evident that, in their extreme desire not to go into Judea, they seek for a pretext, good or bad, for deterring Jesus from departing thitherward. In this situation, what improbability is there in this reply? The word signifies here: will be healed of himself, without participation on thy part. The general term (sleep, Joh 11:13) is derived from (Joh 11:11), and must be determined here by a special complement ( ).
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus {d} sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
(d) The Jews used a milder kind of speech and called death “sleep”, and this same manner of speech is found in other languages, who call the place of burial where the dead are laid waiting for the resurrection a “sleeping place”.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus explained further why He needed to go to Bethany. Sleep was a common Old Testament metaphor for death (e.g., someone "slept with his fathers;" cf. Mar 5:39). However the idea that people would awake from this sleep, while revealed in the Old Testament (Dan 12:2), was not the common perception of the outcome of death. Normally people thought of those who fell asleep in death as staying asleep. Thus the disciples’ confusion is understandable as is John’s clarification of Jesus’ meaning. The New Testament writers commonly referred to death as sleep for the Christian because our resurrection to life is a prominent revelation and is sure (cf. Act 7:60; 1Co 15:20; 1Co 15:51; 1Th 4:13-18). That Jesus was not teaching soul sleep should be clear from Luk 16:19-31.
The doctrine of soul sleep is the teaching that at death the soul, specifically the immaterial part of man, becomes unconscious until the resurrection of the body. The story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 shows that people are conscious after death and before their resurrection.