1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.



Ver. 1. Bethany, the town of Mary, &c.] Not the tower ( castellum) of Mary and Martha, as some monks have doted; digni sane qui ad grammatices elementa remittantur, truly worth are those who relax the laws of grammar, from the saith an interpreter. Bethany was a small town or village nigh to Jerusalem, where dwelt these three, Lazarus and his two sisters, all in one house (though fratrum concordia rata establishing brotherly peace), to whom our Saviour joins himself a fourth in their friendship. "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Surely there the Lord "commands the blessing, even life for evermore," Psa_133:1; Psa_133:3.