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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.—Better, Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep. They had probably understood the words of John 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 Judæa (John 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 Lord’s 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 (John 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 John 8:51, Matthew 9:24, and 1Thessalonians 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.

Benson Commentary

John 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 Lazarus’s 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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:11-16 Since we are sure to rise again at the last, why should not the believing hope of that resurrection to eternal life, make it as easy for us to put off the body and die, as it is to put off our clothes and go to sleep? A true Christian, when he dies, does but sleep; he rests from the labours of the past day. Nay, herein death is better than sleep, that sleep is only a short rest, but death is the end of earthly cares and toils. The disciples thought that it was now needless for Christ to go to Lazarus, and expose himself and them. Thus we often hope that the good work we are called to do, will be done by some other hand, if there be peril in the doing of it. But when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, many were brought to believe on him; and there was much done to make perfect the faith of those that believed. Let us go to him; death cannot separate from the love of Christ, nor put us out of the reach of his call. Like Thomas, in difficult times Christians should encourage one another. The dying of the Lord Jesus should make us willing to die whenever God calls us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Lazarus sleepeth - Is dead. The word "sleep" is applied to death,

1. Because of the resemblance between them, as sleep is the "kinsman of death." In this sense it is often used by pagan writers.

2. 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, 1 Corinthians 11:30; 1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:10; Matthew 9:24.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11-16. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may wake him out of sleep—Illustrious title! "Our friend Lazarus." To Abraham only is it accorded 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 (Jas 2:23). When Jesus came in the flesh, His forerunner applied this name, in a certain sense, to himself (Joh 3:29); and into the same fellowship the Lord's chosen disciples are declared to have come (Joh 15:13-15). "The phrase here employed, "our friend Lazarus," means more than "he whom Thou lovest" in Joh 11:3, for it implies that Christ's affection was reciprocated by Lazarus" [Lampe]. Our Lord had been told only that Lazarus was "sick." But the change which his two 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 all languages, and familiar to us in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, however, a higher meaning is put into it, in relation to believers in Jesus (see on [1830]1Th 4:14), a sense hinted at, and clearly, in Ps 17:15 [Luthardt]; and the "awaking out of sleep" acquires a corresponding sense far transcending bare resuscitation.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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 2 Samuel 7:12 1 Kings 1:21 2 Kings 20:21 Job 7:21 14:12 Daniel 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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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 Gill on Matthew 9:24, See Gill on 1 Corinthians 15:18, See Gill on 1 Corinthians 15:20, See Gill on 1 Thessalonians 4:13, See Gill on 1 Thessalonians 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 Psalm 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.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 11:11-13. Καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο λέγει] 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 (John 11:7; see on John 11:17), is described (comp. Matthew 9:24), in view of his resurrection, by the word κεκοίμ., 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 ὁ φίλος ἡμ. communicates a touch of painful sensibility. In saying ἡμῶν also, He claims the loving sympathy of His disciples.

ἐξυπνίσω] awaken out of sleep; a late Greek word, rejected by the Atticists. Lobeck ad Phryn. p. 224. Comp. Acts 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 John 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 John 9:3, as signifying that He purposed to come and miraculously heal him. The journey thereby involved, however, they did not desire (John 11:8); the expression κεκοίμηται 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 ἵνα ἐξυπνίσω αὐτόν, 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 John 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 John 11:4 do not at all suggest such a healing (how different in John 4:50!); and that if they had thought of such a healing having taken place, they would have grounded their σωθήσεται 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 John 11:4.” But there is no exegetical support for this view, not even in the use of the first person singular πορεύομαι, which finds its very natural explanation in the connection with ἘΞΥΠΝΊΣΩ (the case is different with ἌΓΩΜΕΝ, John 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.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 11:11. Ταῦτα εἶπε … αὐτόν. “These things spake He, and after this,” how long after we do not know; but John 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”.—κεκοίμηται cf. Matthew 9:24; Matthew 27:52, Acts 7:60, 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 1 Corinthians 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”. ἐξυπνίσω is later Greek: ἐξυπνισθῆναι οὐ χρὴ λέγειν, ἀλλʼ ἀφυπνισθῆναι, Phrynichus (Rutherford, p. 305). The disciples misunderstood Him, and said: Κύριε … σωθήσεται. “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., ὕπνος γὰρ πάντων νοσημάτων φάρμακον]. How He knows that Lazarus sleeps they do not inquire, accustomed as they are to His exercise of gifts they do not understand. σωθήσεται, cf. Mark 5:28; Mark 5:34; Mark 6:56, etc. Their misunderstanding was favoured by His having said (John 11:4) that the illness was “not to death”; naturally when Jesus spoke of Lazarus sleeping they understood Him to speak (John 11:13) περὶ τῆς κοιμήσεως τοῦ ὕπνου, “of the κοίμησις of sleep”.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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. Matthew 27:52; Acts 7:50; Acts 13:36; 1 Corinthians 7:39; 1 Corinthians 11:30; 1 Corinthians 15:6; 1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; 2 Peter 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 Judæa.

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. John 11:4.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 11:11. Ταῦτα—λέγει) These things said He, and after this saying forthwith He saith, etc. Comp. John 11:7, “Then after this saith He.”—λέγει, He saith) He said it at the very time in which Lazarus had died. Comp. ch. John 4:52, [The nobleman’s 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, John 11:3-4. No one had announced his death; and yet Jesus knew it.—ἡμῶν, our) With what an entirely human feeling [humanness] Jesus communicates [imparts] His friendship to His disciples!—κεκοίμηται, 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. Matthew 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?”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - These things spake he, and probably many more words expository of the vast principle of service which he here propounded; and after this (for μετὰ τοῦτο implies a break, during which the disciples pondered his words) he saith, Our friend Lazarus; implying that Lazarus was well known to the disciples, and that the Lord classes himself here, in wondrous condescension, with them. He elsewhere speaks of the twelve as his "friends" (John 15:14, 15, where he made it a higher designation than δοῦλοι; see also Luke 12:4). John the Baptist also calls himself "the Bridegroom's friend" (John 3:29). Though Lazarus had passed into the region of the unknown and unseen, he was still" our friend." Hath fallen asleep. Meyer says that Jesus knew this by "spiritual far-seeing;" and Godet thinks that he knew it by supernatural process, and had known it all along. It does not require much beyond what we know to have occurred in thousands of instances, for our Lord to have perceived that his friend had died - had, as he said, "fallen asleep," in that new sense in which Jesus was teaching men to look on death. But I go, that I may awake him out of sleep (ἐξυπνίσω is a late Greek word; cf. Acts 16:27). Wunsche says the Talmud often speaks of a rabbi's death under the form of" sleep" ('Moed. K.,' fol. 28, a; cf. Matthew 9:24; 1 Thessalonians 4:14). Homer spoke of death and sleep as "twin sisters," Christ's power and consciousness of power to awake Lazarus from sleep gives, however, to his use of the image a new meaning. It is not the eternal sleep of the Greek and Roman poets. John 11:11

Vincent's Word Studies

Sleepeth (κεκοίμηται)

More correctly, as Rev., hath fallen asleep. See on Acts 7:60; see on 2 Peter 3:4.

Awake him out of sleep (ἐξυπνίσω αὐτόν)

Only here in the New Testament.