Λάζαρος. Lazarus is not from lo ezer, ‘no help,’ i.e. ‘forsaken,’ but from Elî ezer, ‘helped of God,’ Gotthilf. It is contracted from the commoner Eleazar. This is the only parable in which a proper name occurs; and the only miracles of which the recipients are named are, Mary Magdalene, Jairus, Malchus, and Bartimaeus. Whether in the name there be some allusive contrast to the young and perhaps wealthy Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, as Prof. Plumptre has conjectured, is uncertain. From this parable come the words—lazaretto, lazzarini, a lazar, &c.

ἐβέβλητο. Not ‘was laid,’ as in A.V[302], but ‘had been cast down,’ implying by one graphic touch the careless roughness and neglect with which he was treated.

[302] A.V. Authorised Version.

πρὸς τὸν πυλῶνα αὐτοῦ. Not a mere πύλη but a πυλών—a stately portal.

Continues after advertising
Continues after advertising

Old Testament