John 11:19. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. There is no ground whatever for understanding ‘the Jews' in any other sense than that which the expression regularly bears in this Gospel. Amongst those who came to pay to the bereaved sisters the visits of condolence during the seven days of mourning, were many of the leaders of the people, many who were also leaders in hostility to Jesus. It is evident that the family of Bethany was one of distinction, and even their friendship to Jesus could not be a bar to their receiving from the Jews these offices of respect and sympathy. But this is not the only contrast which the mention of the Jews calls forth. As leaders of the people, ruling in ‘the city of their solemnities,' they were the representatives of their Church and religion; and the ‘comfort' they can offer in the presence of death is no inapt symbol of all that Judaism could do for the mourner. Thus on the one side we have human sorrow and the vanity of human comfort in the presence of death; on the other side we have Him who is the Life.

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Old Testament