John 11:17

17 And so Jesus came, and found him having then four days in the grave. [And so Jesus came, and found him having now four days in the grave.]

John 11:17 Meaning and Commentary

John 11:17

Then when Jesus came
The Alexandrian copy, and all the Oriental versions add, "to Bethany"; though it seems by what follows, that he was not come to the town itself, but near it; and it looks as if it was not far from Lazarus's grave; and it was usual to bury without the city; and here he had intelligence of his, Lazarus's, death, and how long he had been dead:

for he found he had lain in the grave four days already;
it is very likely that he died the same day that Mary and Martha sent to Christ to acquaint him with his sickness, and the same day he was buried; for the Jews used to bury the same day a person died, and so they do now: and after Christ had this account, he stayed two days where he was, and on the third day, he proposed to his disciples to go into Judea; and very probably on that, or on the next day, which was the fourth, they set out and came to Bethany; (See Gill on John 11:39).

John 11:17 In-Context

15 and I have joy for you, that ye believe, for I was not there; but go we to him.
16 Therefore Thomas, that is said Didymus, said to even-disciples, Go we also, that we die with him.
17 And so Jesus came, and found him having then four days in the grave. [And so Jesus came, and found him having now four days in the grave.]
18 And Bethany was beside Jerusalem, as it were fifteen furlongs.
19 And many of the Jews came to Mary and Martha, to comfort them of their brother.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.