And I am glad for your sakes that I was not
there
At Bethany, before he died, or when he died; because he might
have been prevailed upon through the solicitations of his dear
friends, Mary and Martha, and through tender affection to
Lazarus, to have prevented his death, by rebuking the distemper,
and restoring him to health, or to have raised him immediately as
soon as he was dead; and in either case the miracle would not
have been so illustrious, nor have been such a means of
confirming the faith of his disciples, as now it would be:
to the intent ye may believe;
more strongly, that he was the Son of God, and true Messiah:
nevertheless, let us go unto him;
to Lazarus, to the grave where he lies: the Syriac version reads,
"let us go there"; to Bethany, where he lived, and died, and now
lay interred.