Who was Lazarus in the Bible?
Two different men in the Bible carry the name Lazarus: one was a real friend of Jesus whose grave He opened, the other a beggar in a story Jesus told about life after death. Both names carry the same meaning, and both men end up illustrating the same thing — a helpless person helped by God alone.
The Friend at Bethany
The first Lazarus lived in the village of Bethany, near Jerusalem, with his two sisters. Almost nothing is recorded about his character or work, and one reference work sums up his whole place in Scripture in a few lines:
Morrish Bible DictionaryBrother of Martha and Mary, and a resident at Bethany. Jesus loved them all, and He spoke of Lazarus as 'our friend.' Very little is recorded of him except the striking fact that he was raised from the dead by the Lord Jesus, which showed the glory of God and glorified the Son of God. When his sisters made the Lord a supper at Bethany, Lazarus was one of those who sat with Him.
Loved, and Left to Die
When Lazarus fell ill, his sisters sent word based on the one thing they were sure of — that Jesus loved him. Their confidence was right, yet the appeal did not move Him to hurry:
The Christian's FriendThey made no mistake about the fact of His affection, because the Spirit of God carefully adds: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." But the Lord still refused the motive they presented. It says, "When He heard therefore that he was sick, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was." Why this delay? It was not, as we have seen, that He had no heart for Lazarus, nor that His heart would not urge Him to rush to the help of the one He had honoured with His love, but it was because the sickness of Lazarus was "not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby."
The delay was not cruelty; it was deliberate. Commentators note that this case was unlike the other two people Jesus raised — the daughter of Jairus, who had only just died, and the son of the widow at Nain, who was on his way to burial:
The Christian's FriendThe case of Lazarus, therefore, was of another kind — one whom death had claimed and kept for four days, so that even his sister exclaimed, "Lord, by this time there will be an odour." But He who stood by the grave had "life in Himself," and was about to die and rise again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Death therefore had no power — indeed, could not exist — in His presence.
Life, Then Liberty
Lazarus walked out of the tomb still wrapped in his burial cloths, and a second command had to be given before he could move freely. Writers see two distinct acts here, and note that Jesus could have done both at once:
William KellyHe could have loosed Lazarus as easily as He could have made the stone disappear. He could have willed it all without crying with a loud voice. But He, who wants us to trust the power of His word, would have us notice the corruption that comes before quickening, and the bondage that may follow it even now. Liberty is needed as well as life; but it is unnatural for someone who has been made to live to stay bound any longer.
A Living Witness Marked for Death
Afterwards Lazarus simply existed as evidence. Crowds travelled to Bethany to see him, and the religious leaders responded by adding his name to their plot:
C E StuartThere was Lazarus, the raised one. There was Jesus, the raiser from the dead... Instead of that, fresh plans were made. The death of Lazarus was now proposed, as well as the death of Christ. No wickedness was too great, if only the spread of the movement could be stopped... What had Lazarus done to deserve death? He had been the subject of almighty power, over which he had no control.
The Beggar Who Was Named
The second Lazarus appears in a story Jesus told about a rich man and a beggar covered with sores. Writers point out which of the two men God bothered to name:
W. W. FeredayThe beggar's name was Lazarus; the rich man's name is not recorded. Lazarus means "God is my helper."... The beggar's name has been carefully preserved for us, because precious in the sight of the Lord is every child of faith, however lowly his position here.
That name is the key to the whole story, since the beggar had nothing else going for him:
Numerical Bible NotesA beggar, with everything against him, gets a place that the best Jew in the world might envy him for. What has caused this? Not law, we may be sure... His name, Lazarus, Eleazar, "the Mighty One the Helper," gives us the only key to the explanation here. In spite of everything else against him, God the Mighty One, acting apart from law and so in grace, has lifted him from the degradation he was in to the place where we now find him.
Summary
- Name. Lazarus is the Greek form of Eleazar, "God is my helper" — the one thing both men in Scripture who bear it had going for them.
- Helpless. One Lazarus lay dead four days; the other lay at a gate covered with sores. Neither could lift a finger for himself.
- Helped. God acted in grace: one was called out of the grave, the other carried by angels into Abraham's arms.
- Delayed. Love did not come running. Jesus waited two days so that the sickness would end in God's glory, not merely in relief.
- Remembered. The rich man's name is lost; the beggar's is kept, and the raised man became living evidence people travelled to see.