LAZARUS (laz'a-rils), (Gr. lartzar-os), an abridged form of the Hebrew name Eleazer.
I. An inhabitant of Bethany, brother of Mary and Martha, who was honored with the friendship of Jesus, by whom he was raised from the dead after he had been four days in the tomb. This great miracle is minutely described in John xi. The credit which Christ obtained among the peo ple by this illustrious act, of which the life and presence of Lazarus afforded a standing evidence, induced the Sanhedrim, in plotting against Jesus, to contemplate the destruction of Lazarus also (John xii :to). Whether they accomplished this object or not we are not informed: but the prob ability seems to be that when they had satiated their malice on Christ they left Lazarus unmo lested. According to an old tradition in Epipha mus (Hcer., lxvi :34, p. 652), Lazarus was thirty years old when restored to life, and lived thirty years after. (See Ellicott, Life of Christ; Wat son, Lazarus of Bethany.) 2. A beggar represented in the parable of Dives as abjectly poor (Luke xvi :2o-25).
LEAD (16d), (Heb. 117#, o-feh'reth, a well known metal, the first Scriptural notice of which occurs in the triumphal song in which Moses cele brates the overthrow of Pharaoh, whose host is there said to have 'sunk like lead' in the waters of the Red Sea (Exod. xv:10.
Before the use of quicksilver was known, lead was used for the purpose of purifying silver, and separating it from other mineral substances (Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxii :30. To this Jeremiah alludes where he figuratively describcs the corrupt condi tism of the people: 'In their fire the lead is con sumed (in the crucible) ; the smelting is in vain. for the evil is not separated' (Jer. vi :29). Ezekiel
(xxii:t8-22) refers to the same fact, and for the same purpose, but amplifies it with greater mi nuteness of detail. Compare also Mal. iii :2, 3.
Job (xix :23,24) expresses a wishthat his words were engraven 'with an iron pen and lead.' These words are commonly supposed to refer to en graving on a leaden tablet ; and it is undeniable that such tablets were anciently used as a writ ing material (Pausan. ix :31; Plin. Hist. Nat.
But our authorized translators, by ren dering 'an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever,' seem to have entertained the same view with Rosenmiiller, who supposes that molten lead was to be poured into letters sculptured on stone with an iron chisel, in order to raise the inscription.
Although the Hebrew weights were usually of stone, and are indeed called 'stones,' a leaden weight denominated attach, which is the Arabic word for lead, occurs in Amos vii :7, 8. In Acts xxvii :28, a plummet for taking soundings at sea is men tioned, and this was of course of lead.
The ancient uses of lead in the East seem to have been very few, nor are they now numerous. One may travel far in western Asia without dis covering any trace of this metal in any of the numerous useful applications which it is made to serve in European countries.
We are not aware that any trace of lead has yet been found within the limits of Palestine. But ancient lead-mines, in some of which the ore has been exhausted by working, have been dis covered by Mr. Burton in the mountains between the Red Sea and the Nile ; and lead is also said to exist at a place called Sheff, near Mount Sinai.