The raising of Lazarus is related by John alone. None of the other Evangelists mention his name, or even allude to the miracle. This has been a puzzle to commentators, and a ground of cavil and attack to infidels and sceptics. But why should it be so ? It is not the only mimcle of our Lord which has a single historian among the Evangelists ; nor is it the only great event in his life of which John is the sole witness (cf. John ii. 1-12; 111. 1 21 ; 1V. 46-54 ; V. I Seq.; 1X. I seq.) lt is a fact that the synoptic Gospels relate chiefly to the mira. cles wrought in Galilee, while John gives those of which the scene was in Juda. Why this was we cannot tell. It is vain to inquire. Who can fathom the motives and objects of the Divine Spirit in the plan and structure of revelation ? Various attempts have been made to account for the silence of the three Evangelists in this case (see Trench, p. 389 ; also Lightfoot, Grotius, Kuinoel, Olshausen, in /oc.); but Neander has truly said that ' to seek a special reason for the omission ot the miracle can lead to nothing but arbitrary hypo thesis ' (Das Leben Yale, 234 ; cf. Alford, Prolegom. to Gospels, i. sec. 5. 1). It would have been inter esting to know something of the after-life of Lazarus. What effect did the great miracle produce on his character? Was his faith shaken by the crucifixion, or did the fulness of his own experience keep him firm in the belief that Jesus was the resurrection and the life?' Did he meet and follow Christ after his resurrection ? Did he go and preach to the churches in Palestine or elsewhere the life-giving doctrines of the Gospel—showing himself at the same time as the most wonderful monument of Jesus' divine power and divine mission ? Or did he, awed and solemnized by his brief view of the world of spirits, shrink from publicity, and meditate in silence and retirement on subjects hid from mortal eyes ? . . But nothing has been revealed in God's word, and the fables of Apocryphal tradition are not worth recording (Epist. Pil. ad Tiberiam, in Giles' Cod. Apoc. N. T., P- 457 ; Epiphanius, Adv. Ilrereses, i. 652).
Literatztre.—In addition to the works named, the following may be consulted. The commentaries of Origen, Chrysostom, Cyril Alex.. and Augus tine in yoan. Tract. xlix ; Lannoy, Vsria de Com ment. Lazar', etc., Opp. ii. 202, seq.; Heubner, raculor um ab Evang. Narrat. Interpret.; Ebrard, The Gospel History; Ellicott, Lectures on the Life of Olir LOrd.
2. The name of the beggar in our Lord's beantiful parable recorded in Luke xvi. 19-31. 'Fhe intro duction of a proper name into this parable makes it possible, and perhaps probable, that the story had a foundation in fact, as is stated in an old tradi tion (Theophylact, /oc.; Chrysostom, De Lazaro).
Some have thought that our Lord may have hai Lazarus of Bethanyhere before his mind (Oosterzee ad loc.) But however this may be, it must be ad mitted that there is embodied in this pamble some thing far higher than an isolated historical fact, o an incidental and touching allusion to a friend—i contains a sublime truth, and it presents it befor the mind's eye with wonderful vividness. Thi name Lazarus is appropriate, in whatever way i came to be selected. It signifies either God aids, from the Hebrew ir,09,A, and thus contemplates thi beggar from a divine stand-point (Lightfoot, Meyer Alford). Or it may mean the helpless,' -a t6
regarding him from a human stand-point (Olshau sen, Lange). For expositions of the parable se( Trench, Parables ; Stier, Reden ; Kuinoel, Chrysostom, /. c.—J. L P.
LEAD (27.ti); Sept. 316Xtp5os), a well-know; metal, the first Scriptural notice of which occurs it the triumphal song in which Moses celebrates th( overthrow of Pharaoh, whose host is there said tc have 'sunk like lead' in the waters of the Red Sa (Exod. xv. to).
Before the use of quicksilver was known, leaC was used for the purpose of purifying silver, anc separating it from other mineral substances (Plin Hid. Nat., xxxii. 31). To this Jeremiah allude! where he figuratively describes the corrupt condi. tion of the people : In their fire the lead is con sumed (in the crucible) ; the smelting is in vain, foi the evil is not separated' (Jer. vi. 29). Ezekiel (xxii. 18-22) refers to the same fad, and for the same purpose, but amplifies it with greater minute ness of detail. Compare also Mal. M. 2, 3, jOb (XIX. 23, 24) expresses a wish that his word: were engmven 'with an iron pen and lead.' These words are commonly supposed to refer to engraving on a leaden tablet; and it is undeniable that such tablets were anciently used as a writing material (Pausan. ix. 31; Plin. Hist. Aral. It). 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. The translator of Rosenmiiller (in Bib. Cabinet, xxvii. 64) thinks that the poetical force of the passage has been over hoked by interpreters : Joh seems not to have Jrawn his image from anything he had actually seen executed : he only wishes to express in the strongest possible language the durability due to his words ; and accordingly he says, May the pen be iron, and the ink of lead, with which they are written on an everlasting rock,' e., Let them not be written with ordinary perishable materials.' This explanation seems to be suggested by that of the Septuagint, which has 'Ey 7pacpeico oo3np43 sat goX04, iv rirpais 177XtrckijvaL, e., that they were sculptured by an iron pen and lead, or hewn into rocks.' Although the Hebrew weights were usually of stone, and are indeed called stones,' a leaden weight denominated INS' anach, 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 mentioned, and this was of course of lead.
The ancient uses of lead in the East seem to have I been very few, nor are they now numerous. Onc , may travel far in Western Asia without discovering - any trace of this metal in any of the numerous use - ful applications which it is made to serve in Euro r pean countries.
t We are not aware that any trace of lead has been yet found within the limits of Palestine. But ancient lead-mines, in some of which the ore has t been exhausted by working„ have been discovered ' 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.—J. K.