Bible Encyclopedias

Laz´arus (an abridged form of the Hebrew name Eleazer), 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 11. The credit which Christ obtained among the people 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 (). Whether they accomplished this object or not, we are not informed: but the probability seems to be that when they had satiated their malice on Christ, they left Lazarus unmolested.