John Gill Commentary John 11:38

"Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it." — John 11:38 (ASV)

Jesus therefore groaning in himself
Not only through grief, just coming up to the grave, where his dear friend lay, but through a holy anger and indignation at the malice and wickedness of the Jews;

comes to the grave
of Lazarus,

it was a cave; either a natural one, such as were in rocks and mountains, of which sort there were many in Judea, and near Jerusalem being a rocky and mountainous country, of which Josephus^F24 makes mention; where thieves and robbers sheltered themselves, and could not easily be come at and where persons in danger fled to for safety, and hid themselves; and the reason why such places were chose to bury in, was because here the bodies were safe from beasts of prey: or this was an artificial cave made out of a rock, in form of one, as was the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea; and it was the common custom of the Jews to make caves and bury in; yea, they were obliged to it by their traditions:

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Thus says Maimonides: ``he that sells a place to his friend to make in it a grave or that receives from his friend a place to make in it a grave, (hrem hvwe) , "must make a cave", and open in it eight graves, three on one side and three on another, and two over against the entrance "into the cave": the measure of "the cave" is four cubits by six, and every grave is four cubits long, and six hands broad, and seven high; and there is a space between every grave, on the sides a cubit and a half, and between the two in the middle two cubits.'' And elsewhere <sup>F26</sup> he observes, that ``they dig (twrem) , "caves" in the earth, and make a grave in the side "of the cave", and bury him (the dead) in it.''

And such caves for burying the dead, were at and near the Mount of Olives; and near the same must be this cave where Lazarus was buried; for Bethany was not far from thence: so in the Cippi Hebraici we read ^F1 , that at the bottom of the Mount (of Olives) is a very great "cave", said to be Haggai the prophet's; and in it are many caves.--And near it is the grave of Zachariah the prophet, in a "cave" shut up; and frequent mention is made there of caves in which persons were buried; (See Gill on Matthew 23:29); perhaps the custom of burying in them might take its rise from the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham, their father, bought for a buryingplace for his dead.

The sepulchre of Lazarus is pretended ^F2 to be shown to travellers to this day, over which is built a chapel of marble, very decent, and comely, and stands close by a church built in honour of Martha and Mary, the two sisters of Lazarus, in the place where their house stood; but certain it is, that the grave of Lazarus was out of the town:

and a stone lay upon it.
Our version is not so accurate, nor so agreeable to the form of graves with the Jews, nor to this of Lazarus's; their graves were not as ours, dug in the earth and open above, so as to have a stone laid over them, for they often were, as this, caves in rocks, either natural, or hewn out of them by art; and there was a door at the side of them, by which there was an entrance into them; and at this door a stone was laid it would be better rendered here, and "a stone was laid to it"; not "upon it", for it had no opening above, but to it, at the side of it; and accordingly the Syriac and Persic versions read, "a stone was laid at the door of it"; and the Arabic version, "and there was a great stone at the door of it", as was at the door of Christ's sepulchre.

In the Jewish sepulchres there was (rux) , "a court" ^F3 which was before the entrance into the cave; this was four square; it was six cubits long, and six broad; and here the bearers put down the corpse, and from hence it was carried into the cave, at which there was an entrance, sometimes called (hremh yp) , "the mouth of the cave" {d}; and sometimes, (rbqh xtp) , "the door of the grave" ^F5 ; of its form, measure, and place, there is no express mention in the Jewish writings: it is thought to be about a cubit's breadth, and was on the side of the cave; so that at it, it might be looked into;

And at the mouth of the cave was a stone put to stop it up, which was called (llwg) , from its being rolled there; though that with which the mouth of the cave was shut up, was not always a stone, nor made of stone; Maimonides ^F6 says, it was made of stone, or wood, or the like matter; and so in the Misna ^F7 it is said, ``(rbql llwg) , "the covering for a grave", (or that with which it is stopped up,) if it be made of a piece of timber, whether it stands, or whether it inclines to the side, does not defile, but over against the door only;'' (See Gill on Matthew 27:60).

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Antiqu. l. 14. c. 15. sect. 5.
• F26: Hilchot Ebel, c. 4. sect. 4.
• F1: P. 27, 29. Ed. Hottinger.
• F2: ltinerar. Bunting. p. 364.
• F3: Misn. Bava Bathra, c. 6. sect. 8.
• F5: Maimon. R. Samson, & Bartenora in Misn. Ohalot, c. 15. sect. 8.
• F6: In Misn. Ohalot, c. 2. sect. 4.
• F7: Ib c. 15, sect. 8.