John 11:17

Jesus with Martha and Mary

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

John 11:17 Meaning and Commentary

John 11:17

Then when Jesus came
The Alexandrian copy, and all the Oriental versions add, "to Bethany"; though it seems by what follows, that he was not come to the town itself, but near it; and it looks as if it was not far from Lazarus's grave; and it was usual to bury without the city; and here he had intelligence of his, Lazarus's, death, and how long he had been dead:

for he found he had lain in the grave four days already;
it is very likely that he died the same day that Mary and Martha sent to Christ to acquaint him with his sickness, and the same day he was buried; for the Jews used to bury the same day a person died, and so they do now: and after Christ had this account, he stayed two days where he was, and on the third day, he proposed to his disciples to go into Judea; and very probably on that, or on the next day, which was the fourth, they set out and came to Bethany; (See Gill on John 11:39).

John 11:17 In-Context

15 For your sakes, I'm glad I wasn't there so that you can believe. Let's go to him."

16 Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other disciples, "Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus."

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

18 Bethany was a little less than two miles from Jerusalem.

19 Many Jews had come to comfort Martha and Mary after their brother's death.